How can you get your students hooked to learning, even from the very beginning? Here are a few good hook examples:
New Jersey Devils:
The teacher started the lesson in a totally dark room. Then there came a weird noise mixed with scary screams and random flash light beams. Guess what’s today’s lesson topic? New Jersey Devils. The teacher then turned on the lights and started the lesson. The hook was quite engaging.
Dressed like a pilgrims:
Two teachers collaborated to teach a lesson on pilgrims. Students knew both teachers but did not realized that one of them played a “guest” pilgrim, dressed like a pilgrim, with her back facing students. They did not see the “guest” teacher’s face until later on. They found it intriguing and they loved the lesson.
Describe what it feels like in the bag:
The teacher prepared a few opaque containers with unknown stuff in each. The students who behaved the best were called upon first to explore the stuff and described how it felt like. This lesson is about adjectives to describe the touch sense. The hook caught everybody’s attention. They could not wait to behave so that they could explore the containers.
What do they have in common?
The first-grade teacher picked a few students to come to the front of the room and ask the class to guess what these students have in common. It’s not hard for them to figure out that these classmates shared some attributes, such as hair color, clothes, or glasses. Once they got excited about this activity, the teacher introduced the topic of the lesson about the attributes of geometric shapes. They continued to love the activities of the lesson.
A trip to the Mars:
This is captain Kirk talking. We are going on a mission to the Mars. In this mission, I command you to find out about the following things. Ready? The pre-recorded voice of command captured all students’ attention. They regarded the mission serious, imagining this is a true trip to the Mars.
Sing a song with varied lyrics:
Students love to sing the song “I’ve been working on the railroad”. The teacher simply modified the lyrics with other learning content. They learned new stuff with this familiar tune and enjoyed it a lot.
Estimation challenge:
The teacher asked students to estimate their own height in meters and centimeters. Most of them simply guessed at random. The teacher then provided them with rulers with both metric system and American measurement system to measure their height. They recorded both readings. They then double check the accuracy of the readings with the conversion calculator. They finally made a chart to show the distributions of heights for the class. This hook activity created personal relevancy and kept everyone going excited.
There are many other good hook examples, including showing interesting pictures for imagining and questioning, watching video footage to get a sense of certain concepts and events. Good hooks can give students an idea about what to expect in the upcoming lesson and get them inspired.
