Student Choice Equals Student Voice

Through the centuries, students have always crafted "Learning Extension Products," representations of their learning in order to demonstrate and record their knowledge. They have created products that share their levels of understanding in a variety of creative ways - allowing an expressive model of learning. For instance, they have made posters, built dioramas, filled student notebooks, or created dramatic presentations. Like fitting together the pieces of a learning puzzle, these have been some essential methods of how students demonstrate learning.

Why is it important that students have choice in learning? A truly differentiated learning classroom is one where students feel honored and seen, and one where they can be more independent to make learning choices that better reflect their passions, interests and creativity. One simple way to accomplish this is to provide students with a variety of ways that they can demonstrate learning or a menu of different possible learning products. Giving students a choice in their learning - whether they decide to make a video, a website, a document or a mind map - each project choice becomes a great way to differentiate their learning.

When students are told why their learning is important and why it matters, then they will have a greater investment in choosing how best to learn any new information. Recruiting students to become the creative co-directors of the their own learning product is the first step on the inspiring path of student engagement.

Differentiating learning products involves giving students' choice. Good teachers know that giving students an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned by applying it to a medium of their own choosing is a great way to increase freedom, independence and creativity in education.

Now, as we enter a digital age, technology learning products can also play a role in helping students demonstrate and record their learning. Our future promises growing limitations on natural resources, so computers can play a part in helping to keep schools' green.

Students can themselves create a system (a website or running slideshow for instance) that can easily gather their work in a centralized collection or digital portfolio. Each student can choose a variety of technology tools, for instance, which can be accessed through a menu of learning options, to create a product that can be added to such a digital collection. They can choose to create something that will enhance and extend the possibilities to record their learning. These can be shared with teachers, classmates and parents and saved essentially forever. They can follow a student and can be compiled to demonstrate multiple years of learning!

High-tech learning extension products could include options like making a slideshow of images, creating a digital book or a video, recording an audio a screencast, crafting a 3D or digitally drawn model or animation, writing a blog or a website, a creating a gif or a photo collection of drawings.

Let kids know WHY they are learning their current topic, then have them look at the menu of different options available and brainstorm projects to show the how and what of learning. Once students choose their topic or subtopic, they are the masters of how they demonstrate it to the rest of the class and to the teacher.