Lesson Hooks
Lesson Hooks
Ive taken a little time and tried to gather some ideas for lesson hooks. The
purpose of a hook is to
help students frame their thinking and focus on the concept at hand. Some of the things
below are things Ive observed and some are from the internet. Some are obviously
better for some subjects than others, and some may be redundant, but I hope this
saves you a little time. Ill keep looking and adding as I get time. Let me know how
I can help and I will.
Show & Tell: Use a prop from a story students are about to read. Use a
plant, leaf, water, etc. in science; an abacus in math; a prop in history.
Story. Tell a quick and engaging story that goes directly to the material. An example
would be the introduction of a long division problem with a story about kids staying at
home without their parents. The long division sign would be the house, and the kids
would huddle at the door as numbers knock from the position of the divisor. The
important moment (whether to open the door) turns on the rules of divisibility.
Prop. An example could be a jacket like the main character in the story might have worn.
Or a globe and flashlight to show the earth's rotation.
Status. Describe something great: Use great work by a student, or give reasons a famous
author is highly regarded. Have students close their eyes as you describe a scene or event
from history; read a passage with descriptive adjectives, adverbs; a description of a
planet, etc.
Challenge. Offer students a very challenging task and let them try to solve it. An
example would be when a teacher asked students what a complete sentence was. The
teacher gave the students five words to use for making a complete sentence. The students
couldn't make a sentence. So, the teacher asked the class what was missing? The answer
was a missing subject. This surprise of the unsolvable riddle hooked the students for the
remaining hour of the class.
Place objects in a brown bag. Have students reach in and make observations
about the contents of the bag (similarities, differences). This can also be used for
students to pull out a strip of paper that gives them or their group a task to
complete.
Gallery Walk: Using images or objects, students move from station to station
making observations. The goal is for students to come to a conclusion about the
objects/images that is related to a particular concept.
Survey: Survey your students by asking questions and having them step to a
side or corner of the room that represents their response.
Prediction: Present a scenario and have students make a prediction (great for
probability, statistics and data analysis).
Stumped: Create a scenario where someone is stumped and the students must
figure out a solution independently or in groups.
Song: Play a song as the students enter the room. Leave it on during the warmup. Ask students how the song might be related to a given concept. Let them
share their ideas before you explain your purpose for doing it.
News: Bring in a newspaper article or online news clip that addresses an area of
interest or importance to your students.
Skit/Dress-Up: Give students roles and have them act out a skit. Or, you can
come in dressed for a given role. It can be as simple has wearing a sports jersey if
youre writing algebraic equations on a person buying a $75 ticket and x number
of hot dogs at a game.
Ask a Question
Description: In order to get your students engaged in an upcoming lesson, ask
them a question that will interest them and activate prior knowledge.
Example: Ask students to recall their favorite movie or favorite story from earlier in
the year. Ask students to recall who the story is mostly about and use this as an
opening to introduce main character.
Tell a story
Description: In order to highlight a concept, a teacher can choose to tell a story
that is closely related to the concept.
Example: For instance, in order to demonstrate the skill of sequencing, a teacher
can give a humorous example of her day out of order, and ask students to reorder the
story in the correct order.
Use a visual
Description: Teachers can use visual aides to encourage students to better connect
to new concepts.
Example: A teacher could tell students that they have thirty seconds to remember
everything they can about a painting. After the thirty seconds, the teacher will
remove the painting and ask students to recall all they can about the painting. The
teacher will solicit ideas and use this to introduce distinguishing between main idea
and supporting details.
Graphic Organizer
Description: In order to prepare students for the lesson a teacher could ask
student to use a graphic organizer to generate thoughts closely related to the
learning objective.
Examples: The teacher could ask students to generate statements that they are
certain are true and those that they are not certain about, recording statements in a
T-Cart, prior to engaging in a lesson on fact and opinion.
Resource:
http://teachingasleadership.org/sites/default/files/How_To/PP/P3/p3_opening.pdf
Make a prediction
Description: Students have real-life context around a variety of skills they are
required to learn in the upper elementary grades. Tapping into their real-life
knowledge and asking them to make predictions using what they know can be an
effective strategy in order to build new knowledge.
Example: Prior to teaching a lesson on measurement, have students make
predictions about the size of objects that are familiar to them.
Tell a joke
Description: Using humor is a sure way to engage your students. Telling an initial
joke & then probing students or explaining to students why the joke is humorous can
be a fun way to introduce a lesson
Example: To teach homonyms, tell the following joke (use a whisper for the ponys
voice):
A pony walks into a restaurant and says to the waiter excuse me sir, can I
order a
soda? The waiter responds excuse me, but I cant hear you! The pony
then says
Im sorry but Im a little hoarse.
Resources:
http://www.math.ualberta.ca/~runde/jokes.html - these are advanced for the
upper elementary classroom, but may prompt your creative side or give you ideas
on how to format jokes.
Brain-storm
Description: Your students possess a great deal of contextual knowledge around a
variety of topics and issues related to classroom content. Tapping into this prior to
teaching a new concept may be an effective method for setting the stage for new
learning.
Example: Prior to introducing a science lesson on recycling, ask students to
brainstorm a list of what happens to things that they dont recycle.
Give a scenario
Description: In order to highlight the major learning of a particular lesson, give
students a scenario which requires them to draw conclusions around the major
learning objective.
Example: Prior to teaching students to make inferences or draw conclusions, the
teacher could present students with the following scenario:
A man walks out of a bank wearing a black ski mask
The teacher would then prompt students to think through some possible
conclusions.
Present a challenge/riddle
Description: Prior to introducing a new concept, give students a challenge or
problem to solve. Using inquiry can engage students and motivate them to learn.
Act it out
Description: ask your students to act out something in order to highlight a
learning objective.
Example: To teach students to classify living organisms as vertebrates or
invertebrates, give several students an organism to act out. After the class guesses
the organism write the name of the organism on the board, making sure to list
vertebrates in one column and invertebrates in the other. Use this to prompt a
discussion regarding the differences between the two groups.
Scavenger Hunt
Description: Present student with clues about the learning objective they will be
taking on for the day.
Example: In order to teach students to measure with appropriate units,