Hooks, starters and plenaries: How can you use these in your lessons?
Visual maps: Concepts,
images, photographs about
the topic presented on
students’ desk to inspire
independent thought.
Art Strategies:
Hot seating: teacher enters as
a character and students ask
questions about that
character/period/topic.
Role play: Between students,
between student/teacher.
Still image: In pairs, create 3
still images to represent last
lesson’s learning.
Thunks: www.thunks.co.uk Student to lead the starter
based on research:
Put a thunk on the board to
get students thinking the
Students are given specific
improbable! e.g. Can people topics to introduce either as a
cry underwater?
game or speech – great for
G&Ts
Spot the Mistake: Between Information link: Present
extracts for spelling
disparate pieces of
mistakes, concept errors or
information about a topic on
wrong annotations.
the board – students have to
link them together through
creative and inspired thinking!
2 Stars and a wish labels:
Students to summarise what they
have learnt and what they still need
to work on for themselves or each
other.
Key question to the lesson:
Students to write a key question for
the lesson at the end of the lesson.
‘Tweet’ the lesson: Useful when
students have to summarise a topic
or opinion in a limited number of
characters.
Hooks, starters and plenaries: How can you use these in your lessons?
What am I? 3 students to leave
the room. Assign a fraction,
quotation, chemical equation to
each of the three students. The
rest of the class stands. The 3
students are allowed to ask
closed questions to any class
member to guess what they
could be. After answering, ‘yes’
or ‘no’ they can sit down.
A4L: Before completing an
assessed piece of work, students
can grade/scrutinise previous
assessments.
Line of contingency: Put different
opinions around the room. Students
have to justify their position in the room
and negotiate their place in the line with
other students.
Odd one out: Show four
words/objects – students
need to explain why one is
odd. They could create their
own for plenary.
Learning buddies: Teacher Advertise the lesson: Create a 10
arranges learning buddies for second advert about the lesson.
pairs and they set each other
targets to achieve that lesson.
Speech/Music playing as
students enter room: Students
create a title for this stimulus and
explain it or draw what they think
the learning will be about based
on the choice of music.
The question is the answer: Put
answers on the IWB – students
are to come up with higher order
questions for the answer
Storyboard the important aspects of
the lesson:
Who said what? Use key people from
lesson and provide students with a
quote. They must work out who said it to
whom, or they can make up
quotes/questions for the people based
on their studies.
Hooks, starters and plenaries: How can you use these in your lessons?
Anonymous text from a
book:
Students need to think about
a possible name/origin/
author/background.
Keyword bingo: display
terms on IWB. Start with
difficult clues to word and
reveal more information as
you go. Or display all
important words from an
excerpt that students must be
able to explain by the end of
the lesson.
Secret bag game: Have an Revision on white boards
used as flashcards:
object in a paper bag
(creates more intrigue than a Students use the white boards
plastic bag). Students to
as flashcards for revision
describe whilst the other
starter or students use these
students guess what the
to vote
lesson is about.
Pictionary Key Question:
Music and Key Question:
Draw the key question for
Play calming music for
students to decipher. E.g.
students to reflect on their
‘which’ would be ‘witch’.
learning from the previous
lesson and how it may link to
the key question for that
lesson
News Flash!: Concentrate their
knowledge into a news headline or
news flash:
30 second talk on a subject:
‘Experts’ have 30 seconds to talk
about what they have learnt.
Send a postcard: Students have to
summarise the lesson and draw a
picture to inform a friend
Hooks, starters and plenaries: How can you use these in your lessons?
Post it fun: Students to write
down three things from last
lesson or answer a question
and stick their answer on the
board.
Silhouetted figure: Display a
figure with a big question
mark. Leave clues to identity,
students are to research to
work out who the person is.
Taboo: Each student gets a Register question: Students
card with a taboo topic and 3 answer a question instead of
words relating to that topic.
‘yes miss!’ or ‘yes sir!’
They have to describe the
topic but cannot say
particular words.
Diamond Nine: Works like a
prioritising card sort –
students have to justify why
they have organised cards in
a certain way according to
criteria or a question.
Role Play: Students are to act out
their interpretation of the lesson/key
points in the lesson – helps
students to remember the
sequence of events
Hot seating: Can be an eye
witness to an event/historical
figure/student talking about the
lesson.
Graphs: Use the information in the
lesson to plot change. These can
get more complicated depending on
KS. Students have to justify their
decisions – encourages class
debate and discussion.