Teaching and Learning Handbook (A Best Practice Guide)

Starting and Ending Sessions

The first and last five minutes of a teaching session should be productive. It is important to start promptly as it sets the tone of the learning.

STARTING A SESSION

Student behaviour on arrival:

Make the students aware of the importance of arriving on time.
Never ignore late arrivals.
Devise a set procedure for students to follow when arriving at the session (e.g. get pen and paper ready, switch off mobile phone etc….)
Have a clear procedure for students arriving late) e.g. apologise and explain lateness).
Involve students who arrive late in class activities as quickly as possible.

Starting activities should:

Examples of starting activities include:

Kinaesthetic re-cap exercise, such as sorting cards into order or jigsaw type exercise.
Creating a mind map of the content of the last session.
Making a list of things they remember from last session.
A quick multiple choice worksheet.
If in a computer room – an interactive quiz.
Demonstration /recapping of practical session.

ENDING A SESION

Activities at the end of a session should:

Be built into the structure of the sessions and allow time for review.
Review the learning objectives with the students.
Review the learning process with the students (e.g. how did they find a particular exercise?)
Have a short exercise for students to reflect on what they have learned in the session.
Maintain learner focus until end of session.

Examples of activities to use at the end of a class include:

Getting students to share two things they have learned from the session.
Getting students to reflect on one activity or concept they found easy and one they found hard.
Getting students to confirm what work they need to do before the next session.
Quick-fire Q&A exercise.