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Took materials from unit and divided into a station that deals with notes from the unit, a station that deals with the documents we examine during the unit, and a station that focuses on either an independent read, a video, or review for Regents exam. Students are given a week at each station.
Students are given a checklist/playlist of material to cover in a given time frame that they have signed by teacher to signify that they assignment is complete.

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There are as many co-teaching models as there are types of students. That's important to keep in mind when you're dealing with a larger class where students are all at different levels. Even if they're all working on the same assignment, they may need to work at a different pace or have a different learning style.

In a class with students at different levels, the traditional model of station teaching is one way to do it, where you split the class into two different activities to learn the same standards. But co-teachers can also individualize while doing station teaching, or mix other co-teaching models like "one teach, one support." You can do this when chunking lessons.

For example, Erin and Michelle were two co-teachers that I worked with at a middle school in New Hampshire. They used 20-minute chunks of time for station teaching: The first five minutes of the class or the lesson were a warm-up, while the next 10 to 15 minutes were used for direct instruction with the whole class on the objective for that day. That was accomplished either through team teaching or "one teach, one support."

During the direct instruction period Erin and Michelle also set behavioral expectations for their students for the next chunk of class time. Students could choose to work alone, or with a partner, or in small groups. They could choose what approach they wanted to take to complete the assignment.

After setting those expectations, they had the students get into their stations. All the students had to complete the assignment, but they had choices on how to do it, and could choose how to accomplish the tasks necessary to meet their goal. Some did the work on their laptops, some wrote it out by hand. Some students read the book while others listened to an audio version. However, they were all working toward the same objective. That was key.

Combining station teaching with individualized work gave students the freedom to work at their own pace, while honoring their learning style. Michelle and Erin rotated through the stations to make sure they supported every student, not just the ones who needed intervention.

This co-teaching model offers a lot of room for customization. Depending on the rapport between you and your co-teacher, and the atmosphere of the classroom, you can vary the station teaching and maximize your opportunities for student success. Whether the student is struggling or has needs, or is high achieving, each one gets the attention they need, and that's a beautiful thing.

Explore even more tips, tools, and resources for collaboration at TheHowofCo-teaching.com!

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Co-teaching models: Chunking Lessons with Station Teaching - Susan Fitzell

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There are as many co-teaching models as there are types of students. That's important to keep in mind when you're dealing with a larger class where students are all at different levels. Even if they're all working on the same assignment, they may need to work at a different pace or have a different learning style.

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Ways to use stations in high school (English)

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Ways to use stations in high school (English)

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Stations, otherwise known as centers or rotations, are a great way to increase engagement in your classroom. Research has proven the connection between movement and the retention of knowledge. If that alone isn't enough to convince you to use stations in your classroom, try to imagine what it is like to be a typical middle school or high school student.

For about seven hours straight, you sit at a desk, pen or pencil in hand or in front of a computer screen. No moving except for your walk from one class to the next and little talking except at lunch time. Feeling bored yet? Fidgety? Maybe a little sleepy?

Stations: The Basics
Stations not only allow students to move around the classroom, channeling their energy into a productive purpose, stations also encourage academic conversations and collaboration among students.

Stations can be used to spice up just about any activity. Think about the last worksheet you handed out to students. How could you divide that up into five or six parts that could be placed around the room? For example, instead of using a handout to review a grammar concept, you could have one station where students take notes, another where they write sentences demonstrating their knowledge of the concept, and another where students correct errors from real world examples.

One way I use stations in my classroom is to reinforce and review skills such as plot and setting, conflict and characterization, figurative language, point of view, and nonfiction. I find that my students have had exposure to these literary elements, but do not have the definitions committed to memory and lack a deeper understanding of the terms. Instead of just taking notes or practicing with a drill and kill worksheet, using stations allows students to move around and engage in purposeful academic conversation with their peers. They become the teachers, helping and correcting each other, and sometimes even explaining terms in a new and helpful way to their classmates.

For these types of stations, I often use matching, sorting, and ordering activities because I can quickly and easily check them, eliminating lag time and off topic conversation between stations. When checking, I can also eliminate manipulatives that students matched, sorted, or ordered correctly and just have them focus on the ones with which they are struggling.

Stations for Previewing Texts
Another way I use stations in my classroom is to preview novels or other texts we will be reading as a class, especially if it is helpful to have background information or prior knowledge of an issue or historical time period in the text.

For example, when teaching Night by Elie Wiesel, a piece of literary nonfiction centered around the Holocaust, I use a set of stations to help students begin to grapple with this almost unbelievable event. Some of the station activities relate to the Holocaust as a whole, such as matching caption descriptions with images from the time period and then selecting one image to analyze. Other station activities connect directly to the novel, such as placing the events of Night author, Elie Wiesel's life in chronological order.

Some of the stations require students to work as a group, while at others, students will work independently or do a mix of both. Based on indicated student interests from a previous lesson, I may add a media station where students watch and respond to a short video on a topic such as Adolf Hitler or the Nuremberg Laws. You can find all of my resources for teaching Night and the Holocaust here.

Stations on the First Day of School
Finally, I have also used stations as an activity on the first day of school. I've never liked standing at the front of the classroom, giving the same speech over and over, class period after class period. And if it is boring for me, I can only imagine how boring it is for my students.

Last year I decided to change things up a bit and designed station activities that would accomplish everything I wanted to get done on the first day of school: review my syllabus, introduce the novel choices for literature circles, hand out necessary materials, and have students set goals and begin getting to know each other.

The six station activities I created, some of which included group tasks while others included independent tasks, were intended to be completed within a 45 minute period. There were some activities that students didn't completely finish before the timer went off every seven and a half minutes, but this created an urgency for students to get done as much as possible.

While students were working at stations, I was free to walk around the room and interact with groups and individual students, a much better alternative to being tied to a PowerPoint presentation at the front of the room staring out at a sea of faces.

If you are interested in starting your school year off similarly, you can find my first day of school stations, which are fully editable, here.

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The Literary Maven: Using Stations to Engage Secondary Students: 3 Ways to Incorporate Movement Into Learning

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Learning centers, also known as stations at the secondary level, are ideal activities to use to bring movement into your middle school or high school classroom. Find out how to implement stations on your first day of school, as you review key ideas or terms, and as a way to preview texts.

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Great way to learn how to use station teaching for world history.

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Using stations in the social studies classroom can increase student engagement, and stations aren't just for elementary school kids!

The last post I wrote was about how you can use simulations in your classroom as an instructional strategy instead of lecturing. I hope you had a chance to try out the free World War 2 Iwo Jima simulation I offered in that blog post. If you haven't, be sure to download it and give it a try! Or you can read about how you can incorporate political cartoons in your classroom (with a FREE analysis page!). Want to learn more about social studies escape rooms? Yep, I got that, too!

Again, I am definitely NOT trying to knock lecturing as an instructional strategy because there IS a time and place for it in the classroom. However, I want to encourage you to expand your teaching strategies to beyond lecturing and PowerPoints.

The second instruction strategy I am going to share with you during my "7 Ways to Step Away From the Lecture Podium & Revitalize Your Social Studies Classroom" blog series is STATIONS.
WHAT ARE STATIONS?
Stations are kind of like centers (BTW- I learned the first day of 6th grade NOT to call centers "centers"! Stations. Call them stations!) Each station is on a small card, and it contains instructions on what the student needs to do, and each station is different. I like to try and incorporate multiple intelligences within the stations so that every student has at least one station he/she looks forward to. I create stations so that each one focuses on a different sub-topic and has a different type of output. Once you have your stations set up, small groups of students move through them. Stations can last however long you want. I typically have stations that last 1-2 days. This works best of stations are independent of one another so that students can complete them in any order. This keeps from there being a back up at one station, and it also keeps you from having to make tons of copies.
WHY USE STATIONS?

Easy yet effective- You don't need a lot of materials for stations. In some cases, you only need the card and recording sheet for students. You don't even have to have technology to implement stations!

Perfect if you are limited in your technology access- Some of the stations I create do use QR codes because my students have easy access to technology. However, if you only have a handful of laptops or iPads available, or maybe even less, you can have one station use technology. Students can rotate through this station, so you really only need a couple of laptops or iPads.

