do now activities research

Do Nows: Benefits, Uses and 30 Example Questions

Ellen, leading teacher.

In today's fast-paced educational landscape, teachers are constantly seeking effective strategies to maximize student engagement and promote active learning. 

One tried and true method is the implementation of "Do-Nows" in the classroom. A Do-Now, also known as a warm-up or bell-ringer, is a short activity or question presented at the beginning of each class session. 

In this article, we will explore the benefits of using Do-Nows, discuss various types of activities, and provide great questions to use for Do-Nows that settle students into learning.

Set the stage for learning

A Do Now sets the tone for the entire class period. By immediately engaging students upon entry, teachers establish a routine that signals the start of learning. This quick exercise not only focuses the students' attention but also serves as a transition from the distractions of the outside world to the focused learning environment. As a result, students become more receptive to instruction, enabling teachers to maximize valuable class time.

Promote critical thinking and problem-solving

Do Nows provide an excellent opportunity for teachers to challenge students' critical thinking skills. By presenting thought-provoking questions or scenarios, students are encouraged to analyze, evaluate, and think deeply about the subject matter. These activities not only stimulate their minds but also foster a sense of curiosity and inquiry that carries over into the rest of the lesson.

Reviewing previous learning

Do-Nows are an effective tool for reinforcing previously taught concepts. Through brief review activities, students can recall essential information and build connections between new material and prior knowledge. This process helps solidify learning, making it more likely for students to retain information in the long term.

Assessing understanding

As a formative assessment tool, Do-Nows provide teachers with valuable insights into their students' comprehension levels. By observing how students approach and respond to the activity, teachers can gauge their understanding and identify areas that may require additional reinforcement. This real-time feedback enables educators to tailor their instruction to better meet individual needs.

Fostering collaboration and discussion

Do-Nows can be designed to encourage collaboration among students. Group-based warm-up activities promote teamwork and communication skills, fostering a supportive learning community. Moreover, students often share their responses with their peers, leading to lively discussions that enrich the learning experience.

30 Questions to use for Do-Nows

These tasks can vary widely depending on the subject and grade level. Here are some questions you can use for do-nows across different subjects and grade levels:

Critical thinking/general:

• What is one thing you're curious to learn more about in today's class?
• Imagine you could interview a historical figure. What would you ask them?
• Reflect on a recent news article and share your thoughts.
• Brainstorm as many uses as you can for a common household item.
• Solve a riddle or lateral thinking puzzle.
• Remember, the goal of a do-now is to activate students' prior knowledge, get them engaged, and set a positive tone for the lesson. The questions you choose should align with your teaching objectives and the content you're covering.

English/Language Arts:

• Define the literary term we discussed in the previous class.
• Write a sentence using today's vocabulary word.
• Summarize the reading assigned for homework in two to three sentences.
• Identify a simile or metaphor in the passage provided.
• Write a brief response to a thought-provoking quote related to our current unit.

Mathematics:

• Solve a simple equation or math problem related to the topic we're studying.
• Identify geometric shapes in the given diagram and name their properties.
• Calculate the area/perimeter/volume of the given shape.
• Simplify the algebraic expression provided.
• Solve a word problem that applies concepts we've learned recently.
• Describe an experiment you conducted in the previous class and its results.
• List three characteristics of living organisms.
• Explain a scientific concept using your own words.
• Draw and label the parts of a cell/molecule/organ system.
• Predict the outcomes of a simple chemical reaction based on the reactants involved.

Social Studies/History:

• Identify the main events we discussed in the last class.
• Describe the significance of a historical figure we're currently studying.
• List two causes and two effects of a specific historical event.
• Compare and contrast two different civilizations or time periods.
• Analyze a primary source document excerpt and discuss its implications.

Foreign Language:

• Translate a sentence from English to the target language.
• Write a short paragraph about your weekend plans using vocabulary we've learned.
• Conjugate a verb according to the provided tense and subject.
• Identify the correct gender and article for a given noun.
• Create a dialogue using key phrases related to a specific scenario.

The integration of Do-Nows in the classroom offers a range of benefits, ranging from increased engagement and critical thinking to improved collaboration and time management. As educators, we have the power to shape our students' learning experiences, and the strategic use of Do-Nows can significantly impact their academic journey.

Ziplet creates an easy way to conduct Do-Nows. Create your free Ziplet account and try out one of these questions with your students. Having all student responses in one place makes it easy to review and take action for the class ahead.

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18 Warm-Up Activities to Engage Students Before They Read Nonfiction Texts

Here is a collection of our favorite “bell ringers,” “do nows” and “hooks” to grab students’ attention, along with examples from dozens of our daily lessons.

By The Learning Network

How can you get your students interested in reading informational texts, whether the topic is Syria or sneakers , space exploration or statistics , surfing , superheroes or “ the souls of Black girls ”? How can you help them make connections between unfamiliar topics and their own lives? How can you scaffold complex ideas to make them accessible for a wide variety of learners?

We’ve had lots of practice answering these questions. Our editorial staff — all of us former teachers — comes up with a fresh before-reading activity, or “warm-up,” for every Lesson of the Day we publish. We now have over 700 of them, all based on Times articles chosen from across sections of the paper, and all free to students around the world.

Here we’ve combed through the collection, organized the strategies that we use most frequently and provided examples so that you can see how they work. Each is intended to be a brief activity — an appetizer before the main course. You can find them all listed here in this downloadable poster (PDF).

But we also hope to hear from you. Let us know in the comments section or by emailing us at [email protected] if you have other warm-up suggestions you think we should try. We’d love to lengthen this list!

1. Make it personal.

When have you faced a difficult journey or challenge? What role do video games play in your life? What do you know about your family history and ancestry? Do you read or write poetry? Have you ever believed in magic?

We all work hard to help students make connections between school content and their real lives, and sometimes all it takes is a simple question.

For instance, to introduce an article about Henry David Thoreau and his experience at Walden Pond , we ask students if they liked to spend time alone, and what the benefits and drawbacks of solitude have been for them. For a piece about the science of dog behavior , we ask about their experiences with dogs and their observations about the special bond these animals have with humans. And to ease them into an article about redefining the quinceañera , we invite students to write and think about their own experiences with coming-of-age rituals of all kinds.

Students can explore these personal connections through writing in a journal, using sentence starters , talking with a partner, taking a temperature check , or sketching a concept or identity map .

2. Start with an image …

Look at the picture above and answer these three questions about it, in as much detail as you can: What is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find?

That’s how a lesson on an article about wild animals and the pandemic begins. We borrowed the three questions from our weekly “ What’s Going On in This Picture? ” protocol, because we know it invites students not only to speculate, but to provide evidence for their ideas — all of which help lead them seamlessly into the article.

In another example, we invite students to discuss the thoughts and feelings that come up when they view this illustration before reading an article about self-harm :

Sometimes we provide students with a group of images to explore, as we do in this lesson based on the multimedia feature “How Black Lives Matter Reached Every Corner of America ,” or in this lesson about Caribbean Carnival . In a physical classroom, these photos can be used in a gallery walk activity .

3. … or a video.

We begin many of our Lessons of the Day with short videos — some from the article itself, some from related pieces in The Times and some from a reliable outside source, like National Geographic or the BBC.

Can street dance be a fine art? Before reading about Lil Buck and his belief that Memphis jookin can be no less rigorous than classical ballet, students watch the four-minute video above, “Nobody Knows,” that showcases his breathtaking artistry and discipline.

We also use video to engage students emotionally with a news story that might feel distant or complicated. In our lesson plan about China’s detention of Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, for instance, students watch a Times Opinion video featuring the voices and stories of young people whose parents have been imprisoned in the camps.

We often ask students to process what they view through journaling or in discussion with a partner, using prompts drawn from our Film Club feature : What moments in this film stood out for you? Was there anything that challenged what you know — or thought you knew? What messages, emotions or ideas will you take away from this film? What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience?

4. Analyze a graph or map.

Thanks to the excellent graphs and maps The Times produces on subjects as varied as nutrition choices and music fandom , we often use this kind of multimedia to invite students to make observations and ask questions about a topic before they immerse themselves in it.

