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Six strategies for understanding texts

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Quick guide to AVID Strategies

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What Giving Students Choice looks like in the Classroom

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What Giving Students Choice looks like in the Classroom

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KQED News Mindshift

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1. People to Work With. Give students the chance to choose whether to work independently or with another student(s). As a teacher, you can still maintain some control by giving students input. Poll them to see the four students they would most want to work with and then give them the guarantee that at least one of those students will be working with them. Let's face it, life would be great if nobody got left out of the picking process or if every student felt welcomed in every group, but teachers might want to maintain some input here as well, if only to help students who socially need the push. Nevertheless, give students the ability to have some say in their coworkers. Don't you wish you could have some say in yours?

2. Resources to Use. Guide students in how to research, but don't point them to every possible resource. Help foster independent learning by giving them the choice in what they are learning from.

3. Driving Questions. In inquiry-based learning, students tend to develop their own questions that require research in order to form a solution. Being able to develop these questions, the questions that drive the learning, is not a small task, and can be used as their own informal assessment as well. By allowing students to set the train on the track, you will have them buying into the learning throughout the journey.

4. Ways to Show Their Knowledge. As Marzano said above, there are many ways in which a student can show what they know about the content area. From essays to dramatic interpretations, from digital slideshows to sculptures, from websites to podcasts, students can prove their knowledge and give evidence of their learning in an infinite number of ways.

5. Which Rubric to Be Scored On. Some teachers have taken to developing different rubrics that reflect different levels of understanding. In other words, if students feel they are ready, they can attach the advanced rubric to their essay or if they feel they aren't quite ready for that challenge, they can be assessed using a more standard or grade-level rubric. Rubrics can also be used to assess different elements of an assignment. Just imagine a student setting their own goals and then selecting the rubric to match that goal.

6. What They Need to Work on to Improve/Learning Goals. And speaking of setting goals, allow students to set their own goals and objectives. When I have my students begin the revision stage of essay writing, for instance, I always have them first state what they choose to have me look for in order to give more targeted feedback. In so doing, they not only show me that they are reflective and aware of the skill they need to work on, but they also pay closer attention to the feedback overall.

For instance, one student used the commenting tool in Google Drive to indicate what she wanted me to look for as I was reading her initial essay. She asked me the following:

Katie: How should I change my title to make it seem like a strong representation of the theme?

Student choice, therefore, helps me to help them.

7. Ways to View and Record Assignments for Time Management. Tweens and teens continue to need advice in how to manage their time, but they don't all connect with the same methods. Therefore, I give my students three different choices as ways to record their assignments or track their assignments. This is yet another way that choice feeds into our mission to differentiate.

Weekly: I post our classroom and homework online each week. On Mondays, students see what the upcoming week holds. This allows students to plan their workload and know when things are due in manageable pieces.

Daily: I break down each day on the board and let students know what we are doing throughout the period. Some students really can only take in bite-sized information at a time.

Quarter/Semester: I give students a rough timeline of what the quarter or semester looks like including key dates when larger assignments are due. Some students find this overwhelming, while others really like the overarching knowledge of what's to come.

8. Scaffolds. By the time students get to middle school, it's really vital that they have a choice in how they take notes or in what scaffolds to use. I'm not a fan of dictating what Thinking Map to use or if a student needs to use one at all. However, if they learned one earlier that they continue to rely on, why not allow them to use it? There might also be a different kind of graphic organizer that does help them. Perhaps a student likes using Cornell Notes, while others might prefer index cards or a digital program like Evernote. We can dictate that a brainstorming element needs to be included in the learning process, but we shouldn't be dictating for students the scaffold that works best for them.

9. Text Structures. Give students choice in the structure of their essays. We know that the traditional five-paragraph essay doesn't exist in the world outside of school, and in fact, in many of the formal tests administered to students, that standardized structure never even appears, so teach students to take risks with their written structure. Teach students how to organize their thoughts using subheadings, bullets, and numbering. Teach them how to use transitions that not only work between paragraphs, but also work between sections of text. Teach them about captions and integrating quotes. Allow students to embed images and videos into their essays as well as data or textual evidence. Give them choice in the structure of their essay, and you might just find that they can communicate their knowledge more clearly than trying to fit what's in the brain into a structure that doesn't connect with them.

10. Choice of opinion/prompts, etc. Give students options of prompts to respond to and/or create open-ended questions that can only be answered by each individual student. By giving them leeway to decide on their own opinions or choose from a list of content-related prompts, you will find that their excitement for responding increases. And if their engagement increases, you will get the highest level of response they can muster.

11. Seating. Choice of seating was actually mentioned a number of times in our student engagement survey. In my classroom, for instance, I have beanbag chairs, standing desks with bar stools, video game chairs, small group tables, and plenty of carpet. Different kids like to work in different positions. Some like to work under tables or facing walls. I call them "cave dwellers." Others like to stand at the taller tables, dismissing chairs altogether. Others like to sit, back-to-back, on the floor. I also find that they tend to make wise choices. More hyper kids, for instance, will work quantitatively more while rocking in a video game chair than seated static at a desk. The only drawback is that it took me longer to memorize the names because they also liked to try different views of the classroom and different seating options, particularly at the beginning of the year. But (shrug) that was my problem. When we're talking about engagement, it's a no-brainer.

12. Deadlines. You know how you get slammed when all those essays or projects come in all at once? Why not avoid that dilemma and allow students to select the deadlines themselves? Once I have introduced a long-term assignment, I generally open up a window of dates for students to choose from. I send out a Google Form that allows students to select from a drop-down menu of choices. Their selection then seeds a spreadsheet automatically that I can sort by date. The date they select is their firm deadline. So I'm still honoring the assessment of responsibility, but I am also honoring the process of bringing students into the decision-making process.

