Add Student Choice in Curriculum

Hello and welcome to the third edition of my summer blog series all to get our middle school students excited about reading. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out

Today, you will learn all about the importance of implementing student choice in your daily instruction.

Adolescents are more likely to invest in their education and learning when given a choice. Tomlinson and Allan (2000) state that students should choose at least a few factors with every assignment, including content, process, product, or conditions for learning. This means giving the students the opportunity to co-construct knowledge: a collaborative process where students learn from one another to expand their knowledge. When students are given choice, they invest in deep thinking needed for intellectual growth. Learning becomes more authentic and personalized. This creates a learning community where students’ lives and voices are intertwined in curriculum decisions and learning styles. When embedding student interest in all facets of learning, students will see and feel their lives are worthy of learning and reflection. Thus, they are more likely to engage in their literacy development.

Giving students power over how they want to learn can feel scary and daunting. It can be hard to let go of the power, however, shifting your mindset will allow a beautiful transformation in your students' learning and yours too. Serving as a facilitator and noticing when you are needed as a presenter or instructor will help in fostering a learning environment where students see value in what they are reading, uplift their voices, help shape their identities.

Communication is key when embedding more choice within your classroom. Gehr (2020) suggests communicating with students about what they are choosing and why. When students take ownership in their learning, including their mistakes, they become more self-aware when given choice in their learning. “By giving the students choice, you give them the choice to become independent learners with the autonomy to fail but also the autonomy for authentic engagement” (para. 5).

Getting Started
Start small and learn from your mistakes. Doing a major overhaul of your instruction and/or curriculum will cause frustration and burnout. I have found that the more changes I make, the more confusion it leads to later for students. Here are some suggestions to get started

Finding different ways for students to respond to prompts

Example of Google Jamboard provided by Hannah Schrempp

Example of using sticky notes to promote movement provided by Ashley Spratt

Make a plan and stick to it. As you start to implement new strategies and approaches, students will need scaffolding. The more examples they have of what is expected during their learning time, they will likely succeed.
Choose one unit at a time. In my Freak the Mighty (1993) unit, students focused on the essential questions, “How do the relationships that you have with others shape the person that you are? What does it mean to be a friend?” As we read through the text, there are different opportunities for students to explore texts that share different types of friendships and relationships. This allows students to develop their own understanding of the essential question.

Student choice is more than choosing a topic. It is about empowering students through the entire learning process. By embracing students’ creativity, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, using different avenues to support and enhance student learning will foster a rich learning environment. Here are a few ways to incorporate student choice in everyday learning and reading.

Project-Based Learning is valuable when implementing choice for students—After students read chapter 19 in Freak the Mighty (1993) unit, having students participate in the trial of Killer Kane. Students are placed in groups: defense, plaintiffs, witnesses, and jury. Students never find out what happens to Killer Kane, Max’s dad, after the scene in chapter twenty-one, and this is the perfect opportunity for students to be creative and allow evidence from the text to support their findings.
Give students topic options. At the beginning of the year, survey your students' interests. This will give you the inside scoop on what motivates your students to read. As you construct your units for the year, refer back to this information if you face a mandated curriculum reflecting on how you can bring light to topics or issues your students find important or interesting.
There is power in essential questions (EQ). EQs are thought-provoking questions that help students effectively inquire and make sense of important and complex ideas and knowledge. This technique engages diverse thinking and learners. It invites students into ongoing debates and conversations and requires this to read more in a way that is interesting and compelling. Remember, our ultimate goal is to get adolescent readers to see the value in reading to learn. Examples of essential questions are:

Who is entitled to own what?
What makes writing worth reading?
To what extent is US history a history of progress?
What is the value of place value?

Use this guide to help you construct your own essential questions.

Allow students to choose what they read. In my recent blog post, The Classroom Library I talked about the importance of independent reading. When students have the ability to self-select texts and are provided time to read independently, this alone motivates, engages, and fosters habitual readers. Giving students options to select texts during instruction time in the form of book clubs is another way to embed student choice. Book clubs tie into the overall “big idea(s)” of the unit. Adolescents are social creatures. Gallegher and Kittle (2018) state book clubs strengthen classroom community, causal, and academic conversations between students. When students have the opportunity to choose which topic they want to dive deeper into, students will take ownership over their learning and be eager to share their thoughts and opinions with their peers. Keep in mind that book clubs will need:

High-interest books
Provide a wide range of text complexity
Provide scaffolding support
Observe groups frequently to monitor progress and comprehension
Have group members create goals and jobs

Some teachers work best when they have a resource that allows me to get my thoughts on a page. Reflecting and goal setting is a critical component of teaching. Here you will find two versions, trimester and quarter breakdown, of a professional goal setting sheet. After accessing the sheet, think about the following questions:

How can you bring student choice into your classroom?
What resonated with you and pushes you to make immediate changes? Remember, it’s important to start small and work your way up!
What scares you most about making changes?

This post is a part of a four-week summer series all focused on getting your middle school students to see the importance of reading. Head to the next in the series titled,

Connect with me!

mrssclassroomcraziness@gmail.com

@mrssclassroomcraziness

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Want to learn more? Check out these reads!
Tomlinson, C. A., & Allan, S. D. (2000). Leadership for Differentiating Schools and Classrooms. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

How to Give Students More Choice
5 Ways to Give Your Students More Voice and Choice
10 Ways to Incorporate Student Choice in Your Classroom
Using Project-Based Learning to Boost Online Engagement
Using Project-Based Learning to Boost Online Engagement

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Add Student Choice in Curriculum

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