November- Student Voice/Choice

I try to offer my students choices in my classroom whenever possible because I feel it increases student engagement and encourages learning.  As the article stated, adequate content coverage is always a concern that I have.   I recently gave students in my related arts class a voice/choice assignment based on student interest.  I was very excited about this assignment but was disappointed with the end product.  I found, after reviewing the articles and discussion with my learning community, that implementing a little more structure within the project and doing more frequent “pulse checks” may alleviate problems recently incurred.  As suggested in the article, I do allow students to go beyond the topics suggested if relevant.  I feel this is a great way to get students engaged.