Step 3
Starter / Do now activity
The beginning of the lesson can often introduce unnecessary down-time while the teacher waits for students to arrive before starting the main part of the lesson. Over a long period, these lost minutes add up to quite a substantial amount of lost learning time. Quiz makes this time productive by recalling knowledge taught recently, last month and last year.
make every minute count
engagement on entry
set the tone for the lesson
gather data over the long term
differentiated recall practice
make every
minute count
engagement on
entry
set the tone for
the lesson
gather data over
the long term
differentiated
recall practice
Starting each lesson with a recall quiz helps retain knowledge, but it's even better when it's personalised and requires no planning and preparation.
How
As students arrive at the lesson encourage them to come into the classroom immediately and begin using Smart Revise Quiz independently. Ideally this would be with accessible classroom PCs, laptops, or tablet devices.
Spend between 5-10 minutes on this activity. Quiz will select questions for each student automatically spacing, interleaving and prioritising to offer differentiation.
Establishing consistent routines and expectations is the key to success. Watch for students that are not engaging and are being slow to get going.
Why use Smart Revise
There is no planning for the teacher to do and every student is asked questions that are right for them from their own automatically personalised playlist, making every minute of the lesson count.
Automatic selection of questions from the most recent topic and previous topics with a spacing and interleaving built in. Alternatively select just one topic to quiz students on, it's your choice.
Questions are not AI generated, they are written by experienced teachers and examiners. This means that you can be sure they exactly match the specification; and the possible answers can be diagnostic.
There is no end to the Quiz questions. They loop in a never-ending playlist that reprioritises the order of the questions based on student performance, to encourage mastery. This means that the teacher can stop the activity when they are ready, so no student is ever left with nothing to do.
If used regularly, students will remember more of what they have learned.
Regular use of Smart Revise will give teachers the biggest, most accurate data set.
The research says that:
- Regular low-stakes quizzing has a positive effect on retention of knowledge as it helps to beat the forgetting curve.
- An effective "Do Now" activity is one that engages students without much added direction. It allows the teacher to greet students with a purposeful activity that stimulates them to think and transition into the lesson.
- Routines promote solidarity amongst students as well autonomy for the class. Humans are creatures of habit, the routine promotes a sense of ease in that there few, if any surprises to how the lessons will proceed.
https://learn.teachingchannel.com/video/class-starting-teaching-strategy
Murre, J., Dros, J. (2015) Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve.
Top tips
If you have easy access to technology, use Smart Revise Quiz at the start of EVERY lesson for maximum impact.
Remind students that the questions answered in class at the beginning of the lesson are also counting towards their total for homework, reducing what they need to do outside of the lesson. It’s a win for them and encourages students to arrive promptly.
Tell students that they will sometimes see questions they have seen before to encourage mastery.
Use the Quiz usage report date filters to see how many questions each student has answered today.