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The show features a variety of episodes for K12 teachers and educators, including tech tips, lesson ideas, practical advice, on-air coaching, student interviews, and interviews with inspiring educators.

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The Shake Up Learning Show, a podcast hosted by Kasey Bell from Shake Up Learning, launched on March 26, 2019.

WHAT: The Shake Up Learning Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Kasey Bell.

The show features a variety of episodes for K12 teachers and educators, including tech tips, lesson ideas, practical advice, on-air coaching, student interviews, and interviews with inspiring educators.

WHEN: New episodes are released every Tuesday.

HOW: Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart, or any of your other favorite podcatchers. You can also stream on ShakeUpLearning.com.

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You can subscribe to the podcast using your favorite application on your phone or desktop.

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READ THIS FIRST! NO SOLICITING!

The Shake Up Learning Show hosts a variety of guests including inspiring educators, on-air coaching calls with classroom teachers, and student interviews.

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Many inspiring educators are regular guests of the show. Currently, this type of guest is INVITE ONLY.

Please do not ask to be on the podcast.

On-Air Coaching with Kasey Bell

I love to help teachers with one-on-one coaching on the podcast, called, "On-Air Coaching."

Are you struggling with one particular lesson? One piece of content or skill that's just hard to teach or doesn't seem to work well with technology?

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Using this On-Air Coaching Application, tell me about yourself, your students, and your struggle. You may get to be on the podcast!!!

Do you know a teacher that is a good candidate? Feel free to send them the link to the form.

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The Shake Up Learning Show with Kasey Bell

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The Shake Up Learning Show is a weekly podcast hosted by Kasey Bell that features a variety of episodes for K12 teachers and educators, including tech tips, lesson ideas, practical advice, on-air coaching, student interviews, and interviews with inspiring educators.

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Register for a FREE webinar.

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Are you making the most of the digital tools at your disposal? Is the learning in your classroom static or dynamic? Join Kasey Bell of ShakeUpLearning.com for this FREE webinar overview of the Dynamic Learning Model and Framework from her book, Shake Up Learning.

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Learning Menus & Choice Boards (Pinterest)

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Learning Menus & Choice Boards (Pinterest)

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Check out these pins!

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Differentiate with Learning Menus and Choice Boards

"...at its core, differentiated instruction means addressing ways in which students vary as learners." - Carol Ann Tomlinson

[Tweet "Interactive Learning Menus with @GoogleforEdu #edtech#gsuiteedu"]

What Are Learning Menus?

IT'S ALL ABOUT CHOICE! Learning menus (aka choice boards) are a form of differentiated learning that gives students a menu or choice of learning activities. Learning menus and choice boards can be created in a variety of styles and mediums. They've been around for a long time and originated in a static, paper format. But with digital tools, we can bring the menus to life with interactivity and creation. Menus can be a simple list, a tic-tac-toe or bingo-style game, or get as creative and intricate as you like. Check out my Pinterest board for ideas.

Learning Menus Can Be Used with Any Age Group

I have found that menus and choice boards tend to be more popular among elementary teachers, but I used them in my middle school classroom, and now I use them in professional learning workshops with adults. Any grade level can use learning menus!

Learning Menus Can Be Used in Any Subject Area

Since learning menus are so flexible, they can easily be created and adapted for just about any subject area. So no excuses! Any teacher who is willing to try can make use of this student-centered strategy.

[Tweet "Any teacher who is willing to try can make use of this student-centered strategy. #edtech"]

Are Learning Menus Hyperdocs the Same Thing?

No, but they could be part of a Hyperdoc assignment. I love Hyperdocs! But these two are not one in the same. Keep in mind the definition of learning menus stated above. It is simply a menu of choices from which students can choose. Student choice is the big idea behind learning menus and choice boards.

A Hyperdoc is a complete packaged assignment that also meets some additional criteria. A Hyperdoc doesn't have to include choice, but it could. To learn more about Hyperdocs, visit their site or read the AMAZING book by Lisa Highfill, Sarah Landis, and Kelly Hilton.

Creating a Tic-Tac-Toe Learning Menu in Google Docs

One easy way to dip your toes into the learning menu water is a Tic-Tac-Toe menu. A Tic-Tac-Toe can be used for anything from short activities to more long-term projects, both assessment FOR learning (formative) and assessment OF learning (summative).

