Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Literacy Workstations
I often feel like I have a hard time managing workstations. I do not have an assistant in my room so I often feel overwhelmed trying to give my small group my full attention while also monitoring the rest of my class. I think students benefit greatly from workstations, therefore, I want to keep doing them (and I really don't have a choice because we have to do them!). Are there any suggestions anyone has for managing workstations and making sure that all students are on task/active that are not with me in my group? Also, I plan on redoing my workstations next year so if anyone has any suggestions for stations, that'd be greatly appreciated as well. I currently have guided reading (small group with me), poetry (which I'd really like to redo because students seem to run out of things to do or get bored), listening, computers/games, buddy reading, and word study (phonics).
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I understand b/c I feel the same way. Without another adult in the room, it's very hard to give your full attention to your small group and monitor the other 20 children in the room. I'm interested in the other comments on ways to tackle the situation.
ReplyDeleteI feel that my reading instruction suffered when I had to complete my DIBELS assessments every other week. I felt like I taught a week and assessed a week. How is that benefiting the children?
Crystal, it really is a conundrum. We know what our students need, and quality instruction often calls for considerable time commitment from the teacher -- often more time and attention than one person can provide for a classroom full of young students. I am afraid that this challenge will only increase as we face continued budget restrictions.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we can't abandon what we know our students need. One key to successful small groups is extreme planning. In planning the class session, we have to overthink the activities and plan for a number of possible scenarios. We also have to give detailed, step-by-step directions. In Teaching the Best Practice Way, Daniels & Bizar stress the importance of structure and say that small group activities work best in classrooms where the learning community is well established.