For example, before reading about how LeBron James is leading a generation of athletes into ownership , students look at the graph of racial disparities between players of color and head coaches of color in sports.

For a warm-up to introduce a Times article on past vaccine drives , including smallpox and polio, students look at maps of Covid-19 vaccination rates across the United States and in their own community.

And before learning about the connection between the decline in Chinese restaurants across America and the economic mobility of the second generation, students analyze a graph that uses data from the restaurant reviewing website Yelp.

What does the sun look like? You have probably drawn a picture of the sun at some point in your life: a simple yellow circle with lines or triangles surrounding it. Do you think it really looks like that? Based on what you know about the sun — its structure and makeup — what do you think its surface actually looks like? Is it perfectly round? Smooth? Rough? Uniform or varied? Is it the color of the yellow in a box of crayons? Or something more complex? Take a few minutes and make a sketch of the surface of the sun.

We recognize that most warm-ups take only a few minutes at the start of class, so there usually isn’t time to have students create an artistic masterpiece. But, as you can see in the activity above, used at the start of a lesson plan about newly released photos of the sun’s surface , sometimes it does make sense to have students make a quick sketch. By inviting students to draw, we’re really asking them to think — perhaps about something they’ve never thought about before.

Drawing can also be a fun way to get students to share their own unique perspectives. Before reading an article on sexist double standards facing women who run for political office , we prompt students to draw what they think an effective president looks like, adding words that describe the appearance, qualities and behaviors of a leader. A warm-up for an article on machine design asks students to sketch what they think of when they hear the word “robot.” For an article discussing possible life on Venus , we prompt students to draw what they imagine extraterrestrial life in the universe to look like.

Drawing a “mind map” also counts. In this lesson about a school for basketball careers , we invite students to visually brainstorm every job they can think of that is related to their favorite sport: management of players and teams, training, marketing, merchandising, keeping statistics and more.

The goal isn’t to test students’ illustration skills, of course, but to allow them to express their creativity and imagination, as well as to see the range of visual ideas in a single classroom.

6. Ask for predictions.

Is it possible to bounce a water balloon off a bed of nails? Do you think your N.F.L. team will make the playoffs this year? If I touched the moon, what would it feel like? Sometimes asking students to anticipate what they’re about to read by making guesses or advancing theories about the topic can give them a stake in finding answers. The three questions above, we hope, do just that.

Take the second question in the list above: Before exploring the math behind any N.F.L. team’s playoff chances , we invite students to make their own predictions and then compare them with The Times’s computer simulator.

Here’s another example: We ask students to make predictions before reading an article about how distracted walkers can affect pedestrian flow : What do you think would happen if several people were walking while looking at their phones in a crowded school hallway or on a busy sidewalk? How might these distracted walkers affect the way the crowd moved, if at all? After students make those predictions, they are more prepared to understand the results of a recent study — and to do our “going further” activities that take those results and use them for real purposes in their own communities.

Making predictions in advance of reading a text can help to give students a purpose for reading, providing a “need to know” as they look for answers to their conjectures. For example, in this lesson, about teenagers and their social ties during the pandemic, we invite students to begin by making a list of all the roles their friends play in their lives. Then, before reading what experts on adolescent development and mental health have to say in the article, they compare their lists and try to predict some of the reasons the experts would give for why pandemic isolation has been particularly hard on teenagers.

7. Take a stand on an issue.

How do you feel about the following claims? With which do you agree, or strongly agree? With which do you disagree, or even strongly disagree? Why?

Participating in sports builds valuable skills for young people. The risk of long-term brain damage for professional football players is very high. The risk of long-term brain damage for youth football is very low. If I were a parent, I would not let my 13-year-old play tackle football.

This is how we introduce students to an article exploring how a small Texas city is struggling over the question of whether to allow 13-year-olds to play tackle football .

Beginning a class with this kind of “ Four Corners ” debate, which prompts students to show their position on a specific statement (strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) by standing in a particular corner of the room, is a great way to get students out of the seats and to take a stand — literally and figuratively. Another version? The “ Human Barometer ,” which asks students to line up along a continuum based on their position on an issue. We often use one of these two protocols when tackling a nonfiction text exploring a topic with disagreement or controversy surrounding it.

In a warm-up to an article on state cuts to food stamp programs , we ask students to take a stand on the statement: “The government has a responsibility to make sure no Americans go hungry.” And to introduce an article on the lucrative opportunities enjoyed by some college “cheerlebrities, ” we ask students to decide where they stand on the statement: “College cheerleaders should be able to make money through things like endorsement deals, brand partnerships and sponsored social media posts.”

The idea is not that there is one correct viewpoint or perspective, but to begin to understand the contours of a public debate and start to unpack the arguments in favor of contending stances.

After reading the featured article, students can return to the Barometer or Four Corners warm-up activities and revisit their stances to see if — and how — they and their classmates have revised their opinions.

8. Invite student-to-student discussion.

The think-pair-share . The turn-and-talk . Most teachers are familiar with these quick activities that invite students to talk with a partner — as tools to make sure every student in the class is involved. And when students use them to discuss ideas, reactions and experiences during a warm-up, they become active learners right from the start.

We generally ask students to do a little writing and thinking before conversing with a classmate so they’re ready to enter the discussion with something to say. For example, to introduce a lesson about the history of Black American Sign Language , we invite students to first quick-write and then turn and talk about how they use language in different settings.

Before reading an article on how to argue more productively , we first invite students to engage in some “joyful disagreements,” debating such thorny questions as “Does pineapple belong on pizza?” and “How does the roll of toilet paper go on the holder?”

Sometimes we employ slightly more structured or elaborate discussion strategies, like the “ speed dating ” exercise in this lesson plan about art appreciation . In a face-to-face setting, students pair up to answer a question or to discuss a topic for three to five minutes and then quickly form new pairings to discuss a different question or topic — and continue that way for several rounds.

9. Make something — or do something.

Warm-up activities don’t always have to focus on reading, writing or discussion. Often we try to make them literally hands-on.

In a lesson plan about the art of origami , for instance, it just makes sense to invite students to experiment with origami before they begin reading. Afterward, we ask them to reflect on the process and describe what was challenging, what was fun and what techniques they used.

Sometimes a warm-up is less hands-on than lips-, teeth-, tongue-, jaw- and throat-on, as in this lesson plan about beatboxers , which invites students to experiment with making different types of sounds and beats with their mouth and voice alone.

And for a lesson on the complexities of language’s origins , we ask them to choose one of the 26 letters in the alphabet and imagine they have to explain how to make the sound of that letter to a young child or someone who has never heard or spoken it before. To do so, they first have to experiment with saying the letter in different ways — at different speeds, for example, or by exaggerating the movement of their mouths and lips — while paying close attention to what their bodies are doing as they make the sound.

10. Try a mini-experiment.

Spinning water droplets that seemingly defy physics, chinese researchers have discovered a new way to make water droplets spin, creating a potential new kind of hydropower..

I bet you’ve never seen water do this: twist and turn like a dancer in flight. It happens when a droplet lands on a water-repellent surface with a special pattern. These acrobatic leaps were recorded by Chinese scientists investigating new ways to manipulate water. To understand what they did, let’s step back and see what Isaac Newton had to say about bouncing objects. According to Newton, when an object hits a solid surface, some of the energy of the impact is translated into a rebound. Think of a ball hitting concrete. If the ball travels straight down with no spin, it should bounce straight up again. And it’s the same with a water droplet on a water-repellent surface. Theoretically, the droplet should bounce straight up — no fancy stuff. But the researchers created a pattern of adhesive material on the surface that water sticks to. The water in contact with the sticky patches recoils more slowly than the water touching the repellent surface, and that makes the droplets spin. Change the pattern of the adhesive, and you change the shape of the dancing droplet. The researchers made swirls and half-moons and dotted circles, each of which caused the water to behave differently, sometimes even bouncing sideways. Scientists also showed how the energy of the droplets could be harvested. They set up a magnetically suspended surface. As the droplet landed on the surface and rebounded, it pushed down the plate and caused it to spin. It’s a new kind of hydropower. And at their peak, those droplets are spinning at a whopping 7,300 revolutions per minute. So apart from creating a water droplet ballet, scientists have also found a new way to harvest energy. And their work might help in designing self-cleaning airplane wings. For now, it’s enough to have the pleasure of watching the leaps and pirouettes of those dancing drops.