Below is an example of a Novel Unit Tic-Tac-Toe menu that I created as a summative project. It was created in Google Docs, nothing fancy, just a table and some color. Depending on how you want to use, you can add links, rubrics, images, video and more. (Click here to use my blank tic-tac-toe template.)
CLICK HERE to use the Novel Study Tic-Tac-Toe template. On mobile? CLICK HERE to make a copy.
Learning Menu Design

Remember when you are creating a learning menu to align it with your learning goals! First, I use the middle square as my non-negotiable, the one activity that I want every student to complete. This could be reading an article, watching a video, or in this case; every student will write a summary and add it to a collaborative Google Slide deck where they will also add links to their other projects. Everything in one place!

Some teachers also make the middle square a free space where students can propose their own ideas to demonstrate their learning. LOVE THIS IDEA!

I had some students who would try to find the easiest or fastest way to complete the tasks. But if you pay attention to the learning design, you can design it so that it gives choice and flexible learning paths, not just an easy completion grade.

I use the color to guide the learning design. Because I use the middle square as a non-negotiable, I control how they make the tic-tac-toe just a little bit more. Every student will do the middle square and one from the blue and one from the yellow. In this summative example, students are mostly creating, but in the example below, you will see how it can also work for activities that guide the learning.

Below is a professional learning example that I designed for teaching Google Chrome. As a trainer, I typically have very mixed groups in my training sessions (multiple grade levels, subject areas, and tech savviness). I usually address general skills, and apps and extensions that are applicable across all grade levels and subject areas as a whole group.

Then I move into an activity like the Chrome PD Tic-Tac-Toe learning menu to allow teachers to dig deeper into their own subject areas and grade levels AND move at a pace that is comfortable for their level and learning style.
CLICK HERE to use my Chrome PD Tic-Tac-Toe template. On mobile? CLICK HERE to make a copy of the template.
Other Types of Learning Menus

As I said, a tic-tac-toe is just one type of menu. It happens to be a favorite of mine because they are easy to design and are not too overwhelming. But I have used many other types of menus, and I have been curating ideas on this Learning Menu Pinterest Board.

Digital Menu for Student Creation with Google Slides by Tommy Spall

Below is a Google Slide example of a learning menu that takes on the look of a restaurant menu from my friend, Tommy Spall. Follow him @TommySpall. (You can thank me later!) Click here to make a copy of Tommy's template that includes linked slides to lots of Googley projects and room for you to make it your own. (If you are on mobile and having trouble with the template link, try this make a copy link.)

Professional Development BINGO Board by Amber Teamann and Melinda Miller

Another option is to make it a full out BINGO board, like in this example from my friend Amber Teamann and her collaborator Melinda Miller. (Follow them at @8Amber8 and @MMiller7571, and yes, you will thank me for this one, too!)

Amber and Melinda are both elementary school principals. They issued this BINGO PD Challenge to her teachers over the summer, and I thought it might inspire you with some other options for choice and challenges in your classroom or professional learning. You can learn more details about PD Bingo in Amber's blog post.

Using G Suite to Create Learning Menus

The possibilities are truly endless! Consider all the ways you could use G Suite to create learning menus and the extended activities and links. Try thinking of the ways you could create menus using these G Suite tools:

Google Docs

Google Slides

Google Drawings

Google Sheets

Google My Maps

Google Sites

How to Use Google Templates and Assign in Google Classroom

If you enjoyed this post, you will love the more in-depth look at the power of choice boards and more examples in this post and podcast episode.

© Shake Up Learning 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

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Interactive Learning Menus (Choice Boards) Using Google Docs

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I love learning menus, and it is one of my favorite ways to incorporate student choice and to differentiate learning. And with digital tools like G Suite for Education, it's super easy to make menus interactive, digital, and more dynamic! Digital Differentiation offers teachers and students many ways to reach all learners.

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Ideas and Links: Let the Building Begin!

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Use your existing Discovery Education username and password.

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-Daily 5-

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October is here...
and so is choice board time for our Daily 5 time.

I spend the first chunk of time teaching my class in small groups.

We talk about how to move from group to group.

Then, we work on learning how to completely activities independently.

We learn how to learn.

Slowly I give them a little less play and a lot more routines.

I feel them out and learn what they need to learn.

They learn how to learn.

