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12 Creative Book Report Projects Your Students Will Love

Whichever you’re teaching a whole-class novel, or finishing a round of independent lesart or literature circles, post-reading assessments belong forever other engaging when they’re more than just a run or essay.

Down, you’ll discover one dozens fun book report ideas for your middle or high school ELA students, edited by a team of experienced English teachers.

Choose your favorite projects to offer to our as options upon a book report project choice board.

Create a Board Game

Once I gave “create ampere board game about the book thou read” than a book message option for get students, MYSELF was pleasantly surprised at the results! Complete a few students fervently chose this option furthermore created some really fun-looking games centered about their books. 

On is a great projekt choice if you’re looking in something that students can’t create by even Googling the book.

Bitte are any tips and angeregt for assigning an board game get show:

• Give clear parameters and requirements to keep students on track, such as requiring game elements for represent confident academic item of and book you read. Book reports choice board | TPT
• Provide suggestions for play components and materials – encouragement students to consider the game play and elements of their favorite board games and to use materials them formerly have at home to create them.
• Available a whole-class novel study, consider permitting students to work in squads to create the novel-based board game, therefore setting aside a class frequency for students till player each others’ games and please who wins!

If you’re looking to save time… clear directions donations, lots of make, and ampere handy grad rubric for a board game post-reading assessment are all included inside this resource . Take a look! 

For more separate reading response ideas, check get that post at notions on entertaining post-reading projects.

Create a Journey Box

Engaging current in realistic interactions about books is an passion used Carolyn of Middle School Café .  In traditional oral book reports, student simply get up in front of the class and read a summary of to book they read.  Carolyn establish this method of oral publication meldungen painful for both nach both her students.

Wanting to find ampere paths to related her students talk about yours book and keep her class hiring, Caroline began incorporating Journey Select Book Reports.  A journey box is a shopping (or bag) so contains artifacts from an story that help the reader share important events from the story. 

Our predetermine what events of the story are most important on share, will they create an artifact to shares with the class or smal group more they describe the plot.  As an example, Carolyn had adenine student who read The Diary from Anne Frank.   He created a narrow 3D tree that he displayed on the desk as it shared about how Anne look out the window and dreamed of her former life.  It’s a narrow piece of the story that helps the student explain of actual point and gives the listener something visual to look at and stay engaged. 

Journey Box Book Berichtigungen are been successful for Carboline in both hier intermediate school and high school classrooms.  She makes suggest, if using Journey Boxes in older grades, to have students share their news in small groups.   3rd grade Reading Choice Board

Create a Literary Food Truck

Whenever there’s first thing kids love, it’s sustenance – specifically high schoolers – and from this in mind, one of Solely Ana P’s favorites ways to recap ampere class novel or an independent reading unit is with Literary Food Trucks. On is definitely not a new idea, nevertheless it’s to that will have you imminent back for seconds 🙂 

Classics first tried this project per the end of The Odyssey , where students were able to decide which book(s) you wanted to make that focus of their trucks. The main requirement made that every single choice made had until be premeditated and unique relevant. About that in mind, students could start to planning process. 

You can do of truck’s requirements as single or as advanced in yours my, but Ana recommends having students plan: 

• Truck appoint, design, and branding colors
• Menu design both articles (5 items minimum)
• Labourer regulars
• Merch 

Ana includes a how input due having zu students defended every of their selections in the form of a proposal. This is future used in ihr presentations, real the better (more intentional) their proposal is, the more probability they intention win aforementioned class vote. This proposal can be everywhere from a few paragraphs to a few paper, depending on what writing goals yours have for them, and shouldn definitely include text evidence. 

Part of the beauty of this character out project is that it can breathe done digital or paper-based. Analects favors to walk her scholars through adenine Canva getting, where there are constant navigation templates that students able use so handful don’t feel inundated startups from scratching. Or, for more creative students, they can create their trucks on chart paper, poster board, with even 3D dioramas.  After students finish making theirs meals trucks, it’s always fun for take ampere time for the in-class Eating Festival, wherever students are invited to bring in positions from their menus or simply some type of snacks. Some undergraduate get super hype about this day and even make/wear aprons or themed employee uniforms. Students are able to walk around, visiting each of their trucks, and casting ihr voice for Best Food, Most Relevant, and Most Detailed. Have having and bon appetit !

Create a Mood Board

It can be hard to nach up with creative post-reading assessments for your students when they’re done because a full class book, literature circles, or a dial reading unit. In an attempt to combine 21 st century skills with literary analysis, Samantha from Samantha in Secondary decided to try something a little different. Enter: The Mood Board.

A mood board combines images at elicit a spirit from a viewer much likes a writer does with words. The possibilities for using adenine mood board with insert class are endless. Students can create a mood board for an overall book, a character, an happening, a theme, a poem, etc. Then, have your students meticulous curate adenine board that is aesthetically pleasing additionally considers shade, space, and design in the execution. As scholars explain why they’ve built the choices i have, the upper-level thinking comes naturally. How to Assess one Novel is Spanish class

Canva is an award tool to use to create your mood boards. Hold students interact with download them may shall foreign include is an significant learning experience in and of itself. With you want to how more about how to use mood boards in your own classroom, click go to read Samantha’s blog pole about it or curb out the resource she creates such includes done-for-you student instructions, product, and an rubric here .

Make a New App

What would a character’s life update if there was just the perfect app up solve their conflict??

This is the question Krista from @whimsyandrigor poses to you scholars as they finish a novel both getting to reflect on the character’s journey. Students begin by discussing all of the detailed surrounding the protagonist and what they experienced. In small bands and in whole-class discussions, students discuss to conflicts, both inhouse and external, and later pick all in the realistic or not-so-realistic ways the character could have addressed their problems.

Just students will generated a healthy list of theories, Krista tells them they get to become einer app software and they must create any app that would greatly benefit a letter from ihr reading.

The application are:

• This app cannot already exist.
• The app can be totally unrealistic/not probable.
• The apply designer needs be clever to explain how its features would perform the character.
• The software require also create an graphic for and Your Store.

Here is a print-and-go handout students use to get designing. 

Here are several exemplar apps students could create: to help Will from John Reynolds’s Tall Pathway Down , probably an app that predicts his future would find him choose whichever to accomplish ones he steps switched the elevator. Or may Romeo from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would can benefited from a life-detection app that will accurately determine whether or not someone be actually dead.

Whenever students sette on the confront they will to address and the app that wants help, they writes a Spill the TEA paragraph, as explained by Krista in this YouTube video .  Using this paragraph organization strategy, students will introduce theirs app, use evidence to explain how it is necessary for the character, plus explain how which application would have benefited or changed the protagonist’s journey.

Now person get to be a graphic designer more they design that app’s icon. Students maybe want at peruse the currently App Store to get ideas about how einen icon is designed, what elements must be present, plus how to create somewhat that is eye-catching.

If space allows, Krista foster yourself to display the icons and Spill this TEA paragraphs in the hallway for misc students the see the in-depth critical thinking and character analysis your students did after finishing an novel. 

Who says technology will only adenine distraction for our students?! This operation proves technological can assist apprentices dive deep into a text press its characters! This is a collection of book report ideas or activities to doing at the stop of the novel. This a collection of my students' favourite outcome choices in my classroom experience in score 4 to 8.

Write a Vignette

Lesa from SmithTeaches9to12 often main on character-based activities for novel studies including a character profile activity , character conferences through text messages , or the writing of a good vignette. 

