Managing Station Time

Truth be told, I’m a bit of a *control freak*.  I’m sure there’s a little bit of that in all of us.  Mine tends to reign when it comes to managing my classroom.   And it gets EXTREMELY stressed out when I’m flying, but that’s beside the point.  Yes…I like to be in control in the classroom.  It would be scary if there were no control….we all know that.

I’ve worked with lots of teachers who were masters at letting go of control…in certain aspects, of course.  I’ve dabbled in it here and there, but I’ve always been a little nervous to find out what it would be like if I let my kids choose instead of me.  Maybe that’s why the Daily 5 framework & I didn’t mesh so well.  I love all the components, but the choice part just freaked me out {sad, but true}.

I had the opportunity to attend a really great guided reading training this past summer offered by my district.  The training covered many aspects of our literacy block and the presenters talked a lot about giving kids the freedom to choose.  Then one of them mentioned an easy way for kids to keep themselves accountable during the whole choice process.  And it just clicked.  I remember thinking, “I can totally do this!!!!”.  I even wrote it in my notes.  Consider it done.

And this week I introduced “choice” during my literacy block.  We’re going to need lots of practice….and lots of reteaching…and lots more practice.  But so far, so good.  And the kids love the autonomy.

Here was the “a-ha!!!” idea.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing crazy.  So simple, yet SO very genius.  Why didn’t I think of it myself?!?!?

Basically, I keep a class list at each station.  Again, nothing fancy.  They’re laminated so that the kids can use dry erase markers on them, but a dry erase sleeve would work just as well. 

The kids know that they can choose an activity at any of my stations in the room.  If there are two people already working in a station, they have to find another station {I have 5-8 stations in my room, depending on the objectives/week}.  This works really well with my class because I only have 9 kids at a time during my literacy half group blocks.  Once they get to the station of their choice, they have to mark their name off the checklist.  This way they know they can’t return to that station and I can quickly see exactly who’s done what. 

Of course, I couldn’t let go of all control, so the kids have to go to “dinner” first before they can go to “dessert”.  {Must do’s/Can do’s}

 

I absolutely love the simplicity of this idea.  And I love how easy it is for us to keep track of everything.  Like I said, we’re still practicing…and reteaching…and practicing some more.  But they’re doing so great already I know they’ll have it down in no time!