The “Do Now”
It is referred to variously as a Do Now or a Warm-up or, if you are a hard-core edu-dork, an Activator. There may be other regional variants. And if you are a vice principal who is really intent on showing how out of touch you are, you can require teachers to engage in these at the beginning of staff meetings. It never fails to make you the object of ridicule after the meeting! Never.
This is the thing that all of the kids are supposed to be engaged with actively, meaningfully, and immediately as they walk into your classroom. Typically it is a prompt written on the board or maybe a handout students pick up as they walk in. It asks the student to do something. Right away. NOW!! That’s why it is called a DO NOW.
Active engagement. Some math problems from yesterday for review. A reflection on last night’s reading…that nobody read. Maybe a prediction about something. Get started right away and write your response in your journal. Share with a partner. Then we might talk about it for a while as a class.
I have some things to say about the Do Now.
In my school, the Do Now was a requirement…a non-negotiable, as the current administrative edu-slang prefers.
OK…you think…I can manage this. I put a Do Now on the board every day.. But it is fraught with complexities and unseen pitfalls. I have run afoul of the authorities for my Do Nows many times. Here are my reflections of the Do Now:
1) If the Do Now really works well, you may end up generating an interesting discussion in the class that takes too long. Many students may want to share their responses. Other students may want to revise their answers or offer a rebuttal to another student. This free-for-all of thought and discussion can seriously impair the rest of the period…for some reason…If the mini-lesson gets moved 6 minutes later and didn’t have a bridge from the Do Now, then how will anybody be able to learn anything for the rest of the period? The whole unit may have been destroyed by this wise-ass Do Now that made so many students want to think and talk. The precise length and content of the Do Now is critical.
2) For example, in order to illustrate the importance of the Do Now, I was once told by an administrator that if my Do Nows were more engaging I would see higher attendance in my classes. So, is she a) Retarded, b) Brainwashed, c) Spineless, or d) Just Grasping at Straws? You make the call;
3) Why shouldn’t the choice of Do Now be completely up to the teacher’s discretion? I’m sorry if the Do Now was simply a question about government that I thought was interesting and didn’t relate specifically enough to today’s standard and objective on Federalist 51 and the separation of powers. Forgive me. And piss off.
4) If I teach 2 or 3 classes, I might have to come up with 400-500 of these fucking things every year. I’m not going to hit it out of the park every time. So, relax. I mean, jeezus, have you ever been to any of the meetings you have led? They are fucking terrible and everybody agrees that they are 97% a waste of time. You need better Activators, at least. But, really, you should focus on the part of your job that isn’t just nitpicking how I do mine. Try to do something useful;
5) The Do Now is really about crowd control. It’s not about education. It is part of the routines and rituals that must be practiced and rehearsed. Over and over. This is about having no down time; active learning and engagement. Busy, busy, busy. And it is not reasonable. Is there any profession where you would be expected to go to 4 or 6 back-to-back meetings all day long, every day, and not sort of roll into one and ease in and chat with your friends before the meeting starts? I’m not saying it’s not helpful. It is a good way of keeping order. And kids need more guidance than adults. But I think that for administrators to pretend that the primary objective of the Do Now has anything to do with academic engagement is transparently disingenuous. And teachers smell it. It is about control of a captive population that doesn’t really want to be there. Remind you of anything?
Mr. Teachbad
Mine are “bellringers.” The ones I give my classes, from the textbooks we use, are usually not so bad…they can actually be decent review for a quiz they might have that day. However, I will be the first to acknowledge that they are without a doubt crowd control. I don’t prohibit the kids from chatting as they come in; but once the bell has rung, I ask them to be working on their bellringer as I take attendance, hand back graded papers, take questions from kids about what they missed last class, etc. Even as crowd control, it is minimally effective. The problem? About half the kids do it really, really fast (they are not thought-provoking questions, just short vocabulary or grammar exercises reviewing what we did last class or relating to what we’re starting today–I teach French) and then are sitting there chatting or playing with their phones as I finish passing out papers to all 36 of them, and the other half never do them at all, no matter how many times I tell them they have to, and no matter that I give them grades for doing them…an easy 100 if they do all of them for the chapter. So it’s barely effective. If it didn’t keep a few of them busy for about 2 minutes and if it didn’t provide a quick review for quizzes, I’d likely scrap them altogether.
