Deep Dive: Playlists and Choice Boards
January 12, 2020
One of the pillars of our HMS by Design program is personalized learning. Personalized Learning touches on meeting students where they are, responding to skills they need to develop, and giving them voice and choice in their learning. One way to do that is through playlists and choice boards.
What are playlists and choice boards? Well, that’s a good question.
According to Steve Morris, “If you ask ten teachers what is a choice board or an interactive playlist, you will probably get ten different ideas of what a choice board or playlist is! For simplicity, we will say a choice board or interactive playlist is a tool to give students a voice and choice of what activities they want to work on and when they want to do them, while challenging them with higher Depth of Knowledge exercises. One thing it isn't...a "To Do" List!”
So two big takeaways: (1) these tools provide voice and choice; (2) students move through increasingly higher Depth of Knowledge levels.
Provide Voice and Choice
I absolutely and in love with these China Playlists from Phil Kasinski at Sierra Middle School in the Riverside USD. In addition to providing voice and choice, Phil also provides students the ability to choose their own pace and pathway.
Increasing Depth of Knowledge Challenge
Playlists and choice boards should include a mix of DOK 1 and DOK 4 tasks. Wondering what a DOK 1 and DOK 4 type of task will look like? Check out this slide. We want students to experience Jeopardy tasks and Shark Tank tasks, ideally within the same playlist on the same skill.
These resources from Windham Schools are helpful in looking at what type of tasks falls into which category.
DOK 1 tasks might include:
- recalling elements and details of a story (e.g. sequence, character, plot and setting)
- making a timeline of events
- drawing pictures to explain what an event was about
- make a facts chart
DOK 2 tasks might include:
- create a Venn diagram
- identify and classify the characteristics of characters
- describe the cause/effect of a particular event
- create a flowchart to show critical stages
DOK 3 tasks might include:
- support ideas with details and examples
- determine author’s purpose and describe how it affects the interpretation of the text
- write a prediction about how views on this topic would change in time or place
- create a presentation that shows how it applies to another situation
DOK 4 tasks might include:
- conduct a debate about an issue
- write a letter to the author outlining changes you would make and why
- prepare a list of criteria to judge an activity, including priorities and ratings
- write a thesis, drawing conclusions from multiple sources
Designing Playlists and Choice Boards
There are a lot of basic templates for building a playlist and building choice boards. Perhaps the easiest way to build them is through a Google Doc. This makes sharing and linking resources a whole lot easier.
Education Elements has a Building Playlists 101 playlist that explains the process of building a playlist. Valor Schools also has a Playlist Template.
Here are some examples:
Wrap Up
The fact of the matter is that there are TONS of examples, templates, and resources that will help you in developing your own playlists and choice boards. You can even pack this one away in the “increase student agency” toolbox for later.
Further Readings and Resources:
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