Warming up (revisited)

I was really good about starting most classes (excluding quiz days, normally) with a warm up problem or two. I loved how it got the kids working immediately, gave me time to get my stuff together for class, and even gave me a few minutes to check homework (if I was going to).

And, most importantly, I think a lot of learning happened through those warm ups. Sometimes it was from kids asking each other for help, sometimes it was prompting them to think about a problem a different way, sometimes it was extending their thinking on a problem. Sometimes I reviewed a topic we hadn't seen in a while, sometimes I gave a question as a preview of things to come.

When it appeared that most were done, I'd take a few minutes to talk through (or have students talk through) the answer. This could take up to 15 minutes in class total.

In one of my evaluations a mention was made by my principal about setting a timer; it's something I always considered doing but didn't want to push kids through the problem without giving them a chance to think. And yet it would help with the dawdlers who I constantly had to tell to get working.

I gave the kids a new warm up sheet every two weeks; it has 10 blank spots on it, so after those two weeks were up I would collect the sheet and give them a completion score. One point per day that we had a warm up. So basically, not a big deal unless you didn't turn in the sheets a few times.

I've toyed with the idea of having the kids leave their warm ups in the table folders with the idea that I would periodically check them. I haven't figured out why that isn't a good idea yet. Aside from not making the kids responsible for a paper for 10 days in a row. 

So here's my question...
Do you do warm ups in class? If so, how do you work it? Do you set a timer? Do you grade them? Do you have a better way of doing warm ups?


Sorry, that's more than one question. But all feedback is appreciated! 

Comments

  1. Hi Kristen! Up to now I've done more or less daily warm-ups using the same general process as you. I grade them similar to homework, they did it, or didn't, and made any corrections in red ink so I could see that they hopefully could better review and learn from mistakes. The last year and a half I've had them do them in the dreaded college blue books. I did that so I could collect periodically and evaluate, but also because it gave plenty of room for the times I wanted to ask a reflection question for a warm-up. I like the blue book piece, but need to evaluate the what I give as warm-up piece.

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  2. I don't do traditional "warm-ups" but I do give instructions, including an intro task, on my opening slide. But the thing I wanted to mention to you is that on my slide, I always place a little QuickTime movie that is a Countdown Timer of whatever length I want to use. When the kids see the countdown timer rolling on the screen, it creates that wonderful sense of urgency but without making anybody feel rushed.

    At TMC, I can share my little movies I found and adapted.

    - Elizabeth (@cheesemonkeysf)

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  3. Since we are a Marzano school we have an emphasis on using warm-ups each day in every classroom. Last year I made them turn them in which created a little bit of accountability, but student's weren't use to the getting into the room and working. I would have them do the whole week and turn it in on Friday.

    I didn't set a timer, but I would say you have 5 minutes, which I looked at the clock and kept pretty good time of myself.

    This year I plan on not grading them, we will go over them in class so what is the purpose of grading them? I also plan on including a prior knowledge question from the previous day and an ACT Prep problem to get the juniors ready for the ACT. I may still have them turn it in, but just not grade them.

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  4. I do warm ups every day and set a timer. For my AP class, I'm not strict about the time (they're working, sometimes it takes longer) or the checking. For my other classes, I set a timer and also give a 30 second warning--its 2-5 minutes overall. Otherwise, they take 5 minutes getting prepared to do their work and class takes much longer to get started. I have a roster on my clipboard and just check it off, then once I fill up a sheet enter a single grade. It amounts to almost nothing but I like the accountability and it gives me another quick chance to see where my students are at, common mistakes, unclear work, etc.

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