Fewer discipline issues- Like simulations, students will be engaged during the stations, which means you will have to redirect students less. You will need to "train" students on what is appropriate and expected behavior during stations, but once you have done this, stations should be pretty routine. Also students have less time to be off task because each station ideally lasts about 15 minutes, so students won't begin to drift off or get distracted before they change to a new station.

Great for review- I usually use stations as a review of a unit we just finished. Each station focuses on one major sub-topic of that unit, so after students have completed the stations, they will have had a nice, quick review of the important concepts from that unit.

Offers differentiation- Stations are a great way to differentiate for your students. You can have students complete specific stations if they need extra practice, or you can include higher-level thinking stations for your advanced learners. Since you are in control of creating the stations, you can tailor them to meet the specific needs of your learners.

Critical thinking- If you include primary documents in your stations, students will have to analyze those sources in order to complete them. We all know primary documents are not always easy to understand! Students also have to draw upon the knowledge they already learned to know which skills they need to apply at what station.

Stations are fun- Stations offer novelty in the classroom, and since students are in charge of their learning at each station, they really enjoy it! It gives them a sense of independence, and because each station only lasts for a short time, students don't get bored. My students looked forward to station days because they knew they would hear less of me talking and more of them taking. What student doesn't want that?!

HOW DO I IMPLEMENT STATIONS?

First, make sure you have adequate time. You don't want to rush students through them. My class periods typically were 55 minutes long, and I usually allowed 2 days for stations. The first 1o minutes of my class was spent watching CNN Ten (if you haven't watched it, please do. It is the PERFECT way to keep students informed of daily events around the world in a non-partisan way. My students LOVED watching it!), so I really had about 45 minutes of instruction time. The first day I explained each station so students knew what to do, and that usually took about 15 minutes. Students worked the remaining 30 minutes until the bell rang, and then the following day they had 45 minutes to finish them. This was plenty of time for my students to complete all the stations. Some stations will take longer than others, so make sure as you are creating the stations, you take this into account. If you have two stations that will take 20-25 minutes to complete, you will have fewer total stations.

Also make sure each station has everything needed for students readily available. You don't want students to waste time gathering materials. My stations usually consisted of the station card and access to technology if the station used a QR code. A couple of my stations also needed individual cards printed out. For example, I always had an "Assess It" station. This station consisted of 18 questions students had to answer, so each question was on its own smaller card. If you have something like this, make sure all the question cards are ready to go in a small baggie so they don't get lost. You can also put them on a small ring to keep them organized. If a station requires a map or globe, make sure the map or globe is sitting at the station, ready to go. Some of my stations required coloring, so my students knew to take their coloring utensils with them. Just make sure students have what they need as soon as they get to that particular station. You don't want any wasted time!

You also need to decide if students are going to be moving around the room. I had my students rotate to a different table (I used tables in my classroom, not desks). Each table had a different station set out. Students were able to move around to get their wiggles out in between stations. You might rather have the students stay in one spot and rotate the stations around.

You want students to be held accountable for the stations, so they need some type of recording sheet you can grade or look over. I made booklets for my students (well, not really booklets. I just stapled the recording pages together so students couldn't lose them). When students finished the stations, they knew they needed to turn them in the basket.

You will also need to decide if you are going to grade them or just look over them. I always took a grade because students should know the information since I used stations as a review, and I wanted students to know they needed to put forth their best effort on these. If I didn't take a grade, some of my lovelies would have rushed through, not giving their best effort.

What will students do when they are finished? Some of my students needed the entire second day to finish, while others did not. Make sure students know what they will do when they are finished with the stations. You might not want to give them free time because this could turn into them distracting those students who are still working. When my students finished, I had different options for them.

"One option was History Vaults. I had sets of "vaults" with a little known fact written on it. Students would need to discuss and decide if the fact was true or false before opening the vault (or turning the card over) to see if they were right. I wrote a blog post about this activity that goes into detail on how I set this activity up. My students LOVED it! The best part was that they didn't need a ton of time. They could complete one vault in less than 10 minutes.

"Another option was a simulation we had already completed. This was only if students finished up the second day pretty quickly, and we had around 25-30 minutes left of class. My students completed a simulation for each unit, and by the time we got to the stations for the unit, we had already completed the simulation. My students always begged to do the simulation multiple times because each time is a different outcome based on their choices, what card they draw, or what number they roll. I had a simulation set created and ready-to-go for each simulation we had already done just for early finishers. Students already knew what to do, so they could jump right in without my help. You can read more about how I ran simulations in my classroom.

"If my students still needed to find an event for their date for our "This Day in History" project, they could use their remaining time to use our classroom computers (or their own technology) to do this. Students had 4-5 dates per quarter, so this was always a good early finisher choice for them.

"Some of my students preferred to look over their interactive notebooks and review because they knew our unit test would be coming up soon.

"If the majority of my students finished early enough that second day, I went ahead and passed out their study guides for the unit test because the stations were the last activity we did before the test. My students appreciated the extra time given to complete their study guides 🙂 If you need a comprehensive social studies unit that includes everything you need to teach a topic, I do have social studies curriculum units available.
READY TO TRY STATIONS IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
If you are ready to give stations a try, I created this Reconstruction Era mini-stations pack you can download for FREE! Try it out, and see how your students like it. This is a mini-pack, so there are just 4 stations included, but it is the perfect amount to see if you want to continue using stations in your classroom 🙂 If you know you want to use stations in your classroom, I have several social studies stations packs available. Just print and go!

I would love to hear about your experience using stations in your classroom in the comment section below!

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Using Stations in the Social Studies Classroom

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Using stations in the social studies classroom can increase student engagement, and stations aren't just for elementary school kids! The last post I wrote was about how you can use simulations in your classroom as an instructional strategy instead of lecturing.

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I found the website below very informational to help me set up stations for my government class as a whole.
https://www.brainyapples.com/2018/05/24/free-social-studies-stations/
Senior English:
The second website for setting up stations for senior English
https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2017/10/station_learning_engages_high_.html

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Strategy

Learning Centers, Teaching Centers

Co-Teaching Stations is a model where two teachers simultaneously conduct different lessons or activities related to the same content at stations or learning centers. Teachers work together to pre-plan teacher-led stations where new content can be introduced to groups, as well as independent stations where students can engage in reinforcement activities. To enable smooth transitions during rotations, all stations are paced so that teaching ends at the same time and independent work is rigorous and sustainable. Co-Teaching Stations should not be used for intervention or re-teaching to small groups. Instead, both teachers are actively introducing and delivering new content to each group. Co-Teaching Stations are an efficient use of time that allows students to experience repeated exposure to content and enables teachers to deliver targeted, small group instruction.

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Learning Centers, Teaching Centers Co-Teaching Stations is a model where two teachers simultaneously conduct different lessons or activities related to the same content at stations or learning centers. Teachers work together to pre-plan teacher-led stations where new content can be introduced to groups, as well as independent stations where students can engage in reinforcement activities.

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Station Teaching - Self-Contained Life Skills
Hygiene Habits

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Their bodies are changing, they're facing puberty, and their skin is breaking out. It's time to teach your growing kids hygiene habits to last a lifetime. Some tweens can be fussy and conscientious about hygiene and cleanliness. Other tweens may need a little encouragement in order to establish healthy habits and routines. Here's how to deal with hygiene and establishing habits for healthy living.

The first step to teaching healthy hygiene habits is to establish a working routine. Your tween needs to bathe or shower every day, and shampoo at least twice a week. Some tweens may enjoy showering at the end of the day, in order to relax before bed. Other tweens may need to shower in the morning, in order to wake up and face the day. A child who is active, involved in sports, or prone to sweating will need to shower every day, and in some cases, more than once a day. Whatever your tween's needs are, help him or her establish a routine so that showering becomes a habit and part of the daily schedule.

Remember that your tween doesn't know as much as you do about skincare, so explain what your child needs to do to keep her skin clean and less likely to break out. Show your child how to properly wash the face, moisturize if necessary, and use over the counter acne treatments such as benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. Be sure you also point out how important a healthy diet, rest, and exercise are to kids, hygiene and overall well being.

