By: Julie Fowler
What if, when you entered a restaurant, the server never brought you a menu, but instead, placed a meal before you. The meal was what they were serving that day-the only thing they were serving. How would you feel about that? Would you like the choices selected for you? Are you possibly allergic to something on your plate? Do you wish you had more of one thing than another?
When you enter into today’s innovative personalized learning classroom at Mt. Carmel Elementary, there are a plethora of options for students. Here, “voice & choice” is more than a vogue phrase. During recent interviews, students made is clear to me that, not only is it important to them personally, but is also a necessity for maximum student engagement. In describing the importance of voice and choice in the classroom, they emphasize that it transfers student ownership and challenges them to try new things, pushes them further with personal goals, integrates technology tools, and gives them personal pride in their demonstration of mastery of competencies. No two students gave the same exact reason that it is important to them, paralleling my thoughts during the interview, that no two kids are alike and if we are doing right by each one, this should be true.
Going from class to class, the choices are afforded in contemporary ways. One very evident choice is a visual one. In a 3rd grade class, learners have been given the choice of work space by having a deskless classroom and non-traditional furniture. There are options such as bungee chairs, collaboration tables, large areas of pillows, futon seating, bar stool tables, and open rug areas. Students work together to create real-world projects, independently to reach personal goals, in partners to critically think about research, and with digital tools to communicate their learning in engaging ways. Students in a 4th grade class are choosing tasks to demonstrate their learning about explorers, their challenges, and successes. They eagerly want to share their products and when asked to give feedback to their teacher during a debrief of the menu process, give her “I wonders” about the next unit and the products they would like to create. As we finish the debrief and reiterate their suggestions will be used to determine voice and choice in the next unit, it validates them and gives students buy-in for moving forward. Moving into the a multi-age school club time, students explain that they were able to choose their top three club selections from a list of 15. The school honored them by giving them one of their top choices for the semester. For some kids, this is a time to focus on physical activities, like step club, cheerleading, or jump rope team. Others work with special needs students making cards for our soldiers. Many kids choose specialized interests such as technology, cooking, art, or gardening. A fourth grade student emphasized that he enjoys choice because it allows him to work with his hands and physically be active, which is what he knows he needs to learn. The smiles on their faces during this time clearly tell me that they are learning about something they have a great interest in and that it is a special time that is cherished.
In thinking about your practice, what do you do to encourage student voice and choice? Do you allow them to choose their reading materials? Do you encourage them to write about something they are passionate about? What does the physical space in your classroom and the way it is used speak to students about freedom of choice and voice? How do you ask students to give you feedback so that you can empower them to share their voices? Is voice and choice innovative in your classroom?
