Student Voice & Choice in the Standards-Based ELA Classroom - 4th Grade Westwood

Teachers

Becka Schulz, John Polhill, and Cristin Caruso are fourth grade teachers at Westwood Elementary School. Cristin returned to the classroom this year after serving as a Q-Comp Coach and Becka and John are in their third year participating the Student-Centered (formerly Flexible Learning) Cohort.

Instructional Strategy

These fourth grade teachers have integrated student voice and choice into their English language arts (ELA) blocks. Their student-centered classrooms provide opportunities for students to choose the time, place, path, and pace of their learning with a clear focus on learning targets.

When whole-group instruction is needed, they start their ELA blocks with direct instruction, modeling, or reviewing. Becka, John, and Cristin also use that time to introduce the unit-long choice menu at the beginning of the unit. They guide students to selections from the menu that reflect the whole-group instruction from the day.

Through their Student-Centered Cohort work, the team has created standards-based choice menus in Google Slides. Slide one highlights the learning targets for the unit. When students click the links, they are taken to activities, resources, and materials that allow them to practice that standard and demonstrate their learning in different ways. Although the team creates the menus and plans lessons together, each teacher tailors their implementation to the needs of their students.

Westwood’s fourth grade teachers know that student success during flex time comes from setting clear expectations.

• John Polhill reminds students to “Sit where you can be successful” before allowing them to find the place in the room to work on their menus. This positive phrasing helps students remember that they are responsible for staying engaged during flex time. 
• During one ELA block, Cristin Caruso modeled a summary template with the whole group based on a read-aloud book and then asked students to continue the summary on their own templates before moving on to another task in the menu. She checked in with students as they worked before pulling a guided reading group. 
• Becka Schulz leaves the menu on her screen during student work time to help remind students of the various standards to focus on during the week or displays a model of a task students might be working on. 

The team is currently working on developing a process for helping students set daily or weekly goals to add another layer of accountability to their ELA flex time. Becka, John, and Cristin plan to continue to reflect and innovate in their quest to provide students with flexible, standards-based learning opportunities throughout this school year and beyond.

See What It Looks Like

• View a sample unit menu
• See students at work in their flexible environments