Then... something special happens... it is called Daily 5 choice board.

I open up all our stations for my students to chose where they will go,

and where they will go afterwards!

I know this sounds scary.

But... deep breaths people... I am actually giving my little ones SPACE and FREEDOM to learn.

And I am not managing behaviors since all my students can do their work and

move on when they are done, not when I think they will be done.

They also KNOW how to complete each activity and they love their independence.

I am managing LESS and they are working MORE.

Let me show you how I handle the open choice board for daily 5 each day for one hour.

Here is one of my little learner's book box in her cubbie.

She has tons of books she can read and her Great 8 necklace.

{Yes, I run 8 stations because I am a little crazy and it works for me.}

Each day, we start our daily 5 at Read to Someone.
Why? Because this is our hardest area to tackle and it seems to work better for my little learners if we all PAIR up to start with.

We grab our boxes and we put on our necklaces.
And we go to read to someone for three books, or about 10 minutes. Whichever comes first.

Here is an up close image of the necklace.

{These are a new idea of mine this year and I am LOVING them.

More on how to make them below.}

There is a slot for each station with a color code.

That color code is that colored table.

The cards are printed on card stock and I laminated them.

I placed the hole punch on the bottom so my students can hold up the tag to see all the choices they have to go to.

When they finish that station or area, they use an overhead marker to check off their necklace.
They do this, not me.
Each station has a marker in it and there are extra markers at the choice board.

This is a way they manage themselves.
AND THEY LOVE IT.

They feel so responsible and so excited.
Plus, they don't loose the necklace because it is around their necks.

Okay...
on to the choice board...
Here is a glimpse of some of my choice board which is on my white board in the front of the room.
{Remember I have 8 stations, but you can chose how many you have!}

You can see the Word Work and Work on Writing stations.

I actually do my cafe strategies at the blue teacher station.
I teach mini lessons and conference there.
This allows me to work with and read with my class everyday.
Since we have short attention spams and we need lots of practice, this works for us.

I also add an orange station that is NOT on the necklace.
It is just a work space.
Why? If a table or station is filled, or someone next to you is bothering you...
head to the work space so you can get things done.

Here is some more of the choice board.

My assistant is at the green station.
She usually does writing activities or swaps out reading with me.
One of us works on writing and one of us works on reading.
I am very blessed to have an aid for this time.
This would work for a parent volunteer.

I also have a Listening to Reading station
As you can see, this is at the red table.

And all my images and colors MATCH on the necklace and on the choice board.

Each of my students has a magnetic name they use to place their choice on the board.

I put girls names on one side of the choice board and boys names on the other.

Here is a picture of my girls and my boys magnets.

I print out two versions, one black and white and one colored.

The black and white is laminated as a while and taped to the board as our "home."

This make there name moveable and also lets them grab it easily.

When they want to go to a choice, they take their name off the "home" and

move it to the station they want to work at.

They work at their station until they move to another station.

If they want to go to the red table, there has to be a spot open for them to go to.

Or they can head to the work space station.

I still have spaces for Read to Someone and Read to Self.

They can always head there if the are waiting on a station to open.

At the end of our daily 5 time, they put their names off the choices and back home,

they put their necklaces back in their book boxes,

and my cleaner goes around with a baby wipes and clears their necklaces off for tomorrow.
Here is how I made my necklaces.
AND this pack is NOW EDITABLE!

It has the regular daily 5 choices on it with a blank spot for a student name.

You print this sheet out on card stock.

Laminate.

Cut out each card and pole punch it.

I tried a hole punch on top and bottom.

My class likes bottom better, but top words too!

Some lanyards come with a plastic card holder like this one.

Since my students write on the cards daily, I am not sure how well these would hold up.

Of course some friends don't like the feel of a necklace. It bothers them.

I took the clips I use for name tags at the start of the year and attached it instead.

This friend clips his to the bottom of his shirt.

You can grab all these choice board parts

and necklace pieces in my

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October is here... and so is choice board time for our Daily 5 time. I spend the first chunk of time teaching my class in small groups. We talk about how to move from group to group. Then, we work on learning how to completely activities independently. We learn how to learn.

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Classroom Tools for Teachers and Students | Microsoft Education

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See how Microsoft provides the tools that help educators prepare, teach, assess, track, and analyze, allowing more time to focus on your student's success.