Your son may have to wait a few years before shaving becomes necessary, but tween girls may want to begin shaving their legs or under their arms before they hit the teen years. Nobody knows how to shave properly right from the beginning, it takes patience and practice. Consider purchasing a battery-operated shaver, which gets the job done and doesn't require a steady hand like disposal razors do. Your child can get a closer shave with disposable razors once she's more confident and has a better understanding of what she's doing. If your son is ready to shave, the same advice applies. Try a battery-operated shaver first, in order to avoid those nasty razor cuts.

It's easy for tweens to go overboard on colognes or body sprays. Be sure you explain that a little bit goes a long way. Also, help your tween pick out a deodorant stick or antiperspirant stick that he or she likes. Tweens are tempted to choose deodorant products with strong scents, but sometimes those products can irritate young skin. Help your child find a product that does the job, without causing skin problems.

Tweens enjoy picking out their own clothes and finding their own style. The same goes for cosmetics. Make showering fun by taking your tween shopping, allowing your tween to pick-out his or her own soaps and shampoos. Be sure to teach your child that sometimes the most expensive items aren't necessarily the best. You could even splurge on new towels, washcloths, and bath accessories for your tween. Or, if your child has his or her own bathroom, you could redecorate or paint the bathroom according to your tween's own style.

If your tween associates showering or bathing with relaxing, he or she will be less likely to fuss when it comes time to clean up. Tell your child to use his or her time in the bathroom to calm down, think about the day, relax, and plan for the week ahead.

Tween's need privacy and can be very self-conscious about their changing bodies. Make sure your tween has the privacy he or she needs (from you and from siblings) in order to feel comfortable showering and bathing. Let your child know that you are available to answer questions, but that you understand if he or she prefers to find answers elsewhere, such as from siblings, friends or online.

Compliment your tween when he or she takes the time to look good. Your child should know that people notice the effort and that personal appearance does matter.

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Their bodies are changing, they're facing puberty, and their skin is breaking out. It's time to teach your growing kids hygiene habits to last a lifetime. Some tweens can be fussy and conscientious about hygiene and cleanliness. Other tweens may need a little encouragement in order to establish healthy habits and routines.

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See all the wonderful things Amber Klebanoff has made

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How do I set up a station rotation model in my classroom?

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Interested in implementing stations and not sure where to start? This guide will give you tangible resources and research, with key insights and strategies around culture, space, and routines.

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https://www.brainyapples.com/2018/05/24/free-social-studies-stations/

https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-meaningful-learning-stations-cassandra-sachar

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- Gives students the opportunity to think critically and internalize material
- Gives them the opportunity to work collaboratively
- Opportunities to explore and reflect
- Engages all students

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STATION TEACHING - MATH 8
Opening Discussion:
Essential Question: How do we use math in everyday life?
Key Concept: Relationships
Related Concept: Justification
Global Concept: Solutions

5 Stations:
Station 1: Exponents & Scientific Notation
Station 2: Solving Equations
Station 3: Slope and Lines
Station 4: Graphing Lines
Station 5: Real-Life Applications (Students developed their own problems.)

Grouping:
4-5 students per station
Heterogeneous

Closure:
Students present the last station they worked at on the white board for self-assessment and explanation.

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Co-teaching is an inclusive education model in which students with special education needs are provided the opportunity to learn in a mainstream classroom with the additional support of a special education teacher who co-teaches with the general education teacher. This model has proven successful in many school districts for several reasons.
Benefits for students with special education requirements
First of all, the co-teaching model ensures that students with special needs have access to the general education curriculum. By law students with disabilities must be provided access to learning opportunities that do not restrict their ability to progress in a subject or grade level. In a co-taught class, special education students have the opportunity to move from modified assignments to typical assignments as they develop skills and confidence. As a result, co-taught special education students are generally more likely to meet grade-level standards.

While they have access to the mainstream curriculum, co-taught students also continue to receive specialized instruction. Special education teachers within the mainstream classroom can coach students individually, or in small groups, providing them the additional coaching and guidance necessary for them to complete activities and assignments.
Differentiated instruction
In addition to in-class support for mainstream assignments, co-taught students also have the opportunity to grow within the curriculum through differentiated instruction. Since there are two teachers in the class, the same material can be taught in two or more different ways. The special education teacher can anticipate student needs and, in planning lessons with the mainstream teacher, prepare alternative lesson materials and assessments to help special education students reach the grade-level learning goals.

Although the special education teacher in a co-taught class often delivers content, he or she sometimes spends class time observing students with special needs. In observing how the student responds to class assignments the special education teacher can develop new ways to revise materials or reteach concepts to ensure every student remains on-task and on-topic. In addition, in large or difficult to manage classes, either of the co-teachers can circulate during a lesson to ensure every student is on-task and attentive, and answer questions or redirection where necessary.

One teaches/one observes: In one model, one teacher delivers a lesson while the other observes and assists students. This model is particularly valuable for topics that are detailed or require the delivery of extensive content such as dates, names, and timeline events. As one teacher explains new ideas, the other reviews student notes to ensure all students are capturing the most important information.

Parallel teaching: Students are divided into two groups and each teacher delivers the same content in similar or dissimilar lessons to their groups. This model is valuable when co-teachers have identified different learning needs in a classroom that can be addressed through different types of lessons. So, for example, one group may read passages or listen to a teacher lecture, while the other watches a video and copies notes from a board. At the end of the class period, both groups will have received the same information.

Station teaching: Station teaching tends to be very popular with students, as it gives them the opportunity to move around the classroom and work with different peers. During station teaching class desks are grouped into four or five different areas. Two will be "staffed" by the co-teachers who deliver content directly to students or check their progress on assignments. The other stations call for independent or group work. At the end of the class, students have the opportunity to meet with one or both teachers to review what they've learned.

Team teaching: This model gives all students to learn from two different teachers, who may have different perspectives, methods, or information to share. In team-taught lessons, the entire class is in one group. However, if students fall behind or seem to struggle with the content, one of the teachers can pull a small group away to reteach and review material.

Disadvantages of co-teaching
Obviously, there are many advantages to co-teaching. Students have more opportunities to learn, seek clarification, and receive remediation when there are two qualified educators present during class time. There are, however, some disadvantages to co-teaching environments.

Concerns for typical students: While co-teaching is well suited to meet the needs of students who require extra support, or those who may need enrichment, there is always the possibility that typical students with average ability and average engagement can be neglected. When a class includes students with special needs, it can be challenging to address the needs of students who meet but do not exceed grade-level requirements. Students who find the content accessible may not seek attention and may develop unrealistic impressions of their own abilities. This model can, potentially, stifle the most typical student who does not seek opportunities to excel.

Distractions: Some students may be distracted by having two teachers in the classroom, especially if the co-teachers follow a model when just one teacher presents content at a time. A teacher circulating around the classroom during a lesson can capture the attention of easily-distracted students or cause self-conscious students to withdraw from class discussions.

Student impressions of teachers: If co-teachers follow the model of having one teacher circulate while the other teaches the lesson, students may develop the opinion that one teacher, the one presenting the lesson, has more authority or is more competent than the other. This attitude can be an obstacle to using other co-teaching models, as students may feel slighted if assigned to the less-active teacher during station or parallel teaching.

Student expectations: Students may react so positively to the benefits of having a circulating teacher available to respond to questions that they may come to expect one-on-one tutoring or re-teaching during class time. This expectation interferes with students' ability to become independent learners and can lead to them becoming insecure and second-guessing their work, as they are accustomed to having a teacher suggest that they review certain questions or responses.

Classroom noise: When two teachers are working with students simultaneously, the room will be unavoidably loud. Some students may find it difficult to concentrate and work independently while others are working with teachers. Effective co-teachers work to develop procedures that allow independent students to migrate to a quiet area of the room while others work with teachers. However, being separated from other students can cause students to feel anxious or left out of class activities.

This video explains the co-teaching model for special education.