Trial can be ampere wide way to assess students’ literary analysis skills and understanding of the read. Students write a short section of about 500 terms this is descriptive of an particular moment in choose focusing on one of the book’s characters. This moments could be placing the character in a new setting, writing via a particular moment to the past this used get developed, or even extending to a moments beyond the book’s conclusion. Lesa provides students with some mentor lyrics, including “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros in The House on Mango Street or “The Prisoner Van” by Charles Dickens in Sketches by Boz or even one from a novel being read in class. Review the stories for structure, language choice, sentence structure, use of figurative language, and so on. This helping to co-create the criteria for the assignment. Then collegiate write their own vignette. Build in of peer review as the accountability piece and voila!

Create a Character Collect

It’s safe to say that most English teachers have a bin of cut-up magazines everywhere in their classrooms. While these ragged copies of People and Us Weekly have definitely seen better days, they live on in the countless collage creations of our students.

Katie out Mochas and Markbooks loves to use collages as visual representations from intellectual. Before reading a novel or little story, creating a character collage to show how a character has evolved from beginning to finalize require students to use higher orders thinking skills to analyzing, synthesize and demonstrate they awareness of property by share their page inches half the vote words and images to represented this character during the start and conclusion of the how on each side.

The outcome will show the depth of your students’ design of character as well as their ability to usage kritischen and creative thinking skillsets to represent the understanding.

Other ways to use this idea instead of showing character evolution are to show two differently sides to a character, for show, those they are including differentially people in their lives.  How to asses adenine novel in Spanish class. Ideas for Interpersonal speaking, presentational writing, as well the interpretive listening & reading

If you exist looking by other ways to incorporate collage and depots into your post-reading assessments, check outbound is blog post for more ideas!

Design Shoe Talismans

Crocs are nope Olivio ’s skid of choice, but if she noticed yours students bedazzling their plastic footwear over shoe charms, he was ampere learning opportunity she just couldn’t elapse up. Here’s how to make it work in your classroom:

First, have your students choose a character from of how they have finished reading. Later encourage them to find quotes from the book that revealing the character’s interests, valuables, or personality. Once they have found their quotes (she has her students find 4), tell them to designing and color shoe charms that represent those stake, set, or identity traits. This helps undergraduate with inferencing, textual evidence, or even symbol! Complete aforementioned sides of the book report cube. You will include title, writer, illustrator, setting, characters, anfangen, middle, ending, connection (text the self ...

When your students have finished making own size charms, they can either tape the charms go hers shoes for a fabulous, foot-themed fashion show, either she ability glue them to ampere images of a Croc for quirky klassen décor. Check out this Instagram send to see aforementioned charms Olivia’s scholars came up using!

Create a Movie Poster

When was the last time you went to the movies? Did to detect the posters along the pathway? If yes will you must walked down which movie studio promotional lane. Like trailers, studios create cinema posters to grab the attention of movie-goers before group even enter and theater. Yes, you may having have purchased your movie ticket, but those posters were created for the future. After you finish watching Sonic 2 , what movie will you see go? You probably already lace to that placard on the pattern into the theater and said, “That looks like it is going go be right. I want at see that!”   As a post reading plan, Sharena from The Humble Bird Teacher has her students create movie placard supported on the text read included sort. All allows her to complete a formative assessment on what the students learned from the text. Before having theirs class created a movie poster, she shows them examples of posters from different genres such as drama, plot, family-friendly, and comedy. Then she hands out a piece a construction paper and goes past the basic requirements. On the movie poster, the apprentices are required to need its actors name instead photo (characters), the cd of of movie, a visual (setting or key from the story), and a tagline, additionally a short two to three sentence summary the the movie. Once herself students are ended with the assignment, she displays them outboard and classroom, thus the students can got their personal movie studio promotional lane.  If i are looking for more per want ideas, pawl here .

Tries Novel Engineering

Whether you’ve been hoping to collaborate with another department, or just really want to try something novel, Novel Engineering is to amazing way to get students thinking outside on the box ! Staci from Bagel Lovin’ Teacher has found that Modern Design requires students to actively comprehend plus interact with a novel and get creative about select to online enhance the lives of characters! Basically, students work to create a product that will help solve a character’s problem. Here’s how i works…

Before reading : Click a narratives font where the character faces tangible concerns. Model and practice the design process in small ways. Try using painting books like Mucha! Muncha! Mucha! in order for students to see also habit what they’ll be doing with a topic at grade-level.

While reading : Emphasize the conflicts characters face and give students time to brainstorm possibility products ensure would help solve said problem. Make indisputable students record evidence from the text so they can later justify the need for the product they designs.

To reading : Give students time to draft, craft, and fix their designs that wills help solve a problem faced by a character. You can give students options where they draw their creativity, make their creation, or even plan a digital apply favorite this, depending about time and human. Whatever you set, students want be sure to be pushed to use some skills they may not immersive practice in an ELA classroom!

Staci has some LIBERATE Unique Engineering Digital Planning Pages or you can read more about her experience with novel engineering switch the Donut Lovin’ Teaching blog .

Generate a Tik Tok Video

How lots dates have you passed a groups of students filming an TikTok in a hallway? Will you been students ask to film in your class once they finish tasks? You are not alone. Students love TikTok and Yaddy from Yaddy’s Room has figured out how toward receiving student using TikTok for academic purposes!

Yaddy loves to challenge academics to create TikTok videos that wegstrecke a character’s development, encapsulates that main theme of the story, or so exemplifies a key control. These basic, low stress our are greatly on beschaffung even reluctant students to participate. PHYSICAL PROJECT CHOICE BOARD

To incorporate TikTok view as a means of assessing academics after ampere novelist oder story, try the following steps:

1)      Get learners to brainstorm which part of the novel group could like into use for their video.

2)      Get students to start combing TikTok for an audio that fits with the portion of the text they chose

3)      Ask them to plan out how they will realize their vision

4)      Rehearse and film!

5)      Bonus: query students to upload their videos to Google Drive and sharing and link with i hence that she can make QR codes to post around insert classroom!

Want to get started using TikTok videos for book reports? Checkout on Yaddy’s free konzept sheet here !

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12 Creative Book Report Projects Your Students Will Love

Whether you’re teaching a whole-class novel, or finishing a round of independent reading or literature circles, post-reading assessments are always more engaging when they’re more than just a test or essay.

Below, you’ll discover a dozen fun book report ideas for your middle or high school ELA students, curated by a team of experienced English teachers.

Choose your favorite projects to offer to students as options on a book report project choice board.

Create a Board Game

When I gave “create a board game about the book you read” as a book report option for my students, I was pleasantly surprised at the results! Quite a few students excitedly chose this option and created some really fun-looking games centered on their books. 

This is a great project choice if you’re looking for something that students can’t create by just Googling the book.

Here are some tips and suggestions for assigning a board game book report:

• Give clear parameters and requirements to keep students on track, such as requiring game elements to represent certain literary elements of the book they read.
• Provide suggestions for game components and materials – encourage students to consider the game play and elements of their favorite board games and to use materials they already have at home to create them.
• For a whole-class novel study, consider allowing students to work in teams to create the novel-based board games, then setting aside a class period for students to play each others’ games and see who wins!

If you’re looking to save time… clear directions handouts, lots of suggestions, and a handy grading rubric for a board game post-reading assessment are all included in this resource . Take a look! 

For more independent reading response ideas, check out this post with ideas for fun post-reading projects.

Create a Journey Box

Engaging students in authentic conversations about books is a passion for Carolyn of Middle School Café .  In traditional oral book reports, students simply get up in front of the class and read a summary of the book they read.  Carolyn found this method of oral book reports painful for both her and her students.

Wanting to find a way to help her students talk about their book and keep her class engaged, Carolyn began incorporating Journey Box Book Reports.  A journey box is a shoebox (or bag) that contains artifacts from the story that help the reader share important events from the story. 

