The difference between classroom activities and exercises is ‘when’ they happen
Get your students engaged by timing their in-class work at key moments
My grad students usually have long days juggling courses, jobs or internships so by the time I get them they’re pretty burned out for the day. Still, I’ve got to put them through one more thing and if I don’t reel them in, they quickly check out.
I had this in mind when I taught last night and I realized a nuanced, split hair detail that’s absolutely key to student engagement. The distinction between an “activity” and an “exercise” might seem semantic, but in practice they are very different because of when they occur.
I use activities as icebreakers. I conduct these at the very beginning of class to get students’ minds working right away. This is how I draw them in and keep them from tuning out during the blah blah of my lecture. I might have them do things up on their feet and away from their screens. Maybe I have them role play or figure something out. What’s important is that activities have to happen early to set the tone. And immediately after, they help me transition naturally into good class discussion because pretty much every student has an opinion or reaction to what we just did.
On the other hand, I use exercises to reinforce. Students conduct these on their own with a degree of concentration to make the lesson stick. Whether they do so alone or as a group, this is when they apply the information that I just explained in my lecture. It is crucial to give them an opportunity to start using the new information in doses instead of giving them information overload. Exercises happen later in the class session, after they’ve absorbed some new info and thought it over a bit. Exercises also help them transition into an assignment with confidence instead of confusion.
Activities happen in class and require my guidance. Exercises can happen inside or outside of class and they are self guided.
In the past, I’ve been okay at planning either activities or exercises, but not at anticipating the need for both. Now I find that with enough planning of activities and exercises, plus discussions and assignments, I can worry a little less about lectures. In fact, I mostly plan to keep lectures brief because I will have opportunities to explain key points during the activities, discussions and exercises.
Plus, along with student engagement comes good questions on their part. A long lecture on the other hand indirectly says to them that I don’t trust that they’ll figure out anything on their own.
Of course in a flipped model the order can change but I find that successful flipping also depends on class duration — the shorter the better. But if you teach three or four hour class sessions or day-long workshops, this kind of in-class engagement is critical.
Students and teachers alike know how excruciating a dull drawn out class can be and it’s often due to having nothing to “do”. I’ve been there, I’ve hit a brick wall and watched student attention levels drop, which is my greatest anxiety when teaching. So I do my best to avoid it by keeping a few fun tricks up my sleeve.
Hours of student engagement can hinge on a brief window of time. I adopted some ideas after I read an article by an educator and colleague about the very first 5 minutes of class: A Teacher’s Most Crucial 300 Seconds by Jeremy Caplan