Despite these manageable drawbacks, co-teaching has proven an effective strategy for integrating students with special needs into mainstream classrooms, and for providing typical students with additional support and enrichment activities. Since co-teaching is a relatively new approach to meeting the needs of special education students, no broad studies have been completed on the effectiveness of this method. However, limited studies show that teachers and students report that co-teaching is effective. Students report that they are able to garner and retain more content in a co-taught course than in a typical mainstream course or in a modified curriculum course. Teachers report that they are better able to assess and meet the needs of all students in a co-taught class and that working with a co-teacher enhances the creativity of lessons.

As schools continue to develop new and more effective ways to meet the learning requirements of students with special needs it is likely that co-teaching will remain one approach. Collegial teaching that takes advantage of the skills and strengths of two teachers is well suited to mixed-ability classrooms and to helping all students reach grade-level proficiency.

Questions? Contact us on Facebook. @publicschoolreview

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Co-teaching Offers New Opportunities for Students with Special Needs - PublicSchoolReview.com

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Co-teaching is an inclusive education model in which students with special education needs are provided the opportunity to learn in a mainstream classroom with the additional support of a special education teacher who co-teaches with the general education teacher. This model has proven successful in many school districts for several reasons.

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Desks grouped in quads. Chart papers labeled and posted around the room. Clear directions both posted and orally presented as well as a clear objective for why students would be traveling to different areas of the room.

As I walked into an 11th grade classroom to watch students engage in collaborative conversations about the American Dream, I was overwhelmed by the depth of their discussions and ideas about the topics as they approached the theme from different perspectives.

In preparation for this lesson and study of the upcoming text, students were asked to interview a family member about the American Dream to add some depth of understanding and context before exploring the texts. The questions they asked in their interviews were:

"What does the American Dream mean to you?"

"In your opinion, is the American Dream attainable?"

"Do you think 'class' has anything to do with whether or not a person can attain his/her dream?"

It's with this context that West Hempstead High School English teacher, Jeannette Casto decided to do this lesson. "Since we will be starting Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, I constructed this lesson as a pre-reading, motivating activity where students had to consider the concept of the American Dream and the possible barriers one may encounter when trying to achieve his/her American Dream. In addition, I wanted them to question the idea of "class"-whether or not class plays a role in achieving one's American Dream and if class influences our destiny? These questions will be further discussed and examined while students are reading the novel."

The lesson did an excellent job of getting students to critically examine and consider various kinds of texts to internalize what the American Dream is preparation for The Great Gatsby.

Coupled with carefully planned texts, the lesson incorporated movement and music to ease transitions. And it was evident that the students were enjoying the activity.

Each station asked students to consider the theme from a different perspective. As the students went to each chart paper station, they used a unique color to show their group's thinking. The students, who had done a similar activity with Poe earlier in the year, already knew that they weren't supposed to repeat the same answers as other groups, but could elaborate or question what was already there.

Station 1: Poem analysis: "As I Grow Older" by Langston Hughes - Students had to read and annotate the poem doing a text on text read looking at five different elements associated with theme, tone and diction. Directions were placed at the top of the station so that students could ensure they were on the right track.

Station 2: Historical document: "The Declaration of Independence" - The interdisciplinary connection here worked really well as students discussed what America stood for when they claimed their independence. 11th graders in New York also study U.S. history, so the students were familiar with the document. However, this opportunity to see it through this lens in class, added considerable depth to their understanding of the ideas. Students spent a good amount of time considering the statement "All men are created equal," and the implications as during that time period, "all men" is not as inclusive as it may seem.

Station 3: Reflecti on questions: Students were given four statements that they had to strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree with and provide a rationale for why. The questions centered around the ideas of "class" and social status.

Station 4: Painting: "The American Dream" by Salvadore Dali - This station really opened up the most analysis. Students stood together looking at each of the images trying to determine what Dali was trying to say about America.

Station 5: Non-Ficti on article from the New York Times - Students were given the article ahead of time to read and annotate and then discuss ideas that were interesting, surprising or confusing.

Station 6: Creative Writing and Vocabulary - Students were able to write or draw something about the American Dream. Students drew pictures as well as wrote poems using their new vocabulary.

Each group got four minutes to spend at each station, getting through four in one lesson. Mrs. Casto played jazz music to help with transitions between each station and allowed a few extra seconds for groups to finish thoughts before they were asked to move to the next station.

As the class was coming to a close, she asked the group if they wanted to go to another station or start working on their reflections for the day. The decided to reflect and on the reflection sheets provided they were able to choose what they wanted to think about. Selecting either A or B:

A: "What is one new or interesting idea that you took away from today's lesson?"

B: "Which station do you feel generated the most discussion with your peers? Why?

Selecting either C or D:

C: "How would you improve this lesson to make it better for another class?"

D: "Which station do you think was the least thought provoking? How would you change it?"

Some student thoughts on the lesson were:

A: "That Langston Hughes didn't only incorporate racism in his poem but incorporated sounds of New York City which added a new dimension to his poem."

"That racial issues still exist today and it plays a role to attain the American Dream."

B: "The station that generated the most discussion was the painting because it could be interpreted in many ways."

C: "I would have made more opinion questions."

D: "The creative station because we mainly just looked at how good people's creations were. Go into depth about the meaning of each of the creations."

One student wrote "Station 6 was the least thought provoking because it didn't really make you think about the American Dream. It made you think more about the vocabulary. If I changed it, I would've made it more about the American dream and made that the focus." The feedback the comment received was "Can thinking about the vocabulary of the American dream be thought-provoking in any way?"

Overall, Mrs. Casto thought the lesson was thought provoking and accomplished her intended goal. "Through the exit-tickets and class discussions during and after the station activity, I believe that the students enjoyed the activity and were successful with the goals I had in mind. I will use student feedback to further my instruction."

The more we offer students learning experiences that ask them to collaborate, consider multiple texts and genres of text and then provide them opportunity to think deeply about the learning, the more connected and meaningful their learning will be.
How do you incorporate learning stations into your classes or what kinds of strategies do you use to get students moving around and collaborating? Please share.

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Station Learning Engages High School English Students

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Desks grouped in quads. Chart papers labeled and posted around the room. Clear directions both posted and orally presented as well as a clear objective for why students would be traveling to different areas of the room.

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I used to hear "learning stations," and have my brain zoom straight to a mental image of a bright and colorful primary classroom, where a teacher uses the same set of stations repeating over and over on a daily basis to engage and meet the needs of all of the students. However, I finally started getting the hang of adapting the "stations" concept to meet the needs of older students. Since their longer attention spans and greater independence are an advantage, learning stations are actually an even better fit for the older age range!

There are some key points to keep in mind while implementing learning stations in middle school and high school.

​ Keep it Simple

Forget time-consuming gathering and prepping supplies; there's no need to make your stations overly complicated to be fun and engaging!

Luckily, your middle and high school students have a ( much) longer attention-span than kindergarteners in learning stations, and can be engaged with activities that require only thoughtful discussion and critical thinking.

Chat Stations

If you've never implemented chat stations, then you absolutely must keep reading! As you might remember from college, Vygotsky developed the theory that learning occurs through social interactions.

I watched an awesome video all about Chat Stations. In the video, she explains what chat stations are, how to set one up, and how to implement them. Basically, they're learning stations that encourage students to discuss the topic and think critically, together.

You start by writing a few questions and posting them around the room. You split the class into small groups, and they rotate around the room thoroughly discussing each question. Then, you meet back as a whole group and discuss the questions. This gives them a chance to already think about the subject, which leads to better feedback.

If you're looking to just add another learning station to your rotation, consider using just a small piece of this. At the chat station, the small groups would discuss one or two questions, and you can still discuss as a class when learning stations are complete.

Create a "Road Map"

According to , creating a road map or outline of all of the stations is a must. They provided a sample in the article for a lesson on Igneous Rocks.

They found that a "check- off" space or a line for a teacher signature can be very beneficial to help students stay on task and hold them accountable. Another idea to consider is requiring your students to get a stamp or a sticker, before they move on to the next station.

Carry a Clipboard

Make your life a whole lot easier and get a clipboard! This is an easy way to help your class' learning stations run nicely and smoothly. Simply, carry a clipboard with you as you move around and monitor the class!