Students predetermine what events of the story are most important to share, then they create an artifact to share with the class or small group as they explain the plot.  As an example, Carolyn had a student who read The Diary of Anne Frank.   He created a small 3D tree that he displayed on the desk as he shared about how Anne looked out the window and dreamed of her former life.  It’s a small piece of the story that helps the student explain the plot point and gives the audience something visual to look at and stay engaged. 

Journey Box Book Reports have been successful for Carolyn in both her middle school and high school classrooms.  She does suggest, if using Journey Boxes in older grades, to have students share their stories in small groups.  

Create a Literary Food Truck

If there’s one thing kids love, it’s food – especially high schoolers – and with this in mind, one of Simply Ana P’s favorite ways to recap a class novel or an independent reading unit is with Literary Food Trucks. This is definitely not a new idea, but it’s one that will have you coming back for seconds 🙂 

Ana first tried this project at the end of The Odyssey , where students were able to decide which book(s) they wanted to make the focus of their trucks. The main requirement was that every single choice made had to be intentional and clearly relevant. With this in mind, students could start the planning process. 

You can make the truck’s requirements as simple or as detailed as you prefer, but Ana recommends having students plan: 

• Truck name, design, and branding colors
• Menu design and items (5 items minimum)
• Employee uniforms
• Merch 

Ana includes a writing component by having her students defend all of their selections in the form of a proposal. This is later used in their presentations, and the better (more intentional) their proposal is, the more likely they will win the class vote. This proposal can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages, depending on what writing goals you have for them, and should definitely include text evidence. 

Part of the beauty of this type of project is that it can be done digital or paper-based. Ana likes to walk her students through a Canva tutorial, where there are even menu templates that students can use so they don’t feel overwhelmed starting from scratch. Or, for more creative students, they can create their trucks on chart paper, poster board, or even 3D dioramas.  After students finish making their food trucks, it’s always fun to take a day for the in-class Food Festival, where students are invited to bring in items from their menus or simply some type of snacks. Some students get super hype about this day and even make/wear aprons or themed employee uniforms. Students are able to walk around, visiting each of their trucks, and casting their votes for Best Food, Most Relevant, and Most Detailed. Have fun and bon appetit !

Create a Mood Board

It can be hard to come up with creative post-reading assessments for your students when they’re done with a full class novel, literature circles, or a choice reading unit. In an attempt to combine 21 st century skills with literary analysis, Samantha from Samantha in Secondary decided to try something a little different. Enter: The Mood Board.

A mood board combines images to elicit a feeling from a viewer much like a writer does with words. The possibilities for using a mood board with your class are endless. Students can create a mood board for an overall book, a character, an event, a theme, a poem, etc. Then, have your students carefully curate a board that is aesthetically pleasing and considers color, space, and design in the execution. As students explain why they’ve made the choices they have, the upper-level thinking comes naturally.

Canva is an excellent tool to use to create your mood boards. Having students interact with software they may be unfamiliar with is a meaningful learning experience in and of itself. If you want to learn more about how to use mood boards in your own classroom, click here to read Samantha’s blog post about it or check out the resource she created that includes done-for-you student instructions, examples, and a rubric here .

Create a New App

How would a character’s life change if there was just the perfect app to solve their conflict??

This is the question Krista from @whimsyandrigor poses to her students as they finish a novel and begin to reflect on the character’s journey. Students begin by discussing all of the details surrounding the protagonist and what they experienced. In small groups and in whole-class discussions, students discuss the conflicts, both internal and external, and then brainstorm all of the realistic and not-so-realistic ways the character could have addressed their problems.

Once students have generated a healthy list of ideas, Krista tells them they get to become an app developer and they must create an app that would greatly benefit a character from their reading.

The requirements are:

• The app cannot already exist.
• The app can be totally unrealistic/not probable.
• The app developer must be able to explain how its features would benefit the character.
• The developer must also create an icon for the App Store.

Here is a print-and-go handout students use to get designing. 

Here are some example apps students could create: to help Will from Jason Reynolds’s Long Way Down , maybe an app that predicts his future would help him decide what to do once he steps off the elevator. Or maybe Romeo from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would have benefited from a life-detection app that would accurately determine whether or not someone was actually dead.

When students sette on the conflict they want to address and the app that would help, they write a Spill the TEA paragraph, as explained by Krista in this YouTube video .  Using this paragraph organization strategy, students will introduce their app, use evidence to explain how it is necessary for the character, and explain how the app would have benefited or changed the protagonist’s journey.

Now they get to be a graphic designer as they design the app’s icon. Students may want to peruse the actual App Store to get ideas about how an icon is designed, what elements must be present, and how to create something that is eye-catching.

If space allows, Krista encourages you to display the icons and Spill the TEA paragraphs in the hallway for other students to see the in-depth critical thinking and character analysis your students did after finishing a novel. 

Who says technology is only a distraction for our students?! This activity proves technology can help students dive deep into a text and its characters!

Write a Vignette

Lesa from SmithTeaches9to12 often focuses on character-based activities for novel studies including a character profile activity , character conversations through text messages , or the writing of a good vignette. 

Vignettes can be a great way to assess students’ literary analysis skills and understanding of the text. Students write a short piece of about 500 words that is descriptive of a particular moment in time focusing on one of the book’s characters. These moments could be placing the character in a new setting, writing about a particular moment in the story that was less developed, or even extending to a moment beyond the book’s conclusion. Lesa provides students with some mentor texts, including “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros in The House on Mango Street or “The Prisoner Van” by Charles Dickens in Sketches by Boz or even one from a novel being read in class. Review the stories for structure, language choice, sentence structure, use of figurative language, and so on. This helps to co-create the criteria for the assignment. Then students write their own vignette. Build in some peer review as an accountability piece and voila!

Create a Character Collage

It’s safe to say that most English teachers have a bin of cut-up magazines somewhere in their classrooms. While these tattered copies of People and Us Weekly have definitely seen better days, they live on in the many collage creations of our students.

Katie from Mochas and Markbooks loves to use collages as visual representations of comprehension. After reading a novel or short story, creating a character collage to show how a character has evolved from beginning to end requires students to use higher order thinking skills to analyze, synthesize and demonstrate their understanding of characterization by dividing their page in half and choosing words and images to represent the character at the start and conclusion of the story on each side.

The results will show the depth of your students’ interpretation of character as well as their ability to use critical and creative thinking skills to represent their knowledge.

Other ways to use this idea instead of showing character evolution are to show two different sides to a character, for example, who they are with different people in their lives. 

If you are looking for other ways to incorporate collage and magazines into your post-reading assessments, check out this blog post for more ideas!

Design Shoe Charms

Crocs are not Olivia ’s shoe of choice, but when she noticed her students bedazzling their plastic footwear with shoe charms, it was a learning opportunity she just couldn’t pass up. Here’s how to make it work in your classroom:

First, have your students choose a character from the book they have finished reading. Then encourage them to find quotes from the book that reveal the character’s interests, values, or personality. Once they have found their quotes (she has her students find 4), tell them to design and color shoe charms that represent those interests, values, or personality traits. This helps students with inferencing, textual evidence, and even symbolism!

When your students have finished making their shoe charms, they can either tape the charms to their shoes for a fabulous, foot-themed fashion show, or they can glue them to a picture of a Croc for quirky classroom décor. Check out this Instagram post to see the charms Olivia’s students came up with!