But, anecdotally…at my school, for about 6 weeks before the math FCAT (state test), we are asked to give them a “problem of the block” as a bellwork activity. We are given a long list of math problems, which are invariably loooonnnng word problems, which we are expected to either write up on the board or make a million copies of (so that the kids may throw them on our floor when they’re done or decide they’re not going to do it). There is a different one for each block, so we should theoretically write up four very long paragraphs each day. We are given the answers but no real explanation for how to come to those answers, so as a French teacher, I am expected to be able to explain to my students how to find the solutions to algebra and geometry problems when I haven’t actually studied algebra or geometry since high school myself. Many times, the answers they give us are wrong. I need go no further for you to understand the absurdity of this, and why I do not do it anymore.
Finally, last year we were instructed that uniformity among departments was to be prized, and that we should therefore coordinate our bellwork activities within the department…why, I have no idea. But anyway, that meant that my bellringer for my French classes should be the same as the bellringers for the Spanish and Italian classes, and should be related to reading. The Spanish teachers had the brilliant idea that we should give them a proverb each day to read and explain. That’s great for them, because our school is 98% Hispanic and they teach Spanish to Spanish speakers. Try getting my French I or II classes to even understand the words in a French proverb, let alone be able to write about it and discuss it in French. Brilliant, I tell you. I nodded politely, threw away the lists of proverbs they put in my mailbox, and kept on assigning the bellringers out of my textbook that went along with the lessons we were working on.
Teachbad,
Nothing is worse than Do Nows. Kids generally hate them and it is a logistical nightmare getting everyone to start one independently, unless you like grading 85 Do Nows everyday. What’s so wrong with simply getting the classes attention and starting?
85? I wish…I have 2x that amount.
We grade those and a written summary every single damn day. Plus a CW and HW from each kid. We are “supposed” to have a 24hr turn around on all work. HAHAHAHAHA Thankfully most of the kids do nothing.
I don’t have time for Do-Nows 75% of the time. I’ll make their “Do Now” a “Get your notebook, choose 5 colors of markers for highlighting/labeling, get the computer onto http://www.dotcomdotcomdottydotcom.com for your webquest, etc. I’ve had more conflicts with students during “Do Now” time than anything. Then they get pissy and copy the answers off the diligent child next to them, I’m usually not able to prove it except that the answers are identical, and I grit my teeth as I add another 100 to the undeserved string of them.
“Activators?” Yeah, they’re really good at “Activating Ulcers” in the teacher.
Do Now’s are Do Nothings. The kids who do them don’t need them to get ready and engaged in class; and the ones who would benefit from the review/practice/whatever won’t do them. Why can’t the adminiweenies see what’s so plain???
What’s wrong with you people? My school does not require Do-Nows, but I tried them this year because I aim for success and will not tolerate mediocrity in my classroom. GOOD teachers motivate ALL students ALL of the time…PERIOD. The rest of you just suck! Do-Nows, in fact, were a smashing success. Every student did them with enthusiasm and vigor. I read all of them each evening and commented for those students who asked me what I thought about what they wrote. Within a week, I saw a marked improvement in their writing and the depth of thought was astounding. My attendance increased dramatically and tardy rates decreased; nobody fell asleep in class anymore…
Okay, time’s up. That was my Do-Now response for 9/30, but the truth is that I quit Do-Nows after three weeks because it was a fustercluck of grand proportions. I couldn’t even get most of them to write four pseudo-sentences about prompts like: “What is your opinion about standardized testing?” The rest of them wrote a dissertation with footnotes and cited interviews with experts; some produced videos with subtitles. The fact is, half of my students can’t find their hands two-out-of-three times. The “best” response I had from a student this year came after I posted the daily Do-Now prompt on the TV screen and a young scholar asked, “When is this due?” I pointed to the screen where the words “DO-NOW” appeared and explained the concept of context clues. “Combine the title of the assignment,” I said, “with the fact that we have been doing these for two weeks.” The best headings I read on student papers for these were “Due-Know” and “Dew nowe,” but there were others just as amusing–or depressing as the case may be. By the way, this is an 11th grade College-Prep class I’m referring to.
If my district required Do-Nows, I would do two or three per day and drop them all off on some admin’s desk and tell them to grade them. They really are crowd control. My district’s motto is to “teach bell-to-bell.” Yes, it’s Pavlovian, but those concerned with keeping jobs try to drool in the presence of administration when we hear the stimulus. Presented with the impossible goal of filling every second with measurable education, teachers find ways to give the illusion that it’s possible. Hey, it’s what we do–God bless us…every one. Do-Nows are one such illusion. They give the appearance of organization, engagement, participation, buy-in…all of the ruses that admins cull to satisfy their hunger for validation. In reality, Do-Nows kill trees, create stacks of recycling, and generate blog fodder. This, by the way, is the same result standardized tests yield.