Try out a mini-experiment testing the way water reacts to different types of surfaces. First, gather a few surfaces with varying textures — rough, smooth, grainy, oily, soft, hard or bumpy. You might use a desktop, a sheet of textured paper, an aluminum can or pavement. Then, using a dropper, Pasteur pipette or straw, drip water on the different surfaces. Record your observations.

This is how we begin our lesson about dancing water droplets that reveals the startling ways water seems to dance. Students then watch the short video above and compare their observations with those of scientists.

For science-related nonfiction texts, you might try a mini-experiment that doesn’t require a lot of materials and is quick and easy to do. For example, before reading an article about how scientists use paper as a model to study other crumpling challenges — such as how DNA packs into a cell, or how best to cram a giant solar sail into a small satellite — we ask students to ball up pieces of paper and take notes about patterns they notice.

Some experiments might be too long for a “hook” activity, but a short hands-on activity can be a great, interactive way to get early buy-in from students.

11. Try a thought experiment.

Imagine a situation where all cars and public transportation suddenly disappeared — and all you had for travel was a bicycle: How would it affect you and your family?

Sometimes prompting students to imagine alternate realities can open their minds to a new way of seeing a problem or issue. For instance, the prompt above begins a lesson plan about the most bike-friendly city in the world , Copenhagen.

For a lesson about a library’s exhibition on 5,000 years of writing , we ask students to imagine if humans had never invented a written language. How would the world be different?

And before reading about why monkeys have tails while apes and humans don’t , we prompt students to imagine their lives if they had this curious appendage — whether short, long, bushy or striped. What are at least five cool things they could do with it?

12. Observe nature — or the human environment.

Take five minutes and simply look at the clouds in the sky.

This simple instruction begins our lesson on the Cloud Appreciation Society .

Sometimes the best way to engage students can be the easiest and mostly readily at hand: Look around you, pay close attention to something, watch and observe.

To introduce the complicated topic of the disrupted global supply chain , we ask students to look at the labels on their clothing, sneakers, electronics or anything else they own and find out where they’re made. What trends do they notice as they share their data across the class or in small groups?

In a warm-up to an article on a scientific experiment studying the blinking of birds , we ask students to take several minutes to study and observe their own blinking: Does the quality and the quantity of blinking change in different settings or lighting? When sitting versus standing? When looking at something nearby or far in the distance? When is your blinking voluntary and when is it involuntary?

Students can use their simple observations to form questions or a hypothesis, helping both to build engagement and to frame the reading.

13. Activate prior knowledge.

Students approach any new topic with varying degrees of prior knowledge, so inviting them to consider what they may have already read, heard or watched on that topic can serve multiple purposes.

For starters, it can help classmates share ideas and information at the start of a lesson. It can also help to surface any misinformation that students might have. And it can give students an opportunity to ask questions before they dive into the reading.

Many teachers are familiar with the classic K/W/L chart — a graphic organizer that organizes what students “ k now,” “ w ant to know,” and “have l earned” in three columns — and we use them often, too, in lesson plans on topics like the Harlem Renaissance , women’s suffrage movement and presidential election process .

Sometimes we simply ask students to share in their journals or in pairs: “What do you know — or think you know — about a particular subject?” Our lesson about the ways in which the British spy agency M15 promotes itself on social media asks this to help students brainstorm what they might already know on the broad topic of spies and spying — but also, we hope, to get them excited to learn some surprising things about how espionage agencies operate today.

And sometimes we just want to show students they know more than they think they know. For example, in a lesson about applying to college during a pandemic , we suggest that students brainstorm a list of all the steps, big and small, a high school student traditionally takes as part of the college application process. Then we ask them to go back through that list and put an X through each step that was somehow disrupted by the pandemic. This not only helps them see that they are coming to the Times article with a great deal of background knowledge already, but also helps them anticipate the issues they will be reading about.

14. Respond to a quote.

Consider the following statement: “History is never neutral.” What do you think that means? Do you agree with its premise? Why or why not? Can you think of any examples that support or contradict this statement?

A particularly provocative or juicy quote or statement can often be an effective way to get students thinking deeply about a subject even before they read an article. The example above introduces our lesson plan about state history textbooks .

Sometimes the most powerful warm-up quote comes right from the article. We begin a lesson about a California homeless camp with the following quote from Markaya Spikes, a woman who was living in the camp at the time:

Homeless people are treated worse than stray animals. When someone finds a stray animal they take it home and feed it. When someone sees a homeless person they call the police. Where is the compassion?

We ask students, What is your immediate reaction to reading the quotation? What words stand out to you? Does the quotation bring up an emotional response? Do you have any desire to respond to Ms. Spikes? What might you say to her?

Or quotes can come from famous adages, mottos or sayings. For a lesson profiling people who pursued deferred dreams later in their lives , we ask students to consider two sayings: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” Then, they reflect on which they find more accurate and true to life.

15. Take a quiz.

OK … pop quiz!

1. How many bacteria can fit on the head of a pin? a) 1,000 b) 1 million c) 1 billion d) 1 trillion 2. How many Earths could you fit inside our sun? a) 10 b) 100 c) 1,000 d) 1 million

This is how we start a lesson on the popularity of videos demonstrating relative size on YouTube. We don’t expect students to know the answers beforehand, but it is a quick way to introduce them to mind-boggling magnitudes in the universe.

Another example: For a lesson about race and biology , we start with a short true-or-false quiz. True or false? “Race is determined solely by biology.” In addition to piquing students’ curiosity, a quiz like this can surface common misconceptions quickly.

We also use premade quizzes from The Learning Network, The Times or other reliable sources. If a lesson plan features a specific country, like Myanmar or Cuba , we often start with a Country of the Week quiz . And we occasionally send students to a Times science or news quiz, like we did for this lesson about the danger of added sugars in our diets or this lesson on climate change solutions .

These quizzes are always intended as learning “hooks,” though, and never as graded assessments. We want them to get students thinking and to evoke their curiosity, not intimidate them.

16. Pro/con, cause/effect, problem/solution: Make a list.

Whether it’s generating pros and cons, causes and effects, arguments for and against, or problems and solutions, brainstorming a list can be an effective warm-up to get students’ minds active. They can make a list individually or with a partner, and they can share examples with the class before jumping into the text. Then, as they read the related piece, they will often find their own ideas reflected.

For example, in a lesson about Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi , we ask students to take a few minutes to make a list of common superhero stereotypes they have read in comic books or seen in movies.

Before reading the article, “ Here Comes the Bride. And the Bride. And the Bride. Mass Weddings Boom in Lebanon ,” we invite students to make a list of the pros and cons for a young couple thinking about participating in a wedding ceremony that might include as many as dozens, hundreds or even thousands of couples.

To introduce an article on the discovery that bird populations in the United States and Canada had fallen by 29 percent since 1970, a loss of nearly three billion birds, we ask students to make two lists, one for possible causes of this loss and another for the possible effects. And for a lesson on theater programs in prison , we challenge students to consider the purpose of prison: punishment, rehabilitation and deterrence, making a list of arguments for each.

17. Preview a text.

Sometimes an effective warm-up activity can simply be to give students a taste of the article they’re about the read. If the opening lines or top images are engaging enough, then the article can serve as its own preview.

To preview an article on the popular video game Among Us, we ask students to respond to a quote from a teenager:

“A few weeks ago I went from not hearing anything about it to hearing everything about it everywhere,” said Judah Rice, 16, a high school student in Texas. “People are texting about it, I know people who are on dedicated Discord servers and Among Us group chats. I have friends who get together all the time and play it.”

Then we invite them to pretend they are a Times reporter who has been assigned to write an article for a mostly adult audience about the popularity of this game among teenagers. What are all of the things they would want and need to include? Why?

