Warm Ups-They're Not Just for Gym

LET'S FACE IT; IT'S NOT EASY TO GET A CLASS STARTED. If students don't have a clear understanding of the teacher's rules-and if it has not been demonstrated that the teacher will consistently enforce those rules-they may spend a number of minutes strolling in, speaking to their friends and taking

What you need, says classroom management expert Fred Jones, the author of Tools for Teaching, is what he calls "bell work," which provides a useful learning activity while the teacher takes care of all those necessary administrative chores. He advises making it something simple that serves a purpose in getting the day's instruction started and probably incorporates the review of the previous day's lesson.

Many teachers establish the warm-up ritual at the beginning of the school year, so that their students get used to it and know what is expected of them each day. Former teacher and the author of Teaching Smarter, Sandy LaBelle, says teachers should have a consistent start and end to class that becomes a set ritual for students.

Some teachers who use an overhead to list the day's agenda and homework include the warm-up activities as well. Some even add a quote of the day or something funny that the students will look forward to reading-not just to make it fun for them but to make it more likely they will read it. Others provide a word of the day-which could be a technical or career-related term-and others give a little known fact that can be funny or unusual. The idea is to get the students' attention and to start them thinking.

One teacher notes in an Internet posting that she uses memory checks, asking for three things students recall from the previous day's lesson. Jones suggests giving four problems from the lesson of the day before, but advises, "Make them doable. This is not a midterm exam."

Reading assignments, brain teasers, and games or puzzles that challenge students to think are also being used by teachers as classroom warm ups. On Bill Chapman's Classroom Tools Web site, the teacher reports that initiating short warm-up activities at the start of class periods not only got the students involved and excited, but served as a good classroom management tool by almost eliminating discipline problems. His students even begin bringing in puzzles and problems they found on their own.

Another frequent warm-up activity is to have students write in their journals. English teachers are not the only ones who are having students keep journals as a part of the learning process. Journals are a way to incorporate writing into the curriculum and help students improve their writing skills-something that has become increasingly important under the accountability requirements of No Child Left Behind.

For career and technical education students, journals can be a way to record the connections they are making through their classroom work and their lab work and other hands-on experiences. Job shadowing, internships and apprenticeships may require participants to evaluate their experiences and reflect upon how they have applied their knowledge to reallife situations. Journals are ideal tools for such reflection.

Just as warm ups in gym classes are intended to prepare the body for the strenuous exercise ahead, warm ups in the classroom can prepare the mind for the hard work of learning. They can also be a way to keep from losing precious minutes of instructional time, to get the attention of students as soon as they walk into the class and to make sure the students are actively engaged in the learning process. What teacher wouldn't warm up to such a classroom management tool?