Thanks, Teachbad, once again for the venue.
i swear you teach in my district!
i have faux ssr as my do-nows (or bell ringers as we call them). the kids read a book of their choice for 10 minutes. no writing about it, no required conversation (though there often is). read. i read as well (after i take attendance of course).
we have non-negotiables: “i can” statements, walls that teach (seriously, i’ll just get out of the way then), teaching bell-to-bell; more rigor please, etc. ad nauseum.
143 days until the end of the year.
Don’t forget to subtract furlough days if you’re fortunate enough to have them.
You people are soft! Not only are teachers in Philadelphia required to have a Do Now for every lesson, we also have to have “Exit Tickets.”
Thanks to our administration, no one gets out alive without doing another “do now” – the only differences is that this one happens at the end of the period.
So not only do Philly teachers have *twice* the ridiculous triviality as the rest of you, we kill twice as many trees and grade (or not) twice as many papers!
The trick is timing the Exit Ticket so that there is exactly enough time to orderly display the question and have the kids bring out paper and write a coherent answer before the bell rings and they stampede out. I think the odds of this actually working while an administrator observes your class is 100 billion-skillion to one.
gah. Word Walls in high school, exit tickets, do nows .. . .
I’m required to do a timed warm-up daily. And, as I do teach 3 different classes (for a total of 6 classes a day), I create TONS of these. I make up 15 a week and go at it weekly. I make almost all of my visual (art teacher), but man that makes it easier. I use a lot of optical illusions and/or hip-hop/sporting gear that features art on it.
I have to do a ticket out the door too.
Oh, and a daily Essential Question
Oh, and daily LISTED formative assessment
Oh, and daily EXTENDER for those who finish early
It is all pretty ridiculous. . .But of the many ridiculous things we do these days, the warm up one of the lesser evils.
Here are my tips for making them *much* less painful: give each kid a “warm up” sheet on Monday; it should have a spot for each day of the week. Collect on Friday. Tell kids you grade them. I don’t grade mine; but the kids never seem to clue into that. Because I COLLECT them, they always do them. ha! I do glance at them, so if someone is slacking, I can give them the shake down. If a kid loses his/her sheet; don’t replace it. Tell them to write it on scrap paper to turn in. Make it THEIR problem. Make the warms similar in theme. . .Like “respond to this image. . ” etc. If it is thematically similar everyday, they will bother you less about it. Only allow 2 answers to the warm-up when you ask the kids to respond; don’t get sucked into discussions on the warm-ups. Just move on with class.
Hi ArtfulArtsyAmy,
I really like your ideas. Would you mind emailing some of the visuals/optical illusions/hip hop references? I’m starting out a new class and need some motivation!
Thank you so much,
Rachel
I’ve been doing art “journal entries” as do nows for years and I think they are great. I have a visual displayed on the smart board when the students enter the room. Usually a vocab word to go with it like “cubism” or “photo-realism” I have also have information about the artist. We talk about it, then they write 2 short paragraphs in their notebooks. 1 facts, 1 descriptive and draw a sketch of the artwork. I grade the book at the end of the quarter. They use it to study for quarterly exams and learn art history. The students actually do like it. And for a block period, it works great. The key is to get the do now to work for you.
We too have the exit slip, only it is a “summary” where the kids must answer the aim. This creates problems in classes that produce a physical product like in Tech or Art. Are they supposed to list the steps in creating a business letter? Isn’t the proper product the answer to the aim? I have re-worded my aim in the summary, only to be told NO-NO!
We also have been told that if our 3 minute Do Now was more engaging the kids would not be late, absent or unmotivated for our class. Our Do Now MUST be 5 Regents multiple choice questions. For 2 years I have tried to explain that the multiple choice questions on the ELA Regents are based on 3 or 4 page readings printed on the test. I am being “difficult” again. So every day I collect and grade: a Do Now, CW, HW and a summary. These are to be graded with ‘meaningful’ comments and returned the next day. I have 170 students. You do the math. How meaningful can the grading be on almost 700 pieces of written work daily. (OK 600, since not every one does ALL the work.)
Crowd control at is worst.
Why is there a question mark after your name?
Greetings from Iowa, Mr. Teachbad!
