Laurie E. Westphal

It was in 2005 that I decided to make a change! After being in the classroom for over 15 years, I was asked if I would consider leaving my "children" (students) and instead work with teachers sharing the ideas which I had found so helpful in my classroom. Like many other teachers, I had so many different abilities in my classroom as well as students whose strengths did not always center around their abilities.

I first developed choice boards in 1990 when I started teaching internationally. The needs of my students were so diverse from ability to language proficiency that I had to find a technique that could be a "strategic superhero" to save the situation. Menus saved the day; they met the needs of all of my students. Even after returning to the United States to teach, I continued to integrate them into instruction until I left the classroom.

I did not agree to leave the classroom to escape, but rather with the goal that by writing books and presenting staff development for teachers, I could have an even greater on students by providing some solutions for teachers. No matter what the job title, I am a teacher first and foremost.