Inquiry Question:

In what ways does providing an effective conclusion to a lesson increase student understanding
and their achievement of the learning outcomes?

Goal:

My goal in my first professional semester will be to work towards improving how I conclude a
lesson to make it more meaningful for students learning of the objectives of the lesson and better
aid them in achievement of learning outcomes.

Related TQS:

TQS #3: Demonstrating A Professional Body of Knowledge

A teacher applies a current and comprehensive repertoire of effective planning, instruction and
assessment practices to meet the learning needs of every student.

Strategies:

- Use formative assessment strategies that act as a conclusion activity. For example,
using the snowball strategy for formative assessment. Students will write something
they know or do not know on a piece of paper, ball it up, and throw it across the
room. Students will then add on to it or answer the question if they know it. At the
end the snowballs can be gathered up and the teacher/students can facilitate a
conversation around the questions.

- Clearly address the learning outcomes in the introduction of the lesson. Having the
outcomes in student friendly terms will aid in creating a clear conclusion.

- Have class discussion where the teacher or the students summarize the lesson
objectives. Having a meaningful conclusion where the end of class is related to the
beginning of class will aid students in understanding the objectives/purpose of the
lesson and direct their growth and learning.

- The introduction activity can be a link to the conclusion activity. For example, having
a word cloud of what students think something means at the beginning of a lesson and
then a second one at the end of a lesson after students have learned the concept. That
can be a valuable comparison for students to see what they have learned and how
much their knowledge has grown in just one lesson.
 - Discussion with my TA about what closure she finds most effective in the classroom.

- Observations in the classroom of closures to lessons and how that changes student
learning.

Resources/Support Required:

- Feedback from my University Consultant and Teacher Associate on how I am

currently doing and what I can do in the future for my conclusions of lessons will be a
helpful support in developing quality conclusions for lessons.
- https://www.edutopia.org/blog/22-powerful-closure-activities-todd-finley

- https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/8-fun-effective-lesson-closures-us/

https://www.rcboe.org/cms/lib/GA01903614/Centricity/Domain/2591/40%20ways%20to
%20leave%20a%20lesson.pdf

Evidence of Success:

- Are students showing understanding of the learning outcomes?

- Shown through weekly benchmarks. How many strategies did I try and use in my
closure of my lessons? What strategies did I use and was there a variety of them so I
can experiment with what ones work best in my classroom setting?

- Reflections specifically for my professional goal. How did putting in the strategies go
in the class? Are students showing more understanding when strategies are being
used? There also can be discussion around effectiveness of strategies, what I find
difficult, and times where I did not include a closure. For when I do not time my
lesson correctly to include a conclusion, I can create a comparison to when I do use
one and the differences I notice.

Timeline:

My professional goal is not something that will be achieved in a five week time frame which is
the length of my first practicum. I will assess my growth at the end of my five week practicum
however, I will continue to monitor my progress for my goal throughout my next professional
semesters. Having quality conclusions for lessons takes time and experience and it will be
something that I continue to work on as I learn and grow as a teacher.