Offering Student Choice Through Playlist Activities

There are many reasons to offer student choice in the classroom, such as through Playlist Activities. We know it can not only increase student motivation, but also, it’s good brain science. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate what they know in various modes. Sometimes that can really improve grades and outcomes for students! Let’s talk about playlist activities as a way to offer choice!

What Are Playlist Activities?

A playlist is a group of activities that students can work through at their own speed and normally individually. A playlist can be centered around a unit theme, review of one or more grammar topics, vocabulary, a cultural theme, or anything else that is relevant that you want your students to practice!

Playlist activities can be digital or on paper. Mine are often a combination of both!

How Do You Create a Playlist?

So- I need to be honest. Creating a playlist takes a long time. My playlist activities usually total 8 or 9. But of course, you can tailor your playlist around a bunch of factors. We’ll talk about logistics in the next section!

One helpful suggestion is to collaborate with colleagues that teach the same course as you. Recently, my colleagues and I had such a great work session! We wanted to create playlist activities that would prepare students for the midterm exam. There were 3 of us, so we agreed our playlist would have 9 activities.

Together we decided what mode (listening, speaking, reading, writing) each activity would be and what topic it would relate to. This ensured we didn’t have 5 writing activities and no reading activities. Then we divvied up the activities and each of us created 3. It was done so fast, and all of us felt relieved that it was ready to go! And bonus: it’s one less thing we will need to create next year!

Our preferred way of creating a playlist is to find a free Google Slides template. You can put the directions for each activity on the slides as well as any links students may need.

We find that creating a paper answer sheet makes it easier for us to check their progress. Then we let them know how many of the activities they are expected to complete, and how much time they will have to work on their playlist activities.

When Would I Use Playlist Activities?

Playlist activities need to be used strategically. As with any idea or technique, a playlist of activities will be ideal for some students, horrible for others and somewhere in between for others.

I use playlist activities when I am calling students up individually for speaking assessments. The playlist is designed for students to be able to work on their choices alone, and it frees me up to be present and listening to one student at a time. I find that combining doing our speaking benchmarks right before midterm and final exams with playlist activities is a great way to keep students engaged without my direct instruction and presence.

Other times during which teachers might consider doing a playlist could be: a) when you’re sick and you’ve lost your voice b) with a sub, especially if you’ll be out for more than one day c) when you have a lot of correcting to do or things to catch up on in your classroom d) you are going through a tough time personally and you don’t have the energy for your normal style of teaching e) if you have a rowdy class that is too social f) if you have a class that has very different talents and needs (playlist activities are easy to modify and differentiate for individual students).

The Logistics of Playlists

Here are some things to consider when designing your playlist.

How many activities do you want to create?
How many activities do you want to require?
Will you offer choice through the order in which students complete activities or do they get to choose which activities they complete?
How will you help students stay productive and on track for completion?
Will this be graded?
Will students work alone or will some activities involve a partner?
If you are working with students while the rest of the class is working on the playlist, what is the protocol when other students have questions (about the playlist or need to use the bathroom, etc.)

Having a playlist gives the teacher some breathing room to accomplish things they can’t do while teaching the whole class. And it can be empowering to students to allow them to work at their own pace and have some choice in terms of directing their own learning!