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What Giving Students Choice Looks Like in the Classroom | KQED

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It can be hard to imagine incorporating student choice into an already hectic classroom. Here are 12 ideas that don't have to mean big dramatic changes.

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6 Questions to Tackle when Engaging Students in Learning

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6 Questions to Tackle when Engaging Students in Learning

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Jon Konen
School Principal

Argumentatively the most important aspect of teaching today: keeping students in engaged. Others would argue that classroom management is the ticket, while myself and others would state, "If you have effective engagement strategies, you do not have classroom management or discipline problems." It is true, effective instruction can cure a rowdy behavior-ridden bunch of students. Through relationship building and a toolbox chuck full of engagement strategies, a teacher can successfully turn a classroom around.

Did you ever wonder about that difficult class going through your school? How were some teachers able to tackle the problems, get student buy-in, and make progress while other teachers drowned all year long? It comes back to engagement. The effective teachers choose strong activities, tasks, and assignments that sparks students' interests, and not necessarily straight from the textbook. They group their students for specific needs. They also change up what instruction looks like through different learning structures, as well as pacing.

The ability to challenge student's thinking, while creating an atmosphere of agency, as well as keeping students connected is an art form. Thinking of Robert Marzano's work about the art and science of teaching, we must understand that science and data play a role in developing a student. It can guide a teacher and it is the backbone to the art of engagement. The following six questions will support your transition from proficient to exemplary teacher when engaging students in learning.

1 - How Can I Incorporate More Engagement in the Activities, Tasks, and Assignments for the Students?

The first question you must ask yourself when increasing engagement is who is working harder in the classroom, the teacher or the student? Too many times the teacher is working hard engaging students by making sure they have eye contact, nodding, and raising their hand to answer a question. The philosophy of "whoever is talking the most, is learning the most" is not evident in this classroom. Exemplary teachers build a toolbox that can be used in all instructional areas and they believe that engagement is not only "eye contact and nodding." It is also the mind, hands, and body. Students in these classrooms are working harder than the teachers.

Not every lesson has to contain bells, whistles, lights, and signing, but it does need to include components that can naturally engage students in the activity, task, or assignment. Exemplary teachers know when to add in more conversation, hands on materials, visuals, technology, and more. They continuously keep up on best practices, what students are interested in, and they are not afraid to take risks.

Exemplary teachers read their students body language. When the students are overly chatty, they change their lesson structure by adding in more learning structures to get them talking. Using the student's energy and talkative nature can lead to deeper discussions and engagement that is more appropriate. They also realize that when the students do not understand a concept, they may have to adjust the lesson. For example, for students that are not grasping the abstract idea of an algebra equation, they may have to pull out a visual or manipulative. The use of a scale to model the equation, using a program such as Hands On Equations, can make the concept more concrete for students. This is also true for extending a concept to a more complex level. When using an algebra equation to solve a volume problem, a teacher can use a real world scenario involving a ratio of the correct amount of cocoa for the perfect cup of hot chocolate.

Exemplary teachers are more successful when they can introduce a concept at the concrete level, then advance to the pictorial or representational level, and lastly to the abstract level (CPA). Understanding the learners in your classroom helps determine where and how fast you start on this continuum. First coined by Jerome Bruner, CPA, is prevalent in many math programs. It can be used across the curriculum for the introduction of many topics.

The use of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence (MI) research can increase engagement in the classroom. MI focuses on the strengths of a student. Understanding the strengths or intelligences in your classroom can support you taking them academically further. Teaching new or difficult concepts through a student's strengths has been proven to increase achievement according to his research. Here are the seven multiple intelligences, as well as how a teacher can use them (according to Gardner):

1. Visual-Spatial- think in terms of physical space, as do architects and sailors. Very aware of their environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught through drawings, verbal and physical imagery. Tools include models, graphics, charts, photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video, videoconferencing, television, multimedia, texts with pictures/charts/graphs.

2. Bodily-kinesthetic- use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things, touching. They communicate well through body language and be taught through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include equipment and real objects.

3. Musical- show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio, stereo, CD-ROM, multimedia.

4. Interpersonal- understanding, interacting with others. These students learn through interaction. They have many friends, empathy for others, street smarts. They can be taught through group activities, seminars, dialogues. Tools include the telephone, audio conferencing, time and attention from the instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer conferencing, E-mail.

5. Intrapersonal- understanding one's own interests, goals. These learners tend to shy away from others. They're in tune with their inner feelings; they have wisdom, intuition and motivation, as well as a strong will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught through independent study and introspection. Tools include books, creative materials, diaries, privacy and time. They are the most independent of the learners.

6. Linguistic- using words effectively. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games, multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.

7. Logical -Mathematical- reasoning, calculating. Think conceptually, abstractly and are able to see and explore patterns and relationships. They like to experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions. They can be taught through logic games, investigations, mysteries. They need to learn and form concepts before they can deal with details.

The use of Bloom's Taxonomy is another strategy teachers can use to increase the engagement level of their instruction. Bloom believed that the way we question or formulate tasks for students can be at varying levels of complexity. Teachers can use this taxonomy to address, connect, and engage students in topics at varying levels. Here is a diagram of Bloom's Taxonomy created by Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching:

While teachers must think meta-cognitively about the level of complexity of the question or task, the strengths of the students, and the concrete-to-abstract nature of the concept, they can use best practice instructional strategies and materials to engage students. Here is a short list of common teacher engagement ideas that have an infinite number of variations:

Discussion

Writing

Movement

Visuals

Technology

Magic

Discrepant Event

Quote

Poem

Passion Projects

Genius Hour

Total Participation Techniques

Active Participation

2 - How Can Learning Structures and Active Participation Support a Higher Level of Engagement?

