Articles by Barbara F. Backer: Making Choices

Making Choices
(Copyright © 1995)
Barbara F. Backer

This article appeared in "First Teacher" magazine.

Learning to make choices is as important as learning reading and math. We all face choices daily. Some are easy and frivolous. (What color socks shall I wear?) Others are so important, they can change our lives. (What do I want to be when I grow up? Should I smoke cigarettes?)

As teachers, we hope our students will meet the future with the self-confidence and experience to make sensible choices, even when they are challenged by peer pressure and society's pressures.

Making wise choices is best learned through doing. Offer plenty of opportunities each day for children to make safe choices in your classroom.

Circle time activities are a good place to start. Kids gain confidence in their own ability to make choices when they see their classmates making decisions in a friendly environment where every opinion is valued.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

When children are dancing to the Hokey Pokey, let each child, in turn, decide what to "put in" next. Honor all choices. He can choose a body part(s) or an object. ("You put your hair in, you take your hair out...." Or, "You put LEGO in, you take LEGO out....")

For variety, ask the child, "Should we put our --- in by ourselves or while we hold hands with a friend?" Or, ask, "Should we do this standing on one foot or on both feet?"

Movement activities offer many opportunities for choices. Will you dance with a streamer or a scarf? What color scarf do you want? Shall we move backward or forward? Should we slide sideways or gallop like a horse?

If your students are marching to music, ask them to choose a rhythm instrument. Early in the year offer a choice between two items. "Do you want shakers or sticks?" Be sure there are enough of each to provide every child a choice. If you have eight sets of shakers and five sets of sticks, that doesn't provide a "choice" for ten children. Ideally, you'll have ten of each.

If your number of identical instruments is limited, offer this choice: "Do you want an instrument to shake or one that you hit?" The child then makes a selection from a group of similar instruments. In one box you'll offer tambourines, jingle sticks, maracas, and other things to shake. In another, cymbals, sticks, triangles, and drums - instruments to hit.

At another time, asking "Do you want an instrument made of metal or one with no metal?" offers other options.

Voting is a decision-making process that takes place in a group. Children can vote on which of two books to hear first, or which of three songs to sing first. Do read/sing all of the choices so no one feels left out. We want children to feel that making choices is a pleasant experience. If their vote doesn't "win", they still get to sing their favorite song. They'll learn the disappointments of life soon enough.

During Circle Time, sing and act out songs that offer opportunities for choices. Be daring, and sing them in a new way. Make up your own variations.

This Is The Way

(Tune: This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes)

This is the way we build with blocks,

Build with blocks, build with blocks.

This is the way we build with blocks

When we are at school.

Each child in turn chooses a school activity for the group to sing about. She shows the motion for children to follow as they sing.

Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Enjoy the variety and the giggles as each child has a turn to be "Old MacDonald" and then tell what he/she "had" and what was on it. Substitute the child's words in the underlined spots. Examples:

Brian Boston had a bike; E-I-E-I-O.

And on that bike he had a horn; E-I-E-I-O.

With a toot-toot here and a toot-toot there,

Here a toot (etc.)

Mrs. Patrick had a school; E-I-E-I-O.

And in that school she had some kids; E-I-E-I-O.

With a giggle-giggle here and a giggle-giggle there,

Here a giggle, there a giggle.

Everywhere a giggle-giggle.

Mrs. Patrick had a school; E-I-E-I-O.

Offer choices throughout the school day. If you are making snowmen in the art center, children can choose whether to make a large or small snowman, one made of two, three, or four snowballs. They can glue it on their choice of paper and can add as many buttons as they desire.

Set up your classroom to support choices. Have duplicates of materials so more than one child can play with the dump truck or the pig puppet. Be certain to fill the library shelves with 50% more books than the number of children in your class. That way, the last child to select a book does, indeed, have a choice.

Be certain learning centers are adaptable. Small centers with signs limiting the number of people who can play within eliminate that choice for the rest of the class. If everyone wants to play in the dramatic play area one day, and children are too crowded, help them solve the problem themselves. They can move out the divider walls and make the area larger, decide to set a timer so each child plays an equal amount of time, or realize a creative solution that no adult would ever think of!

Remind yourself to respect children's choices. If you offer a choice, always accept the child's answer. You'll see your students' self confidence grow as they learn to form and express their opinions and to make choices.

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