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Learn more about the activity explorer & playlists in Imagine Learning. (Log in to your IL Univ. account > ILL Teacher Resources.)

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Learn how students of all ages can write digital books. (app or web-based)

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Prefer to read offline?

Do you teach in the K-5 environment? If so join me as we explore a variety of open ended ways to use Book Creator in YOUR learning environment.

This book is filled with many open-ended easily differentiated lessons utilizing Book Creator. While you will find a variety of lessons from various content areas these lessons are less about the "content" (since we all have different "content") and more about ways you can use Book Creator to enhance your teaching and your students' learning.

In the first section we will explore ways to use Book Creator in your literacy classroom.

In the second section we will explore ways to use Book Creator in your numeracy classroom.

In the third section we will explore ways to use Book Creator in your Science or Socials Studies classes.

And finally we will explore ways to use Book Creator in P.E., Music, and Art class. We will even explore using it for field trips!

With read today, use tomorrow lessons, I hope all K-5 educators will find this book useful to them.

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Using Book Creator in the Elementary Classroom

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Karen Lirenman is an award-winning educator and this book draws from her years of experience to provide essential ideas for using Book Creator with young students. This is an invaluable resource.

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Learn more about creating customized playlists for students. (Log in to your Waterford acct. and select "Classroom Advantage" at the bottom of the page.)

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Playlists, part of our Classroom Advantage product, allow you to select activities and play them on an interactive whiteboard or projector for whole-class or small-group instruction. Learn more about playlists in the Classroom Advantage Guide.

In addition to your own playlists, Waterford also provides over 1,200 pre-built playlists into the Classroom Advantage system for your use. These playlists cannot be edited or destroyed, and they are automatically downloaded into your account.

You can create playlists in two places: in the Playlists section of Curriculum or from the search results page in Search.

In the Playlists section:

1. Select Curriculum and click Playlists.

2. Click Create Playlist.

3. In the New Playlist window, enter a playlist name and, if you want, notes about the playlist.

4. Click Save.

From the search results:

1. Perform an activity search so that results appear in the table.

2. Click the checkbox for one or more activities in the search results.

3. Click Add to Playlist.

4. Click New Playlist.

Select a folder or subfolder to add the playlist in that location.

5. Enter the playlist name.

6. Click Save.

Preview activities to build playlists and explore the curriculum.

1. Click Curriculum.

2. In the activity search field, enter a word or phrase.

For example, enter an activity name like "Hidden Pictures: A" or a concept such as "capital A." Be sure to use quotes for more precise results.)

3. In the results table, click Play to preview activities.

Add activities to playlists from the search results.

1. Click Curriculum.

2. Click Search.

3. Perform an activity search.

4. In the search results, click the checkbox next to the activity or activities you want to add to a playlist.

5. Click Add to Playlist.

6. In the pop-up window, select your playlist.

7. Click OK.
You will go to the playlist screen.

To add more activities, click Search. The search results and filter selections from your last search will still be selected. The activity or activities you just added will still be checked, to help you remember which activities you just added.

Use Waterford Manager to reorder and remove activities from playlists:

1. Click Curriculum.

2. Go to Playlists.

3. Select the playlist you want to manage.

4. Click the checkbox next to the activity you want to move or delete.

5. Use Move Up and Move Down to reorder the activities.

6. Click Delete Activity to remove it from the playlist.

Use the Waterford Manager to edit the playlist folder, playlist name and descriptions:

1. Click Curriculum.

2. Go to Playlists.

3. Select the playlist folder or playlist you want to manage.

The manager defaults to the Activity List page.

4. Click Info.

5. Click in the text fields to edit Playlist Folder Name, Playlist Name and Notes.

6. Click Save.

The Teacher App is ideal for interactive whiteboards, but you can also use it a computer connected to a projector. Complete the following steps to launch the Teacher App:

1. Select Curriculum and click Playlists.

If there are no playlists listed, you will need to create or import some. Jump to those sections in this guide for more help.

2. Click the playlist you want to present.

Use the table headings to sort the playlists, or use the Search bar to search by keyword.

3. Click Launch Playlist.

4. The Teacher App opens and your first activity begins.

All of the activities in your playlist are played in order.

From the Teacher App you can pause, play, restart, go back one, and skip to the next activity. Resize the browser window to change the size of the Teacher App.

