PDG+Reflection

Kelly Nolan Dr. McKool PDG Reflection April 7th, 2011

Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work by Debbie Diller is a great book for any teacher planning on using work stations or centers in their classroom. Diller distinguishes centers from work stations by saying that centers are more like extras and work centers are part of the curriculum and they are used to complete classroom work and classroom goals. She takes you through each work station in detail, explaining what the station should look like, what the station should sound like, what materials you will need for each station, what you need to model in order for the station to be successful, how to keep the station interesting throughout the year, how to differentiate the station and what possible troubles you could run into with the center. She also explains how each center can look at different grades and gives you different strategies for how to arrange stations and station time in your classroom.

One interesting point Diller makes is that no matter what you put at a work station you must first teach and model the activity. You must first teach the children how to use the stations and then when you add materials to the station you must model how to use them. She says you need to model each new addition to the station a few time to make sure all students are sure what is expected of them. In each chapter she tells you exactly what you need to model for the students and how do accomplish this. She also says you should make “I can” lists for each station that way if a student forgets what they are supposed to be doing they can just look at the list and redirect themselves. When you teach a lesson and then add something to a station based on that lesson the activity should be a practice of what was already done in class, no new material should be introduced.

Another interesting point Diller makes it that when students are working in stations it is very east for you to be able to do a small group lesson, such as guided reading, if you have the right systems set in place. When you set up your centers you need to make sure that you can work with a group uninterrupted. This can be accomplished by assigning students to do different jobs a teacher would usually do. Some of these jobs include a computer wiz who knows how to use the computer and can help other students who are having trouble and a materials manager who can make sure the pencils are sharpened and there is enough paper and writing supplies at each station. You can also create a note leaving area such a white board or somewhere to put sticky notes for problems that must be dealt with by the teacher and when she has a free minute she can respond to these notes.

One final point is that students should share with the class what they did in their work stations that day. This creates individual accountability and ensures that each child does something and is not just playing around while the teacher is working with others. It also allows the teacher to assess the students work. When the students are sharing with the class the teacher should be taking notes of what the student did and how well the student did it. If she notices that a lot of children are using a station in a way it was not meant to be used she can tell and is easily able to return to modeling that station.

Overall, I thought that this was a very informative and well organized book. Being and early childhood minor I often think about using work stations in my classroom and I worry about how to keep them organized, how to make sure each student is aware of what each station is supposed to be used for and how to be able to allow the students to be able to work independently while I work with a small group. This book has provided, in great detail, great ideas for making work stations successful. As I set up my own classroom I will be sure to keep this book close so I can refer to it for help in getting the stations setup, getting students working effectively within them and keeping them interesting and differentiated throughout the year.