Creating Engaging Lessons

Effective teachers plan ahead. If done well,  they plan ahead to create lessons that are engaging while meaningful. This year I have really focused my time on thinking through exciting “hooks” or “anticipation sets” that will get students eager to dive into the material in  the "primetime" of the lesson. 

I'm going to be real... For me at this point in my teacher development, getting students to get started on that Do Now is largely about getting kids to get seated and settled while I get my life together and monitor that entry. BUT it is and should be so much more than that. It's really about what's going to get students authentically engaged in the lesson of that day. 

Here’s a sampling of some questions I’ve used thus far this year:

"Talk about a recent frustration that you've had - why were you frustrated and what would you do differently if you could do it over again?" 

“What’s more important – happiness or material wealth?”

“When you think of a caveman – what types of images come to mind? (I.e. are cavemen smart? Are they athletic? - this was for a lesson on the paleolithic age)

“What is your ideal job?”

“In the United States we commonly believe that we are “civilized.” Are we civilized? How do you know? Explain using evidence. 

“Given your knowledge of history and our current situation – from high unemployment and fears of terrorism at home to the comforts of technologies such as smart phones and hybrid cars – do you believe that we are better off or worse off as human beings today?

When I sit down to write a hook, I’m generally asking myself:

-          What are they key human questions in today’s content?

-          What do kids care about?

-          How can I generate a question that is relevant to the day’s content – but accessible enough for students?

-          If this week’s content was a #hashtag, what would that hashtag be? Can I refer back to that hashtag so that when kids think of their content, they relate it to that week’s hashtag?

Another big question is – what to do when your hook doesn’t work so well. Or when kids push back on that question or it turns into a much bigger conversation than you had anticipated...  I'll try to address that in another post... But here's the short version of the answer - if the "hook question" is authentically good and speaks to students lives, students will let you know right off the bat. Tomorrow's always another day to implement the very real feedback that students will give you about the work you're doing.