Previewing can also be done by having students read and react to a provocative first paragraph, like this one from a piece on the spread of misinformation :

There’s a decent chance you’ve had at least one of these rumors, all false, relayed to you as fact recently: that President Biden plans to force Americans to eat less meat ; that Virginia is eliminating advanced math in schools to advance racial equality; and that border officials are mass-purchasing copies of Vice President Kamala Harris’s book to hand out to refugee children.

Or it can mean inviting students to scroll through the images and text, enough to get them to notice and wonder about the article, and make predictions for what the rest of the article will be about. That’s how we start our lesson about the Tulsa Race Riots . It’s also what we do with a Twitter account “written” by Katharine the great white shark , who has a lot of teach about shark behavior.

Sometimes it might make sense for the teacher to read the article’s opening lines aloud and for students to react. Often it works best when students do this preview activity individually or in pairs.

18. Define key terms.

Students will often run into unfamiliar words and terms when reading nonfiction texts, perhaps words like decolonize, divestment or gender-nonconforming .

A warm-up activity can introduce students to this key vocabulary in advance, so they can better understand the text they’re about to read. One vocabulary-building strategy we sometimes use is a Frayer model , a graphic organizer that guides students to note the definition, characteristics, examples and nonexamples of the term.

For example, we invite students to define the word “decolonize” before reading the article “ Decolonizing the Hunt for Dinosaurs and Other Fossils ” and “divestment” before reading an article about fossil fuel divestment .

And in a lesson plan about remembering the lives of influential Latinos , we provide students with a list of 10 words from the article they may not know, such as ventriloquism and embargo, and encourage them to use this list of words and their definitions to learn what each means and to practice using the words.

We hope this collection helps to expand your teaching toolbox of warm-ups, bell ringers, “do nows” and hooks when you approach any informational text — from The Times or any other source.

But, we know, of course, that there are many more ways to introduce nonfiction texts. Let us know in the comments section or by emailing us at LNFeedback.com if you have other warm-up suggestions you think we should try. We’d love to expand our list!

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60-Second Strategy: Do Now Sheets

A quick pen-and-paper warm-up activity helps teachers see that students are on track in a self-paced blended learning classroom.

Teachers at Eastern Senior High School in Washington, DC, use a quick written worksheet at the start of each class period to keep tabs on students’ content understanding, academic progress, and social and emotional needs.

Eastern Senior High School

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Time-saving starter activities: DO NOWs

One of the biggest issues I have with online teaching is time management. In school, I have 45-minute lessons, which feel short, but nowhere near as short as they feel during virtual learning. I think I lose the most time at the beginning of the lessons and then I struggle to catch up with my plan. Even though most students join the meetings on time, there are always a few who are late. And every time someone new joins the lesson, I have to sacrifice valuable time to catch them up. While in the face-to-face classroom I could easily get them to join in the ongoing activities, it’s much more difficult in the virtual environment. Links need to be sent, instructions need to be repeated, newcomers need to be assigned to breakout rooms, and so on!

I have been experimenting with different things that can help maximise synchronous teaching and learning time. One of the biggest time savers for me has been the DO NOW activities that I set at the start of each lesson. In our school DO NOW activities are one of the non-negotiables of good practice. Teachers need to be ready to engage the students from the moment they enter the classroom. These activities are meant to be self-explanatory so that the students can get on with them independently. While the students are working on these, the teachers can take the register, pull up their slides, check in with the student who had missed the previous lesson, just to mention a few things. Giving learners a DO NOW also means that the student who is running late won’t miss the introduction to the new material.

How to manage DO NOWs online

Just like in the face-to-face classroom, I set DO NOW activities online too. I have found two effective ways of doing this:

• I let each student into the lesson from the waiting room when they arrive. As soon as the first student arrives, I share my screen with the DO NOW activity. When the new students arrive I ask the ones already in the lesson to quickly catch them up. When everybody has arrived and looked at the DO NOW, we quickly check the answers. I do this in the quickest way possible and I don’t let the DO NOW run longer than 5 minutes.
• Instead of letting students in one by one, I message them in the waiting room with the link to the DO NOW activity. Of course, the instructions need to be clear and the material should be revision instead of something new. When everyone has arrived to the waiting room or when 4 minutes have passed, I let everybody in and we quickly check the answers.

Starting my virtual lessons with these DO NOW activities means that all the learners are ready to focus on the learning objective of the day at the same time. However, no precious learning time had been lost as they were busy with a task that in one way or another prepared them for what I’ve planned next.

Like most things, this takes training too. The first time you set a DO NOW, allow more time. However, once the students have gotten used to it, these activities save you valuable minutes at the start of each lesson.

Here’s a list of my favourite DO NOW activities:

• Vocabulary: it’s always valuable to revise key vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson. Some of my go-to activities are matching terms and definitions (which I usually copy-paste from Quizlet ), defining key terms and asking students to find images for the key vocabulary. For this last one I use Jamboard : students get the link to the Jamboard with a list of key words. They use the Google Image function to add images related to the terms. They basically create collaborative collages, which are great for revision.
• Grammar : quick controlled practice activities are great as DO NOWs. Ask students to fill in some gaps in a shared Google Doc or on a Jamboard then just paste the answers in when you are ready to move on. Grammar expansion and error correction activities work really well too!
• Reading/listening lessons : I like sharing images with the students prior to a comprehension lesson. They look at the image on the Jamboard and add their questions. Now they have a real reason to read/listen in the lesson since they want to find answers to their own questions. If you want to learn more about working with student-generated questions, check out my post about the QFT here .

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ACPS Talent Development

Professional Learning Website

Do Now Activator

A ‘Do Now’ is a common name for an activator teachers use to begin a lesson (it is also sometimes called a warm-up or bell work). It is often part of the Framing the Learning portion of a lesson. A ‘Do Now’ is a quick, independent or collaborative activity that typically involves no (or minimal) guidance from the teacher.  A ‘Do Now’ can be used to activate students learning for the lesson, surface prior knowledge, and familiarize students with lesson vocabulary.  A ‘Do Now’ works best if it is an established classroom routine as it signals to students that it is time to learn. Well written and well practiced ‘Do Nows’ result in less wasted time and more student engagement. Typically a ‘Do Now’ should take less than 10 minutes to complete and assess.

Tips & Tricks

• Use the EQ: The essential question works great as a ‘Do Now.’  Students may write their answer to the EQ independently, discuss it with a partner, or a combination of both.
• Administrative Duties: As students begin their ‘Do Now’ quickly complete your administrative duties, take attendance, collect and give feedback on homework etc. Don’t forget if it’s important enough to assign, it’s important enough to assess; upon completion of your duties, circulate, monitor and provide support and feedback to students on their ‘Do Now.’
• Multiple Modes: Although typically ‘Do Nows’ are written, teachers may structure them to fit students’ needs. Creating a poem, word problem, song, or picture or dialoging with a partner or team are all great ways to activate and engage students at the beginning of the lesson.
• Track Learning:  Have students respond to a ‘Do Now’ question or scenario at the beginning of the lesson on a colored Post-It Note, then have students post their writing on an anchor chart. At the close of the lesson, have students respond to the same question on a different color Post-It as the lesson’s anchor. Have students place that Post-It next to their first Post-It so that they may observe how their thinking has evolved.
• Assessment: Often teachers use ‘Do Nows’ as quick pre-assessment tools. As students complete the ‘Do Nows’  teachers can take informal data on performance in order to modify the upcoming instruction or could use the completed ‘Do Nows’ to make leveled flexible groups.

