Student Choices

We all make choices all day long, from what color socks to put on to what to eat for dinner. Why then, are students so often denied a choice, and therefore a voice, in what, where, why and how they learn? The inclusion of choice into the classroom setting turns a traditional classroom model of students-in-desks-taking-notes upside down! It requires great preparation and resolve on the part of the teacher; whether it will be knowing her student's individually to respond to their needs as they grow and progress throughout the year or building relationships with administrators and parents about project based learning strategies in their classes, teachers who choose to include choice by providing differentiated instruction methods in their pedagogy face sometimes steep challenges but reap amazing results.
By giving students choices in their learning, they are free to find what it is that is their "thing". Students who are interested in what they are doing want to do it, and they want to show everyone else what they've done. This type of classroom that is choice-rich, providing students with choices from everything to where to sit, how to communicate, a choice of topics studied (within the course), and a choice of products to create give students powerful creativity and critical thinking skills. In fact, Bloom's Taxonomy lists "create, evaluate, analyze, apple and understand" at the top of importance, while "remember" (what students in traditional classrooms are asked to do most often) at the bottom. Freeing students to find and pursue their strengths and interests by offering differentiated instruction, project based learning and student centered learning methods, teachers put students in the driver's seat to their own success.