Since I started teaching, I’ve always had a bellringer to start class. The format has changed through the years. A lot! When I first started, I would post practice test questions and students would answer on little slips of paper they grabbed as they came in. As technology advanced, I’ve had a similar format and used clickers for students to answer. I’ve used pre-made question pages that they attached in a notebook or that I graded as a mini-quiz. Really what matters is that my students have always had something to do when they came in.
Except one year. I got lazy about 2 months in and got tired of trying to come up with things to do and then I just didn’t get back on track.
It was a HUGE mistake. It wasn’t just the lack of practice that was missing; it was also the inconsistency when students came in to my classroom.
I know, it is like Teaching 101 to have a routine for when students come in to your classroom. I sort of did, they got their notebooks and had a seat. However, without something for the students to start on without me, it was hard to get them on track. I was also missing the connections to previous learning that I can use bellringers for. They were missing that transition from whatever class they came from to my science class. I did NOT like how things were going and I realized what the problem was. I went ahead and fixed it about mid-March; you can imagine how easy that was. But, I was glad I did.
My bellringers give students that chance to start transitioning to what we are currently learning in class. Having those questions as part of a consistent routine also helps them because they know what to expect. A bellringer or warm-up activity also gives me a chance to take attendance and check my email while they work. Honestly, the format doesn’t matter. It just matters that they have something to do that relates to what we are learning. Bellringers are also a great chance to start spiraling previous content back in.
Bellringers also serve another important function; retrieval practice. Giving those daily questions over the content gets the students practicing with the information they learned previously. They have to start pulling that information back out of their brains and applying it to new questions again. This practice in retrieving information has been shown to boost learning. There are lots of ways to use retrieval practice to help improve learning; flashcards, practice questions, quizzes, or even writing prompts. What is important is that students are having to access that information and use it.
I don’t take bellringers for a grade most of the time. I do check for completion and have used it as a participation grade. I don’t think the grade is always the most important thing, but that is a discussion for another time 🙂
One of my goals this year was to have some pre-made bellringers that I would have available when I needed them. Some take a bit more time than others, but I’m ok with that. I’m still working on them; I want to include more spiraling than I currently have, so keep an eye out for updated versions. I have them available for free on my TpT page and on this site. You can find my Intro to Cells Bellringers and my Protein Synthesis Bellringers. Keep an eye our for more to come!
