Student Choice: How Does it Relate to Student Behavior?

The purpose of this self-study research is to examine how incorporating student choice in an elementary classroom influences student behavior. Student choice or student agency, is an important concept in education because it gives students the opportunity to be empowered in their own learning. In an effort to examine the ways in which student choice directly impacted student behavior, I reflected upon my own teaching practices through field notes and lesson plans, analyzed anecdotal records, behavior logs, and the different choices students made during lessons. Findings demonstrate that student-choice leads to increased motivation levels among students, resulting in a decrease in the occurrence of problematic behavior in the classroom. Understanding how to provide student choice effectively as well as its benefits for managing student behavior is beneficial for all teachers.