Oh, yeah, I’m a teacher
March has been a bit hectic. I’ve neglected my posts for a reason – mostly because I needed to focus on being a teacher and stuff. Ironically enough, my lack of blog posts has stressed me out more than writing them. When I go without reflection for this long, I begin to sense that there is a teasing void that needs to be filled. So I’m filling it.
These past few months have presented me (and every other teacher in Philadelphia) with a bit of challenge. Interrupted by snow storms and holidays and constant field trips (my students will have gone on 5 this month alone), my curriculum has become nearly irrelevant. As a history teacher, I thrive off of connections from one lesson to the next. There is rarely an isolated moment in my teaching that doesn’t require some background from the previous week or unit. So, it’s been difficult to guide my students with any sense of continuity with our recent stop-and-go schedule.
Presented with a challenge, I have not capitulated, but rather, am rebounding – trying to take advantage of the clutter and make some sense out of it. If the usual and constant is order in my teaching, then I needed to do the opposite – create a little chaos…put things (carefully and thoughtfully) out of order…mix things up. And so I did.
My solution was not, in any way, revolutionary or innovative. But it has been effective. And it’s as simple as centers. By centers I mean isolated stations that allow groups of students to rotate practicing a variety of content-based skills.
The benefits of centers:
- student-focused and operated
- cater to diverse learning styles
- cover a broad scope of material
- can be evaluated in a variety of ways (quantitative/qualitative)
The drawbacks of centers:
- so much planning to prepare
- management can be a problem and add to chaos
- real learning can be avoided by determined students
With all this in mind, I gave it a serious try twice in the last two weeks. Both times the room was quiet with only the buzz of learning to be heard, and students engaged with the material on their own terms and at their own pace. In an effort to capture the beauty of it all, I shot this video:
We are studying Islam and the basic principles and practices of the religion. They had the chance to interact with religious artifacts like a prayer rug and Qur’an and were able to read, write, watch and listen at the five stations I had set up. Regardless of the true success (I’ll know once I grade their assessments and assignments), the experience gave me some motivation to keep thinking about ways to break up my teaching and put it into the hands of my students. That is, I think, where it belongs.
- Jeff
I love it! Can hardly wait to meet them. I’ll bring my prayer rug
I’ve been using centers lately, too! Isn’t it amazing how engaged they are? I haven’t had any problems with kids not working hard at stations, and it makes my day much more orderly and not too noisy either. LOVE IT!
Miss you, kiddo. Hope you’re well! Will you be in Philly this summer? I’m taking a quick trip there June 18-20 to see the Twins play the Phillies
i love how kalia breaks your “road to success” and is pinning it back up haha.
OMG I know I was giving her my pissed off look.
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing this! Some of my elementary school colleagues have raved about stations, but I have not yet seen this structure used in a middle or high school classroom (until now!). This gives me some ideas of things to try in my next unit.
I was so impressed with how well students seemed to understand what was expected at each station. How were these instructions delivered to them? And how did you coordinate the rotation between stations?
Taylor! I would love to hear how your teaching is going. Stations are kind of new to me, although I have used them differently (and to less success) in the past. I generally use stations as a way for students to interact with the material after the material has been introduced through more direct instruction. In this case, my students were reviewing different aspects of Islam at each station that I had already taught. They have the routine down now, but it takes a little practice. I usually give a generous amount of time at each station (like 8 minutes) and then ring a bell and they rotate on their own. When I have students with special needs, I might have them all in one table so I can rotate with them. It just depends on the material they are working with. Let’s catch up soon!