We all want students who are engaged and motivated to learn as much as they can. One of the best ways to do this is to incorporate students choice into the classroom. But what are some of the best strategies to do this? The #2ndaryELA community hashed it out recently so read on to get some new ideas on student choice in the classroom:
Q1: How do you define “Student Choice”? #2ndaryELA
A1: I think of it in terms of Ss having menus so they can choose how to demonstrate learning. #2ndaryELA
A1: I am going to be testing out some choice bingo boards in RTI block this year. Combo of easy work (ixl, vocab, free read), worksheets, and writing practice. #2ndaryELA
A1 Student choice in my classroom is the self-selected novels for independent reading and choosing topics for quickwrites during writer's workshop #2ndaryELA
A1 Student choice to me is any time students get to make a decision about their learning #2ndaryELA
A1 I define student choice as giving the Ss a list of learning opportunities and the S selecting one or two of those ops. #2ndaryela
Q2: Share examples of student choice in your classroom. #2ndaryELA
A2: Students also have choices when they are annotating / close reading a text, selecting / participating in independent reading, and when they are practicing literary analysis. #2ndaryELA
A2) Giving a gross or individual presentation, creating a display, doing a report about a topic associated w/ the unit, among others. #2ndaryela
A2: I use menus for practicing concepts as well as remediation and enrichment. The remediation menus are passed out at the same time as enrichment ones but they say "enhancement" on them so they look almost identical. #2ndaryELA
Here is one menu I use to help students process information on citing evidence:
Here is one menu I use to help students process information on citing evidence:
A2: Right when students arrive in class they have choice over what they are working on independently - reading choice reading or working on a course-related assignment, like #ArticleOfTheWeek https://benjaminkwoodcock.com/resources/article-of-the-week/ … #2ndaryELA
A2: I have given my students choice with Lit Circles and Research Projects. #2ndaryela
Q3: How does student choice impact learning in your classroom? #2ndaryELA
A3: My students become more engaged in their learning when they have choice in what they are doing. True learning is happening. #2ndaryela
A3: It gives students more ownership over their learning and since we focus heavily on progress, choice really reinforces that concept. #2ndaryELA
A3) The impact comes from the S working w/in their comfort zone in a demonstration of a higher learning activity. #2ndaryela
A3: I feel that student choice helps students to not only own their learning, but to also start learning how to make decisions in a safe environment. #2ndaryELA
A3: Since they are able to choose their side quests, they are learning whichever skill they want in order to complete it.
As far as the impact: students are wanting to learn new things! #2ndaryELA
A3: Students are interested and value their work more when they choose. #2ndaryELA
A3 Choice = motivation and student buy in. #2ndaryELA
Q3: Ss are more willing to work when they feel as if their voice is being acknowledged. They can feel intrinsically motivated when they have selected a task as opposed to being told to do something. #2ndaryELA
A3: Choice impacts learning when Ss can apply the ELA skills we teach to the topics they love. They may not be super excited to write a research paper but many will engage with those skills when it’s about a topic they choose. #2ndaryELA
A3: I feel like it gives students agency and purpose with their learning while utilizing prior knowledge and/or expanding upon current interests. #2ndaryELA
Q4: How do you manage student choice times? #2ndaryELA
A4: Daily reading time, Free Reading Friday, novel study projects-I manage these through student/teacher conferences. #2ndaryELA
A4: Expectations, monitoring, modeling, and trust all go into my management of student choice. #2ndaryELA
A4 With 6th grade choices start small #2ndaryELA
A4: Every Friday is an Explore Writing Day in our class! They are all working on something, so there’s noting to manage! #2ndaryELA
A4: Each day I have time scheduled for whole group instruction and for their choice learning. They also sit with those who made similar choices for books or researchers projects. #2ndaryela
A4) I give the Ss the opportunities at the beginning and establish the due date early at that moment. Two days after the U test are in class workdaysand due the third day. I am available to answer Qs throughout the U. #2ndaryela
A4: Regular agreements (rules) apply and there are set days and due dates for choice time. #2ndaryELA
Q5: Share your favorite student choice resources. #2ndaryELA
A5: I used the book "Differentiating Language Arts with Menus" as inspiration to make my own menus like this text structure one you can read about here: https://mrsspanglerinthemiddle.blogspot.com/2019/05/teaching-text-structure-in-middle-school.html … #2ndaryELA
A5: Reading choices include books in our classroom library, http://Getepic.com , and http://Storylineonline.net #2ndaryELAHome - Storyline Online
A5 I love choice boards to help provide some structure for students https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2015/11/you-oughta-know-aboutusing-choice.html … #2ndaryELA
A5) Presentations, skits or re-enactments of a scene and the research paper. #2ndaryela
A5: My PLN on Twitter is a good go to, along with my @RedCedarWP & @MCTE_MI networks, colleagues, and friends! #2ndaryELA
A5: For Lit Circles I had the students do a book tasting activity to help them pick the book they wanted to read. I usually give them a list of options. #2ndaryela
A5: Students analyze themselves as readers, choose books for March Book Madness, and have flexible seating options. #2ndaryELA
Do you have an idea that wasn't shared here? Share it in the comments or in our Facebook Group where we keep the conversation going 24/7. We'd love for you to join!
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