“Choice Boards,” “Extension Menus,” “Think Tac Toe” … You can call it lots of things, but the bottom line is choice: giving students a choice of products and processes by which they can communicate what they’ve learned.

Sources for these and more resources:

• An amazing list of curriculum resources, including dozens of standards-based extension menus, by the Frederick County (Maryland) Public Schools.
• http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com, especially http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Choice+Boards
• http://toolsfordifferentiation.pbwiki.com/
• DI Strategies (Wilmette, IL Public Schools District 39)
• Differentation Strategies (Oregon Department of Education)
• DI Strategies (Anne Arundel County Public School, Annapolis, MD)
• Teacher and consultant Laurie Westphal’s list of extension menus
• Meaningful Menus, a 10-page overview of extension menus and other strategies for providing students with choice, also from Laurie Westphal at www.giftedconsultant.com.
• Search for phrases like “choice boards,” “extension menus,” “think tac toe” “differentiated instruction” … and you'll find scores of websites with resources!

Learn about Choice Boards & Extension Menus

• “Dare to Differentiate”
• “Think Tac Toe”
• “Extension Menus”
• “Choice Menus” overview, with middle school examples
• Choice Board Rubric
• “Differentiated Instruction in the Foreign Language Classroom: Meeting the Diverse Needs of All Learners”, 8-page article geared toward HS foreign language teachers, but a good overview of DI, including choice boards and other strategies. From SEDL (formerly the Southwest Education Development Laboratory), and available at their website at www.sedl.org/loteced/communique/n06.html.
• “Differentiation in Science”
• “An Analysis of Differentiation Strategies Used by Middle School Teachers in Heterogeneously Grouped Classrooms”  A thesis for a Master of Education degree at UNC Wilmington, 2008 (Read the Abstract here.)

Sample Choice Boards & Extension Menus:

• Generic Extension Menu / Choice Board Templates:

  • PVUSD’s Extension Menu Template:
    • Editable document
  • Blank Choice Board template
  • Blank Choice Board template, this one with directions
  • Simple Sample Choice Board

• ELA Choice Boards:

  • PVUSD's own HM Reading Integrated Thematic Units, each with an extension menu & Product Criteria Cards
  • Many of the Depth & Complexity Grade-Level Resources are extension menus.
  • Novel choice board that offers 3 options each for content, process and product; an interesting variation on the choice board idea.
  • Book Report Think Tac Toe
  • Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe Board
  • Spelling tic-tac-toe choice board with considerations for multiple intelligences
  • Vocabulary choice board
  • Story Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board
  • Of Beetles and Angels Extension Menu; about the book Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom
  • Para Escribir choice board in Spanish
  • Another Spanish choice board
  • “Using Persuassion to Address Contemporary Issues” choice board

• Math Choice Boards:

  • Honors Algebra Choice Board, from Susan Winebrenner’s excellent book, Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom ©2001, 2005 Free Spirit Press.
  • A Choice board of math activities, from Trenton Public School District

• Science Choice Boards:

  • General Science Choice Board, upper elementary to middle school
  • Science Tic-Tac-Toe Board
  • Structure of Living Things choice board, created by PVUSD elementary science teacher Denise Andrade, at H. A. Hyde Elementary School. Includes product criteria cards, student progress log, student accountability sheet, and a grading rubric.
  • “Genetics Think Tac Toe”,  for middle or high school
  • Photosynthesis “Dinner Menu”,  an alternative layout for offering choice (“appetizers,” “side dishes,” “entrees” and “desserts.”
  • An overview of choice boards,  including one on genetics and a generic Multiple Intelligences choice board plan.
  • Science Fiction choice board

• History Social Science Choice Boards:

  • Leonardo Da Vinci Choice Board  Presented in both list and tic-tac-toe form.
  • 2008 Presidential Election Think-Tac-Toe
  • Slave Culture Choice board
  • Social Studies Tic-Tac-Toe Board
  • Westward Expansion Grades 5 and 8 Tic-Tac-Toe Extension Menu

• Other Choice Boards:

  • Architecture Choice Board
  • Pay Down Loans choice board (HS economics class)
  • Choice Board with Bloom’s-based activities