A clipboard with the previously-mentioned roadmap and a behavior management chart allows you to work with individual or small groups of students, while efficiently scanning the room for any off-task students.

You can document behaviors, and provide consequences and rewards however you see fit.

Include Time for Student Choice

As you have probably learned, students' learning can be more meaningful and powerful when they get to be the ones who choose what to do, instead of being told what to do.

In his book The Highly Engaged Classroom, Dr. Robert Marzano explains why student choice is essential in our classrooms. He dives into learning theories and offers some tips on how teachers can provide meaningful choices for students.
​
According toEducation Closet, "Marzano found that students perceive classroom activities as more important when they are given choices. It increases intrinsic motivation, increasing student effort and task performance, which therefore boosts the amount that students can learn from an activity."
​
Take Advantage of One-on-One Time

This is the absolute best time to give individual students the attention they need. Instead of teaching to an entire class, you can appropriately scaffold learning while the rest of the class is still actively engaged and learning.

So, when it's time for stations use your time wisely. You might go over the previous test with a struggling student, or extend the learning for more advanced students. Whatever it may be, strategically use this time to really individualize your students learning!

​ A Specific Example

Let me walk you through a set of learning stations I used in 6th grade math. I put this set together as an intro to polyhedra.

My main lesson goal here was to get kids exploring nets and visualizing all the faces, vertices, and edges. I wanted them to really get comfortable with classifying prisms and pyramids and knowing the difference between the two. This base understanding of how nets and faces are visualized is critical for their future success with surface area and volume, so I wanted them to dive deep and explore it all to really "get" that key concept.

I blended tech and hands-on to get the best of both worlds. Two stations required internet. I only used two classroom computers, since I had three in the back of the room and did not want to have to sign out the laptop cart (or maybe it was not available; I can't remember!) You could potentially allow students to find their own video and applet resources (with guidance if needed), but I had them already chosen and set up to save time.

I put my kids into 6 groups and had them rotate through the stations every 15 minutes. Since we only had 52 minute periods, covering all six took two days. I told them that at any station, if the group ran out of time, they'd finish that station's activity as homework or when they may have extra time at another station.

That way, after the two days, I could collect and everyone would have everything done. I put together little folders for them to carry around with all their printables, but you could really just lay the printed stack at each table.

Vocabulary cards were allowed to be completed as they worked, or saved for homework, depending on how fast each group worked.

At one station, they actually built polyhedra out of nets and then worked through a worksheet. The main goal here was to zero in on the difference between a pyramid and a prism, and of course see how the faces work. This builds understanding of surface area for later on.

​At another, they watched a quick video and answered some questions about identifying a polyhedron. I even had them explore the root word "poly" and think of other words with that root and what it might mean. (See more about teaching math with root words here.)

At a third station, I let them play with online applets that allow them to "unfold" a polyhedron into its net. They could drag and roll it out, then pull it back together. Then, they practiced drawing nets from polyhedra, and polyhedra from nets.

​The fourth station was all about identifying vertices, faces, and edges. I provided a reference sheet, and then the students had to complete a chart that accompanied it.

​The fifth station was a fun one. I challenged the students to draw as many nets as they possibly could for a cube. I had some really great sticky note graph paper sheets for this, which they loved. They each filled up as many as possible and kept count. Regular graph paper would work well too, though!

​The great thing about running stations smoothly is that it frees you up as the teacher to walk around and guide each group. Ideally, everything is there for them and can be self-directed. You will be able to watch the groups explore ideas. This particular set of stations took me a lot of prep work, but it was so worth it when I saw how engaged they were. The kids surprised me by jumping in and working like a well-oiled machine. There were zero management issues. I am always impressed by how this type of structure brings out the best in a class.

Do you have any tips on implementing learning stations in middle school and high school? Let us know in a comment below!

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Here are some related posts to read next:

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How to Use Learning Stations in Middle School

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I used to hear "learning stations," and have my brain zoom straight to a mental image of a bright and colorful primary classroom, where a teacher uses the same set of stations repeating over and over on a daily basis to engage and meet the needs of all of the students.

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I like this THREE station design - Teacher-led, OFF-line, and ON-line

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https://www.brainyapples.com/2018/05/24/free-social-studies-stations/

https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-meaningful-learning-stations-cassandra-sachar

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Brown Bag Teacher Math Centers

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From planning leveled guided-math lessons, to guided reading groups, to writer's workshop, to Daily 5 choices, to math centers, as primary teachers we can be planning and preparing for over 36 lessons/activities each week. If we think about this for too long, it's WAY overwhelming - right?! So the key is to create predictable patterns and routines that allow for streamlined planning. Today I wanted to share how I make Math Centers manageable. Three years into math-center goodness and I've finally found a system that works for me.

Math Centers offer students hands-on, spiral review practice with skills that have been introduced and taught during our Guided Math groups. Additionally, working with a partner, centers allow students the opportunity to talk about their math thinking, apply math vocabulary, and hear how other people think about math. Additionally, when students visit math centers, I have the opportunity to meet with our Guided Math groups for intentional instruction. Plus, they are FUN! (Snag 1st Grade Centers here. Snag 2nd Grade Centers here.)

Typically I keep 5-7 math centers out at a time. (Note - There is no wrong answer. Use as many or as few tubs as you need.) My first years in 1st grade, I stuck with 5 but last year I branched into 7 since I was changing them less often. Teaching a combination class, the green math tubs are for 1st grade and the yellow math tubs are for Kindergarten. (Check out my favorite tubs for math centers here.) Click here for Kindergarten Centers, 1st Grade Centers, and 2nd Grade Centers!

My first 2 years of teaching 1st grade, I changed-out centers every.single.week and this worked for me. Each Friday during planning, I would swap-out manipulatives and visual directions, and print new Math Logs. Turning into a K/1 Combination Class this past year, I had two sets of math centers (Kinder and 1st Grade) and quite frankly, it was too much to try to change out both sets every week, so I alternated. One week I changed out 1st grade centers and then the next week Kindergarten centers. That means each grade was changed-out every two weeks, and you know what?!? It was OKAY! The world did not end, our centers were not out of control, and my students loved being able to visit their favorite centers twice.

A hot mess. But really friends, it's not pretty and it doesn't need to be. When I change-out centers I first pull the sleeves from my binder. I try to batch tasks so I pull all 5 centers first. Then, I empty all 5 tubs. After all 5 tubs are empty, I slide in the visual directions and recording logs. Finally, I add-in manipulatives. Although students are always welcome to grab additional or different manipulatives, I like to include the minimum hands-on materials they will need.

Great question! All of the centers I pull are spiral review. Our centers are meant to provide students just-right, hands-on practices with content we have already covered. Therefore, material we are learning RIGHT NOW at teacher table WILL NOT be in our centers. Typically I like to wait until the next week (or two) to introduce the skill as an independent or partner center. Click here for Kindergarten Centers, 1st Grade Centers, and 2nd Grade Centers!

So, I'm definitely a routines girl. I love having a system, so when it comes time to change-out centers I don't have to spend inordinate amounts of time pulling them. Typically my centers follow this routine -

1. Read About Math - Using QR codes or Epic for Kids will read books about math. Typically I pull books about the topic we are currently learning about. Since the books are being read aloud to students they don't have to (but can be) spiral review.

2. - Versatiles are a fun, self-checking center. They are made from ETA Hand2Mind and are perfect for independent or partner work. Since I own several of the math Versatile books, I'm able to pull the just-right pages for all of my groups. I slip the pages into sheet protectors, add a blue/green/yellow sticker (so groups know which sheet to pull), and place them in the tub!

3. - From September on, our 120s Pocket Chart becomes a staple in our center routine. It's perfect for practicing number order, place value, making 10 to add/subtract, as well as, number representations. With 6 different levels of playing cards, students work in partners to finish the 120s chart before the timer rings. It normally takes students 4-8 tries the first time with the set of cards to get all 120 cards in the right places, but they love the challenge and the chance to "level-up"!

4. - We love board and game games and they make a super simple center! From Making 10 Go Fish to Snap it Up, we are ALL about game. Check out some of our favorite board games here.

