Friday, April 08, 2016

Give Students a Voice in Their Learning: Student Learning Menus

Student Learning Menus, also known as Student Choice Boards, are great instructional tools to support differentiated instruction and give students a voice in their own learning.  A Learning Menu, in simplest terms, is a document or website outlining a variety of learning activities that focus on a specific learning goal. The menu should include both traditional and technology driven menu choices. You may also hear Learning Menus called Tic Tac Toe Choice Boards (see links below).  Just like menus in a restaurant, more complex Learning Menus are often designed with different sections:  Appetizers, Main Courses, and Desserts.  Each section would have different "learning choices".  Generally, one section of the menu has to be completed before moving on to the next menu section. 


The teacher's role is to facilitate the menu process. This would include providing their expectations for each activity, rubrics, parameters, imperatives and non-negotiables.  Students are given full control over his/her choice from each menu section.  Before moving on to the next section of the menu, a teacher would need to grade the completed menu choice.  Some teachers have students "quiz out" of that menu section, demonstrating mastery, before moving on to the next "entree"!

Learning Menus can be easily made using Google Docs, Google Slides, or Google Sites and can be shared with your students through Google Classroom.  Menus can be made interactive by including links to needed web tools, rubrics, Google templates, examples, videos, and more. You can easily search the web and find lots of already created menus that you could download and use as is or tweak to fit your needs. 

Take five minutes to watch this great video from the Teacher Channel entitled; "Differentiating with Learning Menus".  Hear from Mary Vagenes who teaches 7th Grade US History at Queen's School of Inquiry.  Mary does a nice job explaining what a Learning Menu is and why she uses them in her classroom.  Hear from Mary's students as to why they like Learning Menus.




The GAFE Learning Menu for Teachers is an example Learning Menu that I made using Google Docs. I designed this one more like a Tic Tac Toe board.  Teachers would complete each activity to earn a digital badge for professional development.

Below are links to example Learning Menus/Choice Boards that can be downloaded: