TeacherHero
Warm-Up · 3–5 min to activate prior knowledge

Do Now

A Do Now is the three-to-five minute prompt students start on before the lesson formally begins. TeacherHero writes it against the day's learning target rather than as generic bell work, so what students retrieve in those minutes is what the modelling step is about to build on, and hands it over as a quick prompt.

Complete a short review or readiness task.

Real generated output

Day 1 Retrieval: Words, Choices, and Setting

The Warm-Up phase of a Grade 6 ELA lesson, as TeacherHero generated it. Planned for 5 minutes.

  1. Student prompt

    Work independently with the passage closed. Use brief phrases or sentences. You may share one response during the final class check.

  2. Materials

    • Student notebook or whiteboard
    • Quick prompt card

  3. Teacher directions

    • Display or distribute the Quick prompt with the passage closed.
    • For the first two minutes, students independently retrieve brief meanings for the four vocabulary words from Day 1.
    • For the next two minutes, students answer the setting pretest in one sentence. Remind them to name a setting detail and explain the problem it creates, but not to complete today’s analysis chart.
    • Use the final minute for a rapid check: invite students to share one vocabulary meaning and one possible setting detail. Clarify misconceptions before beginning the lesson.

  4. Debrief

    • Confirm that obligation means a duty or responsibility and conceal means to hide.
    • Tell students that today they will explain, using evidence, how a setting feature limits what Ada is able to do.
Why the coach chose it here — Do Now is the best fit because this five-minute opening uses spaced retrieval from Day 1 before students begin today’s analysis. Students first retrieve the week’s vocabulary, especially words connected to a character’s fearful choices, and then make a brief supported pretest about how the ferry and harbor setting may limit Ada. This prepares students for the analysis chart without completing any of its rows. The strategy directly uses retrieval practice, spaced practice, and successive relearning while keeping the cognitive load appropriate for Grade 6.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a Do Now take?

Three to five minutes of student work, which is the window TeacherHero plans the Warm-Up phase against. Longer and it eats the modelling step; shorter and students have not settled. The example on this page carries the exact allocation the planner gave it inside a full period.

What makes a Do Now worth doing?

That it points at today. A Do Now which asks for something the lesson never uses is a settling routine wearing a learning label. TeacherHero writes the prompt from the learning target and the previous lesson, so the retrieval students do is retrieval the next phase needs.

Does it need a handout?

No. The Warm-Up phase produces a quick prompt rather than a full worksheet — a question that can be answered on a whiteboard, in a notebook, or out loud. That is a deliberate part of the contract, so a three-minute activation is never forced into a printed page.

Strategies that pair with it

Vocabulary Preview

Warm-Up · Predict word meanings using morphology and context.

See the example

Collaborative Error Analysis

Y’all Do · Diagnose and correct a flawed response together.

See the example

Constructed Response

You Do · Answer a target-aligned question independently.

See the example

Correct the Error

Exit Ticket · Revise a misconception and explain the correction.

See the example
Example free · generation with Pro

One move out of six phases.

A TeacherHero lesson generates all six with your course, unit, week and text in context, so the Warm-Up phase continues the one before it instead of starting over.

Explore a whole example lesson