Bell Ringers: Traditional Instruction Meets 1 to 1 Classroom

Bell ringers have long been a core instruction and classroom management strategy.  The goal is to get students into the class and get them on task quickly and effectively.   Teaching this from day one creates and organized classroom that allows all students to learn.  The question is, how do I use bell ringers with a 1 to 1 classroom? 

Option 1:  Computerized Bell Ringers.  The advantage here is students come in, log on and go to a LMS (learning management system) like Google Classroom.  The teacher posts an image or question for reflection and students begin to write immediately.   This is great because each kid has a rich, engaging bell ringer that they can compose and turn in online.  For the teacher there is no wasted paper laying around.   The management problem that can be an issue is students can waste time getting computers out and once they are online, its more of a challenge to get them to pay attention. 

Option 2:  Traditional Bell Ringer:  In this case, students walk in, pull out a bell ringer journal (notebook) and begin writing immediately.  This is effective because there is no transition time pulling out computers (if you use a cart).  It gives the instructor some time to discuss without students being distracted by a computer screen.  If you don’t know what I mean, ask 24 middle school kids to log on and listen to you at the same time.  Once the bell ringer is complete, I’ll provide students with an agenda of activities and send them off to get their computers.  

Reflection:  Bell ringers still play a vital role in classroom management and instruction.  New technology supports effective teaching.  As an instructor we need to remember that proven instruction strategies are still good, we just need to adjust them to support our broadening technology base for instruction. 
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If you are looking for 1 to 1 instructional resources for your science classroom, check out my Cells for Middle School Bundle.  It contains 3 self paced lesson, with videos and interactive notebook pages.  

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