(From Silver, Strong & Perini)

Use the menus as a compass. Keep a running record of the styles and intelligences you use regularly, and also the ones you tend to avoid. When a particular form of assessment doesn’t work, offer the student another choice from another part of the menu.

Focus on one intelligence at a time. Offer your students a choice in one of the four styles, or urge them to do two assessments: one from a style they like and one from a style they would normally avoid.

Build on student interest. When students conduct research, either individually or in groups, show them the menus and allow them to choose the product or approach that appeals to them. They should choose the best product for communicating their understanding of the topic or text. Students thus discover not only the meaning of quality, but also something about the nature of their own interests, concerns, styles, and intelligences.