Are you looking for a way to have better classroom management, create routine for students, AND help them become better readers and writers? BEHOLD – THE POWER OF (THE RIGHT KIND OF ) BELL RINGERS FOR HIGH SCHOOL!
I struggled with how to structure my classes for YEARS until I finally uncovered that using bell ringers for high school classes is a GAME CHANGER. Thanks to a particularly “passionate” (so-wild-they-made-me-reconsider-my-entire-existence) group of students, I discovered the magical power of bell ringers and their ability to transform silly into scholarly.
If you still aren’t fully convinced, take a look at why you absolutely NEED bell ringers for high school students…then check out some of my favorite tips and tricks for making them work for your students!
The top 5 Reasons Why You NEED Bell Ringers for your High School Classroom
- The gift of time – who doesn’t need 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class to take attendance, gather your supplies, take a deep breath, get your life together!?
- Bell ringers make the structure of the class flow naturally. Using a good warm up activity activates a student’s brain, introduces the topic of the day, and most importantly – gets them excited to learn!
- Students often need a refresher/review from what happened yesterday – or last week! If we jump right into a lesson, students are left playing catch up the entire class. Using a bell ringer to activate that prior knowledge – or the lesson from yesterday – is a great way to keep your class on task and up to speed.
- They can be used for secret/under-cover test prep! The best test scores that I’ve ever received came after I used (the right kind of) bell-ringers! Students can only digest so much at one time. By having students complete just one test-prep type question a day, they can fully dissect what is being asked of them, see how you would answer it, and gain confidence in their analytical skills.
- You can focus on soft skills or skills that do not necessarily need an entire class period devoted to them! I’ve been able to review commonly misused words (cause vs. because) and how to use a semicolon to avoid run-ons. Neither one of these lessons needed a full-out class period devoted to them, but using an easy breezy 5 minute warm up on the topics drastically cut down on my grading time when I wasn’t having to fix every single misuse of “cause.”
Now here’s the thing – we ALL KNOW that not all bell-ringers are created equal. If you’ve ever crashed and burned with bell ringers that make students cry rather than run to class, I FEEL YOU SISTER! I spent YEARS trying to figure out the perfect blend of learning and fun. After many trial-and-error episodes that I’m not very proud of, I finally found some key staples of bell-ringers that make them useful, engaging, AND practical.
MODELING IS KEY!
After being frustrated that my students weren’t completing bell ringers to my liking, I realized that it was simply because they didn’t know what was expected of them. I ended up realizing that students NEED at least 2 weeks of modeling for it to work the right way. I literally start by practicing/showing them how to grab the warm-up from the table (or log on to find the warm up in its given location on Google Classroom/Canvas). Then, I’ll use my doc cam to think out-loud, mark up a text, annotate, etc. Students will start copying down what I’m doing. This is totally okay – it’s the first step toward real, authentic learning! Over time, I gradually release the reins…I’ll even let a student come up to the document camera and model how they think through a task. Even though it’s a sacrifice of your time at the beginning, it makes the entire bell-ringer process work like a well-oiled machine when you can count on students to do the work that you once had to model. I always take a few minutes to go over the questions/tasks on the bell-ringer after 5-10 minutes, too. This way, students who are struggling or who may not feel comfortable asking a question can get their questions answered or check their answers.
Theme those days, sis!
- Have you ever noticed how Instagram has theme days like throwback Thursday, man crush Monday, or my personal favorite – CATurday? If it works for Instagram, it can work for you, too! I always theme my days so that my students not only stay consistent/see patterns, but it also makes it SO MUCH EASIER on me when I stick to a few key themes. Here are a few that I’ve used in the past:
- Make it relevant Monday – Informational text from a current event/hot topic
- Tackle Poetry Tuesday – a poem, or an excerpt from a poem with a few analysis questions
- Work on Writing Wednesday – A grammar lesson, a commonly misused word practice, practice on writing topic sentences, etc.
- Think about it Thursday – short creative writing prompts, an excerpt from the literature that pushes them to use a critical lens, etc.
- Find out about it Friday – A video + reflection on topics that they wonder about (blood types, the history of vampires, how a tsunami works – the crazier the better!)
My favorite sites/sources for creating bell-ringer theme materials are:
- 182 Questions to write or talk about from the NY Times
- Articles about Current Innovations from The Smithsonian Magazine
- Grammar Instruction with Attitude
- 1,000 Writing Prompts for Students
- TED-Ed YouTube Channel
Make it Personal
Bell ringers for high school students are great ways to learn more about your students and build those relationships. I like to dedicate one day out of the week for students to do a bell-ringer that lets me learn more about them. We all know that building relationships is the core of a successful classroom experience. Use your warm ups to have students write short, personal narratives or even try to persuade you into trying their favorite snack. It’s so much fun to learn about my students while they practice some important writing skills.
My favorite sites/sources for creating writing prompts that get students writing about themselves:
Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone/curriculum
I found that students are more engaged in the bell ringer when it’s something that they aren’t expecting! I’ve actually learned SO MUCH myself when I’ve reached out to my friends who teach science or history to hear more about their curriculum list. When I use topics found in other classes, it not only reinforces what students are learning across the curriculum, but it also offers a break from the monotony! I’ve used some really cool scientific topics to teach skills such as using textual evidence, providing an evidence based argument, locating central ideas, and more! I’ve also found that World History is a great tie-in for many literary topics! I’ve used everything from The Holocaust to how the electoral college works as topics of focus for my bell-ringers.
My favorite sites/sources for creating warm-ups outside of my curriculum:
But what about grading!?
Listen, as far as grading goes – I am NOT one to add on to the never-ending stack. I make bell ringers work for me by using them as a quick way to practice skills or hook kids into a lesson. I do a visual/audible assessment and use that data to inform my teaching. During non-COVID school years, I have my students keep a notebook where they glue in their warm-ups each day. When we’re on a hybrid or fully remote learning model, I place all of my bell-ringers into a Google slides presentation where students can “share” their work with me. If you have a group of students that are consistently not doing their bell-ringer, or they’re not being active participants, I love to do a surprise bell-ringer grade! I’ll collect their notebook, or Google slide presentation, and just choose ONE thing to grade. The trick is – I don’t tell them which warm-up that I’m grading. (Insert the evil laughter here!)
Keep in mind that bell-ringers work best when you consistently do them every.single.day. If you skip a day, students start to not see value in them and ultimately, the classroom management help goes out the window. When I’ve HAD to skip a day for conferences, absences, etc. my students actually ask me where the bell-ringer is! I love that they love the routine, and I’ve been able to see excellent growth in literacy skills (even on standardized tests) just by implementing this simple, 5-10 minute strategy with bell ringers for high school students!
I’d love to know how you start your classes and if you use bell ringers of your own. Drop me a note and give me alllll the details on how you implement them in your class. You can also find more tips on how I trick my students into learning/practicing literacy skills here!