Awesome question. The great thing about creating "staple" centers is that once I have initially introduced a center (read about math, versatiles, etc) I don't have to teach it again. All I need to do is change-out the skill on which students are working. At the VERY beginning of the year, we introduce new centers whole-group and practice in partners, but after we have learned about that first set of centers, I shy away from whole-group introduction. Typically I introduce centers in 1 of 4 places -

1. Morning Tubs - Students think math is a game and they love centers. I leverage this for the best! If I want to teach a new center, I will pull one table group each morning during Morning Tubs and teach them the game/activity. By the end-of-the-week, I've taught all 5 of my table groups how to play and we're ready to introduce it the following week.

2. Indoor Recess - I will also introduce math centers during Indoor Recess. Unlike Morning Tubs, indoor recess math-learning is completely by choice. To make this choice incredibly enticing, indoor recess is when I introduce our math board games. Students LOVE the chance to learn a new game, as well as, the opportunity to try to beat Ms. W. (#IDontLetKidsWin)

3. Guest Teachers - When there are Guest Teachers (aka Subs) in the building, it's the perfect time to introduce students to a new center. Students have the opportunity to practice with a partner with an adult present and the same math center is played with each group (just with different levels of differentiation) making it a little simpler for the Guest Teacher to manage. The only 'catch' with having Guest Teachers introduce math centers is that you must leave EXPLICIT, step-by-step instructions on how to play the game, preferably with visual directions already made so students have a picture of your expectations.

4. Small Groups - Honestly, I share this hesitantly because our guided-math, small-group time is so incredibly precious. I would NEVER want it to become a time in which teachers are pulling a game, placing it at Teacher Table, and sitting back. With that said, if I can use the game/center as an intentionally-planned, guided activity (in which students have manipulatives in their hands, are actively engaged in math talk, and are building math knowledge...not looking for a right answer), I know I can introduce and scaffold it at small-group.

When math centers are not being used in a tub, they are storied in 2 3-inch binders in dry-erase sleeves. The visual directions go on the top for easily flipping and then, recording logs go in the back. Any playing cards or number cards needed for the center are put in a plastic bag in my "Randoms" tub. I don't like to put these into the plastic sleeves because it makes the binder SUPER bulky and causes things to fall out. Any math manipualtives needed for the centers go back into our labeled bins and I pull them as I put out new centers.

Over the years, I've found that if I don't keep a running list of centers and games I make it to May and realize there are a number of awesome centers we've never used. I write the centers under the Common Core Standard that it reviews/practices. Then, each time I pull that center I write the date in which it was used. We do use centers more than once, but when we do I like it keep them 3-4 weeks apart.

When students are not at my Teacher Table, they are making choices - centers, math journal, or technology. Since we do 4 rotations, students must visit all the rotations each day, in any order they choose. Note - sometimes students need to stay at a center/journal for more than one rotation and have to miss a technology rotation. That's totally fine! (Snag a math rotation board here for free.)

As students make their choices, they record/color which day they visited that rotation on our logs. Then, any work or recording log gets attached to this log. The logs are checked by me at during our Math Reflection Time and they go home each time I switch out centers.

So friends, this is the nitty-gritty of math centers. What do you think? What other questions do you have? What works for you? I'd love to hear from you! Also, snag math centers for your classroom on TeachersPayTeachers - Kindergarten Centers, 1st Grade Centers, and 2nd Grade Centers!

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Managing Math Centers - The Brown Bag Teacher

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From planning leveled guided-math lessons, to guided reading groups, to writer's workshop, to Daily 5 choices, to math centers, as primary teachers we can be planning and preparing for over 36 lessons/activities each week. If we think about this for too long, it's WAY overwhelming - right?!

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Well, 10 days away from Christmas Break {note...I initially wrote this last week and I never finished it...yikes!} and I feel like I have finally hit my reading-teacher groove. After months of training and trying, we have finally 'fit' it ALL into our 50 minute class period: flashback, mini-lesson, guided practice/Kagan structure, exit slip, AND literacy centers/guided reading.

So, it's time for a true teacher confession. Please don't throw rotten fruit.... I waited way too long before introducing literacy centers. Until a few weeks ago, my mini-lessons were not mini and my flashbacks were not flashes...With encouragement from my mentor, I am so excited to say I have tamed my mini-lessons and my flashbacks and everything in the middle. Which means, we finally made it through a FULL two weeks of centers.

At first I was skeptical about centers in 5th grade. First of all, I planned on calling them "stations" to make them sound like something BIG kids would do, but I slipped up. I know. It happens rarely, but I did it. And when I did, a friend said "We did these in Kindergarten! They were so much fun." Sweet! My mistake worked in my favor. 🙂

Secondly, I was terrified of the management. Ultimately, I decided I would need to model, dive in, and tweak the schedule as we went along. There are 13 centers in my rotation, and students go to 9 centers in the two-week period {one a day, assuming that 1 day out of 10 we just do not have time for centers.} That means, students will not go to every center. In fact, I have some activities that only 2 or 3 groups (out of my 30 groups) might go to, depending on their needs at that time. Since students are working in groups, we always reference these two posters at the beginning of each work period.

Students spend 13-15 minutes at each rotation and accomplish one task a day. Students work in groups of 2 or 3 and are grouped with the closest person(s) academically at that time. So, yes, I do regroup students every two weeks (if needed) based on Common Assessments (tests), flashbacks, exit slips, and teacher observation. During centers, I keep the below chart on the board so students know where to go, and a timer going on the TV.

I store all my centers for the 2-week rotation in a clear container ($2.33 from Lowes). The individual centers, go in a laminate envelope with the directions and "I Can" statements on the front.

In terms of the make-up of the centers, they look like this. Out of our 13 centers, there are 4 that do not change - Spelling City (on iPads}, Teacher Table, Independent Reading, Responding to my Reading.

My skill-specific centers are spiral reviews of everything we have covered in the last weeks. In this two week rotation we practice context clues, character traits, theme, text structure, inference, main idea, synonyms, editing, and cause/effect. I've taken pictures of some of the activities we have used this time around! {Please note, I only have pictures of 6 or 7 of the centers}

For main idea, I am using Amelia's Main Dish from Reindeer Games. We are also using using her North Pole Editing board game, and my kids LOVE that they can write on the actual playing cards...sometimes I forgot they are just 10! 🙂

As a part of our word work station, we practice matching synonyms and honed our reference skills. Using digital and paper dictionaries, we learning some awesome works using Christy's (from Teaching Tales Along the Yellow Brick Road) free - Snowman Synonyms! My kiddos loved the challenge and oh man, it was challenging.

As a teacher, I also LOVE Rachel's task cards. They make the perfect playing cards for her free game board that you can grab here. From theme to context clues, her task cards are predictable reliable, and align perfectly with the Common Core!

One part of centers that I have not totally figured out is the accountability factor. How do I hold my students accountable within being inundated with papers? I have 90 kids and already grade daily exit slips and weekly homework packets and reading letters. Right now, I use Socrative for one station, Showbie for a few stations, and then, paper accountability forms for the rest....but still, it isn't perfect yet {or close to it). How do you hold students accountable for their work at their centers? I would love your ideas!

So, friends, there you go. What questions do you have? What have I missed? How do you hold your students accountable? I would LOVE your input!

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Literacy Centers for BIG Kids! - The Brown Bag Teacher

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Well, 10 days away from Christmas Break {note...I initially wrote this last week and I never finished it...yikes!} and I feel like I have finally hit my reading-teacher groove. After months of training and trying, we have finally 'fit' it ALL into our 50 minute class period: flashback, mini-lesson, guided practice/Kagan structure, exit slip, AND...

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4 Strategies For Implementing Learning Stations In Your Classroom by Dan Henderson, Author of That's Special: A Survival Guide To Teaching
What is a center or station? Desks or tables are grouped according to a particular skill or participants academic level in a group. Each group or table is differentiated to meet the learner where they are at academically. Here are a few tips for creating centers or stations.
A Story From My Classroom

Grouping your students: After the first four to six weeks of school you should have some diagnostic data on where you children are academically. Maybe you are further along in the year, but you need to place your groups in similar academic levels via beginning of year formal assessments data. The idea is each academic group comes to the teacher in groups of four to six students for direct instruction. In the other centers activities are planned out for groups to do independent work.

