When my son entered 2nd grade last Fall, he brought home a “homework menu” which listed a couple of homework assignments for him. He was given the choice to choose which assignment to complete. This was new to me because when I was his age, my teachers simply assigned me one homework assignment and that was that. I didn’t have the option to choose.  

What was also new to me was the fact that each student had a different homework menu which was personalized according to each student’s reading and math level (his teacher conducted pre-assessments earlier in the year). His teacher recognized the fact that every student had different learning styles and were at varying levels so she allowed students to choose the type of assignment which they’re most interested in. Differentiated instruction gives students options on how to take in information, and ideas. It also affords students various ways of demonstrating what they have learned from the lesson or unit and the tools teachers use could include menu sheets, choice boards or open-ended lists and is meant to allow students to show what they learned based on their learning preferences (Anderson, 2007; Nunley, 2006).

The instructions for the homework menu were simple: every week, they had to complete a “must do” task but then they had the option of choosing to complete an additional task. The students were encouraged to do more but it wasn’t required. This was a way for his teacher to assess each student to see what task and how many tasks they chose to complete. Parents also had to sign off on the menu which was great because parents had to be involved with what their child was working on for homework. It was also a great way for parents to get a glimpse into how much effort their child wanted to put into homework. For example, my son would only complete the “Must Do” task but refused to do more because it wasn’t required (oh well!)

Based on their homework results, my son’s teacher was able to assess students’ abilities and tailor the following week’s homework menu. Over the months, the homework menu also evolved into a more complex menu meaning instead of only one other assignment to choose from, students were given the choice to choose from multiple assignments and each student had to write how many they wanted to complete. Here is another example of a homework menu with more choices:

I think homework menus are a great idea as it acknowledges that each student has different interests and learning preferences and helps teachers to assess their student's performance and learning. Some may like to write stories while others like to draw or complete their task using an electronic device. My son looked forward to working on his homework because he said he liked being able to choose his own assignments. That works for me!