Create a Movie Poster

When was the last time you went to the movies? Did you notice the posters along the way? If yes then you have walked down the movie studio promotional lane. Like trailers, studios create movie posters to grab the attention of movie-goers before they even enter the theater. Yes, you may have already purchased your movie ticket, but those posters were created for the future. After you finish watching Sonic 2 , what movie will you see next? You probably already pointed to that poster on the way into the theater and said, “That looks like it is going to be good. I want to see that!”   As a post reading idea, Sharena from The Humble Bird Teacher has her students create movie posters based on the text read in class. This allows her to complete a formative assessment on what the students learned from the text. Before having her class create a movie poster, she shows them examples of posters from different genres such as drama, action, family-friendly, and comedy. Then she hands out a piece of construction paper and goes over the basic requirements. On the movie poster, the students are required to have their actors names or image (characters), the title of the movie, a visual (setting or symbol from the story), and a tagline, and a short two to three sentence summary of the movie. Once her students are finished with the assignment, she displays them outside the classroom, so the students can have their own movie studio promotional lane.  If you are looking for more after reading ideas, click here .

Try Novel Engineering

Whether you’ve been hoping to collaborate with another department, or just really want to try something new, Novel Engineering is an amazing way to get students thinking outside of the box ! Staci from Donut Lovin’ Teacher has found that Novel Engineering requires students to actively comprehend and interact with a novel and get creative about how to help improve the lives of characters! Basically, students work to create a product that will help solve a character’s problem. Here’s how it works…

Before reading : Choose a narrative text where the character faces tangible conflicts. Model and practice the design process in small ways. Try using picture books like Mucha! Muncha! Mucha! in order for students to see and practice what they’ll be doing with a text at grade-level.

While reading : Emphasize the conflicts characters face and give students time to brainstorm possible products that would help solve said problem. Make sure students record evidence from the text so they can later justify the need for the product they design.

After reading : Give students time to draft, craft, and improve their designs that will help solve a problem faced by a character. You can give students options where they draw their creation, make their creation, or even plan a digital app like this, depending on time and resources. Whatever you choose, students will be sure to be pushed to use some skills they may not always practice in an ELA classroom!

Staci has some FREE Novel Engineering Digital Planning Pages or you can read more about her experience with novel engineering on the Donut Lovin’ Teacher blog .

Create a Tik Tok Video

How many times have you passed a group of students filming a TikTok in a hallway? Have you had students ask to film in your class once they finish assignments? You are not alone. Students love TikTok and Yaddy from Yaddy’s Room has figured out how to get students using TikTok for academic purposes!

Yaddy likes to challenge students to create TikTok videos that track a character’s development, encapsulates the main theme of the story, or that exemplifies a key conflict. These easy, low stress videos are great at getting even reluctant students to participate.

To incorporate TikTok videos as a means of assessing students after a novel or story, try the following steps:

1)      Get students to brainstorm which part of the novel they would like to use for their video.

2)      Ask students to start combing TikTok for an audio that fits with the portion of the text they chose

3)      Ask them to plan out how they will realize their vision

4)      Rehearse and film!

5)      Bonus: ask students to upload their videos to Google Drive and share the link with you so that you can make QR codes to post around your classroom!

Want to get started using TikTok videos for book reports? Check on Yaddy’s free planning sheet here !

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Literacy Choice Boards

By Mary Montero

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When I first started using novel studies , I felt like I had to have elaborate packets of text-specific comprehension questions for each book we read. I was concerned about comprehension, accountability, and assessment. However, time and experience has taught me that students really thrive on choice and that there are ways to still provide rigorous reading practice without novel-specific activities. Enter, literacy choice boards!

How Literacy Choice Boards Work

Each choice board has a variety of activities that appeal to different learning styles. As a teacher, I determine how many activities students need to complete from each board and if there are any requirements. For example, sometimes I might ask students to select one activity from each column or row. 

Then students complete the activities in their reading journals during independent reading time. These activities can also become great discussion points during reading groups or centers when students share their journals. The work provides me valuable information about students’ comprehension and can also be used as assessments if needed.

Ready-To-Use Literacy Choice Boards

If you’re just starting out, differentiated choice boards are a great choice. My students always have these in their reading journals. The boards include dozens of prompts for responding to text and can be used for independent responses or literature circles. They meet many different learning styles and cover Bloom’s Taxonomy too. 

I also have two free choice boards for incorporating writing and vocabulary into your novel study. Each one has 9 different and creative ways to respond to almost any novel. 

You can download all four literacy choice boards for FREE here!

When you want your students to practice specific reading skills with their novel, I recommend using skill-based novel study choice boards . There are 33 different options here to practice fiction and nonfiction skills, including 5 specific genre related boards.

More Ways To Respond To Text

If you need even more options, my students also love these reading response task cards . I use these to engage students in thoughtful discussions and written responses about their reading all year long. The goal of these cards is to move your students beyond basic, literal understanding of what they are reading and branch out into inferential, critical thinking. Plus just like choice boards, they work with almost any book!

Mary Montero

I’m so glad you are here. I’m a current gifted and talented teacher in a small town in Colorado, and I’ve been in education since 2009. My passion (other than my family and cookies) is for making teachers’ lives easier and classrooms more engaging.

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Novel Study Choice Board

This is a collection of book report ideas or activities to do at the end of the novel.  This a collection of my students' favourite product choices in my classroom experience in grades 4 to 8.  

Saskatchewan Curriculum Outcomes for English Language Arts

Learning Domain: Compose and Create

Standard: Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore: - identity (e.g., Expressing Myself) - community (e.g., Celebrating and Honouring Others) - social responsibility (e.g., Within My Circle) through personal experiences and inquiry.

Degree of Alignment: Not Rated (0 users)

Standard: Create a variety of clear representations that communicate straightforward ideas and information relevant to the topic and purpose, including short, illustrated reports, dramatizations, posters, and other visuals such as displays and drawings.

Standard: Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore: - identity (e.g., What Should I Do) - community (e.g., This is Our Planet) - social responsibility (e.g. Teamwork) and express personal thoughts shaped through inquiry.

Standard: Speak to express and support a range of ideas and information in formal and informal speaking situations (e.g., giving oral presentations and reports, retelling a narrative, explaining a display to others, working in groups) for particular audiences and purposes.

Standard: Create various visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore identity (e.g., Your Choices), social responsibility (e.g., Looking for Answers), and efficacy (e.g., Systems for Living).

Standard: Use pragmatic (e.g., function and purpose), textual (e.g., paragraphs), syntactic (e.g., complete sentences with appropriate subordination and modification), semantic/lexical/morphological (e.g., figurative words), graphophonic (e.g., spelling strategies), and other cues (e.g., appropriate volume and intonation) to construct and to communicate meaning.

Standard: Create and present a variety of representations that communicate ideas and information to inform or persuade and to entertain an audience, including illustrations, diagrams, posters, displays, and cartoons.

Standard: Write to describe a place; to narrate an incident from own experience in a multi-paragraph composition and in a friendly letter; to explain and inform in multi-step directions and a short report explaining a problem and providing a solution; and, to persuade to support a viewpoint or stand.

Standard: Experiment with a variety of text forms (e.g., a peer interview, presentation at an assembly, poem, letter to parents, short review, poster, tableau, graphic organizer) and techniques (e.g., surprise ending).

Standard: Create various visual, oral, written, and multimedia (including digital) texts that explore identity (e.g., Exploring Thoughts, Feelings, and Ideas), social responsibility (e.g., Taking Action), and efficacy (e.g., Building a Better World).

Standard: Create and present a teacher-guided inquiry project related to a topic, theme, or issue studied in English language arts.

Standard: Create and present a variety of representations including visual and multimedia presentations such as displays, illustrations, and videos, and enhance communication with appropriate graphic organizers, charts, circle graphs, timelines, maps, and sound effects.

