Bellringers
Bellringers, warmups or class starters…no matter what you call them they can be a great asset to starting the class. There are always a million things to do at the start of a class period. Attendance, answering student questions, managing tardies, getting papers ready. Somedays the tasks are endless. So I want to share with you some bellringers for the ASL classroom that are easy to implement, require no grading, and engage students.
Music
If you have a talent for making daily themes, you can call this music Mondays. There are many things you can do with music, however, I think this activity is engaging to the visual learner and works well for the shy learner. This music activity does not require students to perform a song. It is a receptive activity.
To prep for this activity, you need to create a worksheet with images from the song. For instance, hearts for love songs, trees for preservation, a scene that is used in the song. Anything that can connect an image to the meaning of what is being signed. Then add images that are not part of the song like a broken heart, a plowed forest, or something not related to the imagery of the song. Then show a music video. I try to make sure students can’t see the title in case they know the song. Students check off images they see from the song. You can go further with this by asking them to title the song or write next to the image what that part of the song was about. Make sure you are playing the song with no music. Mute the video.
After you can make this into a discussion by asking about their responses.
Art or Drawing
Drawing can be therapeutic especially if students know this won’t be collected or graded. It also engages our artistic students. Show a video clip. It can be of you signing or something found on the Internet or textbook. Have students draw as much detail about the information as they can.
Another idea is to use a funny picture. I like to use those awkward family photos found online or on greeting cards. Show a video of you describing the photo then have students draw it. After, show them the original picture. It always gets a good laugh.
Make Corrections
Show a video of a short chunk of information with errors in the information. Have students pick out where the errors were and how to correct it. You can discuss this or actually have students record the accurate information and score it.
Open-ended Questions
Use the opening time in class to have students ask questions to each other. This is a great spontaneous activity. Keep in mind some students struggle with this task so you can use this idea as a game using cubes with a WH question prompt or would you rather type of questions. After, ask students what they learned about others.
Guess Who?
Make a video describing students in class or describe famous people and see if students can guess who you are talking about. This is a great time to show students what you think about them and get bonus points for using favorable descriptions of each student. The students think this is fun. They love to see what you have to say about everyone.
Finish A Story
Start a story and have students finish it. You can give one sentence to start the story then have students finish the story. You can also have students write a sentence and then pass the paper to have other students add to the story. Pass the paper 6 – 8 times and then pick 2 – 3 students to share their story that was created or students can record the story. Sharing the story in small groups is always a good option too.
Giving Credit for Participation
I know there are ways of keeping points electronically, however, I find that it is easier to use a quick check off method with old school paper. You can do this on your seating chart, a checkmark on the roster sheet or a paper you collect every week or two.
Keep a Quick Way to Call on Students
I like to use index cards to call on kids randomly every day. You can use popsicle sticks or a deck of cards with student’s faces on them to choose who will share out each day. This holds students accountable and on their toes.
I can’t wait to hear how these activities work out for you.