Differentiate the work in your centers and stations: Take each station and think of it as a common core or state standard. Make levels of difficulty A-D of each standard for your groups and neatly organize your packets A-D. "A" being the foundational skill and "D" being mastery. You can come up with your own system, but there needs to be levels of increasing comprehension they can access independently. Sometimes it's best to have different levels or learners in a center around the same activity. The more advanced children can help the students that are struggling on their A or B level packets. The key is the center is differentiated for all learners at the table for each learner at their level.

Managing the flow of movement: Model, model, model how the flow of movement will look like going from center to center. Get a timer, live by it. Expect 100% participation and do not let any kid slow down the movements of the group.

How to re-evaluate your groups: Students will inevitable advance to more difficult levels towards mastery. Each Friday I do a quick exit quiz to see if a student should advance to a harder level. Then I write on the board the updated list of who can participate at what independent activity at a center. If you want to keep this information private you can have students carry around folders indicating their level. However, giving students access to all the levels is not harmful. In fact many argue that this access to levels A-D or all levels in a center is necessary for a child to advance at the speed they are learning.

Bingo.

A game played by aging senior citizens and in your child's elementary classroom. There has been increasing scientific support stating children need to experience joy in order to learn. With joy comes retention of knowledge and the chemicals in our brain want to trigger that reward response again. Viewing kids play games inside a classroom can either resemble a precision portrait or modern art. The modern art visual being a seating arrangement designed by Picasso. If there is game in the classroom while students learn does it matter? I let a student who loved to win play games at centers, but he would not lose gracefully. Would we all be experiencing joy when Tyrell lost bingo?

As adults we often try to tell kids that winning does not always matter. Situations of small fights or small disputes on the playground are easily forgotten as we grow older. In the moment, telling a child a game is not important is not the best strategy. It would be better to acknowledge the child's feelings before trying to give them advice. After acknowledging their feelings give them two choices. Children often get stuck in a feeling and do not consider the alternatives. This is how I set up centers and stations to play bingo in my classroom.

I had set up my stations around the classroom in groups of five desks. After 20 minutes the students would rotate to another group of five desks. At each center there were different activities. I had bags labeled A-D at each desk. On the board there where names that corresponded to the letter each child was in at the corresponding center. For example, during our math rotation students were working on fractions. Some students were on a level D and some on a C in a group of five desks. Each child can play a game with someone at their level or by themselves. In the end the idea is that kids are having fun playing the game while learning.

Tyrell and Ben were in the same group playing fraction bingo. The goal was to add fractions on your card. For example, in a square it would list 1/8 + 3/8. Then someone would pick a separate set of equations from a stack. You had to solve the equation on your bingo card once someone called out the fraction. If someone called out 4/8 or 1/2 you would mark your square. Then all the normal rules of bingo applied. Ben had a successful streak of bingo's this week, yelling loudly to announce his victory.

"Bingo, haha I won again. You suck." Said Ben mockingly.

"I don't suck I won last week. You just got lucky." Tyrell yells back.

"Nah you suck bro." All eyes in the classroom turn on Tyrell and Ben.

"Shut up." Tyrell picks his game board and throws it at Ben scattering plastic chips all over the room.

"Hey, stop throwing the game." I yell from across the room. Tyrell stands up making a fist aggressively over his chair. I get upset and stand to see the potential fight.

"If you don't sit down you will never play bingo again." In the moment the words felt righteous, but shouldn't I help Tryrell through this situation by offering him a choice, so he could reason with his feelings? I don not make it a priority and separate the two bingo bandits. I move about my day rotating kids through centers.

The next day I tell the children to rotate to their next center and warn Tyrell and Ben about their previous bingo shenanigans.

"If you lose today Tyrell, it's no big deal. Just say good job." This leave it to beaver advice bounced off his ears like telling teenages to eat one plate of food at the all you can eat Chinese buffet. You will regret it later, but at the time that General Tso's chicken tastes so good. The same pleasure receptors are going off in the child brain. Winning is good, winning is all I care about.

"Bingo!" Ben yells again winning two days in a row.

"Shut up" Tyrell yells.

"Listen don't be a baby about it. Baby."

"You such an *sshole." Tyrell yells.

The whole class goes. "Ohhh" We enjoy an awkward few seconds of silence. I ring my bell to silence the classroom. Worried eyes look in my direction and the plastic pen I hold is unnaturally bending. I spent all this time creating games and they fight over bingo. B12 you said, what a coincidence. That is the same classroom for your detention.

"That's it. Ben and Tyrell no more bingo. You are not playing this game again."

"What what!" Tyrell starts breathing heavily, his chance at bingo redemption, the holy trinity of horizontal and diagonal lines is suddenly dashed. Would Tyrell's quest to greatness be ousted by this tyrant teacher. Tyrell faces grows defiant.

"Haha I guess you will always be a loser." Ben points triumphantly.

"Ahhh." With a quick sprint Tyrell scatters the game on the floor. Then finds a crayon box, breaking 1-2 crayons at a time and throwing them against the wall. Books start flying off the shelf. I sigh. Then wonder, did I remember to switch to Geico?

"Tyrell, Tyrell, calm down, calm down. We do not always get our way or win." I say urgently.

"You got your way, I can't play bingo. It's not fair I just want to play again. I want to play again." Tyrell is literally screaming the solution at me. By taking away his joy and his opportunity at redemption, I took away his motivation to behave. Was bingo so bad or was it just how Tyrell responded to losing. Yes, you need to give consequences, but was this the best consequence. The point is to teach our children how to respond to losing, correct?

I start off by acknowledging his feelings and then offer a choice. "I know losing is hard. You must be really tired of losing." He slows down breaking crayons. The magenta is spared.

"Alright Tyrell you have a choice. You can continue to make a mess that will ultimately lead to you seeing the principal or you could stop, clean up the mess and have a conference with me on how you will play bingo again." He holds up the Jitterbug Jade still breathing heavily. It was 128 crayon set people, I did not name these colors! Think of the Jade! I try to telepathically relay to spare my crayon box set.

He slowly puts down the Crayola. "Fine, I will have a conference with you." Tyrell says relaxing his shoulders. I breathe deeply, but lower my voice.

"Clean up this mess and class get back to work." Students slowly move to start their work back up again.

I call a conference with Tyrell to talk through a new strategy of losing. We come up with some immediate strategies like forecasting if he would lose to ward off a tantrum or picking other partners other than Ben. Then we model Tyrell losing again and I asked him what he would say, he said. "Let's play again and good game." To some degree I think he was just saying the words teachers want to hear.

"You can try playing again tomorrow, but not with Ben."

"He is a jerk right." He says deadpanned.

"There will always be jerks you play against, but what matters is that you don't let jerks mock or tease you. That's how you really lose." Tyrell nods as I give this sage advice.

"So I can tell everyone you think he is a jerk." Oh the joy of what kids find important for their teacher's to acknowledge.

Centers and stations work to help differentiate group work, but don't be discouraged if you have a few bingo bullies.

If you enjoyed these teaching mishaps and want to read similar stories visit my blog at http://danhendersonthatsspecial.blogspot.com. You can find out more about Dan's book at That's Special: A Survival Guide To Teaching or go on Dan's website on thatspecial.co

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4 Strategies For Implementing Learning Stations In Your Classroom -

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4 Strategies For Implementing Learning Stations In Your Classroom by Dan Henderson, Author of That's Special: A Survival Guide To Teaching What is a center or station? Desks or tables are grouped according to a particular skill or participants academic level in a group. Each group or table is differentiated to meet the learner where ...

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"When the teacher selects from different kinds of content—informational texts, poetry, art, photography, maps, video or audio clips—students can engage with the material using multiple modalities thus allowing them to reach a deeper understanding of the event, theme, or question than they might having read or discussed just one or two texts".