I just stumbled upon your site after noticing you commented on an opinion piece in our small town local newspaper. LOVE your site!!! While I actually like my teaching job, a lot, I still find your musings about education a hoot! (and boy can I relate at times) I’m sorry to hear about your dismissal, but you would fit in great in our small town school system. (a bunch of creative people) Our administrators have all been teachers and have our backs. Parental support is outstanding and our staff has a blast together, from our new teachers to our 30 year veterans. So there are a few bright spots left in public education. But alas, it’s not perfect… and your writing (excellent, by the way) helps me take the bumps in stride. Write on and thanks for the smiles!
Thanks. And I’m originally from your neck of the woods in Minnesota.
Cheers,
Mr. Teachbad
Are they hiring?
Is your town real? Is it a myth like the fountain of youth and you are just teasing us with ideas of what COULD BE? More importantly, are they hiring?
It is the question I wish I could answer with a YES! LOL
Amy,
I just made up a Do Now/Summary sheet that I will implement on Monday. It will cut down on copies and the number of pieces of paper I have to contend with. It probably won’t fly w/ my administration, but it’s worth a try.
My school doesn’t track how many copies we make individually OR ration out paper. . .So, I’m LUCKY. I’ve worked places that have. Until that happens (please let it never happen), I sneak into the copy room at weird times to ensure less people see me run off that massive number. . .4:15 on Friday is awesome.
Good luck; I hope it works!
Yay! Welcome back, Mr. Teachbad! We’d do such exercises in middle school (7th Grade)
such as “Math Minute” & Journaling, which, somehow, met with some success (I think we just had a good 7th Grade that year.) Oh, & also “Daily Geo,” whereby the teacher would put 3 geography ??? on the overhead & let the kids find the answers. If it was verbal, they loved it, but if they had to write…not so much. Interestingly enough, it didn’t work in 8th Grade.
But–I also want to draw everyone’s attention to Fred Klonsky’s Blog–posting of 10/1/11–it’s a Michigan Education Assn. video which MUST be seen. Contact them, & get one for your state association/union, too. Mr. Teachbad, Master of Video–you will love it, as well!
Thank God I’m a music teacher without a proper classroom!!!
My Do Now is always the same, every class, every day. It’s called “Set Up the Room.” Everyone has to get out a chair, music stand, music, guitar, and picks. These are conveniently located at opposite ends of a large communal space. This is a timed, teamed exercise (anywhere from 2:00-5:00 minutes depending on lack of experience). One twerp slacks off, everyone suffers. Don’t feel like getting your gear out? Fine, you can play standing up from memory without an instrument. No skin off my nose. The admins don’t care (another perk of being a music teacher) except when my students run over them in the stampede to get to the chairs. That actually happened once; it was just as funny as it sounds.
My Exit Ticket? That’s called “Take the Room Down.” Nobody leaves until everything is put away and passes inspection. Don’t do it right, and I’ll come drag you out of lunch and make you do it properly. Leave before everything is put away, you get to put away everyone’s chair next class. Everyone, save the twerp stuck stacking chairs, loves those days.
Brilliant!
Oh god! You’re going to open up the core content vs. elective class war. Content class teachers get so much more shit dumped on them from admin that they are perpetually furious (with cause)! Kids and parents make it worse with comments like, “Little Johnny gets an A in P.E. so why can’t you have him move around more in math? He’d like that class better if he got to move around and do different things.”
Yeah lady, but there is already a class like that–it’s called fucking P.E.!
I think it’s a plot to keep teachers from getting together to overthrow the system.
Oh, “elective” teachers get just as much shit dumped on them as core teachers. It’s just a different species. (“Would you prefer the cow or horse manure? Cow? Excellent choice.”)
If I had a dollar every time I’ve asked to teach math, social studies, reading, or science in my music classes, I’d pack it in and retire today. If I had another dollar for every time a core teacher requested to pull students out of my rehearsals for some dubious reason, I’d retire to Tahiti. If I had a third dollar for every time an admin or parent said to my face, “Oh, it’s just music class, who cares?” I’d go and buy Tahiti, then retire.
Regardless of the differences, the immortal Red Green has it right, “I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.”