In many traditional classrooms, a teacher would lecture for a while, and then ask a handful of questions to students. The students that raised their hands were predictable, and most likely, always had the correct answer. This made the teacher feel like they were really doing their job, as they knew at least a couple of students understood the lecture content and could answer the questions. How do we know that the other students were learning as well? That's were learning structures and active participation techniques play a key role in getting all students involved and engaged with the content.

Learning structures are a way to organize students, learning, and materials to support full or total engagement and collaboration with each other and the teacher. One of the oldest and most popular learning structures is T-P-S. This stands for "think, pair, and share." A teacher will pose a question to the students. Students then think meta-cognitively on their own first. Then the teacher pairs them up and they take turns sharing their answers with each other. In this fashion, all students are engaged covertly with their minds, than they share out with a partner overtly. There is an infinite amount of learning structures a teacher can use to increase engagement. Here are 10:

1. Timed Pair Share

2. Socratic Circles

3. Inside-Outside Circle

4. Rally Robin

5. Rally Coach

6. Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up

7. Lingo Line Up

8. Power Brainstorming

9. Four Corners

10. Jig Saw

In addition to learning structures, a teacher can add active participation techniques, or Total Participation Techniques, into their engagement toolbox. These techniques are different from learning structures in a couple ways. One, these techniques are used to keep students engaged for a longer period during a lesson. Two, they may or may not be a part of an overall learning structure, and they may stand alone if used effectively. It can be as simple as a "thumbs up," or as advanced as a Kahoot online quiz. Here is a short list of 10 active participation techniques:

1. Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - agreement, disagreement, or for voting purposes

2. White Boards - used to show written response

3. Kahoot Quiz - used to quiz students or used as a poll for all to view classroom results; can be used in game format

4. Pinch Cards - used for students to hold up the given response according to what is on the pinch card (ie. A, B, C, D, 1, 2, 3, or True, False, etc...)

5. Notetaking - students write down notes in some manner

6. Ranking or Ordering - students putting items in a rank order or some other fashion

7. Stand Up/Sit Down - getting students moving according to given questions

8. Padlet - Using a web 2.0 tool for all students to respond

9. Quick Draw - using a white board or paper, students draw the answer

10. Likert Scale Scoring - students use a numbered system to score questions, tasks, opinions, etc...

3 - How Can Teachers Transfer the Power of Engagement to the Students?

Agency is the ability for students to take charge of their learning. The transfer of power from teacher driven to student driven instruction is a key indicator of an exemplary teacher. Teachers may drive the engagement, but they end up doing most of the work in the classroom. In exemplary classrooms, students own the learning, support each other, and help drive the engagement level of their peers. Students do most of the work in these classrooms.

The focus on leadership, and the fact that everyone in the classroom can be a leader, starts with developing a positive classroom culture. When students lead, engagement is a spontaneous positive reaction. Students lead by listening, encouraging, and having discussions with their peers. Teachers can set up learning structures and active participation strategies that let students lead. Students feel empowered with they are given responsibility and choices.

The transfer of power is evident when students are completely respectful with one and another. They build on their peers comments, thoughts, and arguments. They transform a discussion, task, or assignment into something deeper than originally planned. In these learning moments, teachers step back and they are merely an observer. They may continue using coaching techniques where they model language and actions, but when students show independence, they gradually release their responsibility and give it back to students.

4 - How Does Pacing Play a Role in Student Engagement?

How a teacher adjusts the curriculum, instruction, and assessment play a vital role in the pacing of student learning. An effective teacher uses both science (data), and art (decisions based on individual students) to determine how fast, what materials to use, and what structure is best suited for the learning. These constructs are only built through classroom teaching experience, mentoring and collaboration, and research.

An exemplary teacher builds a bag of tricks or tools to use throughout their teaching career. They are able to diagnosis problems immediately, as well as solve many of them before they occur. A new teacher to the profession has a more difficult time deciding what works best. They are unable to draw from prior experiences of what worked best in the past for a student with the one seated in front of them. This aspect for an administrator can be difficult and time consuming to teach a new teacher. The best administrators can teach, coach, and connect new teachers with strategies that will support their development. Building philosophy with a growth mindset is essential for the new teacher to determine what is my next move with instruction? In the same manner, schools have veteran teachers that struggle with pacing for various reasons. Sometimes, they have never had professional development in this area or ever had a peer or administrator work with them on pacing. Exemplary teachers not only make distinct decisions on planning and pacing ahead of time, they are flexible enough to make instructional decisions in the middle of a lesson. There are many questions a teacher should be able to answer in order to determine the correct pacing:

What are the majority of the students giving me today for engagement? (ie. Sleepy, day before a long weekend, happy and ready rock and roll, full moon, etc...)

Do I need to adjust the speed of the content...slow it down or speed it up? Why?

What background information do the students have on this topic?

What learning structure best fits this material, this particular day of student engagement, and what I want students to be able to do with the information?

What data from past assessments supports me in determining what and how fast I teach the content?

What is the best use of my time as a teacher today? (ie. Pulling students 1:1 for added support, pulling students in small group for more direct instruction, working whole group on clarifying misconceptions, etc...).

What does my school district require for my pacing schedule?

5 - What Does Student Engagement and Teacher Engagement Look Like in the Classroom?

In the education setting, there is a multitude of definitions for the word "engagement." Even teachers that have worked together for years may argue over what true engagement looks and sounds like. Creating a common definition among the district, school, and even grade level teams can be powerful when making changes to increase engagement levels. Simply being "on task," or "busy" is not enough to guarantee your students are learning to their potential.

Charlotte Danielson discusses student engagement, as quoted in a post by blogger Diane Senechal, as the following,

"All students are actively engaged in the activities and assignments in their exploration of content. Students initiate or adapt activities and projects to enhance their understanding.

