Faculty Resources

Teaching Resources

Varying Activities

Variety is the spice in our lessons!
When you feel like you are getting into a rut, choose a couple of the following parameters and run through your list of planned activities for a given lesson. You will get some ideas on how you might vary your lessons.

Learning styles and modalities
Which learning style or modality does the activity cater to? (Remember, think about what the students are doing, not what you, the teacher, are doing!) Are your activities balanced for the text readers, the picture readers, the talkers, the listeners, the writers, and the movers? For more information on Learning Styles go to:
» Learning Styles
» Adapting Activities for Various Learning Styles

Grouping
What does the grouping look like? Whole class activity, small group, pairwork, individual work? For more information on grouping students, go to:
» General Guidelines for Successful Groupwork

Teacher or student directed?
Is the activity teacher directed or student driven?

Student activities
What are most of the students doing during each activity? With their brain? With their body? With their senses?

Right versus left-brained
Which activities are more right-brained (holistic, creative)? Which are left-brained (analytical, step by step)?

Activities
Which activities are more guided and easy (for low proficiency students?); which are more free or complex (for more advanced students?)

Other considerations
Give clear instructions: Have you planned out how you will assign the homework or explain in-class activities? Writing a few clear steps on the board or a handout can often save a lot of "on the spot explaining” time.
Transitions: How will you make transitions between activities clear to the students?

More on Planning Activities
» Guidelines for Making Activities Work
» Adapting Activities for Various Learning Styles
» David Kolb's Experiential Learning