Suggestions for Plenary Activities

As teachers, we are forever being told how important the plenary is. Sometimes though, thinking of that short exercise to wind up a lesson successfully is difficult.

Bradford school have come up with a list of 51 ideas for plenaries:

List three things you have learned today
List three things your neighbour has learned today
60 second challenge – sum up
Write the new words you have learned this lesson and what they mean in ICT (also alternative meanings in other curriculum areas)
Write three/five top tips for…
The answer is … what is the question?
Take one minute to compose two sentences in your head to explain what we have learnt and how we have learnt it, using the key words from the lesson
Where can you use/apply this skill in other areas of ICT or in other subjects?
In pairs, answer this question on a post-it/sheet, stick it on the board and review. Does everyone agree?
Show your work to your neighbour, work in pairs to set targets
Self assessment – record what you’ve learnt, any difficulties you have had and set your personal targets
Prediction - what do you think will happen next?
Show me boards to answer True/False to statements given
Jigsaw feedback – groups work on different parts of task then reform to share findings
Group ‘show and comment’ on what was learnt
Feedback to whole class by one or two groups only (use rota or roll of dice)
Change of role – student as teacher. What questions would you ask the class and why?
Groups of three, numbered 1-3. Put statements on OHT which individuals must explain to group
Quick fire oral ‘quiz’ to review/revisit learning
Giving wrong answer(s). Why is this wrong?
Consolidation using loop cards (mini loops within the class)
Comparing strategies. Which is the most efficient and why?
Matching games or cards to consolidate ideas
Pose an open question that can lead to generalisation of key ideas from the lesson (accessible to all)
Pick up on any further misconceptions from the main teaching
Make a ‘mini book’ summarising or revising key ideas and vocabulary (end of unit plenary)
Revisit objective of the lesson self assessment – students indicate how they feel with respect to achieving the objective
Students write their own questions based on the objective of the lesson (these questions can then be selected randomly and used with the rest of the class)
Link the lesson to new learning – next lesson/next year
Visualisation based on the learning and vocabulary
Students write their own visualisation (could be used for next o/m starter)
“ Taboo” game – describe a word/key idea from the lesson with/without using given words. Teacher could present or students write their own
Setting up a homework task (although the plenary should not be used for this exclusively)
Teacher led probing questions to test understanding
Students develop their own probing questions to test their partner’s understanding
Aide memoirs – students devise their own ideas/mnemonics eg picture/visual clues to the meaning of key words (eg parallel or Never Eat Shredded Wheat) linked to objective
Give students a known fact and an unknown fact, in pairs/groups find the route from one to the other
Sentences with missing words and a selection of given words to fit in
Questions with alternative answers posted around the walls and students go to the answer they think is correct and explain why (could give 10 seconds to reconsider)
‘ Odd one out’ – in pairs/groups choose odd one out and explain why
From lesson objective write 3 true and 3 false statements, give them to your partner to sort out (could follow up with large paper at front)
Give the solution to a problem cut into strips, pairs/groups to put into correct order/sequence
Give the solution to a problem that students have to improve (eg graph, data collection, collecting like terms)
‘ Same or different?’ – give group of shapes/expressions/graphs and students identify what is the same and what is different about them
Give students groups of shapes/expressions/graphs etc and students sort into 2 groups/3 groups according to their own classifications (you could give the number items in each group)
Consolidation of key ideas through repetition of structured sentences as a class
Selecting the information required to solve a problem (words, pictorially or numbers)
Web diagram with false information – students have to select the correct information
If the aim of the lesson was set as a question… Pupils answer questions on whiteboards – with word limit for sentence to provide extra challenge
Set ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ questions for your neighbour or other groups
In role answering – hot seating activity

Original source: http://www.ks3bradford.co.uk