Have you ever tried using learning centers or stations in your middle or high school language arts class?
There's a variety of ways they can be used in any class and the benefits are many!
Read on to find out what your #2ndaryELA friends shared about using this teaching strategy across all the grade levels!
Q1: Why do you use stations/centers or why would you want to use them? #2ndaryELA
A1: I use centers to break up a large concept into smaller parts. I also use them to foster small group work. #2ndaryELA
A1) I would use them for differentiation or project explanations in lit circles #2ndaryELA
A1: For me, I believe that stations/centers are an opportunity for students to cooperate together and develop skills/deepen knowledge, with instructor scaffolding if needed, of course! #2ndaryELA
Yes - I like to use them for extra practice or review too. #2ndaryELA
A1 I teach 6th grade this yr and movement is so important. Stations get students up and moving and keep them engaged #2ndaryELA
A1: I use stations to help with student engagement and to make use of limited technology. Reading a novel in stations where students do something different each day helps keep them interested. #2ndaryELA
Q2: For which ELA topics do you use stations/centers? #2ndaryELA
A2 You can use them for anything! I have used them for elements of plot, conflict and characterization, pint of view, nonfiction, etc. Also to introduce novels #2ndaryela
A2: I use them for learning the parts of writing essays and for reviewing skills like main idea, text structure etc. #testprep #2ndaryELA
A2: I have started using them for reading of novels. I have a teacher lead station in which we do theater reading, a partner reading station, silent independent reading station, and a literature circle station that responds via MS Teams. #2ndaryELA
A2: In my field experience, I've been able to use stations in order to help students break down some of the major components of revision that they've struggled with #2ndaryELA
Q3: How do you arrange your room to accommodate stations/centers? #2ndaryELA
A3: I do 4 person Lit Circles, 6 person teacher theater reading, 6 people partner reading, and then however many individual, and they rotate through one each day. The individual ones are in the back with the groups arranged in front. #2ndaryELA
A3: I try to position tables around the room, but when that is not possible, I use groups of desks as "tables" and Ss rotate through. #2ndaryELA
A3: Whenever I used the stations, I moved the desk together as "tables", and set them up so that the students could go clockwise around the room to each one. It ended up working well for the students! #2ndaryELA
A3 I have tables rather than individual desks so I usually create a table for each station #2ndaryELA
Q4: How do your alter your classroom management for stations/centers? #2ndaryELA
A4: I don't really alter my classroom management for stations, and I'd say that when doing stations, the students are more engaged and cause less problems overall. #2ndaryELA
A4: All the same rules still apply but I do allow for more volume. :) I also ensure that students have individual accountability for work/grades. #2ndaryELA
A4: I spend a little more time at the beginning going over what is expected of the students at each station. Stations always work better if the teacher can help with deeper challengers rather than repeating directions that weren't clear enough to begin with! #2ndaryELA
A4 Before starting stations I review the tasks at each stations to try to eliminate questions when students should be working, I use a timer and give warnings when time is almost up. Students who aren't working productively can be given an alternative assignment #2ndaryela
A4: I also use checklists for centers so students can have a visual of what needs to be completed. #2ndaryELA
Q5: Share your best station/center activities. #2ndaryELA
A5: My writing centers have been helpful to my students who were learning the parts of writing text-based essays (informative). https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Essay-Practice-Centers-BUNDLE-2228884 … #2ndaryELA
A5: I also had a lot of success with centers loosely based on the Daily 5 for my struggling learner classes. #2ndaryELA
A5: Using MS Teams has been great. It lets students chat while also keeping a record of that chat for me to look at later. While they are doing it, I also sometimes reply. It gives them a little taste of doing something similar for college. #2ndaryELA
A5 Here's a blog post about 3 ways to use stations https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2016/06/learning-centers.html … #2ndaryELA
Thank you so much for that awesome chat @SpanglerMiddle You definitely gave me some great insight! #2ndaryELA
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you found some new ways to implement learning stations and centers in your #2ndaryELA classroom!