The Last 5-Minutes: Ending Class with Purpose

So often we start class by setting-the-stage or doing warm-up exercises, but we rarely take the time to end class with the same purpose. We teach up until the last-minute, forgetting that students benefit from opportunities to check for understanding, tie up loose ends and correct misunderstandings.

In Small Changes in Teaching, James Lang argues:

…most faculty members eye the final minutes of class as an opportunity to cram in eight more points before students exit, or to say three more things that just occurred to us about the day’s material, or to call out as many reminders as possible about upcoming deadlines, next week’s exam, or tomorrow’s homework. …At the same time, we complain when students start to pack their bags before class ends. But why should we be surprised by that reaction when our class slides messily to a conclusion? We’re still trying to teach while students’ minds — and sometimes their bodies — are headed out the door. We make little or no effort to put a clear stamp on the final minutes of class, which leads to students eyeing the clock and leaving according to the dictates of the minute hand rather than the logic of the class period.

Instead of teaching up to the last minute, consider designing an intentional closure activity to create a more lasting impression, leveraging what educational psychologists refer to as the recency effect. Closure activities can also help us, and our students reflect more intentionally about the most challenging concepts from a lesson or make meaningful connections to past or future learning. Here are a few strategies that work well for closure activities:

• Three W’s. Students reflect and write what, so what, and now what? (What did we learn today? Why does it matter? How does it tie into the rest of our learning? And, can we predict where we are going?)
  
  

• 3-2-1. Students reflect and record 3 things they learned, 2 things they have questions about, and 1 thing they want you to know.

• The metacognitive five. After a test or quiz, ask students to spend two minutes writing down how they studied. Before the final exam, make a slide with two columns showing the approaches and spend 5 minutes talking about the most effective study strategies and why.
  
  

• Close the loop. Repeat an activity used in the first 5 minutes of class and discuss how the lecture material impacted their level of understanding.

• Group Processing. Students meet in small groups and discuss a prompt such as: how does something you learned connect to what you already knew, what questions do you still have, and/or share one thing you have learned in this class that you can apply in another class, or on co-op. Check out Summarization in Any Subject: 50 Techniques to Improve Student Learning for more group reflection prompts.

Closure activities are most effective when students record their responses. Student responses can be handwritten on a 3x5 card and turned in as students leave class, or submitted electronically on the class discussion board, Zoom chat, Qualtrics survey or even using polling technology.

Once you have collected this information, you can incorporate what you’ve learned in future classes by addressing challenges students have shared or highlighting thoughtful insights. Doing so also shows students that you value these activities and take their participation in them seriously. Being intentional about end-of-class activities can lead to an increase in students’ comprehension of, connection to, and engagement with the material and gives them the space to reflect on not only your course, but potentially connections between your course and other courses they are taking.