Standard: Experiment with a variety of text forms (e.g., meeting, presentation to adults, descriptive poem, opinion piece, a review, front page of a newspaper, short script) and techniques (e.g., dialogue, figurative language).

Standard: Create various visual, oral, written, and multimedia (including digital) texts that explore identity (e.g., Telling One's Life Story), social responsibility (e.g., Examining the Influence of Popular Culture), and efficacy (e.g., Creating Turning Points).

Standard: Create and present a group inquiry project related to a topic, theme, or issue studied in English language arts.

Standard: Write to describe a landscape scene; to narrate a personal story or anecdote and a historical narrative; to explain and inform in a presentation of findings, a biography, a documented research report, and a résumé and covering letter; and to persuade in a mini-debate and a review.

Standard: Experiment with a variety of text forms (e.g., Reader's Theatre, role play, humourous instructions, an electronic presentation, a dramatization, a mini-debate) and techniques (e.g., imagery, music, graphics and statistics in a multimedia presentation).

Learning Domain: Comprehend and Respond

Standard: Comprehend and respond to a variety of grade-level texts (including contemporary and traditional visual, oral, written, and multimedia texts) that address: - identity (e.g., Expressing Myself) - community (e.g., Building Community) - social responsibility (e.g., Preserving a Habitat) and support response with evidence from text and from own experiences.

Standard: View and respond to visual and multimedia texts (including graphs, charts, diagrams, maps, multimedia DVD, websites, television programs, advertisements, posters), explaining the creator's technique and the impact on viewers.

Standard: Listen, summarize, paraphrase, and evaluate what was listened to and draw conclusions.

Standard: Read for various purposes and demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate fiction (including stories and novels), scripts, poetry, and non-fiction (including magazines, reports, instructions, and procedures) from various cultures including First Nation

Standard: Analyze and respond to a variety of grade-level texts (including contemporary and traditional visual, oral, written,and multimedia texts) that address: - identity (e.g., Exploring Heritage), - community (e.g., Teamwork), - social responsibility (e.g. What is Fair?).

Standard: Read and demonstrate comprehension of a range of contemporary and classical grade-appropriate fiction, script, poetry, and non-fiction (including magazines, reports, instructions, and procedures) from various cultures including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and countries (including Canada).

Standard: View, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a variety of texts that address identity (e.g., Growing Up), social responsibility (e.g., Going the Distance), and efficacy (e.g., Making Our Community More Peaceful).

Standard: Select and use appropriate strategies to construct meaning before (e.g., considering what they know and need to know about topic), during (e.g., making connections to prior knowledge and experiences), and after (e.g., drawing conclusions) viewing, listening, and reading.

Standard: Read independently and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of information texts with some specialized language including grade level instructional materials, non-fiction books, reports and articles from magazines and journals, reference materials, and written instructions.

Cite this work

A Collection of Choice Board Examples and Templates

Dr. Robert J. Marzano states that self-agency is an essential outcome for students. The two elements making up student self-agency are voice and choice. He defines agency as students having “the belief that they can positively affect their lives and possess the skills to do so.” While voice and choice are two different elements, they are often connected. Marzano describes choice boards as one way to build self-agency by offering choice in social, environmental, and learning domains.

Four Ways to Offer Choice

In his book, “ The Highly Engaged Classroom, ” Dr. Robert J. Marzano outlines four ways we can offer choice to students: (1) choice of tasks, (2) choice of reporting formats, (3) choice of learning goals, and (4) choice of behaviors (pp. 14, 101). Choice boards can be used for each of these! In his blog, he says,

“Choices of task, reporting format, or learning goal allow students to take control of their learning and make decisions that ensure personal interest in their assignments.” Source

In other words, choices boost engagement and motivation, which lead to more learning! With this in mind, let’s look at a few articles with templates, examples, and steps for creating your own choice boards.

How to Create Choice Boards

How to Create a Choice Board : Using a choice board to allow students to select their own journey while still ensuring they reach their destination is a powerful research-based strategy. Explore John Hattie’s mindset on choice and get five steps for making a choice board.

Choice Board Templates and Examples for Your Students

Choice Boards for Elementary Learners : Take your elementary classroom to the next level with these choice board examples and templates. Your students will thank you! Snag ready-made choice boards or use the templates to create your own. Either way, you’ll be ready to get the choice board party started.

Wakelet Choice Boards : Wish you had an easy-to-access and accessibility-friendly choice board maker? You do! It’s called Wakelet. Learn how to make choice boards the easy way. Check out three example activities, an example Wakelet choice board, and discover the benefits of using Wakelet to offer choice and voice in your classroom.

Templates and Ideas for Differentiated Choice Boards : Check out four ideas for differentiation with choice boards. Then, explore a wide variety of editable templates and examples you can follow. This article definitely has some gems to help students work on their level while still offering them options to choose from.

Choice Boards for Active Learning in Math : Choice boards are a powerful tool to use in any subject, and that includes math! Uncover math-specific templates for all grade levels that include checks for understanding, vocabulary, assessment, infographic creation, multiplication, division, geometry, pre-algebra, and more.

Create Interactive Learning with a Choice Board : Innovative teachers empower students through the use of the choice board, either in paper or digital format. Find digital examples and templates for ELA, history, math, science, and differentiation. You’ll have everything you need to create digital, interactive choice boards for your students in no time.

Have you used choice boards already? Are you planning to start? Share your experience and any additional resources in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

Emily has been in education since 2008. Prior to joining TCEA in 2021, she worked as a preK-8 grade principal for four years. Additionally, she taught middle school music, preschool, prekindergarten, and second grade in a trilingual school setting. Before that, she was a K-8 technology integrator and taught second through fifth grade enrichment classes and kindergarten, fifth, and sixth grade technology classes. She has a master’s degree in teaching, specializing in elementary education, and her Certificate of School Management and Leadership (CSML) from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Outside of work, she enjoys seeing movies, attending concerts, going camping and hiking, and spending time with her two cats.

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11 Choice Board Templates You Can Use Tomorrow in Your Classroom

February 16, 2022.

Choice Boards are an amazing learner-centered practice you can use to engage your students, provide choice, and easily differentiate instruction.

Rather than start from scratch, we’ve pulled together our favorite choice board templates created by amazing educators.

All you have to do is click the link to access the template, make your own copy, and start customizing. Let’s dive in!

• What is a Choice Board?
• Getting Started Guide
• Template #1: 9 Square Design your Own Digital Choice Board
• Template #2: Creative Book Trailers Ideas
• Template #3: Geography Fun Choice Board
• Template #4: Digital Breakout
• Template #5: Digital Menu for Student Creation

Template #6: Choose Your Own Adventure (Slides & Forms)

• Template #7: Show What You Know
• Template #8: Genius Hour
• Template #9: Fortnite Digital Choice Board
• Template #10: Design Your Own Choice Board
• Template #11: Flexible Choice Board 

What is a Choice Board? 

A choice board, also known as a learning menu, is a great way to differentiate learning for students and allow them to demonstrate mastery at the end of a unit as well.

Choice boards can be created in various formats, but a simple way to think of them is as a graphic organizer. 

Credit: Tom Spall

With digital tools, you can take static, paper format activities and bring them to life.

Choice boards also help to engage students, give them choice in the way they learn, and create a more interactive learning experience. 

Choice boards are pretty easy to create and the best part is you can be creative in how and where you build it, so it’s customized to your students’ needs. 

Below you’ll find eleven plug and play templates you can use right away in your classroom.

It might seem a bit daunting to start from scratch so all you need to do is make a copy of the template and start customizing.

If you’re new to choice boards, here are a few guides to get you started: 

• The Ultimate Guide to Choice Boards and Learning Menus
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Choice Boards

Below you’ll find tons of choice board templates created by amazing educators that you can use across multiple grade bands and content areas. All you have to do is click on the link and you’ll get your very own copy to use in your classroom.