1. Click Curriculum go to Playlists.

2. Click Import Playlist.

3. In the Import Playlist pop-up window, browse to the playlist file you want to import.

The playlist must be an .xml file exported from the Waterford Manager. For the playlist to import successfully, do not modify the file contents.

4. Click Import.
The playlist appears in the list.

You can export a single or multiple playlists. When you export multiple playlists, all the playlists are exported to the same file. When a file with multiple playlists is imported, the playlists import individually and maintain the original file structure.

1. Click Curriculum and go to Playlists.

2. Click the check box(es) next to the playlist(s) you want to export.

Once you select a playlist, the option to select all your playlists-not just the playlists shown on-screen-appears. If you wish to export all of your playlists, click Select all 42. (The number will be different depending on how many total playlists you have created.)

3. Click Export Playlists. The file is automatically saved to your downloads.

Classroom Advantage provides over 1,200 pre-built playlists that correspond to Waterford Reading goals. They can be used on an individual, small group, or classroom level as well as for academic instruction, remediation, or intervention.

These playlists are pre-loaded in the Classroom Advantage system and organized by instructional strand, sub-strand, and objective in your Waterford Manager.

Classroom Advantage downloads pre-built Waterford Reading playlists automatically into your system. You do not need to download these playlists manually.

At this time, pre-built Waterford Reading playlists cannot be edited or deleted.
Note: If you have a playlist with the same name as a pre-set playlist, it will be renamed with a suffix.

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Playlists, part of our Classroom Advantage product, allow you to select activities and play them on an interactive whiteboard or projector for whole-class or small-group instruction. Learn more about playlists in the Classroom Advantage Guide. In addition to your own playlists, Waterford also provides over 1,200 pre-built playlists into the Classroom Advantage system for your use.

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Read this blog post describing 5 reasons to use digital choice boards.

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5 Reasons to Use DIGITAL Choice Boards in the Classroom

When I was a classroom teacher I loooooved using choice boards. Students felt like they had some type of ownership of their learning when they got to choose which activity they wanted to complete for the day. Furthermore, choice boards allowed for me to personalize learning.

What is a Choice Board?

A choice board usually looks like a Bingo board that has a different activity inside each of the squares. The activities can appeal to a wide variety of learning styles. Each choice board should focus on a particular concept. Some examples of choice boards I have used in the past:

Word Study

Vocabulary

Reading Response

Writing Prompts

Place Value Activities (math unit)

Ancient Egypt Study (social studies unit)

Usually I just had students choose 3 of the activities to work on throughout the week and they would cross off each activity as they completed it as long as they had 3 in a row. Some teachers have students complete all of the activities in whatever order they choose. Up to you!

Digital Choice Boards

I now help teachers create their choice boards which usually have some element of technology involved. We also make these choice boards digital using Google Slides, no copies needed! The activities we include in these digital choice boards involve technology tools for students to use as they explore the topic of study. We don't come up with technology based activities just to get students using technology, we come up with technology based activities because they have the ability to tap into multiple intelligences and learning styles. Typing, voice-to-text, text-to-speech, graphic, diagram, audio recording, video recording, and multiple creation tools can truly maximize our learning environment to reach its full potential.

Here are 5 reasons why DIGITAL choice boards might be a better option than paper choice boards if your students have access to devices.

Links! You can place links to digital tools within the choice board. This makes it easy for students to quickly and easily navigate to various websites and applications. Here is an example of my Vocabulary Choice Board for Google Drive™.

Students can drag the "X" shape to cover completed activities. I simply made an "X" shape and copied and pasted multiple Xs to lay on top of one another to create a bank of Xs.

Keep everything in ONE place! My digital choice board that you see above was created in Google Slides. Students can add as many slides as they need to show their work. I provide several slides for written responses as well as word maps for students to use. You can create any type of activity slide to fit the needs of the activities you come up with for your digital choice board! If one of your activities requires students to use an external web tool to make a comic, meme, or drawing, have students take a screenshot of their creation and place it on a slide. Accountability all in one place! This will make it EASY for you to check on each student's progress as well as grade their work.

Here is an example from my Editable Digital Choice Boards for Google Drive™ resource. We created a comic in Make Beliefs Comix, took a screenshot and added the image to one of the slides.