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Station Teaching in a Co-taught classroom 

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Station Teaching in a Co-taught classroom 

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Virtual field trips- discoveryeducation.com or VR trips using Google Expeditions
Flipgrid to record observations about an object/text
Caitlin Tucker article:  https://catlintucker.com/2018/03/grouping-strategies/

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Creative Educator article
https://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/2016/articles/blended-learning-with-station-rotations

Kahn Academy Video

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If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

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If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

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https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2017/10/station_learning_engages_high_.html

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Re-energize your student readers with these super-smart, tech-savvy learning stations.

© iStock.com/CandyBox Images

Whenever I would introduce a new novel to my students, I always got the same reaction: Students moaned and groaned about the storyline, expressed their lack of interest in the author's writing style, and proclaimed their everlasting boredom with the class as a whole. In order to avoid student complaints, I decided to implement book clubs in my classroom-students now have the opportunity to work in groups and choose what book they as a group want to read for a given unit.

In order to make this work, there are a few things you should do. Have the students work together in groups of three or four, and offer the groups their choice of books-you should select options that ensure that students are still following Common Core standards. Next, have each group create a reading schedule.

In my classroom, I use the station rotation model of blended learning. I set up five or six stations around my classroom. With their groups, students walk into the room and look at the assignments listed on the whiteboard. They then pick the assignment that they need to develop and go to the designated station.

I decide which is the most important learning station they need to work on for the week, and I work with each group at that station. That way, I'm able to assist them and make sure they master certain skills. I usually work with one to three groups per day at my station, and after that I'm constantly monitoring student progress around the classroom.

10 Ideas for Engaging Learning Stations

These are learning stations that I've had success with. As I mentioned, I don't set up all 10 every time we work with stations-I'll use five or six of these at a time.

Annotate the Text: Have students identify important elements of the book as they read. Diigo is an excellent resource.

Character Profiles: Have students create profiles of significant characters. They can use Glogster to build a collage of pictures and details about each one.

Interview the Author: Have your students read about the author of their book. The group then composes questions and answers, and records an interview with one student playing the interviewer and another the author. Students can use tools like Snapchat and WeVideo to record themselves.

Tone/Mood: Have students identify the tone or the mood in different passages throughout the text, and then have them record themselves reading quotes in that tone or in a way that evokes that mood.

Theme: Have students identify a major lesson the author is trying to teach. Create a movie poster that portrays that lesson. This can be done on paper or using Google Drawings.

Movie Adaptation: If there is a movie adaptation of the book, have your students watch clips on YouTube. They can take notes using VideoNot.es and compare the clips with the book.

Plot Development: Have students create a timeline or Google Docs presentation of major events in the story. Tiki-toki is a good resource for creating timelines.

The Bigger Picture: Have students relate a major issue in the book to something going on in the world today. Newsela is useful for this.

Video Blogs: Instead of answering a traditional journal question about the book, have students record themselves talking about the book. Flipgrid works really well.

Goodreads Chat: Have your groups participate in a chat about their book with the community at Goodreads.

I have discovered that allowing my students to pick from a variety of task options creates student buy-in and valuable opportunities for academic growth. They enjoy having the choice of books and activities to complete, and take advantage of the opportunity to explore their creative side. Students often approach me and ask me if they can use a certain program or do something different for an assignment, and I'm always eager to see what they end up doing.

What are your suggestions?

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10 Innovative Learning Stations That Get Students Reading

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Re-energize your student readers with these super-smart, tech-savvy learning stations. © iStock.com/CandyBox Images Whenever I would introduce a new novel to my students, I always got the same reaction: Students moaned and groaned about the storyline, expressed their lack of interest in the author's writing style, and proclaimed their everlasting boredom with the class as a whole.

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http://thesecondgradesuperkids.blogspot.com/2013/09/daily-5-station-ideas.html

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http://asdn.org/wp-content/uploads/Catlin-Tucker-4-10.25.16.pdf

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https://www.edutopia.org/article/10-innovative-learning-stations-get-students-reading-shelby-scoffield

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This describes 4 ELA-related learning stations:
- Direct instruction
- Reading Comprehension
- Fluency
- Writing

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https://hcpss.instructure.com/courses/108

https://www.hoodriver.k12.or.us/Page/3268

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https://catlintucker.com/2018/03/grouping-strategies/

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I like this idea of set ups for stations

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I like this idea of set ups for stations

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How do I set up a station rotation model in my classroom?

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Interested in implementing stations and not sure where to start? This guide will give you tangible resources and research, with key insights and strategies around culture, space, and routines.

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The use of flexible grouping strategies , like station rotation, can facilitate student learning in multiple ways:

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The main difference between learning stations and centers is that whereas stations are designed to promote teamwork and independent learning in subject themes, learning centers focus more on providing individualized instruction to students who are struggling with concepts and subject topics.

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The main difference between learning stations and centers is that whereas stations are designed to promote teamwork and independent learning in subject themes, learning centers focus more on providing individualized instruction to students who are struggling with concepts and subject topics.

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https://www.theclassroom.com/difference-learning-centers-stations-class-7969725.html

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From the UFT!

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It's not easy to engage students in productive and meaningful discussions in math class while still using scaffolds and differentiation. While trying to create various entry points for students, teachers must also promote challenging tasks that provide students with the opportunity to engage in discourse with their classmates. This is where station teaching can help.

Our middle school has embarked on an effort to not only increase the amount of discourse taking place in our math classrooms, but to encourage students to engage in productive struggle while working through a challenging task. As a department head, I have helped to spearhead this movement by modeling and supporting teachers in the development of their station lessons.

The use of station teaching is certainly not a new practice. But within these station lessons, teachers can find ample opportunities to create discourse.

The first potential hurdle to overcome is a lack of student engagement. This can be due to disinterest in the topic, lack of confidence or lack of understanding of the material being presented. It is vital that teachers plan activities with a layered, scaffolded approach so that all students feel comfortable and driven to engage in what is happening.

That scaffolding can be accomplished in a variety of ways. I have found that providing students with a few minutes of independent think time prior to engaging in the group work at each station allows them to develop their own thoughts and strategies. It gives them an opportunity to share with their group without being "bulldozed" by the student who knows what to do as soon as the teacher says go.

Station activities themselves can be structured so that only select parts of bigger standards are being addressed at each one. These smaller fragments of more complex standards are easier for students to work with. By the end of working at each station, the students should be able to address a larger task related to the standard as a whole.

By way of example, let's look at the 8th-grade state learning standard 8.EE.A.4, which states that students can perform operations with numbers expressed in scientific notation. Students can find it confusing to work with this standard as a whole, especially with various rules existing for addition and subtraction versus multiplication and division, as well as the exponent rules that exist in these problems. A station activity can help students break this standard down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

One station may require students to explore and determine the rules for adding and subtracting numbers in scientific notation. This may include having students analyze a variety of problems that already have a solution to determine what was done to achieve that answer. After discussing their own thoughts with their group, they may then try to develop their own rule for when you are asked to add or subtract numbers in scientific notation.

A similar activity can be done for multiplication at a different station, and division at yet another. This provides students the opportunity to work with a larger standard and discover for themselves the algorithms that exist within it.

Following the work at these stations, students may be brought back as a whole group to discuss the rules they developed and then work on a larger task that requires using all of the information gathered at these stations.

The last piece of this puzzle is engaging students in meaningful discourse. Our department has used several strategies this school year to improve our students' mathematical discourse. One that has proven very successful we call "question chips." Each group of students is given two chips. They represent the number of questions that group is allowed to ask the teacher. Once both chips have been used, the group must rely on one another to complete the task. This strategy has kept students engaged with one another for support without relying heavily on teacher assistance. It also forces students to participate in discussions around how important a question is. They may not want to waste a chip on a frivolous question they can work through themselves.

By both improving the quality of the discourse in our classrooms and having students engage in more meaningfully planned station activities, we have seen a significant jump in overall student engagement, performance and scores on classroom tasks. It does take some legwork, but the benefits more than justify that extra work.
Matthew Mason is an 8th-grade math teacher and a model teacher at MS 50 in Brooklyn.

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It's not easy to engage students in productive and meaningful discussions in math class while still using scaffolds and differentiation. While trying to create various entry points for students, teachers must also promote challenging tasks that provide students with the opportunity to engage in discourse with their classmates.