60-Second Strategy: The Last Question

Time is a precious commodity in every classroom—there never seems to be enough of it. That can feel especially true when it comes to projects. At the Barbara Morgan STEM Academy in Boise, Idaho, fifth-grade teacher Justine Teeter has found a strategy for when time is up but she wants the learning to continue—a simple last question that prompts student reflection.

“At the end of any lesson, I always like to ask the question, ‘What would you do differently if you had more time?’” she says.

“We don’t have unlimited time, but we always want kids to be thinking, ‘What can I improve?’” As an educator at a school where the curriculum is centered around project-based learning, Teeter understands the importance of metacognition, and she has made a habit of building it into her routine.

By posing this particular question and giving students a minute or two to write down their thoughts, she’s encouraging them to reflect on their process, a practice that is strongly correlated with growth mindset. After they’ve had time for individual reflection, she then asks students to share their thinking with a partner. After everyone has had a chance to articulate what they would do differently if they had more time, she looks for volunteers to share their partner’s idea. “I like them to share the other person’s thoughts so that those quiet kids can still have their ideas shared out with the class.”

Teeter finds this way of wrapping up a lesson to have big benefits, as students eventually begin to internalize the last question—and the habit of reflection—and apply it on their own if, for example, they’ve finished an assignment early. “Instead of a student saying, ‘I’m done, what can I do now?’ they look at their work critically and they say, ‘OK, what could I improve on this?’”