Drill and Kill is as miserable as it sounds. Typically these are skills or topics that are super boring to students and are traditionally taught in a repetitive worksheet. That’s why they’re called “drill and kill.” It totally kills the vibe of your classroom being a fun place.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer to have my students enjoy my class. And oftentimes that means taking a drill and kill worksheet and turning it into something more fun. Here’s a list of some of the ways I do that:
Finger Lights
This is one of my students’ favorites! I give each kid a small box of four finger lights. Each of the lights is a different color. Then I turn out all the lights and we have a chemistry “glow party.” I put up a slide show that has multiple choice questions. Each answer choice corresponds to a color: red, green, blue or white. Instead of answering the question verbally, they turn on the light that matches their answer.
I know this really is the EXACT same thing as answering multiple choice questions, but it really tricks kids into learning and practicing. Depending on the class, the topic or the timeliness of the activity, I will also give a worksheet to help the kids for studying purposes.
Whiteboards
This has seriously come in clutch for me on days where the copy machine isn’t working, I forgot to copy something or I just need to trick the kids. Each kid gets a white board, a marker and a dollar store “face scrubber” eraser. (Apparently this is a hot topic. I got the face scrubbers at the dollar store, 3 for a dollar. They have lasted my entire career. I wash them in my lab sink with dish soap once a year. It saves my very limited tissue supply.) Then I either ask verbal questions, or type them on the board. When I’m prepared, it’ll be a slideshow of questions.
Again, it’s the exact same thing as answering open ended questions on a worksheet, but the markers trick them!
Blooket
Blooket is an online game which is kind of like Kahoot, but I think it’s a lot better. The kids can collect points and “buy” avatars. (I have a unicorn!) Plus there are multiple game modes that truly trick the kids into learning. You can create your own question sets or borrow from other teachers. The kids sign in on devices and enter the game with a code. They can steal gold from each other, go fishing, or play tower defense, all while answering content questions. I have a few sets that I play, but when I have a weird 15 minutes left, I like to borrow from other teachers. This can really turn something boring into something more fun. In fact, my kids consistently ask if we can play!
Hit the Mark
I got some fly swatters from the dollar store. The kids are on teams which are color coded to their fly swatter. I have a piece of paper labeled “Hit the Mark.” I put a question on the board, and the kids will race to Hit the Mark. Whichever team’s fly swatter is on the bottom gets to answer.
If they win, they get a point. If they lose, they have to sit a person out. Kind of like dodgeball. Hit the Mark has some wild slides that add some interest to the game. The wild slides will add players back to the game, remove points or add points. At the end of the game, each player left standing counts as two points. This creates a great incentive to keep kids in the game and playing.
You could also play this with Eggspert buzzers. I would not play with student hands. They can get pretty competitive.
I did this recently with physical science kids for simple machines and heat flow. They REALLY loved it. I’m definitely going to make some more of these activities based on how much they loved it.
Escape Rooms
These are a royal pain to create, but my kids love them. (And secretly I love creating them…) Currently I have two that I use: isotopes and balancing equations. When kids have to sit and balance equations for an hour, it becomes super tedious. But when teams of two or three can crack codes, to get questions and then balance equations, it adds interest. It also helps when kids can run around the room looking for clues that I’ve hidden under my teacher chair and in my cabinets. I even include black lights to hide questions for them.
There are plenty of ways to trick kids into learning, and I like to make them as fun as possible. Because, even if they aren’t learning anything, at least they’ll have a good day. But I promise, they learn better when they have fun! It’s especially important to get those drill and kill lessons to be more fun. When the kids are *too* bored it’s not good for anybody. Interested in more? Read this blog post about the 10 Games and Strategies I use to Review for Tests.
