Choice Board

Project Parameters

Create a student choice board centered around an essential question or unit/lesson objective that differentiates complexity of tasks (consumption/creation/mix) while also varying modes of learning. 

What are Choice Boards?

Choice boards (also called learning menus) are forms of differentiated learning that give students a choice in how they learn. Each choice on the board or menu encourages students to engage in an activity centering around important content. Learning menus come in various forms and can include tic-tac-toe boards, restaurant-like menus, matrices, and multiple-choice grids. Learning menus provide teachers multiple options by which to assess student learning. “Appetizers” and “Desserts” can be shared by a group, while “Entrees” could be completed independently. Additionally, “Sides” can serve as formative assessments that teachers and students sample. 

There is considerable flexibility when it comes to how teachers use choice boards with their students. They can require students to work individually, in pairs or small groups, or in a combination of solo and group tasks. They can include stipulations about which components students complete to ensure they get specific content or rigor based on the teacher's design of the board. The tasks within can require students to use physical materials (such as poster paper and markers), be totally digital (such as this Slides Mania menu or this interactive Google board), or be hybrid--a mix of paper (to be handed into a tray) and online (submitted to your Learning Management System, like Google Classroom). [Choice boards] can contain tasks that could be completed within a single class period or hold larger projects that would take numerous classes to complete. They can also be student-paced (when puplils finish one task, they move onto the next) or teacher-driven (the teacher provides breaks in the lesson for students to tackle one of the provided options before returning attention back to whole-group learning). Essentially, there is considerable opportunities to customize the boards to fit standards, lesson outcomes, and student interest and needs. 

Wada, I. (2023). Differentiated instruction: Accommodating individual differences. In  A. Lickteig &  C. R. Short (Eds.), Effective teaching in the secondary classroom. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/effective_teaching_in_the_secondary_classroom/differentiated_instruction

Choice Boards Examples

Weekly Assignment Choice Board URL: https://www.simplyieva.com/choice-boards-for-esl-students-three-creative-ways-to-use-them-in-the-classroom/ 

 Choice Board URL: https://www.vocesdigital.com/supportdocs/esl_choiceboard.pdf