Whether you teach听large lectures with 200+ students or classes of less than ten, this tip is for you. 鈥淎nti-Sets鈥� and 鈥淐losures鈥� require very little investment of time to create (Can you spare five minutes?) and ensure students are听critically thinking about your course material. Think of them as a 鈥渨arm-up鈥� and a 鈥渃ool-down鈥� during the first and last couple of minutes of class. They also offer students a guaranteed point of self-reflection and self-assessment during class, building metacognition. If you have lecture slides, I recommend adding a first and last slide with your selected 鈥淎nti-set鈥� and 鈥淐losure鈥� activities. Below are听two examples as well as a chart with six categories of activities/structures to select from when designing your own.
(Click on Image to Open | by Dr. Marti)
The first pair is from a science course. The anti-set is the first slide students see as the walk in the room and the closure is the last slide shown during the last couple of minutes of class. When these slides come up, you train your students to write for the time alloted to them.
听
(Click on Image to Open | by Tara Gilboa)
听
听
听
听
听
听
The second pair听are examples from a professional development workshop about "Building Community" in your classroom听for faculty.听In reference to the categories of activities/structures below, this Anti-Set is from the 鈥淓ssential Skills/Structures鈥� column and is an example of听鈥淢ulti-leveled open ended questions.鈥� The double diamond extension offers both an 鈥淥rganizing Thinking鈥� example should students create a "Graph" or 鈥淪ymbol鈥� example should they chose to draw a comic strip. The closure is a classic 鈥�3-2-1鈥� example from the 鈥淥rganizing Thinking鈥� category.
For my ideas for how to structure anti-sets and closures please click on the chart below. Interested in implementing this trick in your course next semester? Contact a Teaching & Learning Consultant with ASSETT to get started.听
(Click on Image to Open)
听