Tools & Templates

• Education Week  Article on Do Nows
• Activating Strategies Handout  for Literacy

Doug Lemov's field notes

• Teaching & Schools
• Coaching & Practice

10.06.17 Using the Do Now for Retrieval Practice–An Update from Alex Laney

  A year or so ago I wrote a post about Alex Laney’s Do Nows at Smith’s Wood Academy in Birmingham, England.  Since then Alex has kept in touch and he recently shared some insights about the school’s new approach to Do Nows or (as they call them) DNAs. Most notably, given the very compelling research…

06.14.16 UK Science Teacher Alex Laney Shares Some Outstanding Do Nows

Alex Laney is a science teacher at Blessed William Howard Catholic High school in Stafford, in the UK. He’s recently been accepted onto the Future Leaders flagship program and come September will be working as an Assistant Principal responsible for Teaching and Learning in a school striving to achieve excellence for its students in a community…

03.28.14 The Do Now: A Primer

Today a section from a technique you might describe as a ‘fundamental’: The Do Now.  The best part of it, to me, is the examples (see below).  One key thing to remember with a Do Now is the speedy review.  When I see Do Nows go wrong it’s most often because a teacher loses track of…

01.31.14 Kate Butrie’s Show Call & the “Invisible Hand”: A Guest Post by Joaquin Hernandez (Video)

At TLAC towers, we recently viewed a clip of Math teacher Kate Butrie of Williamsburg Collegiate implementing the Show Call technique. (Show Call is Cold Calling students by taking their written work and projecting it; if you’re looking for it in your copy of TLAC, you won’t find it; it’s new to TLAC 2.0!). What really impressed us…

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Million Dollar Sense

5 Research Backed Reasons Why Assisted Living Facilities Can Do More Harm Than Help (Plus 5 Ways To Ensure The Best Care)

Posted: May 31, 2024 | Last updated: May 31, 2024

#1. Inadequate Staffing and Training

One of the most significant issues in assisted living facilities is the lack of adequate staffing and proper training. According to a report by the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), many facilities operate with insufficient staff-to-resident ratios, which can lead to neglect and inadequate care. Caregivers often lack the necessary training to handle residents with specific needs, such as those with dementia or mobility issues. This can result in medication errors, mishandling of medical equipment, and improper responses to emergencies.

#2. Neglect and Abuse

There have been numerous cases of neglect and abuse in assisted living facilities. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) estimates that approximately one in ten Americans aged 60 and older have experienced some form of elder abuse. In assisted living settings, neglect can manifest as failure to provide adequate food, water, or hygiene, while abuse can range from physical and emotional harm to financial exploitation. These incidents often go unreported due to residents’ fear of retaliation or cognitive impairments that prevent them from speaking out.

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#3. Poor Quality of Care

Assisted living facilities are sometimes criticized for providing subpar care. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association found that many residents receive inadequate medical attention, leading to worsening health conditions. Facilities may lack on-site medical professionals or have limited access to healthcare services, which can be detrimental for residents with chronic illnesses or those requiring regular medical supervision. Poor care can also extend to insufficient assistance with daily activities, leading to accidents and declining physical health.

#4. Unmet Individual Needs

Assisted living facilities often adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, which can fail to address the unique needs of individual residents. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services highlights that personalized care is crucial for the well-being of seniors, especially those with specialized health conditions or personal preferences. When facilities do not tailor their services to meet individual needs, residents may experience frustration, anxiety, and a diminished quality of life.

#5. Hidden Costs and Financial Exploitation

Many families are attracted to assisted living facilities by seemingly reasonable base rates, only to discover numerous hidden costs later. These additional charges can include fees for medication management, transportation, special dietary needs, and extra activities. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that unexpected expenses can significantly burden residents and their families, sometimes leading to financial exploitation. It’s essential to fully understand the cost structure of a facility before committing to ensure it aligns with your financial situation.

Tip #1 for Ensuring the Best Possible Care – Research and Visit Multiple Facilities

Conduct thorough research and visit multiple assisted living facilities before making a decision. Pay attention to the cleanliness, atmosphere, and resident-staff interactions. Use resources like state health department reviews and ratings from organizations like AARP and the Better Business Bureau to evaluate the facility’s reputation.

Tip #2 for Ensuring the Best Possible Care – Ask Detailed Questions

When touring facilities, ask detailed questions about staffing ratios, staff training programs, and the availability of medical professionals. Inquire about how they handle emergencies and what protocols are in place for medication management and health monitoring.

Tip #3 for Ensuring the Best Possible Care – Review Contracts and Fee Structures Carefully

Ensure you understand all aspects of the contract, including fee structures and any potential hidden costs. Ask for a detailed breakdown of what services are included in the base rate and what additional services might incur extra charges.

Tip #4 for Ensuring the Best Possible Care – Seek Feedback from Residents and Families

Talk to current residents and their families to get honest feedback about their experiences. Their insights can provide valuable information about the quality of care, the responsiveness of staff, and the overall living conditions in the facility.

Tip #5 for Ensuring the Best Possible Care – Monitor Care Regularly

Once your loved one is in an assisted living facility, continue to monitor their care regularly. Visit frequently, both announced and unannounced, to ensure consistent quality of care. Maintain open communication with the facility’s staff and management to address any concerns promptly.

Disclaimer – This list is solely the author's opinion based on research and publicly available information.

15 Everyday Things Baby Boomers Had 40 Years Ago That Are Luxuries Now

As we ride the waves of technological progress, manufacturing efficiencies and cheap supply chains, some everyday aspects that were once standard now seem like relics of a bygone era. Let us take a nostalgic trip down memory lane as social media users reminisce about luxuries that were once ordinary.

11 Things You're Too Old For After Age 50

Reaching your 50s brings about a shift in priorities and perspectives. It’s a time to reevaluate habits and behaviors that might no longer serve you as you embrace the wisdom that comes with age. In this article, we’ll explore 11 aspects of life that you might want to leave behind once you hit the big 5-0. From focusing on health and relationships to letting go of unnecessary stressors, this guide offers practical advice for navigating the later stages of adulthood with clarity and purpose.

11 Things You're Too Old For After Age 50

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Statistics and Actuarial Science

Information for new graduate students in actuarial science, data science and statistics at the university of iowa..

Welcome New Graduate Students!

Information for NEW graduate students in Actuarial Science, Data Science and Statistics at the University of Iowa. 

Last Updated, May 31, 2024.                                   Additional  updates will be sent this summer!

Important Information for International Students

The Office of International Students and Scholars does an incredible job helping you settle into Iowa City and the University of Iowa.  They have webinars to help with:  

1. Getting Started and Making Travel Arrangements

2. Achieving Success: On-campus Involvement and Cultural Adjustment (undergraduate students)

3. Graduate Student Professionalization and Support

4. Understanding Orientation Expectations, Responsibilities, and Placement Tests (graduate students)

5. On-campus Housing Assignments and Move-in Tips (undergraduate students)

6. Student Employment

7. Money Matters - University Billing

Do you need to take the SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English for the Classroom)?

All students for whom English is not a first language (as self-reported on their admissions application) and who have first-time appointments as graduate teaching assistants (TAs) are required to go through a testing process to assess their effectiveness in speaking English before they are assigned assistantship responsibilities. Beginning in Fall 2024, there will be a new test to assess communication in English in a classroom context called SPEC (Spoken Proficiency of English in the Classroom).  This is replacing ESPA and ELPT.  Details will be coming soon.

Any graduate student who is included in the following categories needs to have their oral English proficiency tested by the TAPE Program:

• Students whose first language is not English (i.e., learned another language first) as self-reported on their admissions application, and
• Have been appointed as a Teaching Assistant

Exemptions (may change):

• Students with an official valid (within the last two years) iBT Listening score of 25 and an iBT Speaking score of 26.
• Undergraduate degrees and/or     
• Continuous attendance of English-language schools since the age of 12 (or younger)
• Students who served as teaching assistants at other institutions of higher learning in which the language of instruction is English, if they were listed as the instructor of record for a course or led a discussion section in English for at least one year, with a year defined as either two academic semesters or three academic quarters.
• Requests for exceptions regarding the SPEC  can be submitted for evaluation to a committee consisting of the Director of ESL Programs, the Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs in the Graduate College, and a representative from University Human Resources.

Requests for exemption and exceptions must come from the department by the deadline, not the student.   Deadlines to register students for the SPEC are:

• March 1  

NOT Exemptions:

• Students who come from a country where English is one of the official languages.
• Students who are U.S. permanent residents or U.S. citizens whose first language is not English.

Testing Procedures & Results

 To be announced soon!

