Choice of Tasks When assigning a task, a teacher can provide students with options to choose from or guide students toward creating their own tasks.

Teacher- Structured Tasks Students would choose from several teacher-designed tasks. The task should be geared toward the relationship of the content to something of the student’s interest. -Ex: comparing a cause and effect relationship in the text to a topic of choice.

Student Created Tasks Students are given guided questions to help form their own tasks that are meaningful to them. EX: Guiding question: Relative to the topic we are studying: Is there an important decision you want to examine? Is there an important problem that you want to solve? Is there an important concept , past even or hypothetical or future event you want to study?

SAMPLE STUDENT CREATED TASK Farrah decides to choose the Enlightenment and Mary Wollstonecraft for her task. She learned about Wollstonecraft’s many terrible romantic decisions, and she is curious about how those terrible decisions and their consequences affected her work and subsequent legacy in the woman’s rights movement.

Choice of Reporting Formats When completing a task, students can choose from the following reporting formats: A written report An oral report A dramatic presentation A debate A videotaped report A demonstration or simulation

Choice of Learning Goals In addition to teacher-designed goals, teachers should also allow students to generate their own personal learning goals within a unit.

SAMPLE GOALS: Contemporary Life in France Teacher-Designed Goals Student Created Goals Understanding of the French Government Understanding of class relations Pop culture in France French viewpoint of Americans

Choice of Behaviors Students should design the standards for their own behaviors that are expected in their classroom. Students define how they want to be treated. Create symbols that represent positive behavior. Give group presentations of positive and negative behaviors. Discuss the whole-class living space of the desired and undesired behaviors. Students discuss the idea that they will have to treat others the way they would like to be treated. Get a commitment from each student. Keep it alive by referencing the behaviors frequently throughout the year.

Present Real-World Application Presenting through real-world application will show the importance of the content. Examples: Field trips involving content learned in class. Service projects