AVReading Newsletter January: Stations

This month, we will extend our look at classroom strategies with a look at a unique type of small group work, commonly referred to as stations.

Stations are a type of learning activity where students are divided into groups and sent to work at specific tables or areas placed throughout the room. They work especially well with activities or lessons that are interactive or “hands-on”.  In some cases, they can transform  lessons that have historically been passive (like readings or lectures) into more engaging, visual experiences.  

Depending on how they are used, stations can provide a number of advantages.   As mentioned earlier, they can be more active and engaging, allowing students the chance to collaborate with peers and engage with concepts or ideas.  They can also break up a class a little.  In some cases, the lesson might require students to move from station to station, which can get them out of their chairs.  Stations can also allow for more differentiated instruction.  For example, if you know one group needs help with learning the concepts of “commas”, you send them to two or three stations that develop those muscles, while another group visits stations where they can work on “clauses” etc.  

Of course, stations come with some challenges.  For starters, they take quite a bit of set up.  Being sure that each station has a meaningful activity can take some extra work.  And you have to get creative with both what they should demonstrate in their learning and how they demonstrate it.  Ideally, you want it to be something more than a moving worksheet.  

Here are some tips for using stations.

Everybody Visits Every Station:  One method is to set up about five stations and have them spend about 7 minutes at each station.  Typically, I like to have no more than five or six students per group.  And I typically number them off  (one through five) to start with.  They then begin their activity at their corresponding number and work their way numerically through them.  I make them stay together as a group, and tell them that they can’t move to the next station until I give them the green light to do so.  

Station Worthy Material:  Again, I like to create stations for lessons that might get long as a lecture.  I also like to use this in conjunction with readings.  In one lesson, I place a chart or graph about our given topic (ie. mass incarceration, teen pregnancy, gun violence) at each station. Then I ask them to document what they see in each graph or chart.  In another lesson, we have six different literary devices (one at each station), and students have to visit each one and complete a brief task or exercise.  We also use stations for “book parades.”  In other words, students travel from station to station to browse specific books before they fill out a form that states which of the books they like the most. In another activity, I will print off five or six paintings and have them visit each as though it were more of a gallery.  In another, I have writing models ranging from “mastery level” down to “developing”.  Students visit each station and work together to critique and assess the writing.  

 Outcomes:  I generally like to have some type of tangible product that students must complete to demonstrate their learnings.  There are a number of different options.  One of the easiest is to create a paper form that they complete as they go along.  (Again, you have to be careful with those because they begin to feel a lot like worksheets.)  I might also have them just fill out thoughts in their notebooks (which I later check).  In some cases, I might have an online survey (usually created in Google Forms), that they have to complete.  Or there might be a sheet at the station that the students must complete as a group.  In some cases, I’ll have a whiteboard at the station and each group will need to add “graffiti” to it.  For some stations, I might actually ask them to sketch or draw something (just to mix things up a little bit).  

Digital Stations:  Sometimes, I might actually create QR Codes for activities and post them up and down the halls.  Students then take their iPads to the various stations, scan the code and complete whatever survey or digital activity I have created for them to do.  

Learning Spaces:  Since the remodel, we have so many excellent spaces (outside of our classrooms) that work well for stations.  I’ve used the commons area with all of it’s tables-- though it is obviously off limits during 5th hour.  The mezzanine is good, as is the triangle area just above it.  I’ve also enjoyed using the learning stairs.  They actually provide a great flat surface from which students can work and move around on.   

The overall purpose of stations is to get students up and active, to encourage them to grapple and interact with complicated or difficult ideas, and to make these experiences more visual and collaborative in the process.  I generally don’t feel the need to grade station work.  But I do often carry my notebook around and make observations about what I see happening, and then I share those observations with the class.  If you would like to find out more about how we use stations or if you would like to see them in action, let me know. 

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