What is Closure?
Closure activities are the culminating event that ends your class and the day’s lesson. Many closure activities are beneficial to
- Check students’ understanding
- Emphasize a learning outcome
- Wrap up a lesson
- Correct misunderstandings
- Guide instruction
- Tie up any loose ends
Closure activities can be used to really focus and emphasize what was taught. Also, closure activities can help students get a bit more out of what they learned while allowing teachers to check for understanding.
Closure activities are not only for teacher’s benefit. They can also be helpful to students by helping them
- Summarize material
- Focus on a concept
- Demonstrate what they have learned
- Internalize key information, grammar, vocabulary, and terms
- Link information to prior knowledge
Can there really be interesting closure activities in the classroom?
The simple answer is yes. Here are a few examples of closure activities for the language classroom.
Gallery Walk
Hang one large sheet of butcher paper for each group of students. Have the group work together to write, draw or summarize what they learned in class. Then give every student some Post-it notes and have them circulate and look at the work. Students can use the Post-its to write a question for deeper thought, extend the idea by adding something the group left out, or write words of praise or a compliment to the group like “excellent summary” or “Great job including___.”
Google Forms
Create a “quiz” on a Google form and set to test mode. Once students take the quiz they will get instant feedback on the material. The teacher will also have this information in order to guide instruction and plan a better lesson for the next day.
Quick Card Activity
Laminate cards in green, yellow, and red. On the way out the door, students will hand you one of these cards. Red means STOP! I am confused and can’t go on. Yellow means I need it slowed down I somewhat understand. Green means I got this let’s keep going. An alternative to this is to keep the cards on the corner of every student’s desk. They can flip through the cards during instruction so you can see how they are feeling during the activity.
You can also do this activity during the class. Read how to do this here.
Exit Tickets
Exit Tickets are tried and true ways to end a class. These “tickets” can be premade with the essential question of the day or the outcomes prepared for students. They can even be a blank sheet of paper. If you don’t have prep time, it is easy to use the blank paper method. Have students write their name, summary of the lesson and any lingering questions on a sheet of paper and turn it into you. Students can also write on the “ticket” I got it! More Practice Please! or I need it all repeated.
Elevator Pitch
Have students summarize to a partner what they learned in class in 60 seconds.
Act It Out
Students have to dramatize the lesson by acting it out or act out the real-life application of the skill.
Beat the Clock
Pose the question to the class and give students 60 seconds to confer the answer with a group of peers. Then randomly select a student to answer the question.
You are Stuck Here Until…
Students work in partners or small groups. One student fingerspells a vocabulary word and the partner must tell the parameters of the sign. Students must sign their word to you on their way out the door.
What Am I?
Use riddles to solicit vocabulary words from students. This works well for animals and sports terminology. Students can even create their own riddle to ask a partner.
I Care Why?
Students write the relevancy of what they learned and connect it to their own life. Students should write down how a concept relates to their own lives and how they might use it.
Mix it Up and Tweak It
Additionally, all the activities can be used individually. However, they also work as blended activities or altered to fit your needs.
Start wrapping up your class with one or more of these fun activities today
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