Software Development Methodologies

Starter and plenary activities:

Teach me about

Lesson starter

Students become the teacher! One student is tasked with preparing a five minute revision starter about this topic for the beginning of the following lesson.

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3-2-1

Display this on the whiteboard as students are walking through the door. They can work individually or in pairs to come up with the answers.

Good for differentiation as all students should be able to get at least one of the six points.

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Consider All Reasons

Starter

Students are given a question related to the topic.  They are asked to identify all of the factors that need to be considered in order to answer that question.

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Teacher Talkabout

The class 'test' the teacher on their knowledge of key words related to this topic

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Three Facts

Students are asked to write down three facts that they can remember off the top of their heads about the topic.

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Give me ten

A starter or plenary task

Students work in pairs to come up with ten words related to this project before joining up with another pair to expand their list.

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Just a minute

Starter or plenary task

Students are asked to talk to a partner about this topic for 60 seconds whilst abiding by a set of rules

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Lucky dip questions

Starter or plenary task

Every student is given a number at the start of the activity. This is used to help pick who will ask and answer questions about what has been learned during the lesson.

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One, two, three

Can be used either as a starter or a plenary task.

Students are given a sheet to complete firstly on their own, then with a partner and then joining up with another pair

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Pass the buck

A starter or plenary task.

Students are asked to write down all of the words they associate with this topic. They then work with a partner to categorise them.

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Word association

A starter or plenary task.

Students are asked to write down all of the words they associate with this topic. They then work with a partner to categorise them.

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What's your opinion?

Starter and plenary task

Students are given a statement about this topic and asked to discuss their opinion in pairs. At the end of the lesson they can reassess whether their original opinion has changed

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Taboo

This plenary follows the theme of the traditional Taboo game. Students work in teams with one student from each team having their back to the board. A word is displayed on the board and teams take it in turns to describe the word to the student without actually mentioning the word itself.

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Call my bluff

A plenary activity based on the popular game show, ‘Call My Bluff’

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Mastermind

A plenary activity which is loosely based on the game show 'Mastermind'

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Word building game

Plenary task
Students work in groups to construct a sentence about today’s lesson

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4-4-2

A plenary activity where students are asked to summarise the lesson and pick out the main key words related to the topic.

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Corkboard

A great plenary idea both for AFL and for getting feedback from every student

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I predict

This task acts as the plenary from one lesson and the starter for the next lesson

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Lesson summary

This plenary provides students with an opportunity to evaluate the lesson and their learning and an AFL opportunity for the teacher.

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New words

A plenary task

Students have to identify three new words/terms that they learned during this lesson and then explain their meaning

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Pyramid

A plenary activity.

Students are asked to complete a self assessment sheet to indicate what they have learned during this lesson

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Text me

A plenary activity where students are asked to write a text message to explain what they have learned during the lesson

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Tweet it

A plenary activity
Students write a ‘Tweet’ message to sum up what they have learned during the lesson

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Lesson Tasks

Theory Notes Task

Students read the theory notes on the mini website and then answer the questions on the sheet.

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Pros and Cons Task

Students are given a document to complete where they identify the pros and cons for the main factors related to this topic.

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Mind Map Task

Students are given the basic structure of a mind map for this topic. They are asked to recreate the structure on their own sheet of paper and add further detail to each of the branches.

Mind maps are a useful tool to use as a revision aid.

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Tick the Answer Task

Students are given a number of different statements relating to this topic.  They have to decide whether the statement is true or false and place a tick in the correct box.

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task

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answers

Exam Style Question

Students are given a set of questions which are similar to those they might expect to see in their written examination.

A good opportunity to give students practice on question answering technique.

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Task

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Answers

100 words

Students have exactly 100 words to summarise the key points about this topic

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Construct an answer

Students are given an exam style question to answer. They are also given a set of key words to incorporate into their answer.

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PNI

Students are asked to identify the positive, negative and interesting points relating to this topic

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Case Studies

Apple issues advice to avoid iPhone flaw

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