Course curriculum

  • 1

    Introduction

  • 2

    The Many Benefits of Choice

    • Introduction

    • Your First Choice Experience, Part 1: The Benefits of Choice

    • Your First Choice Experience, Part 2: The Benefits of Choice

    • Your First Choice Experience, Part 3: The Benefits of Choice

    • Scavenger Hunt: Benefits of Choice in Action

    • Reflect on The Benefits of Choice
  • 3

    Planning a Choice Experience for Students

    • Overview of the 5-Step Process

    • Step 1: Create Good Choices

    • Step 2: CHOOSE: Help Students Choose Well

    • Step 3: DO: Support Students as They Work

    • Step 4: REVIEW: Help Students Reflect

    • Step 5: Professional Reflection

    • Now You Try!

    • Planning a Larger Choice Experience

    • Reflection: What Seems Important About This Process?
  • 4

    Three Supportive Practices

    • If You Don't Do These Three Things...

    • Safety

    • Safety: Choices of Resources to Explore

    • Ownership

    • Ownership: Choices of Resources to Explore

    • Metacognition

    • Metacognition: Choices of Resources to Explore

    • Reflection
  • 5

    Frequently Asked Questions

    • What If Kids Always Choose the Easiest Option?

    • What If Students Always Choose the Same Kind of Option?

    • Should I Use a Choice Board?

    • How Do I Grade Work Fairly If Everyone's Doing Something Different?

    • Should I Always Give Students Choices--About Everything?

    • What If I'm Supposed to Use a Scripted Program?
  • 6

    Conclusion

    • Start with Small Steps

    • Some More Resources...

    • Before You Go, Help Me Improve this Course

Meet Your Instructor

Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson has been an educator for more than 25 years. A public school teacher for 15 years, he has also taught preschool, coached swim teams, and taught university graduate level classes. He now works as a consultant providing professional learning for teachers throughout the US and beyond. In 2004, Mike was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005 he was a finalist for NH Teacher of the Year. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. Mike has written eight books about great teaching and learning, including Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn, which was selected as an ASCD member book and sent to 60,000 educators around the world upon its release. When not working, Mike can be found hanging with his family, tending his perennial gardens, and searching for new running routes around his home in Durham, NH.

Included in This Course

You’ll explore key ideas, learn practical strategies, and gain helpful resources to help you use choice to effectively differentiate learning in K-12 settings.

  • Learn and practice how to use a 5-step planning process to help students get the most out of choice

  • Understand--make connections to--key benefits of choice

  • See many examples of choice in action across many grade levels and content areas

  • Learn how to go beyond giving students choice--and instead teach them how to choose well

  • Understand and learn how to implement many supportive practices--to set students up for success with choice

  • Gain access to a wide array of supportive resources--including many examples of choice plans from many grade levels and content areas

  • When you finish the course, you can print a certificate showing 6 hours of professional learning.

  • You will have access to this course for a year, so you can go back in over and over again.