You can also have students hyperlink creations into their slides. Have them copy the URL of their project (for instance, a Vocaroo voice recording), type a word or set of words on a slide, highlight those words, click the LINK icon in the toolbar and paste their link in the box. Once they click Apply the word or set of words will hyperlink straight to their project!

The choice boards displayed above contain individual text boxes for each activity. This makes it EASY for the teacher to rearrange or swap out activities so the choice boards are different every time. Also, you can easily differentiate for individual students. Perhaps you have a student with an IEP accommodation in which they need a reduced amount of problems/activities. You can easily pop into their presentation (if the choice board is available in Google Drive or One Drive) and swap out activities or the number of problems/words/sentences they need to complete for a certain activity. Furthermore, you can add links to assistive technology tools they might need in order to be successful in completing a particular assignment.

Not to state the obvious buuuuut digital choice boards are They can even continue to work on their choice board at home if they have internet access. You never know, students might be paperless!No more copies annnnnd students are less likely to lose their board or their work. so excited about their work that they decide to show it off at home by launching their presentation.

Digital choice boards in Google Drive makes giving feedback and grading a breeze! You can hop onto any student's presentation from practically any device to check on their progress as well as grade their work. Check in while you are at the doctor's office, from the comfort of your sofa or even while you are working with a reading group at the reading table😉 Leave encouraging and helpful comments for students so they know they are on the right track or need to go back to rethink certain concepts.

Obviously I could keep raving about reasons why using digital choice boards would make a great addition to your classroom. Give it a try! You can create one for practically any topic/subject area.

If you don't have the energy to create a digital choice board from scratch, then check out my EDITABLE Choice Boards for Google Drive™. Plug in your activities, assign to students and you will be in business. These will work for a wide range of grade levels.

I have an Editable VOCABULARY Choice Board for Google Drive™ that already contains 9 different digital activities for students to practice using vocabulary terms in context. I created this for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students but you can adapt the activities to fit the needs for your learners since it is editable.

If you are looking for spelling practice activities, I have a Digital Spelling/Word Study Activities Choice Board for Google Drive™ that already contains 9 different digital activities for students to practice their spelling words. I created this for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students but you can adapt the activities to fit the needs for your learners since it is editable.

I also have a Reading Response Digital Choice Board that already contains 9 different digital activities for students to respond to their reading. I created this for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students but you can adapt the activities to fit the needs for your learners since it is editable.

The Digital Writing Choice Board contains 9 different activities for students to practice a variety of different kinds of writing (poetry, stories, raps/songs, plays, postcards, newspaper clippings and more!)

If you are interested in all of the Reading & Language Arts Digital Choice Boards I have bundled them HERE.

I also have choice boards for MATH. HERE is my bundle of basic multiplication and division choice boards.

HERE is my bundle of addition (up to 1,000) and Subtraction (3 digital numbers) with Regrouping Choice Boards.

Here is a Facebook Live I did that shows this post in ACTION:

I hope you enjoyed reading about how I use digital choice boards! In honor of Digital Learning Day that is happening Thursday, February 22nd, I have teamed up with some amazing bloggers to bring you a FUN blog hop and giveaway! Grab some tips, tricks and content from some incredible techie teachers to improve student outcomes by visiting each post.

👉Prize: Enter to WIN a $50 TeachersPayTeachers gift card!

Comment below to let me know how you could use digital choice boards in your classroom. Then click the image to read about another way to add digital learning into your classroom. You must comment on each post to be entered into the giveaway.

Follow me on Pinterest to get more techie ideas:

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5 Reasons to Use DIGITAL Choice Boards in the Classroom

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5 Reasons to Use Digital Choice Boards in the Classroom: Personalize learning with digital choice boards and activities. Great way to integrate technology into the classroom while providing a rich learning experience for a variety of learners. Digital differentiation! Think of it like a hyperdoc or hyperslide :)

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Check out this brief article.

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What is student agency?

Student agency refers to learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated with appropriate guidance from teachers. To put it simply, student agency gives students voice and often, choice, in how they learn.

This gives students a stake in choosing from opportunities provided for them-perhaps you give students a choice between projects, writing assignments, or other activities. Their ability to make a decision triggers a greater investment of interest and motivation.

What is EdWords™?

Edwords (· words) n. 1. K12 glossary breaking through buzzwords to solve the challenge of a common definition.
2. Renaissance ® resource to help educators take part in discussion, debate, and meaningful discourse. 3. Educators' jargon buster.

