How To Create Learning Centers In The Classroom

The sound of action echoes throughout the classroom. I find myself engaged in a small-scale-group chat around the igneous rocks that the students in this group are holding. Remembering that shortly before that conversation I'd been near to redirect some students, I quickly scan the room searching for off-task beliefs. To my please, I observe that a wide array of learning is taking place. In one corner, I see students watching a video and typing online reflections. In the other corner, I see students comparison their drawings on the rock cycle. This is what a adept day built on learning centers looks like.

As teachers strive to detect means of promoting key success skills while making apply of limited resources, learning centers can exist an invaluable tool in the secondary classroom. In improver, learning centers provide time-strapped teachers with opportunities for meaningful determinative cess that helps drive the classroom didactics. What are some strategies that secondary teachers can apply to successfully launch learning centers in their classrooms?

Use a Roadmap

Developing a one-page roadmap that outlines the station progression is a must. My co-teachers Bob Wandel and Nate Alkire have found that including a "check-off" space for a teacher signature or stamp of approval brings higher levels of accountability. In fact, our heart schoolhouse students love the traditional stamp or sticker. In improver, nosotros include items such every bit learning target questions or need to knows if we are in the centre of a project.

Chart showing Station, Learning Target, Key Deliverable, and a column to check when stations have been completed

Image credit: Ted Malefyt

A sample road map to an igneous rock-themed learning heart experience

Leverage Your Resources

As teachers bring actuality into the classroom, the resource and materials needed become more complex and thus more expensive. Learning centers can ease some of the fiscal concerns by integrating a lab experience every bit a center. For example, a teacher may not have enough stereo microscopes in the classroom for each pair of students. Past creating a station or ii that uses the microscopes, momentum can exist maintained. In other situations, limiting the corporeality of resources can lessen the burden on the teacher. For example, instead of having viii paint stations fix upwardly around the room, a single station can eliminate a big mess! In these situations, the cleanup and setup times are reduced, freeing up precious time to see the demands of the twenty-four hours.

Diversify the Experience

Student diagram on the wall showing stages of fish capture

Image credit: Ted Malefyt

A paw-drawn infographic is one mode to diversify students' learning experience.

Here is your chance to attempt a multifariousness of methods for helping students uncover the disquisitional content that your learning centers are geared toward. Feel confident in trying dissimilar activities, labs, and experiences that you typically have shied abroad from. Call back virtually how you tin can add drawing, engineering, physical movement, reading, reflecting, observing, graphing, etc. In addition to finding a diversity of methods, experience free to diversify where the experience is taking identify likewise. The bottom line is that many students similar learning in different ways, and teachers like safe environments to try new things.

Build in Wild Card Fourth dimension

Building a civilisation of voice and choice while providing opportunities to develop self-direction skills doesn't happen overnight. By edifice in wild card time, you allow for students to manage relevant items related to the learning centers. In all situations, wild card time tin can provide the structure to support the students who want a little more and those who demand to catch up. In cases where learning centers are in the middle of a project, wild card fourth dimension can provide students a valuable opportunity to build their ideas based on what they are learning in the centers. Sometimes the management of project-based learning requires the space for students to conduct out simple tasks like electronic mail or phone calls.

Comport a Clipboard

Chart with columns showing Student Name; Igneous Rock ID Lab; Reading Article; Video with Online Reflection; Wild Card; and Rock Cycle Drawing

Image credit: Ted Malefyt

Sample spreadsheet

Sometimes simplicity is the best option! Conduct a clipboard with the class list formatted in a spreadsheet. Using this spreadsheet, you have your own tape of which student is meeting your expectations and who needs extra aid. Equally formative assessment takes identify, quickly document with simple checkmarks. This documentation can provide really important data and information that will inform your side by side steps.

Search Out One-on-One Conversations

1 of the subconscious secrets of learning centers is your power to have the critical one-on-1 conversations that our middle and loftier school students demand. Relationships are incredibly important, and we need to detect means that volition allow for them to happen. By building in opportunities for more meaningful conversations, we can proceeds a better understanding of our students in the context of our classroom. Sometimes the simple conversation is what moves the student forward.

The possibilities are endless when nosotros continue to build ideas and structures that support loftier-quality teaching and learning. Learning centers are a tool that we can all leverage. What are some learning center strategies that you can share?