Standards-Focused Choice Board
Written by Lindsey Benjamin | lindsey.benjamin@uamaker.nyc
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Problem of Practice
In the past, I have designed performance tasks that focus on the same 2-3 skills. However, by the midpoint in the year, we have already introduced all of the class skills, and students are struggling or excelling in different standards. Therefore, I wanted to consider how to create more PT options that would allow students to practice the skills they are struggling most in so that instruction is more catered to student’s individual needs.
Hypothesis
If students have the opportunity to choose their Performance Task based on the standards that they are struggling most in, they will improve their competency in those areas AND their engagement in the task will improve.
Target group
The target group was all three ICT ELA 9 classes. I chose my 9th grade because there was far more of a range in the skills that students were struggling with. In AP Lang, there were more commonalities across the same 1-2 Standards.
Planning & resources
Pri was super helpful in suggesting us to start with a JumpRope Audit in which students had to identify the skills they are struggling with first before selecting their project.
Teenagers as Critics: This article was really helpful in convincing me to incorporate book reviews as one of the options for students. It also provided advice that helped me in scaffolding the process of writing the review for students who chose that option.
The Vanishing Half Choice Board: This is the resource that we created that clearly spells out the different project options for students to choose from as well as the specific rubrics that connect to each project. The four options were
Prequel/Sequel of The Vanishing Half
Photojournalism
Book Review Podcast
Student Work
Student Work
Copy of Simon Croll - Blake SequelSimon's Sequel
Copy of Nasaira Billings - TVH SubmissionNasaira's Book Review
Copy of Asher, Jai, Esmeralda, Zach Podcast.movAsher, Jai, Esmerelda, and Zach's Podcast
Reflection
I measured success in two ways: first by analyzing the number of students who selected a project that focused on their areas of need and second, by analyzing the degree to which students improved in the specific standards.
Honing in on the first metric, only 33% of students selected a project that connected to the standards they are most struggling in. Therefore, this suggests that the JumpRope Audit did not effectively guide students to the project that would make the most sense for them.
Looking at the second metric, 97% of students who selected one of the projects that addressed their areas of need improved in their lowest Standard by at least 1 point from the last time they were assessed on that Standard.
Teacher reflection:
I was really blown away by the quality and creativity of the projects. It is evident that by providing choice, students felt more invested in and excited by the work.
Looking at the data, it is evident that the JumpRope audit portion did not effectively lead students to choose projects that would allow them to practice the skills they were struggling in. I think a big reason for this is because we took a rather informal approach to the audit. We simply had students look at their JumpRope and jot down the averages for each Standard in their notebook. Then, we had them read the project descriptions and select. We did not guide enough intentional reflection on their performance in the Standard. Moving forward, we are going to embed a more specific, built out Jump Rope audit to the Performance Task Packet itself.
I also think it might be helpful to provide a couple more options to ensure that students have something that they are both interested in AND hits the Standards that they need to focus on.
Student reflection:
Here are a couple student quotes from our end of the year reflection:
“ My favorite project was definitely the podcast that I made with Jayden during The Vanishing Half Unit because we got to learn about a topic, colorism, that I didn’t know much about, and it was really fun to take on our podcast personalities!” - Jaden C
“One assignment that really stood out to me was the photojournalism assignment because I was able to be really creative and tap into my interest in photography.” - Ian B.
Actionable steps
If you want to use this strategy in your classroom, I recommend …
Start by analyzing the JumpRope data and identifying the Standards to reassess.
If at least 8 kids had less than a 2 average on the standard we included it.
Note: It is very possible this is all (or most) of your standards since students each have different areas of growth.
Once you have identified the skills, create hands-on, exciting projects that each pair to at least two to three of the Standards. All of the identified skills in Step 1 should be covered in the projects.
We gave four project options, two that covered Author’s Choice & Narrative and two that covered Thesis, Evidence, and Reasoning. Therefore, there was still choice even within the Standards that they need to work on
All projects assessed English Mechanics, since that was an area of growth across the board.
Have students engage in a JumpRope audit to determine the skills they need to work on.
Based on their audit, students will select the project that they are interested in AND focuses on the standards they most need to improve on.
Reach out to Lindsey Benjamin if you have any questions, or want support adapting this practice to your classroom!
Email: lindsey.benjamin@uamaker.nyc
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