“Do it now” tasks. Fast prompts. Sentence starters. Mini quizzes. Settling task… call them what you will, these activities benefit from; routine (the development of habit), minimal direction from the teacher (who is probably getting the register taken), relatively short duration (3-5 minutes).
In addition to Doug Lemov’s outline, I would encourage retrieval practice or showcasing prior knowledge, as a teacher, meet, greet and use entry to the classroom as a clear signal of transition. One or two other teacher / bloggers have suggested that the “Do it now task” should provide an opportunity for all students to be successful at the start of the lesson, that it should be should be possible for the students to peer or self assess their responses, that learning from the “Do it now task” should flow into the next activity. All reasonable assertions from employing “Do it now” tasks as a routined start to the lesson. From experience, routine, students taking responsibility for their learning, setting a climate of students “at silent individual, focused work” enables the lesson that follows to begin in earnest and with an attentive focus. Working on the transition from “Do it now” to lesson is no less important, than the quality of the “Do it now” task itself.
There are many “Do it now” tasks to choose from; image prompts (including image reveals, sorting, listing, labelling, odd-one-out, memorisation, highlighting… stick to Lemov’s outline and you can not go far wrong.
This morning @fod3 asked:
Anyone have a good picture stimulus for an imaginative writing piece about Secrets? @Team_English1
— Freya (@fod3) July 24, 2018
In less than 60s, you could create one, or even two, “Do it now” image prompts using Adobe Spark.
Two examples, one with a thinking prompt or potential success criteria (possibly connected to the previous lesson, or the lesson) and one without, both created in less than 60s.
Also, there is https://visualwritingprompts.wordpress.com/ – if you are in a pinch.
Updated 17/04/2024
Six years on from this post, I foresee AI being able to create such prompts for teachers.