Template #1: 9 Square Design your Own Digital Choice Board – Catlin Tucker

>>> Click here to access the template (this link will prompt you to make your own copy)

This choice board template is created by Catlin Tucker and it follows the classic 9 square model.

This allows students to follow a tic-tac-toe approach where they can complete any three activities in a row on this board.

With this format, you can organize a column by a specific topic, skill, or standard.

The best part about this template is that it gives you the structure to easily design your own choice board, but you can really make it your own. 

Elementary 9 Square Template

• Kindergarten Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board – Math and ELA – A.J. Juliani

Template #2: Creative Book Trailers Ideas – #BISDwired team

  >>>Click here to access the template

This choice board template was created by the #BISDwired team and it shows you how you can create a choice board that uses several different types of tech tools and platforms to create an engaging experience for all students.

This choice board includes a project-based learning element and focuses on book trailers, but you can use this format for any content area. 

Template #3: Geography Fun Choice Board – Shannon Miller

>>> Click here to access the template

This one is for all of the elementary geography teachers! Shannon Miller has created a great choice board with BrainPop videos, games, maps, and more that students can interact with to learn about geography. 

You can make a copy at the link above and use it right away in your classroom or switch it up and add in your own resources and activities for students to complete. 

Template #4: Digital Breakout – Lauren Hawkins

>>> Click here to access the directions on how to create this .

You can also use a choice board to create a breakout activity for your students where they work together or on their own to solve tasks and problems to move to the next step and complete the activity.

This is a fun way to engage your students and increase collaboration!

Lauren has put together an amazing resource with all of the directions, templates, and how-to videos at the link listed above. 

Template #5: Digital Menu for Student Creation – Tom Spall

This choice board combines multiple tech tools and platforms to provide choice with different activities that range from low tech – to high tech options.

This also allows students to build upon skills like communication and creativity, as well as develop new tech skills. 

***For the Google Slides Templates make sure you present the slides for the links to work

• The Secret Villiage – Created by Nathan Gildart
• Math Sample #1 (Friends Theme) – Created by Nathan Gildart
• Math Sample #2 – Created by Nathan Gildart
• The Lost Baby Tiger Template – Slyvia Duckworth
• Left Home Alone –  Created by Nathan Gildart
• The Online Adventures of Mousy and Mickey – Created by Nathan Gildart
• Choose Your Own Adventure Template – Created by Nathan Gildar

A choose your own adventure choice board is a great way to give yourself a break from presenting or delivering a lesson.

With this choice board, you can give students voice and choice in how they learn and they can go at their own pace to complete the lesson asynchronously.

We’ve linked some of our favorite choice board templates above for you to get started with.

Template #7: Show What You Know – Lisa Highfill

>>> Click here to access the templates

This type of choice board is pretty self-explanatory, but the templates linked above allow students to express themselves and choose to demonstrate their learning in the way that works best for them.

This choice board format also provides students the opportunity to use different types of technology to build new skills or refine current ones.

Template #8: Genius Hour – Christine Perkins

Genius hour is an amazing learner centered strategy that allows students to focus on projects of their choosing for one hour each week.

Genius hour is always a hit with students and it can help them identify hidden skills, develop their skills and find topics they’re passionate about.

Sometimes these boards can take longer to create so this is why we’ve pulled together a template you can use right away or copy and customize for your classroom. 

Template #9: Fortnite Digital Choice Board – Tom Spall

This is a fun template that students get really excited about!

They can create a project in the format of their choosing and this template also fosters collaboration.

You can use this template for any unit, project, or content area by customizing the options students can choose from. You can make a copy of this template and add in projects or activities that are aligned to your rubric. 

Template #10: Design Your Own Choice Board – Nick LaFave

This is a simple choice board template you can follow and all you have to do is add in images and text.

The template linked above will prompt you to make your own copy and you can customize it to fit your needs. 

Template #11: Flexible Choice Board – Knikole Taylor

An amazing educator, Knikole Taylor has designed this template to help you quickly and easily create a choice board for any subject area.

You can use this template time and time again. The link above will prompt you to make a copy. 

So…What Do You Think Of These Choice Board Templates?

Now we want to hear from you.

Leave a comment and share your favorite choice board template that isn’t in this post or which template you’re going to use first!

Looking for more resources?

• 20+ Insanely Actionable Teacher Resources You Can Use Today
• Free Blended Learning Workshops
• How a Technology Integration Specialist Used the Pandemic as a Way to Invite Change

[…] 11 Choice Board Templates You Can Use Tomorrow in Your Classroom […]

I love the Genius Hour template, but it says I don’t have access. Is it possible the owner could change share settings?

Hi Hannah, Thank you for reaching out! The owner has changed the share settings and unfortunately we haven’t had any luck in getting the settings changed. I’m so sorry! I will reach out to our training team and see if they have other resources like this.

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Searching for new ideas for a book project but not sure where to start? If you are like me, you love finding new engaging ideas for your students. However, finding projects specifically for a novel can be tough. I don’t want to give a test or assign a book report. I really love when students can share their creativity because they always surprise me. But making sure my students are completing standards based assessments on the same level can be difficult. If you are ready to update your novel project ideas, check out my list of 12 projects that you can implement right away in your classroom! 

Hey teacher, before I share my book project ideas, I wanted to give you a shortcut to starting your novel projects. Check out my Novel Study Project Ideas resource so your students can start their creativity right away. Students have access to 12 project choices with the Novel Project Choice Board. Each novel project includes a Project Requirement handout that includes a place to brainstorm ideas. Each creative assessment also comes with a detailed rubric for easy grading. Want to know more about each project option, keep reading below. 

Why Book Project Ideas Are Better

When chapter tests don’t work.

When I first started teaching, I thought that I needed to quiz my students. How was I supposed to know that they are understanding the novel? Plus chapter tests and a big exam at the end of the novel were easy to grade. But memorizing information about the plot is not higher level thinking. It certainly does not allow for creativity or show a deeper understanding of a text. I wanted something more for my students but it took quite a few years to find something that worked. That’s where these ideas for a book project were born. 

Why You Should Switch to a Novel Study Project

You are an awesome teacher who is looking for more for your students. I know you are ready for a change, and I have the perfect ones. You do not need to spend hours changing your curriculum or searching for the perfect project. All you need is to have your novel and a few days to commit to project work time. If you want your students to share their understanding of the main characters, conflicts, events, and themes from the novel, then novel projects are for you. Give your students a chance to show off their skills and creativity. Without restrictions or info regurgitation, your students will exceed your expectations. Ready to start with novel projects, then keep reading to learn about each of my 12 novel study project ideas.

12 Projects for Novels

Novel project #1: twitter posts.

Students choose the main character and their conflict for this project focus. Over the course of 12 tweets, students show the protagonist’s progression. The tweets include specific examples from the story to show understanding. While following the proper character format, each tweet can stand alone as a character’s thought. However, all tweets connect together to show the progression of a character.

Novel Project #2: TikToks

Allow students to combine the latest trends with their love of social media. What better way to showcase a main character and their struggles than with a TikTok series? Students create four TikToks videos that show the protagonist’s main conflict. By including specific examples from the novel, students show reading comprehension. Expect your students to bring the razzle-dazzle of music, voiceovers, captions, and more with this project. 

Novel Project #3: Netflix Show

Think your students are binge-watching pros? Then creating their own Netflix show should be no problem. Students create a drama-filled show that focuses on the main character and their struggles. Students will create a show overview to tease the reader about their overall concept. The show will also include a set of eight episode overviews. Each episode will include a part of the protagonist’s story, an image, and an episode title.