Graduate/Professional International Students Important Dates

July 12, 2024:  Earliest date you may enter the U.S. in F-1 or J-1 status. August 11, 2024:  Latest date by which you should arrive in Iowa City August 12 - 16, 2024: International Student Orientation August 26, 2024:  Classes begin.

Housing Information for All Students

The department has a housing webpage, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. If you are looking for a roommate, please let us know and we can update this web page!

Looking for housing options ?

All US citizens that are financially supported (TA, RA) need to be here on August 21.

All students will register for classes the week before classes start.  International students must complete the required Orientation Program before  they can register for classes.    

____________________

Fall Classes Advising will be August 19-23

All NEW UI students must meet with their advisor prior to registration.  There is no worry about getting into any of the classes we teach.  

• IF you are an Actuarial Science MS or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Shyamalkumar.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected] to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (233 Schaeffer Hall).
• IF you are a Data Science MS, Statistics MS, or PhD student you will need to meet with Professor Boxiang Wang.  Email him after August 12 at [email protected]  to set a time to meet to discuss what classes to take, it may be on Zoom or in his office (261 Schaeffer Hall).

New Graduate College Welcome and Orientation, August 21

The Graduate College Fall 2024 Graduate Student Orientation event will take place on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.  A registration form will be sent to your UI email sometime this early summer from the Graduate College. All new doctoral and master’s students are invited to attend.  

New Teaching Assistant Orientation, August 22- required for all new supported students

Sponsored by the Center for Teaching

This event will introduce participants to the role of teaching assistant at the University of Iowa and prepare them for the first week of classes and beyond. 

Participants will discuss evidence-based teaching strategies for lesson planning, inclusive teaching, and more with Center for Teaching staff. Participants will also choose two workshops of interest to them out of several options; these will be facilitated synchronously by experienced TAs.  This is a virtual event for 9-noon.

• Sign up before August 21!

New Student Department Orientation, August 23 at 9 a.m., Room to be determined.

• All New Student Orientation —Group Introductions and General Policy Procedures.

New Supported Graduate Assistants Orientation, August 23 at 1 p.m., Room to be determined.

• Our Director of Graduate Studies will have a department review of expectations and your specific roles in our department. Teaching and grading assignments will be explained, as well as preparation, teaching tips, problems and questions, quizzes and exams, weekly meetings, grading, appropriate office use and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Education

Mailbox in 241 Schaeffer Hall 

All graduate students will have a mailbox in our main office.  The faculty do as well.  Please check your mailbox at least once a week!

Office Desk Assignment

Nearly all supported students will have a desk in one of our offices.  The assignment priority (in this order) includes Ph.D. and Fellowship candidates, research assistants, half-time teaching assistants, quarter-time teaching assistants and lastly graders.  Having a desk is a privilege and should be used only for university business.  Office assignments will be given to students on, August 23.  Keys are checked out ONLY after that time.  Please remember to keep the rooms clean and take out all trash to the large bins in the main hallways.

Set-up your University of Iowa Email

All University of Iowa students are required to activate their assigned uiowa.edu email address, as all official communication from university offices are now sent via email, rather than hard copy. This address usually follows the pattern [email protected]   (However, often a number is also attached.) 

To activate the account:

• Log on to  MyUI
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Request Email Account
• Complete the specified steps.

Students who prefer to maintain only their work or home email addresses can do so by routing the uiowa.edu email to a work or home account. To do so, follow these steps:

• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Update Email Routing Address

Important Notes:

• If your uiowa.edu email address is routed to a different account, you will  not  need to change your address in ICON, as your messages will already forward to your routed address.
• Log on to MYUI.
• Click on My UIowa / My Email / Email Account Filter bulk mail.
• Make sure that none of the categories are checked.

Required Graduate Assistants Teaching Courses:

• ONLINE CLASS Requirement: Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu.  Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) click on Sexual Harassment Prevention Edu., follow instructions.
• ONLINE CLASS Requirement:  Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Use your HawkID and password to log into Employee Self Service. Click the Personal tab, next (under Learning and Development) next click on Available Online Icon Courses, next FERPA Training, then click on View Details twice and the last click will be to Enroll in this ICON Course Session.
• A six-hour orientation program will be required of all students who are certified at level A or B and are teaching for the first time.  This orientation helps new teaching assistants understand the culture of the U.S. classroom and treats topics such as student expectations, teacher-student relationships, and understanding and answering student questions. Discussion focuses on suggestions for maximizing comprehensibility in spoken English. This course meets twice for 3 hours early in the semester. Both meetings are held in the evening.

Administrative Department Staff:

Professor aixin tan (until july 1, 2024).

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected]   (319) 335-0821.

Professor Boxiang Wang (beginning July 1, 2024)

Director of Graduate Studies, Statistics and Data Science Graduate Advisor: [email protected] (319) 335-2294.

Professor N.D. Shyamalkumar

Actuarial Science Graduate Advisor:  [email protected]    (319) 335-1980

Margie Ebert

Academic Services Coordinator ,  [email protected]  (319) 335-2082

Heather Roth

Administrative Services Coordinator  [email protected]   (319) 335-0712

Tammy Siegel

Department Administrator ,  [email protected] , (319) 335-0706

Things to do at NU: May 22 to 28

• Bienen School of Music
• Entrepreneurship

As the end of the year approaches, there’s no shortage of things to do. We’ve got everything from business pitches to glam-rock performances for your calendar this week.

Future CEOs

Celebrate Northwestern’s most promising student founders at the VentureCat public showcase. The annual student startup competition’s finalists will present their pitches, and attendees will get the chance to vote for the audience favorite prize. Prize winners, including the $100,000 grand prize winner, will be announced at the end of the night.

The showcase is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, in White Auditorium, Kellogg Global Hub, 2211 Campus Drive, Evanston. Register here to attend in-person or virtually.

Jam out to glam rock

Eddie is jobless high school dropout who suffers from crippling social anxiety. To cope, he imagines himself as the charismatic front man of a glam rock band. Watch Eddie’s two lives unfurl in parallel, then merge as he realizes his life must change in “Eddie the Marvelous.”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, Thursday, May 23, and Friday, May 24, at Wirtz Theater (203), Abbott Hall, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. Buy tickets here .

Super students

Learn what Northwestern’s undergraduate researchers have been up to this year at the 2024 Undergraduate Research & Arts Expo . See poster and oral presentations during two daytime sessions, then catch a variety show of original works during the evening’s Creative Arts Festival.

The Undergraduate Research Expo begins at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 23, at Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston. The Creative Arts Festival is at 7 p.m. on the same day in the Black Box 101, Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, 1949 Campus Drive, Evanston.

Putting mental health on the big screen

Mark Mental Health Awareness Month with the Chicago Mental Health Film Showcase. Two days of films and conversations offer a chance to think deeply about mental health and its portrayal on the screen.  

The showcase kicks off with a screening of “Island of the Hungry Ghosts” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, at The Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston. Learn more about the other screenings here .  

Mozart with a modern twist

With Mozart’s memorable melodies and Lorenzo Da Ponte’s comedic libretto, “ Così fan tutte” has become an enduring audience favorite. In this present-day setting of the classic tale, two men agree to a wager with a reality show producer to test their fiancées’ fidelity.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, Friday, May 24, and Saturday, May 25, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, at Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., Evanston .   Buy tickets here .

Show some gratitude

Come to the Wildcat Excellence Gratitude Celebration to recognize and honor outstanding members of the Northwestern community. Enjoy food, music and gratitude card making.

The event is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28, in the Louis Room, Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston. Register here .

Editor’s Picks

This algorithm makes robots perform better

‘the night watchman’ named next one book selection, six northwestern faculty elected to american academy of arts and sciences, related stories.

Things to do at NU: May 29 to June 4

In a modern “così fan tutte,” love and fidelity is put to the test, walking the runway for a cause.

The way we travel now

What sorts of journeys do today’s travelers dream about? Where would they like to go? What do they hope to do when they get there? How much are they willing to spend on it all? And what should industry stakeholders do to adapt to the traveler psychology of the moment?

