Art trivia time.

Getting the artroom cleaned and organized at the end of each period isn't easy. Timing the cleanup so that it ends just as the classroom teacher arrives is almost impossible. Not wanting to waste instructional time, yet not wanting to make the classroom teacher wait, I developed an easy closure exercise that excites students and reinforces learning. Best yet, it requires no advance preparation or materials.

It's called "--Trivia." Fill-in-the-blank with the topic you are studying. For example, for an art unit focusing on Claude Monet, the exercise would be "Monet Trivia." It's a game, but it's also a learning activity, particularly for those students who need competition to become engaged in learning.

The setup is quite simple. While students are acquiring information about Monet, his style, his subjects, and other Impressionist artists, I remind them that any of the information could become a trivia question. I've even been known to stop and say "trivia question" in a variety of voices. This tends to promote more careful listening.

As the end of class nears, I encourage students to clean up efficiently by offering them a game of Monet Trivia if the room is clean. Since my students sit at tables of four or five students, each group constitutes a team. The rules are taught at the beginning of the year and reminders are rarely necessary. The basics are as follows:

* I ask a question (see examples below).

* I then point to a group.

* Students at that table have fifteen seconds to respond. They may collaborate by whispering until they reach a consensus.

* I ask for their answer, and one student answers.

* If it is correct, I point to the door and that group lines up. Students know that they must continue to listen even while in line because next week's questions tend to be recycled from the ones asked this week.

* If they are incorrect, they are "beeped" and I point to another table without repeating the question. This encourages active listening throughout the activity.

* The process continues until all groups are in line. Should the classroom teacher arrive before we are finished, I tend to give easier questions to promote a speedy lineup.

This quick game reinforces the short instructional time I have with my students while promoting an exciting learning environment. Because principals and supervisors often evaluate the instructional strategy of closure as an indicator of effective teaching, this game can easily become routine closure for each lesson.

The types of questions and level of difficulty vary depending upon the age of students, the type of unit, and the instructional objectives. Questions that require higher-order thinking skills can be used, but realize that ascertaining "correctness" will be more difficult. I prefer to utilize comprehension, summarization, and recall questions. To quickly close a game, I also utilize true-or-false questions.

For "Monet Trivia," the following questions might be used:

* Name the style of painting that Monet made famous.

* What color did Monet not use?

* Which painting by Monet gave name to the Impressionist movement?

* Name one subject Monet painted frequently.

--Michele Mosco, St. Thomas Aquinas School, Avondale, Arizona