Instructional groups are productive and fully appropriate to the students or to the instructional purposes of the lesson. Students take the initiative to influence the formation or adjustment of instructional groups.

Instructional materials and resources are suitable to the instructional purposes and engage students mentally. Students initiate the choice, adaptation, or creation of materials to enhance their learning.

The lesson's structure is highly coherent, allowing for reflection and closure. Pacing of the lesson is appropriate for all students."

In order to implement Danielson's engagement definition, the teacher must also be engaged. A blog post by Maryellen Weimer, PhD from The Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning at the University of California: Merced, tilted, What Does Student Engagement Look Like?, states that most research on engagement all comes back to these three premises:

Behaviorally engagedstudents do what students are supposed to do in class. They adhere to the rules and norms, and they display behaviors associated with persistence, concentration, and attention. They may ask questions and contribute during discussions.

Emotional engagement reveals students' attitudes toward learning. Those attitudes can range from simply liking what they're doing to deeply valuing the knowledge and skills they are acquiring.

Cognitive engagement involves effort and strategy use. It's wanting to understand something and being willing to go beyond what's required in order to accomplish learning goals. Those who are cognitively engaged use strategies associated with deep learning.

Teachers must also be behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively engaged with their students, parents, colleagues, and administration in the same manner. If all three of these premises are present, the teacher is deemed as fully vested and highly engaged. There are very few articles about what teacher engagement looks and sounds like, but one can extrapolate that if students are fully vested in engagement, so is the teacher.

6 - What Are the Most Common Components of a Highly Engaged Lesson?

When reviewing the most common lesson formats, be it Madeline Hunter or the 5E Learning Model, engagement should be noticeable all throughout a strong lesson. Students should be engaged with materials, each other, and the teacher. Many teachers use a plethora of manipulatives to make lessons "hands-on." There are lessons where a teacher may not have manipulatives, but as long as the materials and learning structures create a "minds-on" mentality, engagement is evident.

What has been called the "hook" or the "introduction," is the very first portion of a lesson that gets students interested into the learning that is forthcoming. Developing teachers start the lesson without thinking of the importance of the first couple of minutes. Proficient teachers start by stating the lesson objective and rationale; they answer the question why the students are going to learn the concept. Exemplary teachers spend time finding an exciting hook that gets students interest peaked and can continue this engagement level throughout the lesson. Here is a short list of ways a teacher may start a lesson (many ideas can be used across the subject areas if done effectively):

Many teachers and subsequent textbook companies design instructional lessons with a gradual release of responsibility, "I do, we do, and you do," is the most prevalent format. Teachers start by modeling and using direct instruction of the new concept with students. Students are watching the teacher first. Next, the teacher and the students complete a task together. Both students and the teacher are working. The teacher continues to check which students may need further support. Lastly, the teacher assigns students to complete a task on their own. Students work individually while the teacher travels around to support students or groups of students. Engagement in this phase of the lesson includes every aspect as mentioned above.

The last part of the lesson should be delineated to closure and self-reflection. How a teacher ends a lesson should summarize the learning for students, as well as support further and upcoming learning. Exemplary teachers collect some type of data to determine whether students met the learning objective. They also use this data to determine the effectiveness of the instruction. Engagement in this component can be both covert and overt. Students can self-assess their progress towards attaining proficiency of the learning objective. They also empower students by transferring the learning responsibility back to them. Teachers can collect this data to determine the next steps for learning. Quick assessments, whether they are formative or summative, support the data decision-making process for the teachers. Here are some quick assessments that teachers can use at the end of lessons for closure and self-reflection:

5 Minute Topic Driven Quick Write

3-2-1: 3 Facts, 2 Opinions, and 1 Question

Checklist of Mastery - check off what students have mastered through teacher observation

5 Question Quiz

Muddiest Point - students write down the concept that is the most unclear to them

Kahoot Quiz

Google Survey

Brain Dump - students write for a given amount of time on everything they have learned

Exit Card - students write on a notecard answering a question pertaining to the learning

Concept Map - students fill in concepts on a graphic organizer

Fact Storming - write down a given number facts from learning

KWL - students finish a graphic organizer that contains the following columns: know, what I want to learn, and what I learned

Draw Your Answer - students draw the answer instead of writing it

MORE ROCK MY EVALUATION RELATED READINGS:

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Engaging Students in Learning | Teacher.org

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Jon Konen School Principal Argumentatively the most important aspect of teaching today: keeping students in engaged. Others would argue that classroom management is the ticket, while myself and others would state, "If you have effective engagement strategies, you do not have classroom management or discipline problems." It is true, effective instruction can cure a rowdy behavior-ridden bunch of students.

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Choose from these words to begin refreshing a lesson plan...

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The 5 Steps of Focused Note-taking Video

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The 5 Steps of Focused Note-taking Video

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Use these strategies to help your students connect to content more deeply. How can student choice be implemented?

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The Five Steps of Focused Note Taking - Nataly D. & Litzia G.

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How does the use of a problem based approach motivate & engage our students to take learning to a higher level?

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John Spencer

Posted on August 24, 2016

My hardest year of teaching involved a sixth grade self-contained class about four years ago. Somehow, I got off on the wrong foot. I had just been an instructional coach and I felt, on some level, that I could handle any classroom situation.

I was wrong.

I had never had a group interrupt me, yell at each other, and throw things on the first day of school. They weren't naturally bad, but they had been together for 3-6 years and had experienced two years with a string of subs and no permanent teacher. I responded poorly. I yelled at my class; which is embarrassing now and felt even more embarrassing back then. I remember apologizing to the group and they didn't really know to respond. I had moments when I simply checked out, paralyzed by my inability to lead this group. It was humbling.