About the authors

To gauge what’s on the minds of current-day travelers, we surveyed more than 5,000 of them in February and March of this year. 1 Unless otherwise noted, the source for all data and projections is McKinsey State of Travel Survey, 5,061 participants, February 27 to March 11, 2024. Our universe of respondents included travelers from five major, representative source markets: China, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All respondents took at least one leisure trip in the past two years. We asked them more than 50 questions about their motivations, behavior, and expectations.

Results from this survey, supplemented with findings from focus groups and other additional research, suggest six vital trends that are shaping traveler sentiment now.

Travel has become a top priority, especially for younger generations

Sixty-six percent of the travelers we surveyed say they’re more interested in travel now than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. This pattern holds across all surveyed age groups and nationalities. Respondents also indicate that they’re planning more trips in 2024 than they did in 2023.

Travel isn’t merely an interest these days. It’s become a priority—even amid uncertain economic conditions that can make budgeting a challenge. Travel continues to be one of the fastest-growing consumer spending areas, rising 6 percent over a recent 12-month period in the United States, even when adjusted for inflation. Only 15 percent of our survey respondents say they’re trying to save money by reducing the number of trips they go on. And in the February 2024 McKinsey ConsumerWise Global Sentiment Survey of more than 4,000 participants, 33 percent of consumers said they planned to splurge on travel, ranking it the third-most-popular splurge category—trailing only eating at home and eating out at restaurants. 2 Christina Adams, Kari Alldredge, Lily Highman, and Sajal Kohli, “An update on US consumer sentiment: Consumers see a brighter future ahead,” McKinsey, February 29, 2024.

Younger generations appear to propel much of the rising interest in travel (Exhibit 1). In 2023, millennials and Gen Zers took, on average, nearly five trips, versus less than four for Gen Xers and baby boomers. Millennials and Gen Zers also say they devote, on average, 29 percent of their incomes to travel, compared with 26 percent for Gen Zers and 25 percent for baby boomers.

Younger travelers are the most keen to venture abroad

Younger travelers are particularly excited about international travel. Gen Zers and millennials who responded to our survey are planning a nearly equal number of international and domestic trips in 2024, no matter their country of origin, whereas older generations are planning to take roughly twice as many domestic trips (Exhibit 2).

Younger travelers’ thirst for novelty might be motivating their urge to cross borders. Gen Zers say their number-one consideration when selecting a destination is their desire to experience someplace new. For Gen Xers, visiting a new place comes in at number eight, behind factors such as cost, ease of getting around, and quality of accommodation.

There might be a mindset shift under way, with international travel feeling more within reach for younger travelers—in terms of both cost and convenience. Younger travelers have become adept at spotting international destinations that feature more affordable prices or comparatively weak currencies. Low-cost airlines have proliferated, carrying 35 percent of the world’s booked seats over a recent 12-month period. 3 “Low-cost carriers in the aviation industry: What are they?,” OAG Aviation Worldwide, September 13, 2023. Meanwhile, translation software is lowering language barriers, mobile connectivity overseas is becoming cheaper and more hassle free, and recent visa initiatives in various regions have made passport-related obstacles easier to overcome.

It remains to be seen whether this mindset shift will endure as younger generations get older. But early evidence from millennials suggests that they’ve retained their interest in international travel even as they’ve begun to age and form families. It could be that this is a lasting attitude adjustment, influenced as much by the changing dynamics of travel as it is by youth.

Baby boomers are willing to spend if they see value

Baby boomers are selective about their travel choices and travel spending. Enjoying time with family and friends is their number-one motivation for taking a trip. Experiencing a new destination is less important to them—by as much as 15 percentage points—than to any other demographic.

Although older travelers appreciate the convenience that technology can offer, they prefer human contact in many contexts (Exhibit 3). For example, 44 percent of baby boomers—versus only 30 percent of other respondents—say they value having a travel agent book an entire travel experience for them. And only 42 percent of baby boomers have used a mobile app to book transportation, versus 71 percent of other respondents.

While this generation typically has more accumulated savings than other generations, they remain thoughtful about how they choose to spend. Their top two cited reasons for not traveling more are “travel is becoming too expensive” and “not having enough money to travel.” They make up demographic most willing to visit a destination out of season, with 62 percent saying they’re open to off-peak travel to bring costs down.

Baby boomers might be willing to spend strategically, in ways that make travel more convenient and less burdensome. For example, whereas 37 percent of Gen Zers are willing to take a cheaper flight to lower their travel costs—even if it means flying at inconvenient times or with a stopover—only 22 percent of baby boomers say they’ll do the same. But these older travelers don’t splurge indiscriminately: only 7 percent describe their attitude toward spending as “I go out all the way when I travel.” They’re much more willing to forgo experiences to save money, identifying this as the first area where they cut spending. Gen Zers, on the other hand, will cut all other expense categories before they trim experiences.

Whatever baby boomers’ stated feelings and preferences, they still account for a substantial share of travel spending. And they still spend more than younger generations—three times more per traveler than Gen Zers in 2023, for example.

The adventure starts before the trip begins

Travelers are delighting in crafting their own trips. Only 17 percent of survey respondents say they used a travel agent to book a trip in the past year. When asked why, respondents’ top-cited reason is that they want full control over their itineraries. Their second-most-cited reason? They simply enjoy the planning process. In fact, studies have shown that the anticipation of a journey can lead to higher levels of happiness than the journey itself. 4 Jeroen Nawijn et al., “Vacationers happier, but most not happier after a holiday,” Applied Research in Quality of Life , March 2010, Volume 5, Number 1.

When seeking inspiration during the planning process, respondents are most likely to turn to friends and family—either directly or on social media (Exhibit 4). Advice from other travelers is also sought after. Fewer and fewer travelers rely on travel guidebooks for inspiration.

Today’s travelers tend to view the planning process, in part, as a treasure hunt. Seventy-seven percent of respondents describe the research phase as an effort to ensure that they’re finding good deals or saving money. And all demographics describe “value for money” as the most important factor when choosing a booking channel.

Unexpected traveler archetypes are emerging

When we analyzed our survey results, we identified seven clusters of travelers who express shared attitudes and motivations toward travel. While the distribution of these archetypes varies across source markets, respondents within each archetype exhibit strong similarities:

Seven clusters of travelers express shared attitudes and motivations toward travel. Each archetype’s distribution varies across source markets, but the travelers within them exhibit strong similarities.

• Sun and beach travelers (23 percent of respondents). These vacationers travel rarely and spend frugally, preferring sun and beach destinations that are easy to get to. They like to relax and visit with family. They’re relatively more likely to place significant value on nonstop flights (72 percent, versus 54 percent overall) and are less interested in authentic and immersive experiences (only 13 percent say these are main reasons why they travel).
• Culture and authenticity seekers (18 percent). These are active and high-budget travelers who typically spend more than $150 per day on holiday, love to sightsee, are willing to spend on experiences, and don’t want to settle for typical bucket-list destinations. Only 6 percent prioritize familiarity when choosing where to go—the lowest percentage of any traveler segment. This segment is also least likely (at 17 percent) to say they would shorten a holiday to save money.
• Strategic spenders (14 percent). These travelers are open to selectively splurging on authentic, carefully curated experiences. But they keep a watchful eye on total spending. They’re willing to sacrifice some conveniences, such as nonstop flights, in the interest of cost savings.
• Trend-conscious jet-setters (14 percent). Travelers in this high-budget group (they spend more than $150 per day when traveling) turn first to friends and family (79 percent) and then to social media (62 percent) when scouting destinations. Seventy-six percent say the popularity of a destination is an important factor, compared with 63 percent overall. And 75 percent say they focus on hotel brands when selecting accommodations.
• Cost-conscious travelers (11 percent). This travel segment is made up of predominantly older travelers who travel rarely and frequently return to the same destinations and activities. They’re relatively more likely to care about the familiarity of a destination (54 percent, versus 35 percent overall) and the cost of the trip (76 percent, versus 65 percent overall).
• Premium travelers (12 percent). This segment expects high-quality trappings when they travel, and only 20 percent say that cost is an important factor. These frequent travelers are especially selective about accommodation—they, on average, are more likely than travelers overall to care about brand, prestige, exclusivity, design, decor, amenities, and sustainability. Similarly to trend-conscious jet-setters, this traveler segment is, on average, more likely than travelers overall (at 27 percent, versus 18 percent) to be swayed by celebrities and influencers when choosing travel destinations.
• Adventure seekers (8 percent). This younger segment enjoys active holidays that present opportunities to encounter like-minded travelers. Nineteen percent say they’re motivated by adventure and physical activities, and 15 percent say meeting new people is a major reason why they travel. They aren’t after large-group events; instead, they prefer small-group adventures. This segment prizes remoteness, privacy, and sustainability.

