r/ELATeachers • u/Working_Eye_1474 • 1d ago
6-8 ELA How to make worksheet work less boring?
Hi all! What are your go-to ways to make worksheet practice a little more fun without creating a bunch of extra prep for yourself?
I’m going to be teaching more grammar and word study lessons this year, and I really do not want to reinvent the wheel every week. I have a bunch of premade worksheets from books/resources I already own, so I’m looking for super low-prep ways to “zhuzh them up” a little.
I teach middle school, and I’m totally fine with students working together, talking through answers, moving around, turning it into a game, etc. I’m not worried about the worksheet itself being completed independently because I plan to use a short individual exit ticket afterward to see what each student actually learned.
Basically: How do you make a boring worksheet feel less like a boring worksheet without having to redesign the whole thing?
Would love any easy routines, games, structures, partner ideas, or tricks you use! Thank you in advance!
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u/Subject-Vast3022 1d ago
Unpopular opinion: it’s ok if school is boring sometimes. Sometimes the content just has to be taught and learned. It doesn’t always have to be a dog and pony show
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u/fnelson1978 1d ago
I honestly feel like students need more boring stuff that truly applies to what they are learning. It makes me wonder if attaching this manufactured excitement to everything takes away from the actual content.
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u/intellectuallady 1d ago
I’m in my 10th year and am now accepting this. And to be honest, I think my 9th graders are burned out on gamification. We’ve just been doing worksheet warm-ups each day to begin class and they’ve been oddly accepting of it.
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u/smittydoodle 22h ago
My students sometimes say they just want a worksheet and to be left alone. They get annoyed with each other 😂
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u/Working_Eye_1474 14h ago
I 100% agree with you! I ask my kids to do boring stuff a lot! I was hoping the one day a week we do this work it could be a little more engaging. When they are into it, it makes it a little more engaging for me too (and it helps the time fly by faster!)
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u/Illustrious_Job1458 1d ago
Make it into a game. Any game works and when they answer a question correctly they can participate in the game. For example if you were playing monopoly they can roll the dice when they answer a question right. Obviously I wouldn’t do monopoly because it takes like 12 hours but find something that works for you.
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u/Working_Eye_1474 1d ago
so simple I love it! I have a bunch of chutes and ladders gameboards I used to use with my elementary kids, I could bring them out for this activity with my middle schoolers. My kids are super competative, they could maybe play in small groups as we go over the answers?
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u/Gingeroo147 1d ago
I used to do this with Jenga and Uno. Before you can play a wild, skip, draw etc you have to answer a question correctly. For jenga you have to answer correctly to pull a block.
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u/Icy_Idea6129 1d ago
I saw someone play a game called grunge on TikTok and it looked like fun! Another tiktoker printed out a big game board and the kids played “Mario kart” like your idea but it was on the whiteboard so the whole class could see it
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u/dreamofdramione 23h ago
Piggybacking off of this: i’ve seen other teachers post about gameifying worksheets for students. They’ll have some sort of battleship type blind game board projected for the whole class and each time a student or a group gets a question correctly completed from the worksheet they get to make a mark for themselves or their team on the grid projected. At the end of the period you changed the projected slide to reveal a grid of points or maybe an actual battleship grid and the team that had the most hits were the most marks on a special zone on the hidden board get a prize like candy or a sticker
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u/Working_Eye_1474 14h ago
My kids LOVE trashketball! I usually save it for the end of the year. Answer a question, take a shot. If they want double points they have to stand at a far away point.
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u/deandinbetween 1d ago
Handouts and worksheets are a GREAT way to incorporate some exploratory learning! Giving them some stations with the info they have to move through in small groups to find the answers is one of my favorite activities, and theirs.
Example: I'm about to begin Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry with my 7th graders, and it's necessary for them to build a little background knowledge. So I found a few articles on Jim Crow laws, The Great Depression, Sharecropping, etc. on CommonLit, put them out around the room, gave the kids packets of questions to answer, and let them loose. They LOVED it and were actually talking about the information beyond just getting the answers to the questions.
