All math teachers know that we’re not just teaching our students math skills. We are also teaching them to become independent thinkers that can problem solve on their own. In order for this to happen, students need to start taking ownership of their learning. Offering choice in math class is one of the simplest ways to not only increase student engagement, but also their overall buy-in to the importance of math class.
This blog post dives deep into the benefits of integrating choice, how to set your expectations, and the best activities that won’t add hours to your prep time.
Why you need to be offering choice in math class
Same end result
Regardless of the activity your students choose to complete, their end result should be the same. The goal of choices is to give your students the opportunity to show their understanding in a way that highlights their strengths.
Increased engagement
Students are more engaged because they are able to choose something that they are actually interested in. There are a variety of activities that not only change up your daily routine, but capture your students’ attention (for more than five minutes).
Students feel heard
When students feel like their voice is being heard and that their decisions matter, their overall buy-in to your lessons increases exponentially. This increased motivation to perform well directly influences their success in not only your mathclass, but beyond the classroom as well.
Before offering any choice in math class, do this…
Set expectations
Outline exactly what their expectations are for a project or assignment, so that the student knows the work they are doing is purposeful.
Explicit directions
Be sure to give clear directions, so that your students can work independently.
Ways to Add Choice in Math Class
Choice in Activity
There are two options for giving students choice by activity. The simpler option is assigning a worksheet, but allowing your students to choose which problems they want to complete within each section. For example, I have done this by giving my students the option to choose 6 problems on each side of the worksheet or by choosing one problem in each row.
If you want your students to be able to choose what type of assignment they want to complete, you can create a choice board (sometimes called a math menu). This works great for independent practice, test review, or small group work where your students will be working without direct instruction from you.
Some of my favorite activities to use for independent practice are mystery puzzles, card sorts, and task cards. These reach a variety of learning styles and keep my students engaged.
Project Based Assessments
With project based assessments, students can make decisions that will determine the end result of their project. For example, this landscape design project gives students the creativity to choose their budget and the landscaping companies that they want to work with. The opportunity to be creative not only increases student engagement, but also gives them different ways of showing their understanding beyond a test.
Choice in Presentation
You can give your students specific instructions for what you are looking for in a project, then give them the choice of how they want to present their final project.
One of my favorite projects to do this with is called Slope in Real Life where the students have to find real life examples of slope and take pictures of them. Once they have all of the slopes, they need to represent them in different ways and put it all into a final project.
I have had students create slide presentations, mini-books, brochures, and posters. I love seeing all of the different representations that they come up with on their own!