How can I practice student agency in my classroom?

Guidance from an instructor is essential as students choose their direction. Imagine an agent guiding an actor or athlete to good career decisions. Within student agency, the teacher takes on the agent role in looking out for their student client.

Students must feel that their voice and self-direction are increased, even if they don't get their way all the time. Think back to a lesson plan you were especially jazzed about that fell flat once you introduced it to students. Student agency keeps students engaged since they are part of the lesson plan in the first place.

What impact does student agency have?

Remember, students must also be able to demonstrate mastery. If students know what their goal is and trust their teacher is going to allow them to move through their chosen path to the goal while providing expert feedback, students are more invested in their own growth.

Let's see an example

Mrs. Martinez's fourth-grade class is studying butterflies. Together, they have read some butterfly books and are caring for monarch caterpillars. For their final project of the unit, Mrs. Martinez gives her students three options to choose from:

Create a Google Map that details the pathway monarch butterflies take every year during their migration

Keep an illustrated daily record of the monarchs' final stage of development and produce a scrapbook of their life cycle

Produce a blog post that presents evidence about the two sides of the debate over environmental protections for butterflies

Each option gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery in different ways. Because students are able to choose the option that interests them most, Mrs. Martinez has used student agency to personalize their learning.

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Student Agency - What is Student Agency? - EdWords - Renaissance

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Student agency refers to learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated with appropriate guidance from teachers. To put it simply, student agency gives students voice and often, choice, in how they learn.

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Watch this video & learn how students in this classroom are using Seesaw.
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Using seesaw in the classroom (Vlog 234)

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Pick & choose videos you're interested in to learn more about Seesaw. (YT blocked during testing.)

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Seesaw Tutorials - 2 to 5 Minute Long Tutorials - YouTube

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Walk through all of the features of the Seesaw app. Learn how to set up your class, use Seesaw with your students, invite parents, and much more!

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3 Ways to Harness Digital for PL Success

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3 Ways to Harness Digital for PL Success

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Check out this article.

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If you're leading your school through the transition to a digital learning environment, you know that creating the right vision for teaching and learning can be a juggling act. Today's new challenges for school leaders inspired Mary Ann Wolf, PhD, director of digital learning programs for The Friday Institute; Elizabeth Bobst, a writer, editor, and educator focusing on ESL and international education; and Nancy Mangum, digital learning lead at The Friday Institute, to publish Leading Personalized and Digital Learning: A Framework for Implementing School Change. I recently caught up with the authors, who offered guidance for principals and other school leaders aiming to support teachers as they leverage the power of technology to make student-centered, digital learning a reality.

Let students guide their own learning

Mary Ann Wolf: Teachers have long understood the power of personalized learning, but in the past, they've only succeeded in personalizing learning for some students on some days. In our experience, technology or digital learning makes personalized learning possible for every student everyday.

For example, teachers who are striving to ensure that each student can be on a personalized pathway are able to have access to data on a regular basis that allows them to help guide the child. Learning opportunities do not always involve technology; however, to enhance learning, students can connect with experts, develop products, approach project-based learning, and publish for a broader audience via digital resources.

One indication of true digital learning is how the teachers works with students in the classroom. When we walk into a classroom of students engaged in digital learning, we often find it hard to identify the teacher immediately because he or she is working with students rather than at the front of the class.

We often hear a hum of energy. Some students are working together using technology to collaborate or solve a problem, others may be working independently to write a reflection or practice a skill, and a small group may be working with the teacher using manipulatives or tablets to practice with support. Some students may be sitting on the floor, while others are on a couch or at a desk.

However, the most telling thing about digital learning is when students can tell you what they are learning, where they are on their learning path, and where they are going next with their learning. Students can describe goals and standards, and students can show you their learning data. In our experience, students are engaged in the content and are very comfortable asking others or their teachers for support. Digital learning makes personalized learning for every student every day possible through rich content, simulations, collaboration tools, and production opportunities. Students use the technology much like we do at work, as one tool that can help them achieve their learning goals.

