Abstract

In this website, I have included a variety of examples to show how choice improves motivation in students.  You will find examples of choice in the use of technology in writing, flexible seating to improve attention, research articles summarized in a literature review, and in a needs assessment designed to help teachers improve choice in their classroom.  The writing activity using VoiceThread gave students the ability to choose a picture to use to inspire their narrative writing. The link on Choice in Writing will bring you to a video showing this process, in which every student was actively engaged.  Flexible seating has become familiar to many classrooms lately.  Each day in my classroom, my students are able to choose where they would like to sit so they can make sure they are focused and ready to learn.  In this section of the website you can find the students' testimonials about flexible seating.  In the literature review, researchers have found different ways to engage and motivate students using choice.  They found that students who were given choice were more apt to answer comprehension questions about their text and have meaningful discussions.  Finally, the needs assessment showed that teachers are interested in learning more about providing choice in the classroom, yet they are not sure how to implement it.  In the Choice to Practice section I linked the results from the teacher survey about choice and a layout of how to help teachers incorporate choice within their own classrooms. Each of these experiences give proof that choice should be an opportunity provided to all students.