Structures
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English classroom activities, ready to run

In an English class the teacher often does most of the talking. These structures turn that around: students name parts of speech, discuss a text and give each other feedback on their writing, and everyone gets a turn.

Every structure below is already filled with questions or statements for grades 6 to 8. Use it tomorrow as it is, or put your own text in first.

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27 ready-made structures

Engagement strategies for English language arts

In ELA, students learn to read, write, speak and listen, yet in a whole-class lesson the teacher does most of the talking. Active learning structures flip that ratio. Every student puts an answer into words, explains a part of speech to a classmate or responds to a text, and that is exactly the practice the subject is about.

Cooperative learning structures also make sure nobody can sit back. With a fixed turn order or a numbered role, there is no room to leave the answer to the fastest student in the room.

Which structure for which part of the lesson?

At the start of class, activate prior knowledge with Taking Turns: everyone names a word, a sentence or an example, and within a few minutes you know what the class remembers. Stand Up & Sit Down quickly checks statements about a text or a grammar rule.

In the middle of the lesson, students work with the material in Numbered Minds or Written Thoughts: they discuss, write it down and have to be able to explain the answer for their group. For speaking and listening, Inner & Outer Circle is strong, because every student talks with four or five classmates in a short time.

To close, check what stuck with the Knowledge Quiz, or run a Gallery Walk where students give feedback on each other's writing using a few clear questions.

What to watch for

Choose prompts with more than one good answer: name a verb, give an example, tell what you noticed. A question with one correct answer fits a quiz better than a conversation. And keep the time per step short: three tight rounds work better than one long one in which half the class is already done.

Learning to learn in this subject

Three ways of learning studied in this very subject, each with the structure that makes it happen in class. The board tells the class what it is training.

  • Spaced practice

    Flashcards

    Parts of speech or spelling on cards, the same set ten minutes every week; what came back is the homework.

  • Solve aloud with feedback

    Pair Coach

    Sentence parsing aloud: the solver says every step, the coach hears where it sticks.

  • Answer first, then check

    Shuffle & Pick

    Draw a card with a rule or a word blind, answer, and only then check the back.

Keyword mnemonics work briefly for concrete words and rate low overall; retrieval with spacing wins.

Sources: Dunlosky et al. (2013), distributed practice · Chi et al. (1989), self-explanation while solving · Butler & Roediger (2008), feedback after retrieval

All ways of learning, with sources →

Other subjects

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