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Using Self-Pacing, Chance & Choice when Planning Activities

In the Getting It phase, it is important that students get as many opportunities as possible to practice their new and ‘old’ (reviewed) language skills. These activities should be given while still providing plenty of structure and support so the students have the time necessary to properly absorb the information given to them and the opportunity to practice it. Using self-paced, choice and chance activities gives the students new and interesting opportunities to use their language while keeping the stress level low. In this section, we will discuss these types of activities and why they are important in the classroom.

What are self-paced, choice and chance activities?

Self-paced: This element of an activity allows students to move at a pace comfortable for them. This allows for differentiation in the classroom as students working at a lower level can work more slowly while those more advanced students can move ahead more quickly.
Choice: This element of an activity allows students to make decisions regarding their actions. This lets the students feel that they are in control of their actions, and also provides for differentiation; students can make decisions based on their own ability levels.
Chance: This element of an activity forces the students into situations they hadn’t chosen for themselves. Although this can often result in some perturbation for the students, this will also oblige them to challenge themselves since they do not control their activity level. It also maintains a higher level of student motivation since the activity is not predictable.

Why is it important to use these activities?

These classroom activities are beneficial for many reasons. One reason is that they provide practice for the students while still engaging them; it is a nice change for the student from worksheets and exercises, while still using and improving their language skills. When the activities are interestin, it can increase the students' motivation. The choice activities in particular provide students with the opportunity to be creative which can increase their engagement level. Since students control how much energy they put into exercises and the amount they invest will often depend on their level of engagement, exercises which involve student creativity can be very beneficial. Another benefit of these activities invest is that they allow for differentiation in the classroom; choice and self-paced activities in particular allow students to work at a pace and challenge level that is comfortable for them. When an activity is designed properly, teachers can feel confident that all the students are engaged by the activity, and are using the amount of support that they need.

What are some examples of these activities?

There are several activities provided on the Getting It/Using It Strategies and Activities page that use different combinations of choice, chance and self-paced.

Let's look at the Roll the Die game as an example.

Roll The Die.

Students work in groups on a specified topic, taking turns rolling the die. One student rolls the die; the number that is rolled is the number of things he or she has to say, whether it be words, or sentences. Play moves to the next student.

(time 7:10)

Did the Roll the Die game involve choice, chance and opportunities for self-pacing? Explain your response.

Choice? Yes! Students can choose which words they say.
Chance? Yes! Students roll the die, so the number of words they have to say is not predictable.
Self-paced? Yes! Students can use words that are as complicated or as simple as they wish. There is also no time limit set on this game.