60 Quick and Easy Teaching Activities

7/28/2019 60 Quick and Easy Teaching Activities

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60 Quick & Easy

Teaching

Activities

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BEHAVIOUR NEEDS 60 Quick & Easy Teaching Activities

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1. Choose OneA small number of choices are placed around the classroom and students are askedto examine all the choices and then stand next to their choice. Students selecting thesame choice then discuss their choice and why they made that choice.

2. Class PollsStudents are polled for their opinion on a statement about an instructional topic thatthey will be introduced to during class or will research on their own. Record thegroups’ responses on the board or a piece of chart paper to display.

3. CornersAsk students read four viewpoints, posted in the corners of the room. They have toselect the view that represents their own by standing next to it. Students thendefend choices and listen to others' choices.

4. DemonstrationsA teacher, student or guest shows the students explicitly how things work or howthings happen.

5. Find Someone WhoThis activity is usually used to encourage students to seek out the students in classwho know the answers to specific content questions. This works most effectively if each student is an "expert" on a different topic or sub-topic than the others in theclass. False experts can be made by giving certain students the information needed,while other students are decoys.

6. Free Write

Students are given a topic and must write everything they can think of about thetopic within a certain amount of time. The rules are that students must not stopwriting, even if they "run out of things to say," and they may not do any editing orcriticism during the writing. After the time is up, can volunteer certain bits of information they wrote down.

7. KWL Charts

You can have these pre-made and ready to go for students or they can draw them ontheir own. They are a three columned chart. The first column is labeled “know” and the students write everything they know about a topic in this column. The secondcolumn is “Want to know” and the students write things about the topic that they

are interested in learning about. The last column is “learned” and is filled out at the end of the lesson or unit with what they learned about the topic.

8. Luck of the DrawAt the beginning of term, all of the students’ names are put into a hat. At the end of each class, one student's name is drawn from the hat. At the beginning of the nextclass, the student whose name was drawn has to present a 3-5 minute review of the





previous class's lesson.

9. Mini-BiosRead students a mini-biography about the life of someone they know from the

community or television. These can be made up using web resources or excerptedfrom biographies to help students make real-world connections and develop aninterest in an instructional topic that will be discussed.

10. PredictionsPairs of students discuss and make predictions about the plot, characters, etc. beforebeginning an activity.

11. Quick ChatStudents are placed in pairs and given thirty seconds each to share all they knowabout a given topic.

12. Step on the LineHave students stand on opposite sides of the room, facing each other, as the teachermakes a statement. Students who agree with the statement step onto the line andstep back as the next statement is made. Teacher can record results on the board.

13. Predictions in PairsThis may be done a few different ways. Students are placed in pairs. They read thepassage one chunk (or paragraph) at a time and make predictions. They may alsoread the first and last sentences of each paragraph and then make predictions.Another way would be for the teacher to read a passage aloud. At each pause in thereading, the teacher prompts students to discuss with their partner what they

predict will happen next in the reading.

14. Vocabulary ConversationsStudents get a list of vocabulary words. In pairs, students look up the words in adictionary or thesaurus for basic comprehension, students have a conversation inwhich they have to use all of the given vocabulary.

15. WalkthroughA pre-reading strategy in which the students examine the title, pictures, chapternames, and the intent of questions related to the story, and has the student put intoperspective what they believe the story will be about.

16. A Change of PerspectiveStudents evaluate a topic, novel or short story from various perspectives. Differenttypes of perspectives could be: secondary characters, different members of society,member of opposite sexes, etc.

17. Acting out a Problem





Students can act out mathematical, scientific, or social problems to improve theircomprehension. For example, to represent the math equation 4 + 2, have fourstudents stand in one area and two students stand in another area. Physically havethe students move together to show that the two groups are joining or being added

together to form a group of six students. To make this more relevant to Englishlessons, have students write out their own skits.