Nancy Mangum: We continue to agree that core leadership skills identified by Michael Fullan and other researchers are as critical for leading today as they were ten or twenty years ago. However, we also know that today, the context has changed. In today's districts and schools that are striving to move toward more personalized and digital learning, we find three key areas of leadership that are more emphasized, or more critical, than they were in the past:

Modeling. While principals have always had the opportunity to model in some way, the transition from teacher-centered to student-centered learning, especially with the potential of technology and digital learning, dramatically shifts what modeling looks like for principals. Principals should model their own use of digital learning tools to personalize their work with individual teachers, whether through providing feedback after a walk-through (like a quick email focused on a particular area) or by utilizing data to help a teacher better identify professional learning experiences that may support his or her growth and goals.

Adapting to the pace of change. The pace of change in education has been slow. Yet in recent years, the near constant arrival of new technologies and digital learning has dramatically accelerated the pace of change. Teachers need the time, space, and support to try new strategies, reflect upon them, and choose whether or not to use them again. Principals modeling this by taking risks themselves-with thoughtful approaches, research-based practices, and careful reflection-becomes an important aspect of addressing the pace of change. Principals moving toward personalized and digital learning must develop new strategies and be prepared for the sometimes fast and furious pace of change in a system designed to maintain the status quo.

Articulating a shared vision. Principals must guide their stakeholders-students, parents, teachers, and community members-in thinking about what they want teaching and learning to be for their students. A shared vision must involve input from all stakeholders. Principals can bring stakeholders to visit classrooms and witness examples of some of the important aspects of that vision within the school. In asking stakeholders what they want teaching and learning to look like, I have never heard that they want every person in the class sitting in rows doing exactly the same thing at the same time without regard to what a student specifically needs. Principals should ask pointed questions to students and teachers about what makes a difference for learning and what leads to engagement. Principals should also share research and other examples of approaches that might work for students, as this helps people imagine what is possible. Helping others see what is possible, especially in a time where clear examples are hard to find, is a critical role of principals in this transition.

Our book shares many tangible examples of how principals are growing and integrating these leadership competencies in their work everyday.

Distribute leadership and model the culture

Elizabeth Bobst: The importance of shared leadership and empowering teachers and students is a common theme from the principals we highlighted in our book. Effective change cannot happen with one person tackling it on their own, so leaders who are looking to make changes within their buildings must ensure that they have a team to support one other and get buy-in from stakeholders.The importance of distributed leadership builds on the need for ownership in the school by capitalizing on strengths and allowing teachers opportunities to grow and lead themselves.

Mary Ann Wolf: Creating a culture that supports innovation requires that teachers embrace a growth mindset, one in which they believe they have the ability to learn, grow, and change. One strategy that Drew Ware, a principal in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, shared is to offer a forum for teachers to share something that they had tried during the week that hadn't gone as planned. Drew did this through a "Faffle"-a Failure Raffle-that teachers get to enter when they try something that doesn't work and are willing to discuss it. This allows the principal to honor and appreciate on a regular basis teachers who take risks, acknowledges that failure is part of learning and improving, and provides teachers the opportunity to support each other.

Shifting to a digital culture requires school leaders to model the very changes in mindset and skill-set they want to see. Taking risks at faculty meetings to try something new or sharing reflections on things that they have tried that haven't been as successful as they had hoped are important. Leaders must also use digital tools and strategies that they would like to see utilized in classrooms within their own practice. This could include trying a new tool for a weekly staff newsletter or changing the instructional strategies used during a staff meeting so that the meeting takes on a more personalized approach.

For more digital leadership insights from Wolf, Bobst, and Mangum, check out their book Leading Personalized and Digital Learning: A Framework for Implementing School Change.

Have a specific question about leading digital and personalized learning changes? Ask the BLU's team of expert practitioners on the Q&A Forum.

Julia is the director of education research at the Clayton Christensen Institute. Her work aims to educate policymakers and community leaders on the power of disruptive innovation in the K-12 and higher education spheres. Be sure to check out her new book, "Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students' Networks" https://amzn.to/2RIqwOk.

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3 ways to harness digital for personalized learning success - Christensen Institute

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If you're leading your school through the transition to a digital learning environment, you know that creating the right vision for teaching and learning can be a juggling act.

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Creative, research-based instructional strategies for integrating digital media in meaningful, effective, and practical ways.

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You can easily create and share activities for your students to complete in Seesaw on any device: Chromebooks, Android, iOS, and the web. Get inspired with grade-level specific activities from our ...