In the process, I restricted student choice. We scrapped the Geek Out Projects and the Genius Hour after they talked over me during directions and used the independent time to talk to each other and cause trouble. I cut our first design thinking project short when I decided that they couldn't handle it. I switched to highly structured assignments. Things got worse. Still, I didn't want to provide choice with a class that couldn't handle it.

However, two weeks later, as we began blogging, I noticed something. They were fully engaged. They were on-task. They weren't perfect. A few of them were playing games on their devices instead of learning. But there was a difference. They were buying in. It was the first project where they had any kind of choice. They were choosing the themes, the topics, the ideas, and the multimedia elements.

The entire room felt different.

Slowly, I began adding more choice. We did a cardboard challenge and a design project. I added a few MacGyver-style projects to push divergent thinking. The class remained difficult for the entire first semester. I still had moments when I lost my cool. And yet . . . the more they felt empowered, the better they behaved.

Choice Isn't a Privilege

Looking back on this experience, I realize a critical mistake I had made. I had treated student choice as a privilege that I could add or take away depending upon the behavior of a class. I assumed that it was better to start with more restrictions and slowly "give" freedom as we moved along. Students responded with resentment, anger, and defiance. I responded poorly to their response.

The truth is I was afraid of student choice. I knew it could work with a typical classroom. But what about a hard class? What about a group where I am regularly missing 4-5 students a week for suspensions around playground fighting, graffiti, and drug possession? I was scared that autonomy would lead to anarchy. I was also proud and even a little arrogant. I had a positive reputation in my district and suddenly I was struggling. I didn't want to be found out. I felt powerless and so I tried to micromanage.

And yet, when I began to incorporate student choice, things started to change. It began with little things, like the design projects and it grew into having students select their own strategies, choose their own interventions, and engage in self-assessment. It took time for them to adjust to this freedom but it took even longer for me to trust this idea that student choice was the solution and not the problem.

I no longer believe that choice is a privilege. I believe it is a fundamental right. It's something that all students need. But more importantly, it is something that works. It can feel risky to empower a student who misbehaves. However, it is worth the risk. I've learned that so many students, labeled for years as being the "bad kids" do amazing things when they feel empowered to own their learning.

Listen to the Podcast

Just click on the audio below to listen to this Creative Classroom podcast. You can also listen to it on the go by subscribing on iTunes (ideal for iPhone users) or Google Play and Stitcher (ideal for Android users):

http://www.spencerauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/blog-to-podcast-82316-6.15-AM.mp3

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What Happens to Behavior When You Incorporate Student Choice?

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John Spencer Posted on August 24, 2016 My hardest year of teaching involved a sixth grade self-contained class about four years ago. Somehow, I got off on the wrong foot. I had just been an instructional coach and I felt, on some level, that I could handle any classroom situation.

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Empowering students through choice, meaningful conversations, deeper relationships and independence.

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NCTE - National Council of Teachers of English

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9 Ways to Provide Choice in the Classroom

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9 Ways to Provide Choice in the Classroom

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The Science Penguin

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9 Ways to Provide Choice in Your Classroom

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As humans, we need some power and we need some freedom. Battles and boredom are often a result of students not feeling that they have power and freedom.

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Chapter 1: How choice can help differentiation and apathy.

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by Mike Anderson

Offering students choices about their learning is one of the most powerful ways teachers can boost student learning, and this chapter will dig into why this is the case. You'll learn about why choice can help increase intrinsic motivation and how that can affect student learning. You'll also learn about many other benefits of using choice as a part of daily teaching.

Choice Helps Overcome Two Common Challenges

Students learn more when they are motivated. I know this isn't exactly an earth-shaking statement. We all know from experience that when students have energy and passion for their work and are driven to excel, they can accomplish incredible feats. I also know that all students are motivated. However, like my son Ethan, students aren't always motivated to do the school work that's in front of them. Sometimes, the learning task is so easy that it is boring or so hard that it is overly daunting. Or it may be that the learning doesn't seem to have any personal relevance or doesn't connect with a student's strengths or interests. When choice is used well, it can help overcome both of these common classroom challenges.

Challenge #1: Differentiation

Four students are hunkered down together in beanbag chairs, exploring character analysis through books they have chosen. Although all in 5th grade, their books represent a wide range of reading levels: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Stuart Little, Jennifer Murdley's Toad, and Eragon. All students take notes as they read independently, preparing for a group discussion they will have at the end of the period.

A chemistry class is learning about the Ideal Gas Law. The teacher has taught a focused 10-minute lesson, and students are now solving problems in which they apply this law. They have a variety of problems from which to choose as they practice the skill-some are quite basic, some are more moderately challenging, and some are very difficult. Although students choose which problems to solve, they help each other as they work, supporting each other, and deepening their own understanding through collaboration.

In both of the above scenes, students of varying abilities and skill levels are working together. One of the great challenges of teaching is differentiating instruction for students-creating learning experiences that reach all of the learners in a heterogeneous group. (And let's be clear- all groups are heterogeneous. Ability grouping and tracking only create heterogeneous groups with a narrower range. There will be variations in skills and experience in any group.) We can feel overwhelmed by differentiation, thinking that we should create multiple learning experiences for any given group in order to meet everyone's needs. The idea of teaching four different lessons and structuring multiple activities for a given class is enough to make many teachers not attempt differentiation in the first place.

One of the main purposes of choice is to provide a few options for students and have them self-differentiate. In the reading example above, all students have chosen their books carefully. Each book had to be at an appropriate reading level so they could read it fluently. It also had to be fictional, so they could examine character development, which was the main goal of the learning experience. In the science example, the teacher provided a set of problems to solve that represent a wide range of difficulty and complexity. Students were challenged to find problems hard enough to provide some challenge, but not so difficult as to be overwhelming. Because they're all working on problems involving the Ideal Gas Law, they can support and coach each other, even as they work on different problems.