A fellow music teacher here, and I’m totally with Miss Friday. I see my elementary schoolers once a week for 45 minutes. Over the course of the school year, that comes out to 28.5 hours. Subtract from that every time they miss class for a trip, assembly, etc. But I still have to put on two shows a year that involve every student in the K-3 grades (that’s 400 kids). Rehearsals take place during music classes, and it takes about 10 weeks each time to prepare the classes for the shows. So, when all is said and done, I calculate that I have less than 15 hours per year to teach my curriculum. Fourth and fifth grade chorus is in there, too (which is its own little ball of special, trust me). My district also has a neat little initiative that gives all teachers 90 minutes a week to get together with their department peers to collaborate. All teacher excepts the special areas, that is. We get the honor of covering their classes for all that extra time. I just love teaching math/reading/whatthefuckever for my 45 min. shift each day. God forbid I use that time to do music or something. When do we get to meet with our department, you ask? A half a day at the beginning of the year. I don’t even know most of the people in the music department. So I’m pretty much done with this job and I am out like trout as soon as I’m done this grad degree. /rant.
Miss Friday
How lucky you are! We aren’t permitted to use the obvious get out art supplies and materials as a do now and clean up your work area and put away your projects as an exit ticket. We have to do a different do now and exit ticket each day in addition to the time consuming process previously stated as well as creating a weekly constructive response. Artsy people are notoriously bad mathematicians, however, in a 50 minute class period if you have a 5 minute do now, 5 minute exit ticket, 10 minutes to get out supplies and projects, 10 minutes to clean up there are only 30 minutes for a lesson. Some projects require more time than others to distribute and clean up! Oh! Constructive Response! That is an entire class period. So… in a 50 minute class held five days a week (250 minutes) we teach our content 120 minutes per week!
In addition to the in class time factor, we have to grade 5 do now/exit tickets and a Constructive Response and plot data for each student X 165 students AND we spend time creating all this that must be included in our weekly lesson plans that are “graded” by our assistant principal and returned with “helpful hints” to improve our teaching. We also have to attend 2 SLC meetings per week during our prep- one day and Constructive Response data the other CSAP paperwork. We turn in paperwork for attendance daily, weekly and monthly and late and cut slips in writing in addition to doing it electronically. We are expected to call parents regularly in our spare time.
The best is… are you ready? We were given 5 packs of copier paper each for the year AND $0 for supplies and materials! We are expected to do so much more with nothing!!!!!!! Our Ex- Superintendent (Thank you Queen!) was given over a million dollars NOT to work and we have to pay TO do our jobs. The School District of Philadelphia has been destroyed by bureaucrats with hidden agendas. The students and teachers are paying the price. Morale is lower than low in our schools. I loved going to school to teach every day. Now, I feel like our teaching staff and building administrators are being forced to play gotcha by Central Administration. Our test scores improved significantly last year, yet all schools are being punished for poorly performing schools. Instead of being praised we have been dumped on. Outstanding teachers are crumbling and are at their breaking point. I taught in the suburbs in the past and was held to the highest expectations. I was well paid, received partial compensation for continuing education, a clean working environment and was well supplied to do my job. Until now the Philly district was realistic with their expectations considering our limited resources, paying for our own continuing education, classrooms cleaned sporadically, selfishly expecting toilet paper soap and paper towels in the restrooms and comparatively low pay scale. We have no one to turn to. Our union is a complete disappointment. It is sad that teachers are calculating out loud the amount of time until they can afford to retire. Eeek!
Yo, Sister from Philadelphia! It is much much worse than you think. I hear Cliatt-Wayman, retarded and evil inventor of the weekly Constructed Response crap-ola might be trying for the superintendent position. Just imagine the devastation she could create for the few miserable surviving teachers.
Check out my video: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12763596/test-prep-vs-learning-philadelphia-public-schools
I’m thrilled to say that I have an “Exit Ticket” of my own. Feb 2013 I will bid Philadelphia Schools a thrilled good-bye. I won’t finish out the week, stay until the end of the marking period or *anything.* I’m outta there the minute I can financially pull it off. Screw them.
Sorry, I had to send this to someone who might appreciate it. I received one too many forwarded emails bashing public education and sent back this rant.
That wasn’t offensive just oversimplified opinion garnished with half truths. Texas doesn’t have teacher unions, tenure is to protect teachers from bad principals and crazy school boards and it sucks that performance is not rewarded. We are behind other nations because we educate everyone and they don’t. Parents are supposed to instill “individual initiative, individual innovation and personal achievement”. The me generation blames everyone but themselves and pass this lack of personal responsibility on to their kids. So, let’s continue to blame all teachers for the sins of a few because that is going to solve the financial crisis at the expense of children just like we solved the one in the eighties on the backs of the sick and the one in the nineties on the backs of the poor. If that is what Jesus would do, I’ll see you all in Hell.
Thanks for a forum not yet found by the teacher bashers.
