Update on Student Choice Menus

Since I only see my students once a week, my third-fifth grade classes have only been working on their menus for four weeks.  The first day of use was the honeymoon.  It seemed like all the students understood how to use the menus and progress from project to project.  However, the honeymoon was short lived.  The second day of class it appeared some repetition of how the menu should be used was needed.  I will say that the older the grade level the easier it was to implement.  Fifth grade is doing the best by far.  Third grade needs the most reminders.  However, third grade students have not completed any similar projects as listed on the menu before.  Therefore, the result is actually realistic and makes perfect sense for the students' prior experiences.

I thought I would be required to do less talking, but more monitoring of student progress.  Nevertheless, I have discovered that I talk more to explain the next steps in some of the main dishes and to remind students how to prepare to have their projects checked on an individual basis.  It has been fun to see students able to move at their own pace through various projects and be able to pursue their interests to a certain degree.  A third grade student came up to hug me while I was on duty outside at recess.  She told me she loved the menus in engineering.  While I am making adjustments to improve the implementation and use of menus, I believe they are serving the reason I chose to use them.  I want students to engage and find their interests in the learning opportunities offered in the elementary engineering lab.

I am excited for upcoming years of use because I will only need to teach new students and incoming third grade students how to use the student choice menus.  I am working to balance talking whole class to students as compared to individual instructions.  The student choice menus in classes of 32 students makes it difficult to assist students as needed and monitor students who might be using their time ineffectively.  I am also trying to improve my ability to monitor student progress to be able to readily assist students who may be struggling with using their time wisely and efficiently.