What travelers want depends on where they’re from

When asked what trips survey respondents are planning next, 69 percent of Chinese respondents say they plan to visit a famous site—a marked difference from the 20 percent of North American and European travelers who say the same. Chinese travelers are particularly motivated by sightseeing: 50 percent cite visiting attractions as their main reason for traveling, versus an average of 33 percent for those from other countries.

Emirati travelers, like their Chinese counterparts, favor iconic destinations, with 43 percent saying they plan to visit a famous site. They also have a penchant for shopping and outdoor activities. Fifty-six percent of respondents from the United Arab Emirates describe the range of available shopping options as an important factor when selecting a destination—a far higher proportion than the 35 percent of other respondents. And respondents from the United Arab Emirates report going on a greater number of active vacations (involving, for instance, hiking or biking) than any other nationality.

Travelers from Europe and North America are especially keen to escape their daily routines. Respondents from Germany (45 percent), the United States (40 percent), and the United Kingdom (38 percent) place importance on “getting away from it all.” Only 17 percent of respondents from China and the Middle East feel the same way. European travelers are particularly fond of beach getaways: respondents from the United Kingdom and Germany cite “soaking in the sun” at twice the rate of American respondents as a main reason they travel.

Travel is a collective story, with destinations as the backdrop

Younger generations are prioritizing experiences over possessions. Fifty-two percent of Gen Zers in our survey say they splurge on experiences, compared with only 29 percent of baby boomers (Exhibit 5). Gen Z travelers will try to save money on flights, local transportation, shopping, and food before they’ll look to trim their spending on experiences. Even terminology used by younger generations to describe travel is experience oriented: “Never stop exploring” is tagged to nearly 30 million posts on Instagram.

The value of experiences is often realized in the stories people tell about them. Books and films have spurred tourists to flock to specific destinations (for instance, when droves of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia [Viking Penguin, 2006] readers visited Bali). And travel has always been a word-of-mouth business, in which travelers’ stories—crafted from their experiences—can inspire other travelers to follow in their footsteps.

Social media is the latest link in this chain: a technology-driven, collective storytelling platform. Ninety-two percent of younger travelers in our survey say their last trip was motivated in some way by social media. Their major sources of social inspiration, however, aren’t necessarily influencers or celebrities (30 percent) but rather friends and family (42 percent). Consumers’ real-life social networks are filled with extremely effective microinfluencers.

Posting vacation selfies is a popular way to share the story of a journey. But a growing number of social media users are searching for ways to present their travel narratives in a more detailed and more enduring fashion, and new apps and platforms are emerging to help them do so. The microblogging app Polarsteps, which more than nine million people have downloaded, helps travelers plan, track, and then share their travels—allowing journeys to be captured in hardcover books that document routes, travel statistics, and musings.

Giving today’s travelers what they need and want

From our survey findings, important takeaways emerge that can help tourism industry players engage with today’s travelers.

Know customer segments inside and out

Serving up a one-size-fits-all experience is no longer sufficient. Using data to segment customers by behavior can help tourism players identify opportunities to tailor their approaches more narrowly.

Cutting-edge data strategies aren’t always necessary to get started. Look-alike analysis and hypothesis-driven testing can go a long way. Even without having data about a specific family’s previous travel patterns, for example, an airline might be able to hypothesize that a family of four traveling from New York to Denver on a long weekend in February is going skiing—and therefore might be interested in a discounted offer that lets them check an additional piece of luggage.

The same philosophy applies to personalization, which doesn’t necessarily need to be focused on a single individual. Merely having a clearer sense of the specific segments that a provider is targeting can help it craft a more compelling offer. Instead of simply creating an offer geared toward families, for instance, providers might build an offer tailored to families who are likely to visit in the spring and will be primarily interested in outdoor activities. And instead of relying on standard tourist activities, providers might find ways to cater to more specific traveler interests—for example, facilitating a home-cooked meal with locals instead of serving up a fine-dining experience.

Help travelers share their journeys

Today’s travelers want to share their travel stories. And friends and family back home are more likely to be influenced by these stories than by anything else they see or hear. Providers should consider ways to tap into this underexploited marketing channel.

Hotels can install a photo booth that enables guests to share pictures from their journeys. Guests can be given small souvenirs to take home to their friends and family. Hotels might also send guests photos on the anniversary of a trip to help jog happy memories and prompt a future booking.

Given the right incentives, customers can act as a distributed team of marketers. Reposting guests’ social media photos and videos, for example, or spurring engagement with contests and shareable promo codes can encourage travelers to become evangelists across an array of different channels.

Recognize younger generations’ unquenchable thirst for travel

Younger travelers’ remarkable desire for experiences isn’t always in line with their budgets—or with providers’ standard offerings. A new generation of customers is ripe to be cultivated if providers can effectively meet their needs:

• Travel companies can better match lower-budget accommodations with younger travelers’ preferences by incorporating modern design into rooms and facilities, curating on-site social events, and locating properties in trendy neighborhoods.
• More affordable alternatives to classic tourist activities (for example, outdoor fitness classes instead of spas or street food crawls instead of fine dining) can be integrated into targeted packages.
• Familiar destinations can be reinvented for younger travelers by focusing on experiences (for instance, a street art tour of Paris) instead of more traditional attractions (such as the Eiffel Tower).

Cater to older travelers by using a human touch and featuring family-oriented activities

Older generations remain a major source of travel spending. Providers can look for ways to keep these travelers coming back by meeting their unique needs:

• While older travelers are growing more comfortable with technology, they continue to favor human interaction. Stakeholders can cater to this preference by maintaining in-person visitor centers and other touchpoints that emphasize a human touch.
• Older travelers are generally fond of returning to familiar destinations. Providers can look to maximize repeat business by keeping track of guest information that aids personalization (such as favorite meals or wedding anniversary dates). Identifying historical behavior patterns (for example, parents repeatedly visiting children in the same city) can help providers make targeted offers that could maximize spending (for example, a museum subscription in that city).
• The off-seasonal travel patterns that older travelers often exhibit might open opportunities for providers to create appealing experiences scheduled for lower-occupancy periods—for example, an autumn wellness retreat at a popular summer destination.
• Older travelers’ propensity to visit family and friends opens the door to offerings that appeal to a range of generations, such as small-group trips pairing activities for grandparents and grandchildren.

Travelers are more interested in travel—and more willing to spend on it—than ever before. But the familiar, one-size-fits-all tourism offerings of the past have grown outdated. Today’s travelers want to indulge in creative experiences that are tailored to their priorities and personal narratives. The good news for providers: new technology and new approaches, coupled with tried-and-true strengths such as managerial stamina and careful attention to service, are making it easier than ever to shape personalized offerings that can satisfy a traveler’s unique needs.

Caroline Tufft is a senior partner in McKinsey’s London office, Margaux Constantin is a partner in the Dubai office, Matteo Pacca is a senior partner in the Paris office, Ryan Mann is a partner in the Chicago office, Ivan Gladstone is an associate partner in the Riyadh office, and Jasperina de Vries is an associate partner in the Amsterdam office.

The authors wish to thank Abdulhadi Alghamdi, Alessandra Powell, Alex Dichter, Cedric Tsai, Diane Vu, Elisa Wallwitz, Lily Miller, Maggie Coffey, Nadya Snezhkova, Nick Meronyk, Paulina Baum, Peimin Suo, Rebecca Stone, Sarah Fellay, Sarah Sahel, Sophia Wang, Steffen Fuchs, Steffen Köpke, Steve Saxon, and Urs Binggeli for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in the New York office.

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