How I Use Simultaneous Presenting

This year my classes are huge and it makes it really difficult to assess their speaking one-on-one.  I hardly ever get to do one-on-one assessments because:

1) it takes too long to hear each student speak and

 2) the rest of the class has to be working independently and with minimal supervision while I am grading one-on-ones.

Sadly, I don't have any classes this year that work well independently and I always end up extremely frustrated that the class wastes time.  I've applied deadlines, marked down their participation, threatened them, even given a few of them detention - it doesn't seem to matter.  If I'm not watching them and directly engaged with them, at least half of them will be wasting class time.

Enter simultaneous presenting and cooperative learning structures.  I have found that students learn more by listening to one another's presentations, speak more than they would during a one-on-one, and I am much less stressed because every student is doing something in the target language.

There are several cooperative learning structures that organize the students to present simultaneously.  The ones I use the most are:

1) Inside-Outside Circle
This is my favorite way to simultaneously present.  I usually take my students out into the hallway (perfect for a long block day to get them out of their seats) for this activity.  To minimize confusion, as students walk out the door I put them in pairs of A and B.  B is the little circle inside the big circle.  A, the big circle, faces B, the little circle.  Either circle can rotate after a set amount of time to the left or right to create a new partnership.  To keep things less confusing I designate one circle as the "moving circle" and one as the "stationary circle."  But if you are very organized and good at keep of track of where the students have moved you could have both circles rotating in different directions.

Students usually are presenting murals they have drawn or visuals.  I try to mix it up, have them rotate 1, 2, or 3 spaces, have them do their presentation backwards, etc. to keep them thinking about what they are presenting.  I always encourage them to give each other a high five as they say goodbye.  This can also be done in two lines facing one another.

I've also had the students use this structure as a conversational activity with cards with personalized questions on them for discussion.  Questions about a story would also be good to chop up and hand to the students as a story or chapter of a novel review activity.

2) Stand up, Hand up, Pair Up
This website includes instructions for Stand up, Hand up, Pair up:
http://www.newton.k12.ks.us/sch/ch/Structures.pdf

I always tell the students they need to be aggressive about looking for a partner and put their hands up high.  This activity generally works for about five shares before I start to notice students clumping together and getting off-task

There are lots of other great structures like One Stay, Two Stray but due to the lack of space in my classroom I typically stick with these two structures.

How do you all use simultaneous presenting in your classroom?  Better yet, how do you address one-on-one assessments?