Understanding why this is so important requires us to examine a fundamental idea about human motivation.

Finding an appropriate challenge. It takes me a long time to pick out a new crossword puzzle book. Standing in Barnes & Noble, faced with several shelves of options, I am overwhelmed. I flip through book after book, scanning the puzzles and clues, searching for a certain difficulty level. If the puzzles have few clues and it looks like I'll know the answers with little effort, the book goes back on the shelf-it's too easy to be any fun. Clues that are so hard that I don't even know what they mean are just as much of a turn-off. They're too difficult. Like Goldilocks looking for the perfect bed, I want one that's juuust right.

I'm also both proud and embarrassed to reveal that as of the writing of this chapter, I am currently stuck on level 245 of Candy Crush. I'm far from alone. Though there may be many reasons that games like Candy Crush (or Bejeweled, Angry Birds, or even Pac-Man-if you can remember back that far) are so addictive, one feature is that they are leveled. They are easy to learn and provide quick success and then become more and more challenging as you progress through the game. This added level of challenge is, in part, what makes them so fun. If they were too easy, you'd get bored and quit. If they were too hard, you would get overly frustrated and quit.

This place of ideal challenge has been called by many the Goldilocks Zone. In the early 1900s a Russian psychologist had another term for this-one that might take you back to your undergraduate days in education or psychology classes.

The zone of proximal development. Lev Vygotsky theorized that there is a place for every learner in any given domain between their current level of independence and their potential for development within that domain. He termed this space the "zone of proximal development" and asserted that in this space, collaboration and coaching, either by a peer or teacher, will help bring the learner closer to their potential (Moll, 1990).

There are a couple of important ideas to understand about the zone of proximal development in order to truly appreciate its connection with student choice (see Figure 1.1). First, this is the sweet spot where significant cognitive growth can happen. Students learn most when appropriately challenged, so offering choices that help get students in this zone will help students learn more. There is another less discussed but just as powerful connection between the zone of proximal development and choice. In this zone, learning is most enjoyable. Whether it's a crossword puzzle, video game, math puzzle, or science exploration, the right amount of challenge-that place where the distance between where we are and where we're trying to get is challenging and surmountable-is motivating. In their book Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn, John Hattie and Gregory Yates explain that "we are motivated by knowledge gaps, but put off by knowledge chasms" (2014, p. 6). In his best-selling book about human motivation, Drive (2009), Dan Pink asserts that one of the key drivers of human motivation is a sense of mastery-it feels good to learn and grow. When a task is appropriately challenging, and students meet with success, a job well done and the completion of the challenge is positive reinforcement for the work itself. Because this zone is where learning is most pleasurable, when teachers empower students to choose elements of their work, they tend to settle into this zone on their own. They know their own abilities better than teachers ever can and want to be engaged in appropriately challenging work, so they will self-differentiate when conditions are right. These conditions-a safe environment, a true sense of ownership of work, and understanding themselves as learners-are the focus of Section II of this book.

Challenge #2: Apathy

Of course, students vary in ways other than their skills and abilities. In any given class, you will have students with a wide range of interests and passions. Some students are interested in nature, others history, others sports. Some students love working with others while some prefer to work on their own. Craft projects and artwork may be appealing to some, and computer and technology may be preferred by others.

When you can tap into students' interests and passions, they will be more joyful and invested in their learning, and you're on your way to overcoming a second common challenge in schools: apathy. For many of us, this can be the greatest frustration of our work. We spend hours crafting lessons and creating units only to watch students' eyes glaze over and their heads drop. "Do we have to do this?" they groan. "These kids just don't care!" it's tempting to cry in frustration. Perhaps instead we should answer with a question of our own: "Why should they?" What does the learning in front of them have to do with them? How does it pique their interest or tap into their strengths? A reluctant writer who loves science fiction may be excited to write a Star Wars sequel. A student who is unenthusiastic about learning about the American Revolution but is excited to work with computers may be excited to put together a Prezi showcasing key causes of the war. A student who doesn't always love math but loves to play games may enjoy playing a simple game with dice and cards to practice working with fractions.

Beyond simply connecting with interests, choice can help combat apathy in several other ways as well.

The power of positive emotions. As a middle school student, I was convinced that I didn't like to read. The bulk of my reading experience in school involved assigned books or giant anthologies filled with short stories with questions at the end. Reading was about completing assignments, which I did compliantly with as little effort as possible. Then my 10th grade English teacher assigned a new kind of reading task: Choose a novel to read and share with the class. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I'll always be a bit perplexed as to why I chose The Mick, Mickey Mantle's autobiography. I suppose that for a 15-year-old boy, it had everything I could wish for in a book-adventure, humor, bawdy behavior, and baseball. This is the first time I remember loving a school-related reading task, and 30 years later I still remember much about the book.

Some may argue that feeling good about schoolwork isn't a good enough reason to structure work in a particular way, but as it turns out, positive emotions aren't as soft and unimportant as they may first appear. Brain research sheds light on some of the important connections between emotions and learning. Neurologist and educator Judy Willis makes the compelling case that the human brain is more available for learning when learning is joyful. She also points out that boredom and excessive frustration put the brain in stress-response mode, which effectively shuts down learning (2006). As Eric Jensen notes in Teaching with the Brain in Mind, "Teachers who help their students feel good about learning ... are doing the very things the student brain craves" (2005, p. 77). In short, positive emotions pave the way for greater learning, and offering students choices about their learning is a powerful way you can help them feel good about their work.

