Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

When purposefully designed, choice boards are far more than glorified worksheets for busywork; they’re powerful opportunities for students to actively engage with content in ways that promote agency and encourage students to take ownership of their learning. Choice boards provide scaffolding that helps students develop their thinking muscles and move from passive consumers of information to active, metacognitive thinkers. Let’s examine the what, why, and how of this powerful strategy and explore some free edtech tools, choice board templates, and tips that will help you integrate them across subject areas and grade levels.

The What of Choice Boards: Structure & Set-Up

A choice board is an organized menu of activity options that allows students to select tasks and learning paths to demonstrate their understanding. Various choice board layouts exist to meet specific classroom needs for differentiation and to build academic rigor. Let’s explore some popular options:

• Tic-Tac-Toe Boards – A 3 x 3 grid where students select three activities in a row, column, or diagonal. Check out this Canva template as an example of this layout. 
• Menu Boards – Students select one task from each category on the menu, typically an appetizer, entree, and dessert. Check out this Canva template as an example of this layout.
• Choose-Your-Own-Adventure/Branching Boards – These digital boards offer interactive paths, with each choice leading to new options. Check out this Canva template as an example of this layout.
• Must-Do/May-Do Boards – This format makes sure students tackle essential tasks (the “must dos”) while also leaving room for fun extension activities (the “may dos”). Check out this Canva template as an example of this layout.

The Why of Choice Boards: The Research-Backed Benefits

Choice boards and learning menus offer numerous benefits for differentiated instruction in these ways:

• Student engagement. Choice boards promote active participation, increase motivation, and foster creativity.
• Personalized learning. Choice boards provide tailored content options that address diverse learning styles and encourage student autonomy.
• Critical thinking. Choice board activities encourage decision-making, help develop problem-solving skills, and support higher-order thinking.
• Flexible assessments. Choice boards can serve as formative or summative assessments, allowing varied demonstrations of learning, and can be adapted based on student progress.

Educational research shows that giving students agency leads to better cognitive development and critical thinking. Choice boards are more than just a fun activity; they challenge students to think in complex ways:

1. According to Desi and Ryan’s self-determination theory, when students have autonomy over their learning, it boosts motivation and reduces behavioral issues.
2. Bandura’s social cognitive theory highlights that choice boards encourage intentional thinking. Students need to analyze what they know and select the best options for themselves, which builds metacognitive skills.
3. Studies on self-regulated learning, such as those by Barry Zimmerman, show that students who have ownership of their learning tend to set goals focused on mastery rather than simply aiming for good grades. Mastery-oriented students process information more deeply and are better at applying their knowledge in new situations.
4. Universal Design for Learning encourages multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression. Choice boards effectively meet these guidelines by providing the ability to differentiate by content (what students learn), process (how students learn), and product (how students show what they have learned).

The How of Choice Boards: Planning & Edtech Implementation Options

Here is a general framework for step-by-step planning when creating a choice board:

1. Start with the standard/objective. The key to an effective choice board is ensuring clarity in learning.
2. Determine the non-negotiables: Are there any essential tasks that students must complete?
3. Brainstorm a variety of activities. Be sure to consider DOK levels/Bloom’s taxonomy and to think in modalities: visual, auditory, written.
4. Structure the board layout to guide students’ choices for engaging in these activities.
5. Write clear directions and embed the resource links, then test them.
6. Set expectations for assessment with a rubric or other instructions.

If you need design support, consider searching for choice board templates in Canva for Education (reviewed here) or selecting from various options on SlidesMania (reviewed here). SlidesMania templates work in both Google Slides and PowerPoint. Teachers can share Canva designs with students via a public-view link or download the file as a PDF for a low-tech print option.

If you need additional content support, consider educational AI platforms such as MagicSchool (reviewed here) and Eduaide (reviewed here), both of which offer choice-board-specific chat tools. Alternatively, try these AI prompting tips from Control Alt Achieve for brainstorming choice boards in your favorite chatbot, or use this EduGem designed to work in Gemini.

Here are a few additional options you can use to make your choice boards even more interactive and engaging: 

• Genially (reviewed here) is an excellent platform choice for creating interactive “hotspots and branching paths; there are several customizable template options available with built-in interactive elements.
• Padlet (reviewed here) is a great option for creating a digital bulletin board where students can post completed choice board products for peer review. Consider using a submission form link so that students submit work blindly without distraction, then save the Padlet board link for a gallery walk once all students have finished their choice board activities.
• FigJam (reviewed here) is another wonderful choice for collaboration. Consider this FigJam for Education Pause. Play. Refresh. template, which includes spaces where students can share reflections and feedback on activities from the choice board.

Tips for Success

• Ensure every activity on the board, even the “fun” options, directly maps back to your learning intentions and requires the same level of rigor. Remember, when written purposefully, choice boards can push students to analyze and synthesize information deeply—but if some choices require lower levels of cognitive lift, passive learners will naturally gravitate towards the ones that require less effort.
• For students who struggle with decision-making, choice boards can lead to task paralysis. Consider limiting the number of options or providing time limits where appropriate. It might also be helpful to scaffold responsibility by guiding students towards specific combinations of activities rather than a fully open menu of choices.
• To take choice board activities to the next level, add a final reflection opportunity after students have created their learning products. Ask students to reflect on why they chose their specific learning path and how it helped them understand the content. This action builds students’ metacognitive capacity by helping them evaluate their own decision-making.

Choice boards offer a powerful way to empower students and make learning more engaging. We’d love to hear about your experience using choice boards with students in the comments below!