5 Tips For Creating STudent Project Options

Projects are awesome! I am one of those teachers that loves to do as many projects as possible. The unfortunate thing is that I struggle fitting in all of my project ideas within my short semester timelines. I feel like for every unit I have over the years come up with 4 or 5 projects that I have tried at different times. The struggle is that every student likes different types of projects and as teachers we are trying to reach as many different types of learners and interests as possible.

The solution to this that most of us have figured out is to give our students a list of project options to choose from. Students like this because they have the ability to make a choice in their learning and what they focus on within your parameters. Teachers like it because typically students take the project more seriously and care more about the project overall since they had the ability to choose what they work on.

Project choice options are another tool that teachers can use in the student-directed classroom or as a tool to differentiate assessments in your classroom. There are a lot of pieces in creating quality projects and structuring those options for your students. Here are 5 tips and things to think about when creating your project options:

1. Consistency in assessing the different projects. One problem that teachers can run into is that the projects we are offering are not assessing the same objective/content. Offering choice is key component of differentiation in the classroom, but when we create choices for the student, we need to make sure that all of the possibilities a student can take measure our key standards, objectives, and learning goals. This needs to be clear when it comes to the rubric. Even though you may have two, three, or five different options for projects the core components of all projects and rubrics need to assess whatever key content you have. I always try to make them the same point values as well so that no matter what project a student picks they know that the content parts are all assessed the same. Then each project can have the extra pieces added on to it as needed.
2. Try to hit different learning styles with the different projects. If variety is one of your goals in giving students choices then try to offer a different style of project that hits the different styles. For example, I for my Human-Environment Interaction unit I offer the following options for my projects:
   1. Documentary - The students that are visual and really into technology love this option because they get to be creative and show off their skills at creating video.
   2. Children’s Book/Story - The students that are creative writers and sometimes my artists really like this option because I allow students to do this digitally or more traditionally on paper. This works for people that like to be creative but also process through writing.
   3. Song/Music Video - This definitely for the students that are auditory and love music.
   4. Research Paper - This serves the student that doesn’t like to be creative and is more of a researcher and analytical. I have several students in my classes that are always wanting to ask different questions and argue differing opinions, so with this option they have the ability to create a research question if they want and show deeper knowledge of the topic.
3. Considering offering difficulty levels within your project options. One thing that I have started doing is within most of my project offerings, I try to give them options on the tone and level of critical thinking within the projects. For example in two of my HEI projects I incorporated different levels or styles within the project option. I did this to further allow me to differentiate to the needs of my students. I have some students that are special needs and do not have the ability to take some pieces of the content to different levels. I also feel like this allows students to speak more to their abilities and interests. Here is what I offered in two of my Human-Environment Interactions projects:
   1. Documentary - Students have the option of creating a public service documentary that is geared to prompt, solve, or create awareness for an issue that touches on the key components of the unit. Students also had the option of creating an education video for middle school students that could be used in middle school classrooms to reinforce or introduce issues related to humans and the environment.  
   2. Children’s Book/Story - Students have the option of creating an educational text (for students that are more literal in their thinking) or writing a creative story that covers the main themes (for students that are able to critically think and transfer knowledge).
4. Have your projects be as relevant as possible. One of things that can make a project be successful is how relevant it is to the students. Are the students solving an actual local, state, national, or global problem? Are they creating a product that will be used by another group of people? When students understand why the students are doing the project and they know that something will actually come from their project, the seriousness of the project because much more real to them. We all know that it isn’t possible to always have our projects and work be real-word because of resources, time, etc. The more often we can do it the more students will see the relevance in our content and how it can apply to our world. For my Human-Environment Interaction projects the students had the job of creating education materials for students in middle school and elementary school in my district. Also with the public service option in the documentary, students had the potential of creating a product that would be released for the general public and would be released on youtube and social media.  
5. Groups or no groups? I struggle with this because groups can be hard and sometimes unreliable with work. On the other hand though I like groups because it can allow for more creativity and critical thinking when students get to talk about their learning. What I have been doing is creating specific roles when I have group projects and making sure that students understand their expectations. Then other times I typically just allow my students to choose. They can work with a partner or they can work individually. When it comes to assessment projects, I typically only allow partners or occasionally groups of three. I do not like to go over that, because it can be easier to allow students disappear and pass off their work on others. For some projects though, I do not allow partners at all. It really just depends on what other assessments I have for that unit and the structure I am looking for.

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Check out my Student Choice Projects and Rubrics Here! 

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