About a week ago, I gave my students a handout to practice multiplying polynomials. It was just a quick check in to practice some of the skills we were learning in class. We were just starting this unit and some students already had some prior knowledge so I decided to give three different levels of challenge to choose from. It was a Friday afternoon last class so I didn't have high expectations for the level of engagement. To my surprise, nearly every student was working diligently on their chosen level of problem. Many students chose the most difficult level. About half chose the "Spicy" questions while the other half chose the "Mild" questions. A couple of students chose the "Medium" level or selected a few questions from several different levels. Letting the students choose their level gave them some agency in their learning. A few students who picked the "Spicy" questions worked hard to master the challenge. They asked lots of questions but felt really good about their accomplishment when they succeeded. I collected these sheets looked through them. I didn't mark them but instead used them to identify and share common misconceptions about factoring. I used examples from the students work (rewriting them in the style of "My Favorite No" from Leah Alcala) as the starting point for the next day's lesson. We discussed what we saw that was wrong but also identified some parts that were on the right track as well. I've been trying out different ways to offer more choice to students. It is important to offer a challenge for students that are ready for it but not to overwhelm students that are still learning. Students in my class come from a number of different feeder schools and have a wide variety of past experience. I created a factoring "scavenger hunt" activity last week for students with two levels of challenge side by side. Students could select the "mild" side if they wanted basic practive or the "spicy" side if they were ready for additional challenge. About 20% of students chose to do the more challenging side. Everyone in the class was very engaged and was able to complete the hunt with instant feedback (if they couldn't find their answer on another sheet, they knew they had made a mistake and worked to correct it). You might also notice letters on each question. I also added a ciphertext message for students to decode when they completed the loop. I've also been including choice in warmup questions and chapter review questions.
Let me know if you have a favourite way to offer students choice in their work and practice. Comments are closed.
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