00.cov. 0444-2004.vfinal

Starters and plenaries

Contents

Introduction 1

1 Starters and plenaries in the context of interactive teaching 2

2 What makes an effective starter? 4

3 What makes an effective plenary? 12

Summary of research 18

Next steps 21

Setting future targets 21

Appendix 1: Bloom’s taxonomy 23

Appendix 2: Generic activities and routines for lesson starters 23

Resource 1 inside back cover

Introduction

Successful interactive starters and plenaries

During successful interactive starters:

• pupils engage fully in learning from the outset;


• they gain an understanding of the objectives and purposes of the lesson;


• there is a sense of pace;


• pupils spend most of their time on-task and focused on learning;


• there is an appropriate level of challenge that enables pupils to make good
  progress in their learning.

During successful plenaries:

• pupils are actively engaged;


• they are given opportunities to extend and deepen learning;


• they are required to reflect on and articulate how they learned;


• the teacher rounds off and summarises the lesson, assessing what has been
  accomplished in order to inform planning for future lessons.

Fundamental to managing pupil behaviour during starters and plenaries are
rigorous planning and the appropriate use of a range of interactive teaching
strategies.

1 | Key Stage 3 National Strategy|Pedagogy and practice
Unit 5: Starters and plenaries

© Crown copyright 2004

DfES 0428-2004