By Presto Plans
I first realized the power of bell ringers years
ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class
getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give
bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer.
Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups”
or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students
complete at the beginning of class (or when the bell rings, as the name
suggests.) They jump start student learning, calm classroom chaos, reduce
uncertainty, and make transitions smoother, all the while allowing the teacher
to maximize their time and maintain their sanity.
I’m here to share the benefits of using a
bell-ringer routine in your classroom, tips and strategies to implement
them effectively, and answers to your most commonly asked questions. I'm also sharing free bell-ringers that will last you a couple months!
1) Extra time at the
beginning of class
Bell-ringers give teachers the gift of time.
In those 5-10 minutes, you can take attendance, get papers ready and/or
passed out, prepare tech, catch up with students who have been absent, or even
prepare for your next period.
2) Improved classroom routine and classroom management
As students transition from class to class, they
tend to get amped up from hallway antics. Bell-ringers improve the transition
back into the academic setting and establish a consistent routine and minimize
classroom management issues. There is a lot of uncertainty in a
teenager’s world, and though they may not admit it, students crave
predictability and routine. After the
routine is established, you’ll even find that students will get started on the
bell-ringer BEFORE the bell even rings, as they know exactly what is expected
of them.
3) A chance to practice ELA skills and assess and review standards
By using bell-ringers at the start of class, you
are taking advantage of an extra opportunity to practice the ELA skills and
meet standards you have been diligently working on throughout the year.
Bell-ringers are perfect for putting what you’ve taught to the test in a
creative, fun, low-pressure way. Given that they aren’t heavily graded on
the bell-ringers (or not at all), the pressure often associated with other tasks
is alleviated.
1. Mix up your bell-ringer each day
If you are using the same bell-ringers every
single day, students will likely grow tired of them. I like to have themed days
for each of the bell-ringers that will address a specific skill. Below are some
of the types of bell-ringers you might consider using:
- Improve word choice
- Locate figurative language
- Have a short discussion with a partner
- Watch a short video clip and write a personal response to a prompt
- Infer the meaning of new words in context
- Correct grammar errors
- Have a mini-debate with a partner
- Use a picture to spark narrative writing
I liked to use each of my year-long volumes of bell-ringers to have different activities for
each day. You can try four free weeks by clicking on the image below to see if they might work for you.
2. Give students a fun challenge
Another way to mix up your bell-ringers is to set a challenge at the start of the week and have students progressively work towards a solution on Friday. My favorite way to do this is with escape room bell-ringer challenges.
When you use an escape room bell-ringer,
students are given a back story on Monday where they find themselves in a
situation (dungeon, alien planet, military bunker, scientist study etc.). They work with their group for the first 5-10
minutes of class to progressively move through different floors, rooms,
chambers, and cells each day to solve ELA related puzzles. Their goal?
To successfully escape by the end of the week.
Want to try a bell-ringer challenge with your students? Grab a free figurative language bell-ringer activity below as a fun way to start one of your classes.
Spend the first days explaining the daily
bell-ringer activity for that day and even show them what a strong response
looks like for each different bell-ringer activity you do. Taking this time at
the beginning will get you better responses from the students as the year goes
on.
3. Set specific expectations and
procedures
From day 1, you’ll want to demonstrate exactly
how things are going to play out. Start by literally walking them through the
process of entering the classroom and retrieving their bell-ringer booklets or
binder. Once they are completed their work, you might think of getting
them to hold onto their booklets and putting them back at the end. I would recommend not doing this as typically
someone will accidentally take it home or the booklets will get destroyed
since they all are eager to leave and are throwing the booklets on the shelf
(real life teaching, right?)
That’s why I would suggest you establish a
system for collecting the bell-ringer booklets after they are done, and go
through it with them a few times to practice. You wouldn’t think something as
simple as collecting the booklets would be an issue, but having a plan makes
things run so much more smoothly.
If you use a standard classroom set up (desks in
a row or pairs):
Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot.
Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot.
If your desks are set up in groups:
Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back.
Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back.
On the first day, I practice this 2-3 times and
set a timer to see how fast they can do it (I tell them they are in competition
with the other classes). This makes it fun, but it also establishes a routine,
and set a precedent to strive for throughout the year and it makes collecting
the booklets quick and efficient.
1. Should I grade
bell-ringers? Won't that make more work for me?
Listen, the LAST thing
I want to do is add more paper to an English teachers' pile! Bell-ringers are a
type of formative assessment that do not need to be graded. They are a quick
way for students to practice and develop ELA skills. I did add a quick check
rubric on the bottom of some of my student handouts because I personally used this to
keep students accountable and motivated to complete the work to the best of
their ability. I would tell them that one week out of the month would be
graded, but they wouldn't know which week (insert evil laughter 😉). This lessened my grading, but I also liked peeking at them
monthly to see who was completing the work well and where I needed to focus my
instruction.
2. How long should you
spend on bell-ringers?
For me, bell-ringers
would typically take an about 5-10 minutes to complete. The time will vary
depending on what type of bell-ringer you are completing. Some people like a
quick 5 minute bell-ringer, others like to dive in a little deeper and spend
more time as it pertains to their lesson. If students are improving the word choice in a passage or practicing labelling figurative language, it
may only take a quick 5 minutes. However, if they are discussing an ethical prompt or watching a video clip and writing a response, it may take
closer to 10. It's important to remember though that sometimes your students
will be totally engaged in a bell-ringer, and you may end up spending more time
than you thought on it. This is not wasted time! The content still relates to
your curriculum and helps students hone their writing, reading, speaking, and
listening skills. Sometimes an unplanned part of a lesson is where the best
learning happens.
3. How do you manage
all the paper?
Here is my fool-proof
system. A word of caution: don't let them take their bell-ringer binder home!
It's an absolute nightmare waiting to happen 😂.
- Have each student purchase a
small 1 inch binder to hold all of the bell-ringer response sheets (or use
a three-clasp folder).
- Have students write their name
in big bold letters on the spine (or the front if it is a folder). Having
a variety of colors of binders/folders is better so they can find theirs
more easily.
- Put a bookcase somewhere near
the door of your room.
- Assign each class an area of the bookcase. Tell students they will grab the binder when they enter, and it will go back on that shelf when the bell-ringer is done.! This makes it easy to find their binder the next day.
4. Will using
bell-ringers help my classroom management?
Yes, routines are your
friend! I learned fairly quickly in my teaching career that expected procedures
are necessary for survival when it comes to classroom management. Bell-ringers
set the tone in the first few minutes of class and help students transition
back into work mode after a break period. I was literally wasting the first
5-10 minutes of class quieting my students down and preparing to get started.
After starting a bell-ringer routine, they immediately started working when
they entered!
5. Should I do
bell-ringers every day or just on some days?
Personally, I think it
is better to bell-ringers every day and stick to the routine. When you
are always skipping the bell-ringer or only doing them here and there, students
lose that consistency, and you won't see the classroom management benefits. You can certainly make it work if you don't want to do it every day, but if you do this, I might suggest writing on the board or projecting a slide to say if there is a bell-ringer that day. This way you don't have to constantly answer the question, "Is there a bell-ringer today?"
Still have questions
about using bell-ringers successfully in the classroom? Don't hesitate to reach out! I'd love to hear from you.
Need more bell-ringer ideas? The bloggers of the coffee shop have you covered!
Growth Mindset Bell Ringers from The Daring English Teacher
Daily Career Writing Prompts from The Classroom Sparrow
Independent Reading Prompts from Room 213
Bell-Ringer Journal Prompts from Tracee Orman
Collaborative Bell-Ringers from Nouvelle ELA
