The POWER of Daily Warm-ups (bell ringers)

How is it that I've only really experienced the power of daily warm-ups this year, after almost two decades of teaching? 

I've used warm-ups to start class, off and on during my years of teaching, but this year is when everything has come together, along with my determination to prepare daily warm-ups and my mindset on what types of warm-ups to use for students to receive the most benefit from them. 

When the teacher is consistent in providing daily warm-ups it provides a comfortable and structured start of the class for the students. I greet my students at the door and they in turn greet me with that week's password. When they enter the room, they see the warm-up projected on the board. They collect the things they need from their backpacks, grab a clipboard (I have a deskless classroom), go to their seat, and boom, they're immersed in Spanish from the very start of class.

My suggestions for creating warm-ups are:
-be consistent! 
-keep it short 
-always...go over it with the students
-connect it with previous lessons
-personalize it to students
-make sure students will be able to complete it without struggling 
-don't collect it (that's right - don't do that to yourself!)

Some benefits of daily warm-ups are:

- Immediately immerses students in language that is comprehensible: the emphasis is on "comprehensible language",  which puts students at ease and instills them with confidence because they know they can be successful in completing the activity

- Sets the tone for the class: we're going to utilize every minute of the class period in experiences that are designed specifically with the students' success in the language as top priority

- Connects to the students: use sketches that students created, and conversations/photos from previous days; students understand their contributions are important elements of the class and they are appreciated! 

- Creates a familiar setting/comfortable routine: students know the routine and are immediately put at ease as they follow the routine (benefits both the quiet students and those that are filled with energy that we may wish we had 😂)

- Provides quiet time: students that complete the warm-up know they will have a few moments to relax after they complete the activity as classmates finish up the warm-up

- Reviews material from previous day(s): reinforces the material introduced/ discussed in the past, providing additional input

- Informal Formative assessment: as teacher moves throughout classroom and glances at students' work, it gives quick feedback on students' progress 

- Provides time for teacher tasks: take attendance, catch absent students up to date, etc, 

Below are examples of the warm-ups I've used in the last few days

1. One of the classes created this OWI (One Word Image). I used the warm--up for all three of the Spanish 1 classes the following day.

2. I used SpanishPlans' lesson "El Niño quiere un dragon" (free on TPT). This was the warm-up the following day. It's the first time students had to form the sentence from scrambled words so I did not put any extra words in the sentences that were not needed. 

3. I created this warm-up based on the conversation I had with students the previous day. The lesson is from Martina Bex's Somos curriculum, Level 1, Unit 1 (free on TPT).  

4. New short stories using previous introduced vocabulary. I don't require students write answers in complete sentences at this stage of their acquisition.

5. OWI reading created previous day. I taped the drawing of the OWI on the board next to where this paragraph was projected for students to refer to.

6. Unscramble sentences. Students did a similar warm-up the previous week (see #2 above). The previous day I had a substitute so students listened to the first half of a story I wrote and put on a video, and then read the 2nd half of the story and answered comprehension questions. This warm-up is based on the video & reading from the previous day.

Yes, I create a new warm-up each day, but NO, it doesn't take much time.  

Question Passwords - Individualized and with a little Extra Brain "Muscle"

I have known about passwords for some time thanks to Alina Filipescu for blogging about using passwords with her students (read her blog post here) and to Bryce Hedstrom, who shared his experiences with passwords at conference sessions and also blogged about it here . On both blog posts, you will find an explanation of how Alina and Bryce use the passwords, as well as videos, lists of passwords, and advantages to using passwords. Because of their sharing their experiences, there are currently many language teachers that have followed their example and are using passwords to greet their students every day.  

I have to admit that after I heard about the password idea, I hesitated to use it because I wasn't convinced that the students or I would like it. But then my colleague next door, (and by next door I mean we are on the same side of the hallway with 3 feet that separates our classroom doors), Krista Kovalchick, who teaches Latin and French, started using passwords with her students. When I saw how successful it was and how much the students liked it, I was motivated to try it with my students.

I started the passwords several weeks into the second semester this year (the end of February) and I am glad I finally decided to implement them. A few weeks ago, I wanted to mix things up a bit, so instead of a password, or a phrase, I wrote a question on a mini whiteboard for students to answer before entering the classroom, and have continued this variation.

Why do I write it on a mini whiteboard instead of individually asking the students? It has to do with a time constraint. The questions require individualized answers and not simply to repeat what the previous person has said. They need time to think of the best answer for them. Also, with the question on the mini whiteboard, the students that are waiting in line, can see the question and can begin to decide on their answer. 

Even a question as basic as ¿Qué no te gusta comer? (What do you not like to eat?) requires students to decide which food is their least favorite food, or if they don't know how to say the answer in Spanish, they have to decide if they want to name another food for an easy answer or ask my how to say the food in Spanish. I used this question last week and I had several students that said they like everything...until I mentioned insectos, culebras, flores, lodo,... but that takes to consider my suggestions and respond. When the bell rang, there were several students still lined up in the hallway. We have a very supportive administration team at our high school, and if they were in the hall and several students were not yet in the classroom when the bell rang because they were responding to my question in the target language, I believe they would quickly see the value of the passwords and question passwords, and it wouldn't be a problem. However, if that's not the case at your school, the extra time is something you will need to consider before using question passwords. 

Advantages of using passwords and question passwords.
I enjoy the passwords for the same reasons that Bryce Hedstrom mentioned in his post, but there are some additional advantages with the question passwords. One is that I am able to not only personally greet each student each day, but I am able to personally connect with them and learn more about them. When one student answers in the same manner as another student I comment to him that "Johnny" also said that. That helps the students to feel connected to others in their class knowing they have things in common of which they were not aware before.

Before using passwords, I greeted the students at the door, but passwords (in my opinion) adds some depth to those greetings.

Another plus is it gives me an opportunity to recycle vocabulary previously used in class. For example, I knew we had a conversation with one class in which we mentioned "lodo" so that is the reason I listed that as a possible thing that the students don't like to eat. 

If you have not experimented with passwords yet, I encourage you to read Alina and Bryce's blog post for their insights on using passwords and for a list of passwords they recommend. Then give it a try, or, finish out this school year and save it for the new school year! I suspect you'll have the same positive reaction from the students that I have had.