Whitney Bowers

Professor McGovern
EDC252
4/30/16

Choice Board Lesson

Broad Theme: Working with the novel The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M.
Auel
Standard: Complete one of the 9 activities below related to the novel and its
characters, vocabulary, theme, and/or content.
Blooms Level:
KNOW
Identify one
character that
you think is most
important to the
clan and explain
why in
approximately 2
paragraphs.

Blooms Level:
UNDERSTAND
Cite examples
from the first 2
chapters that
display the clans
hierarchy relating
to gender and
other ways of
measuring status.

Blooms Level:
APPLY

Blooms Level:
UNDERSTAND

Blooms Level:
ANALYZE

Illustrate your
favorite scene
from the novel
and include at
least 1 character
in the drawing,
along with a
paragraph about
why this scene is
your favorite.
Blooms Level:
EVALUATE

Characterize Ayla
at the beginning
of the story
versus the end in
2-3 paragraphs.
Besides being
older, how has
she changed?

Compare the
gender roles in
the clan to those
that exist today.
Do the roles serve
a purpose in the
story? Are they
restrictive? Why?
(2-3 paragraphs)

Select that
chapter that best
displays the
novels theme of
accepting those
are different.
Explain your
reasoning. (2-3
paragraphs)

Blooms Level:
EVALUATE

Blooms Level:
CREATE

Blooms Level:
CREATE

Choose one
vocabulary word
from each chapter
(that you didnt
know before).
Write the
definitions for
each along with a
sentence that
conveys its
meaning.

Create your own

2-page flash
fiction story
including at least
2 characters from
the novel.

Prepare a short
(2-3 minute)
presentation
about the themes
of accepting
outsiders and
mixing
racial/social
groups. Include
several examples
from the book
with your
opinions.

QUESTIONS
1. Describe the intended grade/content area and some background
information regarding how your board would fit into your instruction.
a. This is a choice board that I would prepare for a high-school
ELA class. I think it could be a fun in-class activity and I would
give students the option to work on it individually, in pairs, or
in small groups. This is the type of activity that would work
best as a way to conclude a unit on a particular book. By the
time students would be asked to complete this activity, we
would have already read the book as a class and discussed it
on multiple occasions.
2. What part of the process did you find the most challenging?
a. Choosing a topic (a theme and a standard in this case) was
most challenging for me because I had to find a good starting
place. Once I did that, the rest came pretty naturally.
3. Choose your most challenging activity and provide an explanation of
how you could modify it for a student with a learning disability.
a. Doing a presentation in front of the class might be very
difficult for a student with a disability, either because h/she is
nervous about public speaking or because h/she has physical
barriers that make the task more difficult. I might modify this
activity by making the presentation shorter or by allowing
them to make a written outline of the presentation which they
then turn in to me.

4. Can you see yourself using a choice board in your classroom? Why
or why not?
a. I could definitely see myself using this strategy. I like it
because it gives the students some freedom in deciding how
they want to spend the class period, but all the topics are
guided by a common theme and have a standard that must
be met in order to demonstrate mastery. I think it is great to
give our students more flexibility when it comes to in-class
activities and it was fun to think of a variety of tasks that
might appeal to students with different strengths and
interests.