Lesson 2 — Fill In Those Gaps

Introductory Activities

Some people refer to introductory activities as "sponge activities." Prolific author and teacher Madeline Hunter is generally credited with defining the term as follows: "A sponge is an activity designed to produce learning during the times taken up by administrivia" (Mora, 2002) because she believed there should never be any learning gaps for students. Certainly, the first five minutes in any classroom are very important and set the mood for the rest of the lesson. Here are a few suggestions for getting the most out of those first few minutes:

• That's Me — In an effort to get to know students, start out by asking different questions and have the students stand instead of saying, "That’s me!" Variations include having students raise an index card, Popsicle stick, or other small object. Possible questions include: Who's left-handed? Whose name starts with the 10th letter of the alphabet? Who has a birthday this month? Who has a pet? Of course, with older students, different questions can be asked, for example: Who has designed a Web site? Who has a driver's license? Who has a job?
• Scavenger Hunt — For an active group of students, you might consider a scavenger hunt. This activity should be used only when you've had a chance to carefully investigate a room beforehand. Designing a basic template that can be filled in for each class will save some time. The template can be done on a transparency so that it can be used on the overhead projector. This activity can be customized to fit the class and doesn't have to take a lot of time. For example, in a math class, you might come up with a list of 10 clues and have different groups do different numbers, or make your clues very generic. Possible questions might include, Find someone in the room who has three brothers. Identify an object that has four colors. Find someone in the room who has three pockets. Count how many red books are on the second shelf of the bookcase. Identify one item that's less than 39 cm. long.
• Describe the Object — Have several opaque bags with a different object inside each one. Give each table or group of students a different bag and have them write down as many words as they can think of that describe the item without opening the bag.
• Riddles — Post some riddles on the overhead projector or have riddles written on index cards and placed on individual tables that the students can work on. Riddles can be found in many books or online. Here's one: The more you take, the more you leave behind. (Answer: Footsteps) If you know the subject you'll be teaching, look for Web sites that are subject-specific.
• Ask Them — There are literally thousands of lists that can be generated with an introductory activity. For example: List as many teachers as you can in this school or list as many cities in this state as you can.
• Short Mysteries — Everyone loves "whodunits" and the Web provides some excellent, 1–2 minutes mysteries that can be read and then discussed among groups or as a class. The Silver Star Elementary School site offers a choice of such intriguing tales as The Case of the Missing Basketball Trophy. Again, the overhead projector is a convenient place to post a few mysteries, or several copies can be handed out while you take roll or while you have one of the students take roll.
• Journal Activity — These activities can take numerous forms. You could have students complete a sentence (e.g., If I could have one wish, it would be . . .), complete an entry on a specific topic (e.g., Write five sentences about a movie you didn't like), complete a task (e.g., Write the 12 months of the year correctly and then stand up when you are done), or answer a question (e.g., Why were these years important?).

Feel free to open up your Course Journal and jot down suggestions for future substitute teacher assignments.