Closure, Assessments, and Management Oh My!

This year, my principals have made it clear that our lesson plans must have:

1. A clear objective

2. Details on how the students will reach that objective and

3. An assessment that matches the objective

When observing lessons they want to see:

1. A hook

2. Modeling

3. Guided Practice

4. Independent Practice

5. Closure

6. Assessment

and obviously, a caring learning environment with good classroom management. 

Personally, I don't think this is too much to ask for but with that being said I often do not have a closure to my lessons.  My "closure" sounds like "Okay, throw any finished work into the finished work bin, if you are still working put your work in your cubbie, put pencils away and quietly go back to your class - and please hurry because your late!"  There is never enough time to fit everything into a 30 minute block of time.  Add in fire drills, late students, and ADHD and we are down to about 20 minutes each day.  I also have NO time between groups (one leaves at 12:30, the next one starts at 12:30) which means groups of 4 - 5 chatty children get to walk the halls unsupervised to and from class.  This drives me nuts! 

Yesterday, I tried something new and I love it!  While students were cleaning up, I walked to the door.  Each student had to answer a different yet similar question about the lesson before he or she could go back to class.  It took 60 seconds and covered my closure, assessment, and the hallway management problem!  That is definitely going to become a tradition in my room. 

Feel free to share your closure & assessment tips with me!

-Becky

PS. I love fall but not when it is 35 degrees in the morning!