ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of assessment for learning in the beginning of the lesson and looks at how assessment can be used to activate outstanding learning during the lesson, series of lessons and curriculum as a whole. It looks at the start of the lesson: an initial occupying activity, a challenging 'Big Question', learning outcomes, the first activity in the active learning cycle or starter activity and how to embed assessment within each phase of the learning cycle. 'Bell work' bridges the gap during the period when pupils arrive to the lesson and the lesson begins. Quick-fire questions are an example of a closed starter and are probably the most common style of starter activity used to determine pupils 'starting points' in the classroom. Watching a video can be an engaging activity for pupils at the beginning of the lesson.