18. Bag-ItStudents are given a bag that contains an object – e.g. plastic vegetable. They are giventime to reflect how the item relates to the lesson taught about literary elements. Theymake up a mnemonic using the letters from the item (Capsicum – Characterization,Alliteration, Point of View, Setting, Irony, Conflict, Mood).

19. BrochureStudents create a brochure to “advertise” a setting or topic from a story or lesson to others.

20. Bulletin BoardsStudents are placed in groups to produce a bulletin board on a specific topic. Thiscan be used in conjunction with other activities, such as book clubs. Students haveto “advertise” their book or other product using the bulletin board as their medium.

21. Card SortThe teacher presents groups of students with a deck of cars with words and imagesassociated with a topic. The groups sort cards into categories then discuss thecategories that they have placed the card in as previously learned in class.

22. CirclesStudents are placed into two circles, one circle inside the other. The inside andoutside circles of students face each other. Each pair of students facing each otherquiz each other with questions they have written. The outside circle move to the leftto create new pairs and the process is repeated.

23. Class Publication

Students collaborate to create a written work to be published about a particulartopic. Formats might include: magazine, newspaper, brochure, map, newsletter, oryearbook.

24. Close ProcedureStudents are given sentences or sequences with missing words, phrases or quotesand are asked to fill in the gaps.

25. CollageStudents gather images (clippings from magazines, photographs, or their owndrawings) and organize them to illustrate a concept or point of view from a story or





lesson.

26. ConcentrationThe teacher or students create pairs of cards (name of concept on one, description

on other, for instance). Students take turns turning over cards to collect pairs. Tomake this more challenging, the student needs to name the concept described ordescribe the concept of the word for the first card chosen before they pick up thesecond card.

27. DebateUsing agreed upon rules, students’ divide into 2 or more groups to debate a topic,which helps them to make connections to the topic.

28. DeliberationStudents pick one point of view on a topic and are asked to support it, then take andsupport an opposing point of view. Students then write position papers from onepoint of view, refuting the other point view.

29. Discover the LieStudents get into small groups and write two true statements and one falsestatement. They then challenge other teams (or the teacher) to "Find the Fib."

30. DramatizingStudents act out roles from stories or historical events. They can do this with little orno preparation, or may create dialogues or skits beforehand.

31. Drawing

Students illustrate text they have read, draw diagrams of problems they have heard,or simply draw to stimulate creativity. This is good to use with poetry. The teacherreads a poem aloud slowly and the students draw whatever comes into their mind.

32. Flash CardsStudents make up or are given note cards with a question, problem, or fact on oneside, and the answer or a related fact on the other side to aid them with reviewing

the curriculum.

33. Group InvestigationStudents divide into teams, either self chosen, teacher chosen or randomly drawn.

Teams select topics to investigate, gather information, prepare a report, and presenttheir findings to the entire class.

34. Group Review GameIn groups, students come up with questions about a concept. Groups take turnsasking other groups questions and points are awarded.





35. Guided QuestionsThe teacher asks questions, starting with very basic, low level ones with concreteanswers found in the passage. The teacher gradually makes the questions moredifficult and necessitating more imaginative thinking.

36. Predictions ReviewStudents who worked together in the Predictions activity and paired back togetherto discuss, review and compare reactions at the conclusion of an activity.

37. ScenesStudents pick scenes or situations from a novel or short story they have read andplace them in a more modern or different context. For example, how wouldsituations from a Jane Austen novel play out today?

38. SpinnerThe teacher creates a spinner marked into four quadrants and labeled "Predict,Explain, Summarize, Evaluate." After new material is presented, students take turnsspinning the spinner and the teacher asks questions based on the location of thespinner. For example, if the spinner lands in the "Summarize" quadrant, the teachermight say, "List the key concepts just presented."

39. Stir the TeamsStudents are assigned to teams and each student in the team has a number. Theteacher poses a question, which the teams discuss and come up with a groupanswer. When the teams have finished their discussion, the students make newgroups using their numbers (all 1s go to one group, all 2s to another, etc). Eachmember is then responsible for reviewing the question and their original group’s

answer with their new group members.

