Introductory Activities

1.
Can an activity used at the beginning of a lesson be also used for the ending not necessarily for
the same lesson? Explain your answer.
No. The beginning activity and concluding activity have different purposes. At the beginning of the
lesson, most students are off-task. To make students on-task, teachers should prepare an opening activity.
An opening activity is for motivating students to engage in the day’s lesson. Aside from motivation, the
beginning activity is designed to measure how much students have already known about a concept. For
example, teachers use answers and questions as an opening activity. The teacher asked, “what comes to
your mind when you heard the word stars? After the students answered the question, the teacher will be
able to know to what extent the student knows about stars. On the other hand, the concluding activity is
designed to measure how much students have learned. At the end of the lesson, students have gained
knowledge. Students demonstrate an understanding of the content. To ensure that students will not forget
the day's lesson, teachers should apply efficient concluding activities. The last things that are said and
done are usually what are etched in the minds and hearts of the students. Thus, it is essential to have
concluding activities that enable students to give value to the importance of the day's lesson and
encourage them to use it for future learning.
The opening activities and the concluding activities are both learning activities that should be fun
and interactive. These two types of activities differ from each other in terms of purpose. For selecting
opening activities, the teachers should consider this question, “What activities should I use to get the
attention of students and to activate their curiosity about the day’s lesson? For selecting concluding
activities, the question is, “What activities should I use so that students will not forget the day’s lesson?”
Whether for the same lesson or not, the beginning activity should not be used as a concluding activity.
Some students see teachers as inefficient if they use the same beginning and concluding activity.
Therefore, teachers should innovate and apply a variety of learning activities.
1. Introductory/opening/initiatory activities liken to “preparing the ground” before sowing or planting.
Students are participative in the class when they are motivated. Motivation is significant in the
teaching-learning process. When students are motivated, they listen to the teacher during lectures or
discussions, engage in different learning activities, share ideas with the class, and put more effort to learn
the content. This is the reason why teachers begin the lesson with introductory or opening activities
because it will serve as a motivation for students. Opening activities can make students feel at ease, can
motivate them to participate, can increase the level of interest in learning, can activate curiosity, and can
give students a positive feeling towards the teacher and the subject matter. With the power of motivation,
the teacher can teach the content effectively because the students are active and have the will to learn.
Through efficient opening activities, students will be able to learn successfully. They can meet the expected
competencies or learning outcomes.
Introductory activities are not made only to give students enjoyment. They have a meaningful
function. When I was in high school, I had teachers who always started the lesson with opening activities.
Through them, I realized that opening activities are related to the topics that we are going to learn. When
students have a hint or idea of the day’s lesson, they get excited. Personally, if I found out that the subject
matter is about stars, I get excited to learn. Indeed, opening activities are likened to preparing the ground
before sowing or teaching. Let’s say the seed is the students, the farmer is the teacher, and the soil
preparation is the opening activity. If a farmer directly plants the seed without preparing the soil, will the
seed possibly grow? A seed needs soil that can provide enough nutrients, can absorb water efficiently and
can control weeds. Thus, the farmers must select the best soil and prepare the soil before planting to grow
and produce healthy crops. Having an opening activity before proper teaching or discussing the lesson is
essential. Teachers must select and apply opening activities that are fun, interactive, and able to motivate
students to be on-task throughout the lesson. With opening activities, it will be easy for the teacher to teach
the day's lesson because students' curiosity is activated. Curiosity is the driving force of students to engage
in different learning activities.
There are many ways to make teaching-learning successful. One of the methods is to motivate
students through effective and efficient opening activities aligned to the learning objectives.

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