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edpuzzle.com

blendspace.com

nearpod.com

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what are you finding most effective in breaking your class into groups ... peer, ability, etc?

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How many stations are optimal per class period? Do you make sure the tasks are more challenging as they advance through the stations?
What happens if a student doesn't finish all of the stations?
How often should you have stations?

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I teach special education, and we do a lot of stations in my teaching. How can I add a variety to my stations, without throwing off their routines? 

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I teach special education, and we do a lot of stations in my teaching. How can I add a variety to my stations, without throwing off their routines? 

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Would you use stations everyday? Or would this be a rotation?

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How can stations be used in high school?

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How can you level stations or activities for students with different needs?

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What is the most effective way to group middle school students?

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Time Savers with large groups!

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How many minutes should each station last?

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Integrating Technology in Stations Presentation

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Integrating Technology in Stations Presentation

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You've probably heard of-and maybe used-learning stations in your classroom. With stations, teachers set up activities around their rooms, then have students rotate from station to station, performing each task. They are a wonderful way to provide variety and engagement in your classroom.

There's only one real downside to stations-they take a LOT of time to set up. And because we're all short on time, we may not use stations as often as we could.

So today I'm proposing a watered-down version of stations that keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work. I'm calling these "Chat Stations," discussion prompts that students visit just like stations, but instead of performing a complex task, they just have a quick discussion. Chat Stations are incredibly flexible: They can be used for test reviews, ethical debates, exploring new material, even analyzing literature.

On top of their flexibility as a cooperative learning tool, Chat Stations can also dramatically improve whole-class discussions. Because students have fully explored each issue in the less-threatening Chat Station setting, they will be better prepared to participate in a larger class discussion next. And as we explored in a previous post, we need to do more to engage our less talkative students. Chat Stations offer another way to get them more involved.

Here's a video demonstrating how Chat Stations work:

The more traditional kinds of stations-where students perform more complex or hands-on work-are still the gold standard for student engagement, but Chat Stations can be a great strategy for those times when you haven't been able to prepare a "real" station. They still get students up and moving and breathe new life into your content. And there's really no limit to how challenging your questions can be.

I'm pretty sure I haven't invented anything new here, so if you're doing something like this and have a tip or suggestion to add, please comment below. If you try this for the first time, please share your experiences with us. ♦

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Students Sitting Around Too Much? Try Chat Stations.

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Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.