Novel Project #4: Original Song

Music is such a great outlet for students. I am always surprised by the level of talent that some of my students have. Allow your students to take on the persona of the main character and have them create an original song. With two verses and a chorus, students will share the story of the protagonist’s struggle. They will set their song to music and then record themselves singing it. I always offer bonus to the bold students who want to sing it live to the class.

Novel Project #5: Spoitfy Playlist

For my nonmusically talented students who still love listening to songs, I have the Spotify Playlist project. Students map out the main character’s conflict and how they overcome it, and they tell that story through songs. In this character playlist, students choose 12 songs that show the progression of the protagonist struggle and how it ends up for them. Students create the playlist on Spotify and then add comments to each song explaining how that song relates to a specific part of the story. By pulling lyrics from the songs, students will also practice their citing and analyzing skills.

Novel Project #6: PSA Video

Have a student who deals better with facts and statistics? The PSA Video is the project for them. Students create their own Public Service Announcement based on the conflict of the main character. Formatted like a PSA, the 45-60 second video must include researched information, a call to action, and the next steps for the viewer. While the video itself must have a professional quality to it, students do not have to be in front of the camera for this project.

Novel Project #7: Diary Entries

If your students are more creative writers, they can step into the mind of the protagonist. Students create 10 diary entries that provide insight into the character’s struggles and how they try to resolve them. Students will write these entries in first person point of view and in the classic diary form. Students will show they understand the thoughts of their characters by adding specific examples from the story. 

Novel Project #8: Children’s Book

Combining arts and creativity is a great outlet for your students with a children’s book. Students will take the main character and the lesson that they teach to create a story. Students design an eight page set that includes illustrations on each page and simple sentences to tell the protagonist’s conflict. The book should target a young audience that presents a clear theme.

Novel Project #9: Magazine Article

Some students who think logically will find the appeal of a magazine article. Students will consider the protagonist’s main conflict and write a nonfiction piece on that conflict. Students should include research and facts about this topic. The article should also include an interview with the protagonist sharing their experience with this problem. I require the article to contain 750-1000 words, subheadings, images, and easy-to-read font.

Novel Project #10: Podcast

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular and make a great character project. Students have the choice of conducting an interview with the character or creating the podcast as the character. The show must focus on the protagonist’s main conflict and their journey. The podcast has to be at least two minutes long and follow the format of a show with intro music, altro music, and a cover image. Students will need to make sure that they have clear audio for this project.

Novel Project #11: Poet’s Notebook

Some of my students excel at poetry and hardly ever get the chance to share it. In this project, students create a poet’s notebook of at least four poems. The poems must combine to be at least 40 lines but can follow any structure. The only requirements are that the poems relate to the main character and are written in poetic verse. The poems should connect in some way as they are a series. Finally, students should create a cover image for their collection.

Novel Project #12: Visual Art

For the artists in your class, challenge your students to create a visual art piece. Students have the freedom to create a visual piece in any medium. The focus of the piece should be the protagonist and their conflict. All artwork must be 100% created by the student. Finally, students need to include a one paragraph artist statement. The statement will provide insight into the artist’s choices and how it relates to the protagonist.

More Creative Ideas for Book Project

How to Teach a Novel Unit That Engages High School Students

5 Alternatives to Writing an Essay

3 Fresh Ideas You Can Use To Teach Characterization

Amp Up Your Class with the Powerful Strategy of Collaborative Classroom Projects

I hope these novel study project ideas help you to start thinking creatively. As you finish up your novel, start planning what projects you want your students to create in your classroom. One of the benefits of creative projects such as these ideas is that grading is so much more fun. Seeing your students show a deeper understanding of the characters and show off their skills.

 I hope you love these ideas for a book project and you try them out with your students. I would love to hear what new ways you use these novel project ideas. If you have some new ideas for a book project, tag me or send me a DM @theteacherrewrite on Instagram. You can always see what other great things I am working on in my classroom by checking out my blog . 

If you are ready to rewrite your novel project curriculum right away, check out my Novel Study Project Ideas resource. In this print or digital resource, I include all 12 novel project ideas from this post. Each project comes with a detailed description, a place to brainstorm, and a detailed rubric. These novel projects work with any novel so you can get started tomorrow. You are ready to start working on these novel projects right now.  I can’t wait to hear all your ideas for a book project!

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Privacy Overview

Using choice boards just makes sense! Every individual student represents a unique blend of strengths, interests, needs, experiences, and background knowledge, so it stands to reason that a one-size-fits-all approach to assessment is not ideal. Giving students some choice in how they are assessed is beneficial in a number of ways.

We likely all know somebody who refers to themself as a person who “doesn’t test well.” This usually means that they struggle with memorizing facts or that they succumb to the pressure of timed tests. What is our goal, as educators? Are we trying to create an assessment that only a percentage of our students can master or are we trying to get a true snapshot of each child’s understanding of the content that we taught?

Further, it becomes far too easy to place a premium on students’ testing achievement.  I would argue that our true task is to ensure that they are able to retain and apply the knowledge that has been learned.

Let’s explore some options that allow our students to do just that. After that, check out some specific choice board examples that are available for download .

What are Choice Boards?

Choice Boards are typically presented as a grid of various teacher-approved activities that students can use to demonstrate mastery of content.  The idea is to offer enough variety so that every student might select an option that plays to his strengths and interests.  The number and types of options are up to you, the educator.  I have typically seen Choice Boards used in one of three ways:

1) Single-Session Activities

The teacher offers a Choice Board with a number of short tasks that either ask students to explore new material or apply previously-learned content. These tasks are completed during a class session.

2) Multiple Activities

In this option, a Choice Board is given at the beginning of a unit and students are tasked with completing a number of relatively short activities by the due date.  Unlike the Single Session Choice Board, these activities are typically completed outside of class.

3) End of Unit Assessment

The teacher offers a number of larger project options that would take the place of a traditional end-of-unit test.  The student is typically given a couple of weeks or more to select and work on the project on their own time.  Each option should allow students to thoroughly demonstrate mastery of content.

Why should I use Choice Boards?

When students have some choice in how they will demonstrate their knowledge, they are likely to be more motivated.  Having choice may also reduce fear and anxiety.  For example, one student might love the opportunity to write and perform a song or speech that demonstrates what she has learned, while another student might prefer a less performance-based option such as creating a PowerPoint presentation.  

Above all else, I want to endorse the idea that solid Choice Board options will demonstrate student mastery of content at least as well, if not better, than a multiple-choice quiz or test.

How do I grade Choice Board submissions?

This is an important question, and one that I get almost every time that I introduce Choice Boards during a training.  With such a variety of activities, it might seem like you are comparing apples to oranges. The best way to ensure that you are accurately assessing your students’ mastery of content is to have a rubric.  Be sure to share the rubric up front with students.  It might include things such as:

• Content – How well does the submission demonstrate that a student learned the content?  You might be looking for use of key vocabulary or integration of particular concepts.
• Accuracy – Does the submission reflect a correct understanding of content?
• Completeness – Is the submission thorough in its portrayal of what was learned in a given academic unit? Were all requirements for the project met?
• Creativity – You may choose to reward students who put a creative spin on a project or who seem to step out of their comfort zone during the course of the project.
• Punctuality – Was the assignment submitted on time?

Have fun creating choice board options that will engage your students and allow them to play to their strengths.

Happy teaching.

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Free Book Report Templates: Printables for Grades 3-5 for Fiction or Nonfiction Books

Take a new spin on your book report assignment. 📚😍

The Nocturnals are fun-filled animal adventure books with companion nonfiction for elementary school classrooms. Check out The Nocturnals World , a resource hub with free turnkey printable activities and educator guides, and browse The Nocturnals bookstore!

