A plenary is the point where you stop and check what’s actually been learned, and it’s the part of the lesson most likely to get squeezed when time runs out. You might call it checking for understanding, or a hinge question, or an exit ticket. The name matters less than doing it. Done well, it tells you who’s got it, who hasn’t, and what to do next lesson.
It doesn’t have to wait for the end, either. A quick check halfway through is often more useful, because there’s still time to act on what it tells you.
A good plenary:
- involves the whole class, not just the three who always put their hands up
- shows you, and them, what they’ve understood and where the misconceptions are
- points towards what comes next
- takes almost no setting up
Here are six that need very little planning or resourcing.
1. Guess the question
Give the class some answers from today’s lesson, and they work out what the questions were. It’s harder than it sounds, and the wrong guesses are often more revealing than the right ones.
2. Just a minute
- Put pupils in threes.
- Give each group an envelope of key words from the lesson.
- Taking turns, each pupil explains a key word to the other two in under a minute, without saying it.
- Whoever guesses it picks the next card.
3. Topic tennis
- Put pupils in threes: two players and a scorer.
- Call out a topic. The two players take turns to say a word linked to it until one of them runs dry.
- The scorer writes the words down and gives a point each time someone’s stuck (or uses tennis scoring, if they know it).
- If there’s time, share the best words with the class.
4. Noughts and crosses
- Draw a noughts and crosses grid on the board and number the squares one to nine.
- Split the class into two teams, noughts and crosses.
- Team one picks a number, and you read out the question you’ve prepared for it.
- If they get it right, a nought goes in the square. If they get it wrong, the other team gets a cross there instead.
- Either way, it’s then the other team’s turn.
5. Memory game
- Put the key words from the lesson on the board.
- Give pairs or groups two minutes to memorise them.
- Hide the words and give them three minutes to write down as many as they can remember.
- The group with the most, spelled correctly, wins.
6. Exit tickets
- Before they leave, each pupil answers one or two questions on a slip of paper or a mini whiteboard: one that checks today’s key idea, and perhaps one asking what they’re still unsure about.
- Sort the slips into three piles: got it, nearly, not yet. That’s your starting point for next lesson.
- At the start and end of a topic, a KWL grid works well too: what I already Know, what I Want to know, what I’ve Learned.
The best plenaries are often the simplest. What matters is that you use what they tell you. If half the class can’t answer the exit ticket, tomorrow’s lesson starts there.
For more on checking learning as you go, try Gain Instant Feedback to Diagnose and Challenge Learning and Making Effective and Productive Use of Assessment.