Do Now

*I briefly mentioned the "Do Now" technique on my "Post It" page, but I didn't go into great detail about it. This page will explain in more detail what a "Do Now" is!

What is this strategy? 
-A Do now is a quick, but expected, introductory assignment that students should immediately begin doing as soon as they get to their classroom. This activity could be displayed to the students in many different ways. It could be given to the students individually by the teacher as they walk in the door, already sitting on their desks, or written on board in the front of the classroom. For this technique to become automatic for the students, the Do Now needs to be either in the same place or given to the students in the same manor everyday.  A break in the rhythm of this technique could make it significantly less effective for the students. The students should know before they walk into the classroom that this assignment must be the first thing completed. The Do Now needs to be educational, a preview of the day's lesson or a review of previous lessons, and take a short amount of time for the students to complete. It could be effective to allot three to five minutes for this assignment, depending on the question or activity for that day.

Why will this work for my students??
-Do Now's are so great in many different ways! First of all, this strategy will allow students to get into a routine when they come into the classroom. This will cut out a lot of wasted time waiting for directions, which will in turn drastically reduce the amount of misbehaviors and misconduct. Students will know what you expect of them as soon as they walk into the classroom. Not only that, but it will 'energize' their brains before the school day or class starts. Since Do Now's can be reviews, this will get the students thinking about material taught to them in recent lessons. However if a Do Now assignment is a preview of the material that will be covered that day, the students can get an idea of what they will be learning about. Do Now's also give immediate feedback to not only the teacher, but also to the students on how well they understand the material that is being covered. There are so many positive possibilities that come from this technique!

Okay, so how should I do this for my class?
-Because I have part of my whiteboard sectioned off as the Post It area, the Do Now portion will be on the bottom half of the Post It board. Unlike the objectives for the Post It part of the board, the Do Now will not be written on a picture frame with dry erase marker. I will have big letters cut out of different colored construction paper, allowing this section to stand out on it's own, even though it is still part of the Post It board. The letters will simply spell out Do Now, and everyday I will write a different assignment for the children to complete. Here is an example of a Do Now assignment that I would have my students complete:

"On a piece of notebook paper, write the 4 main stages of the water cycle that we discussed in class yesterday, and with 1 sentence for each, explain what happens in the different stages." (Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation, and Collection.)

After the Do Now time is up, I would then do a quick review with the students to make sure they understood the material that was covered on the previous day. To keep the review short, preferable the same amount of time that was given for the assignment, I would quickly call on one student per stage to read their sentence explaining that particular stage of the water cycle. I will have my students classically conditioned to know that they are to quickly read their answer as soon as they are called on. This will allow for a quick review that should take up to five minutes. After the Do Now is over, we will be ready to get started with the lessons on schedule for that particular day.