Intrinsic motivation flows from ownership. Many years ago I heard a fantastic author and presenter speak about the importance of student ownership of work. He shared a story about a 7th grade student who had produced a poor piece of writing on a standardized writing prompt. He asked the student why he had put in so little effort, and the response his student offered has informed how I think about motivation and learning. It was something akin to "That was a writing prompt. You made me do that. That was your work, not mine." The presenter then looked directly at us and challenged, "Think about your students' typical school day. How much of the day do they spend doing your work, and how much do they spend doing their work? And if they spend all day doing your work, how do they feel?" As Dan Pink says, "Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement" (2009, p. 108).

Too often in schools, teachers own the work. We create and teach lessons, dole out assignments, and assess the results, leaving students feeling like worker bees, dutifully completing assigned tasks with little power or control. However, when we give choice, we both empower students and help them develop and take more responsibility for their own learning.

An important shift in responsibility. The increased emphasis on differentiated instruction and the momentum of project-based learning and personalized learning highlight an important shift happening in education: the move toward a more student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Interestingly, this movement comes on the heels of the push toward standards and academic accountability that caused everyone to tighten their collective grips on what students did and how they did it. It's important to recognize that these two seemingly very different movements don't need to be at odds with one another; teachers should be able to personalize learning within the context of academic standards. It does, however, require that teachers shift their instructional strategies, and choice may be one of the best vehicles for getting there, for it allows teachers and students to share in the responsibility of teaching and learning. Teachers can create viable options that students will find compelling and appropriately challenging, and then students take responsibility for choosing options that will best help them learn.

Many Additional Benefits of Choice

Through choice, you can help students self-differentiate their learning so work is more appropriately challenging. You can also combat student apathy, helping students connect with their strengths and interests and giving them more autonomy, power, and control over their work, which boosts their intrinsic motivation. These are perhaps the two most compelling reasons to use choice as a part of daily teaching and learning in schools, but there are many other additional benefits that are important to recognize as well, for they help highlight the true power and potential of choice.

Students engage in deeper, richer learning.

Students display more on-task behavior.

Students' social and emotional learning increases.

The learning environment becomes more collaborative.

Teaching is more fun.

Students Engage in Deeper, Richer Learning

Students who are given choices about their learning can engage in higher-level learning for multiple reasons. For one thing, when students are more joyfully engaged, their brains are able to process learning and store it in long-range memory more effectively (Willis, 2006). It is perhaps not surprising that I remember a lot more about The Mick than I do The Red Badge of Courage. Research has also indicated that choice enhances creativity and leads to many other positive student work habits such as self-initiated revision and editing and better organization (Denton, 2005, p. 208).

Also consider how much richer and more varied learning can be in a classroom when everyone isn't doing the same thing. If all students are reading the same book, for example, conversations about the topic will naturally be limited to that one text. In a classroom where students read three novels about a specific topic or theme, they'll have richer and more varied discussions because there are multiple texts to discuss. Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From, argues that great innovations are more likely to come from diverse environments. Cities are more likely than small towns to produce great innovations, simply because there are more people, engaged in different kinds of work, who can bump into each other and spark new thinking (2010b). Steve Jobs famously demanded common spaces that would lead to collaboration when the new Pixar studio was in the planning stages. He pushed for a large atrium, a communal space where people from various departments would mix and mingle, as well as centrally located bathrooms which would lead to spontaneous conversations at the sink (Schlender & Tetzeli, 2015, p. 315).

I've seen the power of diverse work time and time again in my own classrooms. I remember Phoebe using a quadrama-a three-dimensional project that shows four scenes at once that she learned at Girl Scout camp-to share about a book she read. Several other students, inspired by her project, asked her how she constructed it, and within the next few weeks, multiple other students used quadramas to share books and present content in research projects.

When all students are engaged in the same task in the same way, there is a limit to how far the work can go. The teacher and the task define the boundaries, and it's almost impossible to go beyond them. When you share more of the power and control with students, giving them more flexibility and choice about how they accomplish learning goals, suddenly everyone can inspire each other, spurring on new ideas and prompting more creativity.

Students Display More On-Task Behavior

A conversation I once had with a principal highlights another important benefit of choice. We were discussing the many behavior challenges that were prevalent in his school: talking back to teachers, staring out of the window, angry eruptions during work periods, wandering in the hallways, refusals to do work, and other such common problems. I asked him, "Does it seem that most of the kids who struggle with behavior are the same ones who struggle with academics?" He conceded that they were. "And do these kids get really interesting school work-projects, challenges, fun puzzles, and choices about their daily work, or do they spend most of their day doing quiet seatwork?" He acknowledged that the latter was usually the case. In fact, in his school it was more typical for advanced students to get these kinds of enriching academics. We both knew the answer to my next question as I asked it: "Could it be that many students are acting out because they are bored and frustrated?" (As noted education speaker and advisor Sir Ken Robinson [2013] quips in his widely viewed TED talk "How to Escape Education's Death Valley," "If you sit kids down, hour after hour, doing low-grade clerical work, don't be surprised if they start to fidget.")

Judy Willis, prominent neurologist and middle school teacher, has noted that excessive boredom and frustration lead to the stress-response in the brain (2006). Students in this state are very likely to move into the classic "fight" (arguing back or erupting in anger), "flight" (wandering in the halls), or "freeze" (zoning out) mode. Research has shown that students with conditions such as ADHD and emotional disturbances that often lead to behavior problems have significant decreases in problem behaviors when they are given choices about what or how they learn (Denton, 2005, p. 209).

Students come to school each day craving interesting and engaging work. When school work is purposeful, appropriately challenging, and personally interesting-all qualities that can be satisfied through appropriate choice-students' needs for engagement are met through the work, making them less likely to seek other sources of entertainment. This isn't to say that offering students choices about their learning will result in a perfectly behaved class. However, students will be less likely to escape to the bathroom, wander around the room, or text a buddy in another class if they are engaged in stimulating and purposeful work.

