Unit 4: Student Choice Activities
4.1 Danielson Domain Connection
- 1b: Demonstrating knowledge of students
- 1e: Demonstrating coherent instruction
- 3c: Engaging students in learning
- 4a: Reflecting on teaching
4.2 Objective
The learner will be able to design an assessment by using a student-choice activity. The learner will distinguish at the end of the lesson, if the assessment was as effective as their original activities that they have used in previous years.
4.3 Guiding Questions
- To what degree are students able to make choices and be self-directed in their learning?
- Are lessons reflective of student choice and/or interest?
- Are students engaged in their learning?
4.4 Topic Information
Far too often, we give one assessment for an entire class to complete. However, this "one size fits all" mentality will not always work for each class. Therefore, teachers can further develop their lessons by maintaining an arsenal of assessments that reflect various learning modalities. One great way to encourage student participation and engagement is by offering students the opportunity to choose which activity they would like to complete to demonstrate their knowledge of the particular content.
4.5 Activity
Choose one of the following instructional strategies that interest YOU! (Yes, we have choice too!) Continue to develop an activity that you can implement into your current unit.
Cubing Activity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oidfz8c_Jjc
Choice Board https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVNQWhDfjFs
Think Tic-Tac-Toe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWMo4WbVSPQ
4.6 Reflection
How did the instructional strategy differ from how you traditionally assessed students knowledge? Did you find students more engaged in instruction or was the level of participation comparable? What part of this strategy was most effective? How can you improve this strategy? What materials or resources do you need to incorporate next time? Can you use this activity again?
Extra Resources
Choice-Based Assessments for the Digital Age http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/ChoiceSchwartzArenaAUGUST232009.pdf
5 Ways to Make Your Classroom Student-Centered http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/12/24/ctq_powell_strengths.html
To go back and review wiki Jennifer Legzdin