A Palette of Quick Fixes

Right now, the mood is one of defeat. You've asked your students to practice conversation, but no one is talking. Or your fast-paced tempo is giving you trouble because you have run through your lesson plan and still have 20 minutes left. Or a group of your students just signed a letter to the dean accusing you of putting them to sleep even in a computer lab.

But 3 veteran colleagues show at Friday's PD events that you can feel a measure of success and even burst into tears of joy after adopting their teaching models.

In Katrina's classroom, the timer going off announces it's time to rotate to another partner and begin again as her students play "Grammar Speed Dating." The next day, she utters the command "Shout It Out" and sets off  an exciting yelling frenzy while she shows her class a muted video of some high interest content. Then, the inevitable happens, and, as her presentation handout title has it, you have "saved the sinking ship."

Life without "Silly Sentences" is tedious in Carole's beginning level class. Twenty minutes of the manipulative board game played in small groups provides an interesting way of wrapping a day of book exercises.

Matthew, 40, has spent no more than 15 minutes conceiving and tweaking each of his collection of Kahoot! games. The free online tool is a fantastic way to assess student understanding on the fly, to review and give immediate feedback on content just taught, to track all students, even the shy ones who sit in the furthest reaches of the universe, and to maximize your ESL computer lab time. "It is easy to set up and an absolute blast to use in class for both teachers and students," says Matthew.