What are daily bellringers?
A bellringer is an activity or mini-assessment that students complete when they first enter the classroom.
Bellringers consist of questions related to the concepts or lessons taught or discussed in class. They are generally very short, around 5 minutes, and prompt reflection on prior learning and guide concepts for the class ahead.
Daily bellringers have long been recognized as an effective tool in the classroom to engage students right from the start of the day. These short, focused activities not only help set the tone for the lesson but also provide numerous benefits for students' learning and overall development.
Why are bellringers important?
- Enhancing student engagement: by providing an engaging and thought-provoking activity at the beginning of the class, daily bellringers capture students' attention, stimulating their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.
- Activating prior knowledge: bellringers serve as a quick review of previously taught material, helping students recall information, make connections, and activate their prior knowledge, which sets the stage for new learning.
- Establishing routine and structure: consistent use of daily bellringers creates a sense of routine and structure in the classroom, allowing students to feel more comfortable and prepared for the day's lessons.
- Building critical thinking skills: well-designed bellringer questions encourage students to think critically, analyze information, and apply problem-solving strategies, fostering their cognitive abilities.
- Fostering classroom community: by encouraging students to share their responses or work collaboratively during bellringer activities, a positive and inclusive classroom environment can be nurtured.
- Low-stakes assessment of understanding: teachers can gauge the level of understanding of concepts to guide the upcoming lessons
How to use daily bellringers effectively
- Set clear objectives: determine the learning goals and outcomes you want to achieve through the bellringer activity, ensuring they align with the overall lesson plan.
- Keep it brief: bellringer activities should be concise, taking no more than 5-10 minutes to complete, allowing sufficient time for the main lesson.
- Vary the format: experiment with different question types, such as multiple-choice, open-ended, or visual prompts, to cater to diverse learning styles and interests.
- Provide feedback: after students complete the bellringer, offer timely feedback or facilitate a class discussion to reinforce correct answers, clarify misconceptions, and promote deeper understanding.
- Embed into your teaching routine: creating a regular routine of bell-ringers allows a habit for students to expect a bell-ringer on arrival and settle into the lesson faster.
Read our Daily Bellringer Lesson Idea for further information on implementing this practice into your teaching
How to ask a good bellringer question?
To get the most out of bellringers, questions should:
- Be short
- Where possible be open ended.
- Linked to the learning intentions (and success criteria) of the lesson.
- Focus on skill(s) or concept(s) being taught.
- Allow students to demonstrate understanding.
- Challenge students to synthesise what they have learned.
- Not be surface level questions (i.e. factual).
- Not be yes/or no answer.
- Use clean specific language that is not vague or ambiguous.
- Avoid passive and negative wording will enforce “I can’t” attitudes with no actionable way forward.
Bellringers can use a variety of question types, for example, some questions might involve a rating scale, another might be more open-ended asking students to write their specific concerns or ideas or reflection. Another might ask a student to respond to a specific questions or prompt. It is a good idea, therefore, to model the exit tickets to your class and show them how to complete the different types of questions that might be asked.
Our lesson ideas have practical examples and implementation for bellringers, as well as exit tickets, SEL checks and more!
Example questions
Reflective questions help with retrieval practice:
- What was the most interesting thing you learned yesterday
- How could you apply your knowledge outside of school?
- What is something you are stuck on from yesterday?
- What's one thing you want to practice again?
- What are you struggling to understand at the moment?
Review questions help recall specific knowledge to gauge comprehension of previous lessons:
- What were the 3 main points from last lesson?
- Can you explain the steps of [process/procedure] we learned yesterday?
- What connections can you make between yesterday's lesson and a real-life situation?
Problem-solving questions aid application of knowledge:
- If you had to solve [real-world problem], what steps would you take?
- How would you approach [mathematical problem] using the concepts we learned?
- What strategies would you use to resolve [ethical dilemma] based on our recent discussions?
Join Ziplet free to access over 250 best practice, editable questions from our question bank.
Following up with students
Allocate time to review and discuss students' answers, encouraging them to share their thought processes and supporting collaborative learning.
Connect to the lesson: relate the bellringer activity to the main lesson by highlighting connections between the concepts covered in the bellringer and the upcoming material.
Address misconceptions: if any common misconceptions or errors arise during the bellringer, address them explicitly
