Monday, November 14, 2011

Anticipatory Set and Closure


Anticipatory Set
The anticipatory set is in the opening of the lesson and provides the hook to motivate students to be interested in the lesson. It can also focus students attention on a specific topic, provide a connection to a past topic, and provide a preview for what the lesson is going to be about.  
The anticipatory set can also provide priming for the lesson. Priming is important because it “accelerates the understanding of concepts and gives the brain information to build into a more complex semantic structure or hierarchy later on.” (Jensen, 2005). Examples of an anticipatory set include provocative questions, review of the previous lesson, a story, or an intriguing statement or fact.
Jensen, Eric (2005) Teaching with the Brain and Mind ASCD: Danvers, MA
Closure
Closure is the last activity done in the class. As such, it helps organize student learning by letting them know that they have arrived at the end of the lesson. One of the main ideas behind closure is that it will bring the lesson into a coherent picture for students in order to eliminate confusion or frustration with the lesson. A good closure activity will often summarize the main ideas of the lesson to let students know what they have learned or should have learned from the lesson. Another goal of a closure activity is to help tie the current lesson with the next lesson if possible. In order to do this, let students know what key information from the current lesson they will be able to use in the next lesson.
Not only is closure helpful for students but it is also vital for the teacher. A good closure activity will tell the teacher if additional practice is needed, if parts of the lesson need to be re-taught, or if the teacher is able to move on to the next topic. The ability to use closure as a means for adjusting the lesson is critical in education, and has become increasingly more important as the transition is being made to standards based grading and graduation because ideally every students needs to understand every topic. Examples of closure activities include a survey or exit card, asking the students what they learned, or having the students write a reflection or application.


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