Since I taught Reading, my “bell work” was silent reading from a novel of their choice. Later that year I attended a district meeting for Reading department chairs where we were told, “No Reading class in this district will do any sort of silent reading and I better not see it as I visit your classes.” ???????? I thought I had wandered into the wrong meeting. That’s like saying you will not do any kind of math in math class.
I went home and wrote my resignation letter. I had four more years to go before I could retire. That was three years ago and I have never regretted it, in fact, I wish I had quit sooner.
P.S. This lady visited my class several times. I had my students silent read every time she was there. She wrote me up for it every time. My principal told me to throw away this lady’s evaluation.
More true life memos from the Vice Principal – this lady is earning $105,000 a year and we are closing schools in our district and laying off teachers for lack of money. She is also in charge of our in-service. How “practical” do you think that is? Here is her memo on “Bell Ringers.”
Bill,
Thanks for your response. Bell work (bell ringer) may be used as a review activity, but that should take place inside a specific unit or chapter, and said review should be related to unit essential outcomes that were previously evaluated through formative assessments. In other words, if after reviewing data from a formative assessment you determine that students did not master a particular objective, …then it would be appropriate to incorporate a bell work (bell ringer) activity as a means to reinforce/re-teach that particular objective. It should not be a review of objectives from a prior, completed unit where a summative assessment has already taken place.
As stated in your plan for improvement under E.7 Works to complete building, district, and BOE goals bell work/anticipatory set is meaningful and related to the district curricular objective.
Thank you, Ted
Holy Frickin’ crap! Does anyone have a bullshit-to-English translation dictionary? I want to make over $100K to write this stuff. I have written incoherent babble on several occasions for free. Who’s of thunk I could have been paid for it? Whatever happens, make sure you comply with whatever this says. It will help students somehow.
Anyone notice my ironic name change? I thought of “Two Shits,” but it seemed too negative. Really, it was a typo…sorry.
Okay, Now I’m confused. I posted a reply to Ted, which had a typo in it and then I rectified my typo and the post I posted with the error disappeared suddenly and now I feel like a fool. WTF? Is this because Steve Jobs died?
Here’s something like I originally said to ted before it disappeared: Holy Frickin’ crap! Does anyone have a bullshit-to-English translation dictionary? I want to earn $100+k a year to write this stuff. On several occasions I have written incoherent babble for free. Who’s of thunk I could have been paid for it? Whatever you do, make sure you do whatever this says to do. I’m sure it’s good for students.
Guess I’m the lone dissenter here…but then again, sounds like most of you teach middle and high school. The do nows work pretty well in elementary school. We call them ‘morning work’ and ‘warm ups’ (my kids did them twice a day, once when first entering the classroom in the morning and once after lunch to warm up for math.)
As some of you mentioned, having all the prompts or assignments on one sheet which is collected weekly is the trick. I used to collect on Thursday (no do-nows on Fridays, the kids got straight to work on their weekly benchmark tests, woo-hoo, fun times!) and immediately pass out the following week’s sheet. The kids would put their names and date on the top and put it in their “Work in Progress Folder”, which was a folder of incomplete assignments they kept at their tables. That way on Monday morning, they could take the do now out of their folder and get started right away. Because they were eight years old, most of them did it.
Sorry to hear these bellringers or whatever are mandated for so many of you. That sucks. It should be the teacher’s decision to use whatever is best for his or her class.
Here’s what I think. It doesn’t matter much what level you teach. The Do Now clearly has a role to play and everybody recognizes that. The problem, and you identify it, is the micro-managing of the Do Now. How long should it take? What should it be about? How often should it happen? All that. All subject to the most trivial details of fancy the administration has decided everybody must do this week.
Micromanagement of the Do Nows. That’s the problem. Not Do Nows.
Thanks,
Teachbad
We’ve never been mandated to use them, exactly, but they’re strongly encouraged. I teach high school English; I don’t like the gym class language of warm-up or exercise; I don’t like the authoritarian flavor of Do Now; I don’t like the childish sound of bell ringer. So in my AP English language course, the students and I put our heads together to come up with something that we could at least own. And we came up with SELFLOATHING: Sexy English Language Fun Learning Opportunity Aimed Toward Heightening Intelligence Not Grades.
But, yeah. It’s clearly crowd control.
I generally pride myself on being able to come up with the witty acronym. That’s pretty good.
I found a great little read about the dreaded Do Now! I think it supports your opinion:
http://www.common-place.org/vol-07/no-01/school/