What "bell ringers" do you use?

An ideal audience would stand in ovation to the performer at the end of a show, or at least this is true in the dreams of all performers. Teachers sometimes feel like performers too and perhaps the dream of their students lingering long after class to talk about what they have learned spur on a lot of teachers to get better at their trade. The reality is, no sooner does the bell ring to signal the end of a class than the students pack up and leave the classroom.

What about at the beginning of the class? Are teachers quick enough to get the students to settle down when the bell rings to signal the beginning of a class? The pitfall for many teachers is that there is no plan or no good plan at that time to get their students immediately hooked on matters related to learning, if not to the content of the class. The result is a loss of precious instructional time and cropping-up of behavior issues in class. A bell ringer activity is a teaching tool to keep students engaged in thinking and learning. It could be used at the beginning or end of a class period. A good bell ringer activity can be guided by the three overarching principles of UDL: multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement.

A bell ringer activity should serve several important purposes such as:

• gauge students' background knowledge
• help students make connections with what they learned in last class
• make a topic fun to learn 
• allow students different pathways to experience successful moments
• cue students to apply certain social and classroom rules for the next scores of minutes
• tap into students' creativity 
• assess students' learning 

A bell ringer should be meaningful, purposeful, and fun. It should not be simple copying act from a board. 

What's your idea for an effective bell ringer? How may your knowledge of technology influence your design of bell ringer activities in your classroom? How may the UDL framework help guide your design of such activities in your lessons? 

Some Internet resources related to bell ringers:
http://tuesdayswithkaren.blogspot.com/2009/09/bellringers.html
http://www.teachhub.com/exit-slips-effective-bell-ringer-activities
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/85130-bell-ringer-activities-for-your-classroom/
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson122.shtml