#LessonClose

What are some mathematical and pedagogical purposes you might have when thinking about closing the lesson?

Go over solutions
Highlight main ideas
Leave them wanting to come back tomorrow...
Introduction to tomorrow’s lesson
Highlight the way a student kept track of/organized their thinking through a problem
Compare different strategies/solutions paths to the problem
Students reflect on their learning and communicate their ideas or challenges in writing
Gather questions that students now have about the topic of the lesson
Bring student ideas forward for more consideration by the group
Help someone work through an idea
Look for misconceptions
Highlight a specific student’s work if it would be significant for that student and their mathematical identity
Set up for the next day
Assign competence to learners
Press for justification
When the session is going to carry over to the next day, get some strategies on the table for learners to try tomorrow
Make connections to previous learning
Frame a juicy question to leave open
Finding mathematical commonalities among strategies - consolidation

Supporting students to develop identities as mathematicians; positioning students competently
Finding a generalization, conjectures,etc
What do you notice?
What if an aspect changes, can you rethink without starting over? “Think about” homework left open
Summarize and synthesize
Addressing misconceptions observed while students were working independently.
Continuing to process the learning… posing more questions for students to consider as lesson comes to a close.
Highlighting efficient strategies / ideas that could move thinking of class forward.
Seeing ourselves as a community of mathematical thinkers who are working on an idea(s) together - co-constructing ideas
Ask students if anyone adjusted their thinking based on what a classmate shared
Nominate a “golden nugget” idea
Bring forward a next question
Revisiting the standard or objective…did we get there?

Mathematical purpose: providing space to apply understanding for me to possibly collect and see where students are at, space to ask questions, articulate takeaways in your own words. Pedagogical purpose: to see how your understanding has changed over time (I used to think this but now I think this OR I already thought this and now I see even more clearly that this)
Sometimes it is helpful to close a lesson by drawing attention to a big idea, like equivalence - this way you don’t have to focus on a particular strategy so much as how do all of our strategies connect?
Making connections to different/previous skills and strategies to help progress/solidify the understanding of all students
As a form of assessment
Revisiting why we did this and what might be next to support learning

Revisiting why we said we were doing what we were doing, and seeing if we can articulate what we found out
Returning to the point of the lesson so that learners can consider what they found out

What are some formats you might use?

Share work samples and facilitate a class discussion
Small group discussion
Reflection in a journal
Gallery walk and sharing what students noticed
Exit tickets
Whole group discussion
Write 3-2-1 - 3 things I learned, 2 things I found interesting, 1 thing I still have a question about
Yes, whole group discussion with opportunities for smaller group or partner discussion along the way
Sometimes it is helpful to close with a question - keep students thinking about an idea that isn’t so easy to wrap up. This is great to do with writing - what are you still unsure about - I get some really thoughtful responses with these kinds of questions.
60 second write
Ticket out the door
KWL chart
Carousel - papers out that people walk around and add to
What is one thing they really understand after today’s lesson, one thing they have a question about, one thing they don’t get