40. Stump the TeacherStudents make up questions individually or in groups based on a reading assignmentor previously taught material. The students or groups take turns answering aquestion from the teacher and then asking the teacher a question. When the studentcorrectly answers the question, the class or group receives a point and that student

is then able to ask the teacher a question. If the teacher answers the questioncorrectly, the teacher gets a point.

41. Summary Jumble

The teacher presents random key words and phrases from a lesson to students. Thestudents put the terms and phrases in a logical order to show understanding.

42. Think-Pair-ShareStudents think individually, discuss with partner, and then share their ideas withclass. Students may be asked to write a statement in their notebook about the topicand idea(s) that were discussed.





43. Vocabulary ParagraphsStudents get back into the pairs they had the vocabulary conversations with. Theymust now write a paragraph about the topic in which they use as many of the terms

as possible. Paragraphs are collected and several are read to the entire class.

44. What Rules?Students are given sets of examples that demonstrate a single rule (like "i before eexcept after c") and asked to find and state the rule.

45. Apply the KnowledgeAt the end of instruction, students write a real world application for the knowledge on asmall card and submit the card to the teacher. The applications can be shared with theclass.

46. Class Poll ReviewStudents reevaluate their opinion to the statement posed at the beginning of thelesson or unit, which was recorded and posted in the room. Small groups discuss theresults and changes.

47. Cheat SheetsStudents prepare a single note card of information they believe will be on quiz ortest. Students are allowed to use these notes when taking the quiz or test. Asstudents gain confidence, cards are no longer used.

48. ConclusionsA logical process in which students analyze facts and generate a conclusion based on

what they know or learned from the teacher’s lecture or the reading.

49. CROWNThis technique encourages students to reflect on the completed lesson. CROWN =Communicate what you learned. R eact. Offer one sentence that sums up what thewhole lesson was about. Where are some different places you could use this in thereal world? Note how well we did today.

50. Grab BagNear the conclusion of a lesson, have students draw objects from a bag. Give thestudents a few minutes to think and then they must explain or illustrate how the

object is related to what they have learned.

51. The Last WordEach letter in a topic’s name is used to remember key ideas in topic, like a mnemonic.

52. Learning Log





At the end of the lesson or unit, students write summaries of what they have learnedor what they do not understand. The teacher may give questions to help prompt thewriting.

53. Letter SummaryEach student or group of students is assigned a different letter of the alphabet andasked to generate a word starting with that letter that is related to the topic beingdiscussed. Students share their terms with the class.

54. Luck of the Draw VariationAll students’ names are put into a container. At the end of class, a student's name is drawn at random from the container. This student is required to answer questionsabout the daily lesson or summarize what was learned that day.

55. Minute AnswersInstruct students to briefly write answers to the questions: "What did you learntoday? and "What questions do you still have?"

56. Round RobinHave 5 volunteers come to the front of the class. Ask the first volunteer to sharesomething important they learned. The next volunteer then states something thatthey have learned and then restates what the other volunteer has shared. Continueuntil each of the volunteers has given a statement and recalled the previousstatements of the other volunteers.

57. One Sentence SummaryStudents are asked to write a single summary sentence that answers the "who, what,

where, when, why, how" questions about the topic.

58. One Word SummarySelect (or invent) one word which best summarizes a topic. Write 2-3 sentences

justifying the selection of the summary word.

59. Relay Summary

Divide the class into two teams. One team member writes one sentencesummarizing the reading then passes the page to a teammate. This processcontinues until everyone on the team has added at least one sentence. The twoteams compete to determine which team can summarize the reading first and to

determine which team has written the best, most detailed summary of the lesson ortopic.

60. Three-Two-OneStudents write three key terms from what they have just learned, two ideas theywould like to learn more about, and one concept or skill they think they havemastered.

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60 Quick and Easy Teaching Activities