Building lifelong readers is one of the most important things we can do in our classrooms. The benefits of reading are wide-ranging, from improving vocabulary skills to boosting cognitive development, concentration skills, and curiosity for learning. So, how do we get young learners excited about reading and sharing what they’ve learned? Check out our free book report template printables .

Four different activities are ready to print to help you take a new spin on your next book report assignment for fiction or nonfiction books. Students will love filling in their mini book report one-pagers or making their selections from the choice board to share details about what they read.

Worksheets Included:

My mini book report—fiction and nonfiction.

These book report one-pagers are a great way for students to reflect on their readings as they complete different sections of the worksheet. There’s a version for both fiction and nonfiction.

Book Report Choice Board

Give students choices on how they want to complete their book report assignment. This choice board offers eight fun options, from designing a comic to creating a playlist or writing interview questions, so students can let their creativity guide them.

Designing Water Bottle Stickers

Students are obsessed with stickers. In this unique activity, students will design water bottle stickers that the main character of the book would love to have, along with a short description of their choices.

Give students fun-filled books to choose from

Animal adventure books from The Nocturnals are the perfect way to get your upper elementary students excited about reading. Paired with nonfiction companion texts that explore nocturnal animal facts, this series is great for hi-lo readers. Visit The Nocturnals World for more free printable activities and educator guides.

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National conversation on banning books comes knocking at Knox County Schools' doors

Twenty-five years ago, some parents were concerned about the content of a new book for children: "Harry Potter." Looking through a religious lens, they were worried the book would teach their children witchcraft.

Knox County Schools' academic resources supervisor Sarah Searles used the example as a way to remind school board members that the discussion on banning books isn't new, and that perspectives can change over time.

The national conversation on challenging books that relate to gender, sex and race-related topics has come knocking on Knox County Schools' doors. The solution? Committees at the school and district level will work to review titles proactively.

"Our existing processes, while they have been robust, they have been reactive," Searles said. "They've waited for concerns to come in."

Her office is aware of the national discussion, she said, and reviewing titles on topics that some consider sensitive requires "complex decision making."

The district is forming school library councils and sensitive title review committees.

The school-level councils will have five to seven stakeholders including a librarian, the principal or their designee, a classroom teacher, counselor and a parent. This group will identify each library's needs including making library spaces more accessible to the community and removing outdated titles.

The sensitive title review committees will be one at each school level: elementary, middle and high schools. Each committee will have a representative from each of the district's five regions. These committees will send recommendations to individual school library councils, whose decision will be final.

"Our challenge to these review committees is to provide an unbiased evaluation to the school library councils," she said.

The system is a first for the district and the specifics are still being figured out. For starters, the review committees will evaluate the following three books:

• "A Tale Dark and Grimm ", by Adam Gidwitz will be reviewed by the elementary school committee.
• "Hey, Kiddo " by Jarrett J. Krosoczka will be reviewed by the middle school committee.
• "Gender Queer " , by Maia Kobabe will be reviewed by the high school committee.

These books' reviews will be used to test the process.

"Because of the complexity, there will be times where we need to remove titles from a collection. There will also be times where we receive complaints or concerns and those titles will not exit the collection," Searles said. "If we've done our job right with an unbiased review process, we believe we will catch each of those cases."

How the conversation started

Public forum speakers at the April 4 school board meeting addressed all sides of book banning. Students from West High School spoke about finding a feeling of safety and comfort from diverse books. Susan Groenke, director of the center for children’s and young adult literature at the University of Tennessee, wore a T-shirt saying “Make Orwell Fiction Again” and implored board members not to ban books.

"Sensitive titles help adolescents empathize with others," she said in her bid to the board.

Sheri Super, chair of the local Moms for Liberty chapter, previously asked the board to remove certain books from schools' libraries. She spoke about queer theory − a topic at the center of books being challenged.

"Queer theory wants to collapse boundaries between children and adults by sexualizing children with books like 'Gender Queer' and 'Fun Home,' which takes us to a nasty corner of queer theory," Super said.

What did board members say about the books selection process?

Several board members asked Searles clarifying questions. Board member Daniel Watson spoke of changing culture and shifting times. What was considered sensitive content decades ago isn't considered so anymore, he said.

Board vice chair Steve Triplett asked what the standard of review will be for books.

"It’s difficult in librarianship to define that," Searless said. Typically, each book will be reviewed individually before making the best decision possible, she said.

How did we get here?

Last month, school board chair Betsy Henderson asked Superintendent Jon Rysewyk for his staff to make a presentation on the process for challenging books and how librarians select books for schools.

"I want to be clear that I firmly believe in academic freedom and texts that challenge us," she said at the board's March meeting. However, she added, some books that were brought to the board's attention "are not challenging texts. Parents have come to us with books that contain sexually explicit imagery and that's not academic freedom. That's inappropriate content for minors."

"It's a complex subject," Rysewyk said at the March meeting. "As a father, I don't want my daughter to have access to that either ... but as an educator ... exposure to diverse ideas and viewpoints is part of education but we do need to make sure that it's age appropriate."

In November, Super stood before the Knox County school board and read a paragraph from " The Perks of Being a Wallflower ," a 1999 young adult novel by Stephen Chbosky.

"We're not book banners. We just want to have some kind of policy that can label these books, segregate these books, have parental opt-out options or in the event that some of these are too graphic, be removed from the schools," Super said.

Triplett said at a December meeting he had a private discussion with Rysewyk about "administrative procedures" on book selections and the two had "agreed to disagree."

"I firmly believe that no minor in Knox County should be able to find books with sexually descriptive acts in our school library," Triplett said in December.

Book bans spread across the country

Nationwide , since 2021, school boards around the country have discussed and even implemented book bans, often because they have sexual references or LGBTQ+ or race-related issues.

A majority of the targeted books were written by or about a person of color, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, or a woman, according to reports released from the  American Library Association  and PEN America, a free speech advocacy group.

Incidents over the last two years have drawn national attention and scrutiny from advocates who say book bans are an attack on students' freedoms and constitutional rights. Educators and librarians have been put in the spotlight over book disputes, as some have faced attacks or threats for publicly defending access to these materials.

In neighboring Anderson County, residents asked for 17 books to be removed from public libraries last year. A library committee and the Anderson County Library Board read and reviewed the books and chose not to do so, although one book was moved to a section for older children.

The group behind the movement

Moms for Liberty, a far-right organization founded in 2021,  defines itself on its website  as a "grassroots organization of moms" that is "working to defend parental rights." The group's mission statement says it's "dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government."

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls it a far-right antigovernment group .

The group's Knoxville chapter has a list of books that it finds inappropriate for minors and which schools have the books in their libraries.

Moms for Liberty uses a rating system developed by booklooks.org . That organization, separate from Moms For Liberty, has developed a system of rating books from 0 (books for everyone with no hate, no nudity and no profanity) to 5 (containing "aberrant" content).

USA TODAY contributed to this story.

Areena Arora , data and investigative reporter for Knox News, can be reached by email at  [email protected] . Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ AreenaArora .

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Book Report Choice Board Menu | Book Report Template for Any Book | 9 Ideas

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Book Report Menu: Students LOVE having choices in their Book Report! Students may choose the option on this book report template that best suits their learning style and personality. All book report choices must include a one-page summary page as well. This resource includes Book Report Choice Board Menu directions page and grading rubric.

Book Report Choice Board options include:

- Movie Trailer

- Photo and Text Collage

- Comic Strip

- Write a Test

- Shoebox Diorama

- Create a Food

- Book Jacket

- Book Review

- Interview a Character

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