Give students options!

In my experience using choice boards like Ms Nelson Is Not Missing here, the key advantage is empowering students by offering them options tailored to their strengths and interests. For example, some students thrive in creating podcasts (Option 1), while others prefer visual tasks like one-pagers or timelines (Options 2 and 4). This variety encourages deeper engagement since learners select tasks that align with how they best process information. One valuable feature is the universal rubric that works across all nine assignment types. It simplifies grading while maintaining consistent expectations for rhetorical understanding, textual evidence, and analysis quality. This consistency helps students understand the core skills they need to develop, regardless of which option they choose. I also appreciate how the board integrates supports for varying student needs, such as low-tech alternatives and pre-annotated texts for those who struggle with reading complex materials. Encouraging students to reflect on why they chose a particular task and how it helped them engage critically with the text fosters metacognitive growth. From a teaching perspective, the flexibility of choosing which options to offer — maybe starting with three or four before expanding — allows for gradual scaffolding. The inclusion of extension tasks like the "Push Yourself" prompts and the option for peer feedback further enriches the learning experience. Finally, the focus on analyzing rhetorical situation through the S.P.A.C.E.C.A.T framework (Speaker, Purpose, Audience, Context, Exigence, Choices, Appeals, Tone) develops students’ analytical skills in a structured way. This not only meets curriculum standards but equips students with transferable critical thinking abilities. Overall, incorporating a choice board modeled on Ms Nelson’s approach can transform rhetorical analysis from a daunting task into an engaging, student-centered exploration.