Bell Ringers and Warm-Ups for Bernd and Hilla Becher

The first five minutes of art class decide how students look for the rest of the period. With Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose work is all about disciplined, repeated looking, a sharp bell ringer does double duty: it settles the room and it trains the exact skill the artists demand. This bank of starters gets students analyzing typologies, industrial form, and the choices behind a "neutral" photograph before you have said a word.

What a Becher bell ringer should do

A good starter here forces slow observation and a claim. The Bechers stripped out color, drama, and personality so that comparison could take over; your warm-up should ask students to notice what remains and why it matters. Project a single grid from the Bernd and Hilla Becher – Typologies of Photography resource and the questions almost write themselves — students always have something to say about nine near-identical water towers.

A bank of ten five-minute starters

1. List five things that are identical across every photo in this grid. What does that consistency force your eye to do?
2. The Bechers shot in flat, gray light on purpose. What would harsh sunlight have added — and why did they refuse it?
3. Sketch the basic silhouette of one structure in 60 seconds. What makes it a "type"?
4. Write a one-line wall label for this grid as if it hung in a museum.
5. Are these photographs documents or art? Defend your answer in two sentences.
6. Rank three towers from most to least "beautiful" and justify your top choice.
7. The Bechers called these "typologies." Invent a typology you could photograph in this school.
8. What emotion, if any, does a grid of gas tanks create? Where does it come from?
9. Why might removing people from every frame be a deliberate choice?
10. Compare two structures in the grid using only shape words — no adjectives about feeling.

Rotate formats to keep retrieval sharp

Vary the demand so students cannot autopilot. Alternate a pure looking prompt, a quick sketch, a compare-and-contrast, and a vocabulary recall of terms like typology, seriality, and objectivity. Once a week, use a contrast starter: put a Becher grid beside a fragmented, chaotic photomontage from Hannah Höch – Dada Collage and ask which artist trusts the viewer more, and why. The clash makes the Bechers' restraint suddenly visible.

Retrieval also means bringing back prior knowledge, not only reacting to the image on screen. Every few days, open with a no-image prompt that pulls facts from memory: "In your own words, what is a typology, and why did the Bechers photograph in flat gray light?" Because students must answer before you reveal the picture, you get a clean read of what has actually stuck. Follow up by projecting the grid so they can immediately test their recalled definition against the real thing, which cements the term far more firmly than a passive review slide ever could.

Use starters to preview big ideas

Bell ringers can seed the concepts you will develop later in the period. A prompt about how light creates or removes drama sets up a natural bridge to the theatrical shadow of Rembrandt – Portrait and Chiaroscuro, letting students feel the difference between light used for emotion and light used for evidence. Keep a running list of which starters previewed which lessons so your warm-ups build a spine across the unit.

Make thinking visible

Take answers on mini-whiteboards or in a warm-up sketchbook you scan weekly. The point is not a grade but a habit: students walk in and immediately look harder than they did yesterday. With the Bechers, that habit is the whole curriculum in miniature.

Related reading from the Teacher Hub

• No-Prep Sub Plans for Bernd and Hilla Becher
• Assessment Ideas for Hannah Höch: Rubrics, Quizzes and Exit Tickets
• Project-Based Learning: Yayoi Kusama in the Real World