As we approach EOG testing season my mind is running with fun and creative ways to prepare students for their big tests. As teachers, one of our biggest challenges is to balance test taking strategies with fun, engaging learning experiences. One of the best ways I have found to do this is through stations.
Station activities allow students to be practicing skills in areas they need most help with, while their neighbor is practicing a skill he needs most help with. It's completely differentiated. Differentiation is a fancy word that is supposed to mean "developing a framework in which students can explore different venues of learning to grow academically regardless of culture, language, socioeconomic status, gender, motivation, personal interests and ability." In teacher speak that means, "I have a lot of work to do!"
Solution: Stations that require very little monitoring!**
Ok, so they aren't the cutest things yet. I quickly threw this together in an afternoon of frustration trying to grade hundreds of stations checklists and papers.
The main idea is this: There are several pocket charts on my bulletin board with labels of different kinds of stations. The students each have a dot with his or her number on it (all the kids have a number). They put their number beside the label they want to work with. They find the box with the matching label, take it to their seat or a spot around the room, and dig in! I tried to put tasks cards with word problems and a game or two in each box. The boxes on the right are sitting in 2 sideways turned milk crates. the top basket has math games. The blue box is full of math based learning books and the yellow box has dry erase markers, spray bottles, expo markers, and socks (erasers) in it. All the materials are at the children's fingertips.
So how does it work? Here's my daily math schedule:
Paper passers hand out stations folders. In each station folder, there is a stations checklist, a piece of notebook paper, and the number dot.
Once students have their folder, they answer a word problem from the board (Problem of the Day). This is what the notebook paper is for. The students copy the problem and use their testing strategies to find keywords, underline important information, solve and check the problem.
As each student completes the problem of the day, he or she can take their dot, place it on the stations board, grab a station, and get to work. As other students finish, they can choose to put their dot next to another and work with that person, or get a completely different station to work with.
Students work in stations alone or in partners. I've found that little people have a hard time remaining friendly in groups of 3 or 4. Station time from start (problem of the day) to finish (clean up) is 30 minutes. I set a timer so that students can self monitor.
What does the teacher do during this time? I pull 3-5 dots and have those kids work with me. We work on word problem strategies, go over past tests, or I reteach something I know that particular small group didn't understand.
When the timer goes off, the students clean up their stations and return to their seats. They pull out their stations check list, and write the name of the person they worked with next to the station they worked on. If they worked alone, they can write their own name. Each station has 3 boxes next to it. This limits the amount of time a child can go to each station. So...little Billy might want to play on the ipad every day, but he only has 3 chances. Eventually he has to work on each station because he will run out of other options.
We then go over the problem of the day, our daily warm up (morning work), and homework. As students put their homework in their mailboxes, they return their stations folder to the station folder box.
Now we are ready for Teacher Directed Instruction!
It seems like a lot of work up front. It took me 1 planning period to organize this whole set up. I love it because the students are learning responsibility because they have to monitor their work. They are also intrinsically motivated to participate because they get to choose the station they work on each day.
For students who are not following instructions or are not completing tasks, I assign them a station. Choice is a privilege and if you can't choose wisely, you don't have to choose. Only a few students have needed "help" choosing a station. After watching their friends learning together while they do something "boring" like seat work alone, they usually straighten up.
Most of my stations are games, but to monitor the paper work, I have a "turn in station work" box. At the end of the week I glance through the work and mark any glaring misunderstandings.
If you're a teacher, maybe you can try this in your own classroom! If anyone wants my problem of the day powerpoint, just e-mail me (newbeginningz2012@gmail.com). I'm happy to share. I'm also willing to share more details about what goes in each station box and send you task cards and things I have made!
Whew! We made it through that long post! Thanks for hanging in there with me. What about you? How do you make learning fun for your own kids (as a parent or a teacher)?
**With an effectively trained group of children. Good luck.
