Strategies for Starting/Ending Class

Starting Class

1. Have students ask a question they have about the previous class presentation. 
2. Have students write a question about the day's reading assignment. 
3. Have students describe a problem they have in understanding course material.
4. Have students reflect on previous learning—by summarizing main ideas or citing a single specific example from previous presentation or the day's reading assignment. 
5. Have students prepare for today's class by describing what they already know about the topic. Give students a key word from the day's presentation and ask them to write down everything they know about it—or everything they don't understand about the concept. 
6. Have students write a brief outline of the reading assignment. 
7. Have students write what they expect to learn from the day's class. Pose a problem based on the reading assignment or previous class presentation and have students propose a solution.

Ending Class

1. Have students define what was most important about what they learned in class that day. 
2. Have students describe how they could make use of something they learned in class that day. 
3. Have students describe how the day's material is connected to the previous period's material. 
4. Have students describe how the day's material is connected to the reading assignment. 
5. Ask students to briefly summarize the day's presentation.
6. Ask students to briefly outline the day's presentation. 
7. Ask students to devise an exam question or a writing assignment based on the day's material. 
8. Have students describe what they still don't understand about the day's material. May also be used as a pause procedure during the class (pause procedures interrupt formal presentation to re-focus student attention, enhance retention).

Diane Boehm, Writing Center Director Emeritus, Saginaw Valley State University