Much like episode 1, the lead or hook to a lesson can mean everything. In this episode we share ideas on how to quickly make changes to your beginnings of your lessons to draw the students in immediately.

Hooks an important part of our classroom and a easy way to make the kids want to comeback. Hooks, are the lead in, something that gets your students to want more.

A good hook is creative, focused, engaging the student, plays on students schema, sure to breed confidence, culturally relevant.

For example, Luke used the music artist Drake and something he had advocated for in his past to lead into a Civil Rights Movement discussion. This sparked conversation among his students as they have background knowledge to make that specific example relevant to his students.

Jack Berkemeyer writes in Managing the Madness about hooks. He writes about be willing to understand where your students are at and meet them there.

A simple approach is to change your seating arrangements. Tom has the luxury of being the first door in the building for all of his students. The day to day variety of seating in his room is not necessarily all that creative. He has a handful of arrangements that spark the curiosity for the students who will eventually come to his classroom throughout the day. The arrangement gets the students to stop by and say, "I wonder what we will be doing today?!" For Luke this can be a picture on the board, a song playing in the backgound, a sign hanging outside of the door, etc.

Accessibility is key. If it is a question posted on the board that only 2 students can answer, the lesson begins with frustration or discouragement for most of the students in the room. This is not effectively hooking anyone.

Start small and infrequent. Novelty and variety keep it fresh. Don't be afraid to hook the students at the end of the class the day before.

Resources:Managing the Madness by Jack Berckemeyer - http://jackberckemeyer.com/