Freedom!

 Allowing students the choice of how to express what they know is sometimes almost as important as what they know. In the English Language Learning (ELL) world the way that students are "allowed" to express what they know can be a handicap in truly seeing what they are capable of.

I had a student who would sometimes shut down. This student would simply put their head down and give up. It was frustrating and I couldn't figure out what to do to encourage him to become involved. I gave frequent breaks so he wouldn't be overwhelmed by all the English, but that didn't seem to be working. So, I changed my methods. I began incorporating more games into my instruction and when it came to assessment I offered my students choices of how they could express what we were learning. They could create a poster, puppet show, or any other teacher-approved project. I found that instead of assessing students by having them fill in blanks, or pick from the word bank, my students were more engaged in their learning, worked harder to accomplish work within the classroom, and offered a more comprehensive picture of their skills than would have been attainable in the form of a paper and pencil test, or even a cut and glue activity. 

If I hadn't offered choices to this particular student, I am not sure I would ever have truly seen the amount of knowledge he had, simply because he didn't feel like sharing it in the way that I initially sought it out. 

The lesson I learned was that students sometimes have many funds of knowledge we are unaware of because the path that we set out on isn't a path that leads to them. Being more student-centered and allowing students choices resulted in higher levels of engagement, student intrinsic motivation, creativity, a lower affective filter, and stronger rapport with students.