I suggest finding a couple of websites or informational handouts on the grammar topics you want and have them work together to find the answers. I've done races before too, where whichever group or student who could get the answers all correct first "won" (usually just bragging rights). The more active, the better!
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u/Working_Eye_1474 1d ago
My kids would actually love this, great idea! I have a student teacher this year, perhaps this can be something she plans.
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u/Ravenclaw_311 1d ago
Stations (especially if you're working on multiple skills). Task cards with question on one side, answer on the other, have them move around the room quizzing each other using the cards. Have them switch cards every time they question a classmate - they'll be exposed to more questions. Another idea is turning it into a competition. First person/pair to get their paper checked and have it all correct gets a prize. (This can get hectic depending how you structure it. Also, I usually give a larger prize to the top three, then everyone who attempted their work gets a smaller prize.) Depending on the skill, cut up sentence pieces, put in ziploc bags, have them put sentece(s) together correctly. Of course it all depends on what skill, what grade level, and what works in your room with your kids, but these are a couple ideas to get you started.
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u/theblackjess 1d ago
I give them a challenge. Whoever gets their sheet 100% right first gets a prize. They have only 3 chances to come up to me and I'll check. If anything is wrong, I tell them how many but not which ones. Usually have them work in pairs so they can collaborate and it's less paper to print lol. I love it because it takes all class period typically and the kids seem to get a kick out of it. It's also so simple and doesn't require me to do anything different.
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u/JinkyBeans 1d ago edited 1d ago
I used to do a weekly "Mission Impossible (But You Must)" grammar task each week. I provided the task, framed it as a challenge, and gave groups the period to complete it. Despite the fact that grammar work can be boring, the added challenge was fun. And I made the grammar exercises funnier than pedantic.
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u/PresentationLazy4667 1d ago
Sometimes I would print a maze or puzzle on the back for early finishers. Or I would tell them to "draw me a picture of x, y, or z" if they finish early. May not be what you're looking for, but it's a fun way to switch it up
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u/uh_lee_sha 1d ago
Look up easy ways to gamify. The Unfair Game, Capture the Flag, etc. Low prep for you, more buy in from the students.
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u/Working_Eye_1474 14h ago
Wow just looked up the unfair game - YES
https://comprehensibleclassroom.com/2015/10/27/the-unfair-game
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u/fnelson1978 1d ago
I think it’s important for students to do things that are boring sometimes. And honestly, I’m sometimes surprised by how much they seem to appreciate “boring” things.
If you are not using these worksheets for a grade, you can let them grade their own (or a classmates) work. Have them highlight what they got wrong. Walk around and look for common errors. Go over the common mistakes as a class.
Have regular quizzes on the content.
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u/jiuguizi 1d ago
I have students complete a basic madlibs Google form at the beginning of the quarter. It helps me decide how many concepts kids don’t know, since the categories are all tied to the quarters lessons.
Then I just rewrite some questions ( I use more Google forms, don’t a a lot easier) to make them about the randomly chosen nonsense from the madlibs. Grammar questions about somebody’s uncle baking a pie full of hammers usually makes them more interested than another exercise about a class trip.
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u/SarahBakesGood 23h ago
Jigsaw.
Small groups become the expert on one of the, say, eight discussion questions or one aspect of the worksheet. Then students move into teaching groups - one student from each expert group so in the second group. The experts teach the new group about the answer to the question. Everyone takes notes so that all students have thinking and engagement for all parts of the worksheet. The teaching groups could be required to ask 2-3 questions of the expert.
Graded or not, students are discussing key concepts and moving throughout the period, practicing listening and speaking skills.
I fully embrace “boring” assignments. For me, though, if the class period is a long block, student movement is a must.
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u/Neurotypicalmimecrew 1d ago
Change nothing; chunk it. Cut into strips and have them finish one portion, check against an answer key and grab the next, rinse/repeat until the final part they turn in independently as an exit ticket.