Students' Social and Emotional Learning Increases

There is a broad range of social and emotional competencies and skills that students need to learn in order to be successful in school and beyond. Students are better able to learn and practice many of these skills when engaged in learning activities in which they have some power and control and when they are joyful about their work. Though there are many such skills, several of which will be explored throughout this book, let's consider just a few for illustrative purposes.

Grit. For many, the first association that comes to mind when they hear the word grit has to do with compliance under duress (think of gritting your teeth). I prefer to think of it instead as a state of persevering through challenges within the context of truly engaging work. For students to display grit, there must be a connection between hard work and interest, otherwise we're merely talking about compliance under duress. "But isn't it a reality that we all have to accomplish tasks we don't enjoy?" you might ask. Absolutely. There are many teacher tasks I don't cherish: Making tough phone calls to parents, attending certain committee meetings, and wiping down tables during flu season are just a few. However, because these tasks fall within a job I love, I can attend to them with care and attention. Similarly, students have better energy for citing sources in a research project, editing writing, or even practicing math facts or vocabulary words if it's in the context of work about which they truly care. A sense of power can give them the motivation needed to push through challenges.

Social awareness. When students are working in ways that are personally relevant and allow for creativity and autonomy, students' various strengths, abilities, interests, and challenges come to the surface. Students can see that everyone is different and can begin to see schoolwork through a variety of lenses and perspectives, learning to work with diverse partners and practicing empathy for those who learn differently.

Effective decision making. You can't practice responsibility without having some control. Being responsible, being independent, and making reasoned decisions are skills that many of students need to develop-ones that frequently surface in "skills for the 21st century" or "skills for the workplace" lists. Today's jobs and careers require people to accomplish tasks off-site with flexible hours without relying on a manager or boss to direct every aspect of the work. When students practice how to make effective choices on a regular basis in school, they develop stronger decision-making skills. They grow in their ability to be self-reflective, thoughtful, and responsible people who can advocate for themselves and make appropriate decisions based on a wide variety of criteria.

The Learning Environment Becomes More Collaborative

When all students are doing the same thing at the same time, students are more likely to view each other as competitors. Who can finish first? Who can get the most answers right? Who can create the best map or graph? It's almost impossible for students not to compare their work with those who are nearby when the task is the same. (This is true for learners of any age, by the way. Consider how self-conscious you may be of your own reading speed when you are with a group of colleagues reading an article in a professional development setting.) And once, as a learner, you start judging your own work based on the work of those around you, you have just taken your eye off the ball. You're no longer focused on the learning task at hand, but instead are paying attention to everyone else. Additionally, if you are now competing with classmates, their loss is as good as your win. "Don't look at my paper!" or "Ms. Costa! Lisa's cheating!" suddenly ring through the room as students view each other as competitors not collaborators.

One of the wonderful benefits of choice is that as the work becomes more diverse, it's harder to compare the apples with the oranges. For example, a class is practicing multiplying fractions, but instead of everyone using the same workbook page, students are making up their own problems. As they work, they chat and share problems they're working on, even helping each other as they go. Because the problems are all different and there are several algorithms students may choose to solve the problems, some students are completing more problems than others, and problems all reflect a variety of challenge and complexity. Students are less likely to worry about competing with each other because they're all concentrating on their own work. This allows them to relax, focus on their work, and even be more supportive of each other. Will some students still compete with each other-vying to see who can create the most challenging problem? Probably. And this sort of competition is more likely to be healthy, because it is likely to be mutual and self-induced. As a general rule, the room will have a more positive, collaborative, and supportive tone as the work becomes more varied and diverse.

Teaching Is More Fun

This topic may be placed toward the end of this chapter, but it is far from the least powerful benefit. Teaching is one of the most stressful professions (Anderson, 2010, pp. 4-5), and in the past two decades it has seemed to get worse and worse. The pressures to teach to standardized tests and deal with unrealistic curricular demands make it easy to lose sight of why most of us entered the profession in the first place: We enjoy teaching. There's something truly remarkable, even magical, about being part of the learning process. When students have those light bulb moments or when they become so engrossed in an activity that they lose track of time, it is truly joyful to be a teacher.

Having some power and control over work isn't just important for students. Autonomy is a critical component in our sense of positive connection to the profession and energy for teaching as well (Pearson & Moomaw, 2005). Through finding even simple ways to offer students some choices about their learning, we fire up our own creative engines, reigniting our passion and love for teaching.

In addition to being more creative as we plan, we also enjoy the teaching itself more. After all, when students are more engaged, have more fun, and learn more, we have more fun as well. As I've worked with many different teachers to help them bring more choice to their students, I've heard a common refrain: "This is so much fun. My students aren't the only ones who are enjoying class more!"

Conclusion

Here's one final idea to keep in mind: Choice is most powerful when used with purpose. It can be easy to fall into the false line of thinking, "If choice is such a great strategy, then everything should involve choice." Like any other effective strategy, it isn't always the best one to use. It all depends on your goals. For example, perhaps you want to expose all students to a specific strategy or project so it can become a choice later in the year. In this case, there are no choices because there really is just one option. Or perhaps you are creating book groups based on very specific reading skills that students need. In this case, students might choose in a way that won't allow them to work on the skill you are targeting-you should create the groups and not offer choice.

After all, it's important to remember that choice is a means to an end not an end in and of itself!

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by Mike Anderson Offering students choices about their learning is one of the most powerful ways teachers can boost student learning, and this chapter will dig into why this is the case. You'll learn about why choice can help increase intrinsic motivation and how that can affect student learning.