March

As I mentioned in previous posts, providing students with more choices has been a personal goal for me this year. My focus—aligned with both class and district goals—has been to build a stronger connection between our spelling program and grammar instruction. Initially, I had students practice various spelling tasks before formally introducing the choice board. Once the foundational lessons were taught, I created a choice board that reflected those lessons. Again, our session in our Collegial Group, plus the support of the book Pedagogy of Play, influenced my instructional decisions.

After a few months, and inspired by lessons I observed in two members of our Collegial Group’s classrooms, I redesigned the menu to be more creative and to embed grammar in a less explicit, more natural way. Attached is the updated version. At first, students tended to select the easiest options, but over time, I began to see them choosing more creative and thoughtful assignments. Students now seem to enjoy having a choice, and this format has made it more meaningful for them to integrate spelling words into their writing rather than learning them in isolation.