In the TOP 10 PARTICIPATORY LEARNING ACTIVITIES (PLAs) series, I described, in brief, ten configurable and reusable PLAs that you can employ in your practice. Their flexibility in design makes all of them ideal for your expanding toolbox to offer more active learning in your courses, and can also be adapted easily to the online environment. This

In the TOP 10 PARTICIPATORY LEARNING ACTIVITIES (PLAs) series, I described, in brief, ten configurable and reusable PLAs that you can employ in your practice. Their flexibility in design makes all of them ideal for your expanding toolbox to offer more active learning in your courses, and can also be adapted easily to the online environment. This

My favorite activity of all is the KWL. KWL is a graphic organizer used primarily as a pre-assessment and post-assessment tool, that frames the main part of any activity, lesson, unit, project, or term. It inspires critical reflection, creative thinking, curiosity, and a love of learning and research like no other activity. With three simple

Gallery walk is a highly participatory activity that can be used under a range of circumstances, and is especially good to do in a physical classroom setting. However, it’s easy to adapt to an online version using Nearpod’s slide upload feature, or to just convert slides into a single PDF file to download for each

Check Point is a variation on something called “Fist-to-Five”. I’ve removed the fist (zero fingers) but you can always add it in if you like. This is also referred to as a “hinge point” activity. This is a simple check-in activity to give your learners a chance to stop and reflect on their metacognitive state,

Think-Pair-Share (TPS) is the Swiss Army Knife of activities.  This can, and should, be used often in your class. In the first step, because learners need time to process information on their own, you need to allot some time for them to think about your challenge. It can be a one-minute thinking period, or it can