Closing a Lesson

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE, AND LINE UP!!...WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!!!!"

This was the story of my life, until my principal started popping in my room to make sure I was closing each my lessons properly. :)

My school district started implementing Fundamental Five strategies from Lead Your School a couple years ago.  One strategy is to end each lesson with a product.  A product is similar to an exit ticket, as they are both done at the end of a lesson, and they both give teachers instant feedback.

During a lesson, the product is displayed next to the objective where the students can see it.  A product requires a student to recap what they learned, and it can be as simple as a student turning and sharing with a partner.  It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to complete, and it's done by every student.

Here are some lovely pictures of my objectives and products.  I must have been in a hurry when writing these.  My handwriting looks awful!  These are the only pictures I have on my phone to share...I promise ugly handwriting is not a daily occurrence! :)

The objectives are on the left side, and the products are on the right side.   The objective is introduced as a "we will statement,"  and the product is read as an "I will" statement.  

Here is one example of a product my students completed for a measurement lesson last year.  Sorry again for the bad pictures!  The objective has a few too many words...oops!! 

My kids love writing their products on sticky notes, and they love hanging them up with tape on the board!  It's their "ticket" to specials, lunch, or recess.  Sticky notes on the board also gives me quick feedback on who understood the lesson.  When I have students do their products orally, I just walk around and listen.

Writing my products on the board (and actually following through with them everyday) helps make my lessons more meaningful.  I think products give purpose to a lesson, and they also help students retain the information they learned.  My kids actually enjoy ending our lessons with a product.  They even remind me to do them when I forget. :)  (I may have told my kids the principal reads their products everyday after school...2nd graders are always so fascinated by their principal!)

I'm definitely not perfect.  I still have the occasional panic closings...but those are much less frequent now!