Skip to main content
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Florida

Class Activities

People learn to write by writing, by actively practicing the skills that make up the writing process. So the more actively engaged students are in the classroom, the more they will learn.

Here are some of the numerous types of activities writing teachers use:

Small Groups

  • Peer review
  • Debate
  • Argument Analysis
  • Draft collaborative papers
  • Group writing or exercises of any of the activities below

Workshopping

  • Improve example papers or ongoing work according to a stylistic or rhetorical principle
  • Peer review

In-Class Writing

  • Draft parts of a paper, such as a thesis statement or introduction
  • Conduct research (possibly in teams)
  • Outline paper
  • Diagnostic essay with follow up

Oral Communication

  • Oral presentations of topic proposals
  • Debate
  • Mock interviews

Conferencing

  • One-on-one
  • Small groups

Problem Solving

Field Trips

  • Attend a rally
  • Go to the museum
  • Watch the moot court debate
  • Tour the library

Of course, there are hundreds of examples of these types. Many examples are made available to UWP instructors through course websites.

For novice instructors, using in-class activities has the incidental benefit of taking some of the pressure off. Leading an activity, one doesn’t feel so profoundly on stage because the role of the teacher shifts to that of facilitator. But make no mistake: as facilitator, there is very important work to be done.

Here are some general guidelines about how to make activities work well:

Frame the Activity

Open the activity by explaining the rationale and learning objectives. Establishing the purpose of an in-class assignment, how it relates to out-of-class assignments, and how students will benefit from it will help to focus student participation. Students may not understand the point of an activity if you don’t articulate it.

Write down the instructions on the board or screen or in a handout. Frequently, students misunderstand or forget what they are asked to do which causes confusion and inefficiency.

Close the activity with a summary of what students should have learned (the “learning outcomes”) and an explanation of how to apply the skill or knowledge.

Guide the Participants

Do let the students get started on the activity without interrupting them. However, after a few minutes of work, begin trouble shooting and monitoring students’ progress. For group work, this can be as simple as walking around the class and asking each group whether there are any questions. You can also preview answers to see if anyone is completely off base or has missed the point.

Report Back

Most activities should contain a reporting segment. If students are doing work individually or in small groups, follow this work by asking them to report their findings to the class. Then, as a class, make corrections and additions to that individual work, and try to come to a consensus about the responses.

Make Activities Count

Students will participate more fully if activities count toward their grades. Grades can be pass/fail or participation based. For complex or labor-intensive activities, grades may be assigned on a scale.

Have students turn in some work product for virtually every activity, even if it is just a short list of ideas. This will remind students that the work counts and give you a way to keep track of who participated.

Timing

Especially for new instructors, it can be helpful to plan more than one activity for a 50-minute period. Peer review, however, is time consuming, frequently taking at least one class period to complete. This is especially true the first time you conduct a peer review when you will need to spend some class time explaining how it will work and its importance.