Aren't stations for babies?
You know what, naps are also for babies and they are fabulous.
In all seriousness, stations are chunks of focused skill development. If you aren't sure what really works for that weird class, do you know what skills your students struggle with or are confident with?
Stations are your friends.
Do you have an observation coming up with an admin that doesn't understand your content? Are you being assessed for engagement percentages, rigor in the classroom, inquiry-based practices, or knowledge utilization?
Stations are your friends.
Do you have a class that is so talkative you can't teach? Do you have a class with a wide range of ability levels?
Stations are your friends.
When / Why to use stations
Stations are more than just "fun" (they are fun). I call them "speedy Spanish" days. Students almost never have enough time to finish a whole activity in one class period. Completion is NOT the goal. Showing their gut instincts and understanding what students do easily or well/poorly will and should impact your instruction the next day.
I use stations when we get in a rut. I am doing the same things and students are showing the same results. I need more feedback on where we need to focus. This quarter, I have been doing A LOT of story telling, story asking, cloze listening activities, and PQA. My students were shocked when they were at a reading station. Oops. Time to change it up.
I use stations when class has been intermittent or many absences (think snow days). Students aren't ready for "new" content but I am out of ideas. They need more input, more repetitions, more types of exposure. Ya'll, I have 400 students. I don't know who needs what so everyone gets it all!
I also tend to do stations on announced building-wide observations. Yes, it is part "dog and pony show" but also because it is a familiar, research-based teaching strategy that breaks-down what your students are doing into clear, observable skills. It is much easier to tell that students are in a rigor class when they are being stretched and pushed on multiple skills and standards.
Students Work, Teachers Push Students
Not literally. Don't push your kids unless you want to lose your job, and you enjoy spending time in a courtroom.
Students should be doing 99.9999999% of the work. You need an easy timer. Students should not have enough time to finish any given station in that allotted time.
As the teacher, you should be either 1) being asking more questions than answering or 2) modeling thinking / language skills. If you are defining vocabulary, giving cheats to students, you have removed all higher order thinking. Feel free to model and help students make connections to what they are doing, do not give answers (barring new student additions, chronically absent students who may not have been present to build that background).
You can also be a station. Please, know your students first. I do not have a class I trust to just "do" this semester. Before, I was a station when I had smaller class sizes and the same students all year. I would have them reading a challenging reading with me, I would practice short conversation, ask them connections to other classes they are seeing... I LOVED spending that time with my students.
Logistics and stuff
I make enough stations to fill about 5 minutes per station plus a five minute introduction.
I use a timer only I know is going on. If I need to fib and move on more quickly or extend time, I can do so without any push-back.
Grouping students: depends on how organized I am and if this is for an over-all formative assessment or to help students who are behind catch-up. I have done homogeneous groups, heterogeneous groups, random numbers, go down the list, and divide up "those" kids. I NEVER LET THE KIDS PICK. It's not social hour.
Make station signs that have numbers. Write them in L1 so you aren't just re-giving directions every time.
Stations in my 6, 7, & 8 L2+ class
We've had Iowa snow days, cold days, and low attendance days. Plus, we switched students at semester. Like I mentioned above, I have been doing lots of auditory input and not nearly as much reading practice. So we did a class story inspired by Martina Bex's Somos 1 Unit: Dice. I built a skeleton story for this and put it in a PowerPoint with no images (I could draw in the white board and add details specific to each class).
I took our classes' stories and made one version and used it for our stations in class. My goals were to: 1) assess literacy skills like comprehension and reading strategies, 2) lots of repetitions of familiar and newish vocabulary, 3) work on building community and collaboration, and 4) get them saying Spanish words.
I did not give them sufficient time because I want them to "rush" and put their gut reaction down so I am more likely to get what they have acquired.
I also want them to start speaking Spanish words. I know that output does not increase acquisition, but I am personally tired of the line, "But I don't speak Spanish." (Like seriously, I am going to lose it or come unhinged). I don't care what it sounds like, I don't care if it is conversational, I don't care if it isolated words: They said Spanish words so now they speak Spanish. Argument ended.
I also want them to start speaking Spanish words. I know that output does not increase acquisition, but I am personally tired of the line, "But I don't speak Spanish." (Like seriously, I am going to lose it or come unhinged). I don't care what it sounds like, I don't care if it is conversational, I don't care if it isolated words: They said Spanish words so now they speak Spanish. Argument ended.
Station 1 Comic
On one side of their paper, I made a comic book template and inserted the main ideas into the word boxes. Students had to sketch as much of the story as they could.
Because the final version of the story might have slightly different details from their class's version, it was important to read the boxes carefully. Students were encouraged to talk to each other, divide and conquer, but everyone had their own paper.
Stick figures are welcome when they have the details or labels to ensure the audience, me, can understand the details of the story.
Station 2 Parallel Universe
I failed and forgot to take an actual picture of the station.
Students flipped their paper over from station 1 to find the typed version of the story. The paper is in landscape and the story typed one one half of the paper. Students had several options depending on confidence or grade level or class needs. Option 1 Translate the story into English on the blank of of the paper. Option 2 Write an opposite story in English. Option 3 Write an opposite story in Spanish.
My 6th graders did the most of option three.
My 6th graders did the most of option three.
Station 3 Order in the Station
Collect the papers from station 2
Students were told to put the story in an order that made sense. It didn't have to match the typed one, just in an order that made sense. (Savanya can't run home first because then nothing happens in the story.)
Students put the lines that confused them off to the side and then tried to integrate those at the end. I could see what they were struggling with. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with "big" sentences.
A lot of students were upset they didn't have time to finish and asked to take a picture of what they did.
This story is not exact but it is logical for students 13 days into the semester!
Station 4 fail: Teatro
Yeah, they weren't ready for this.
Sixth grade was awesome. Seventh and eighth grade stunk it up.
I gave them the reader's theater version of the story. They had four minutes to prep, one minute to act whatever they could. I told them they could do it in English or Spanish. My sixth graders did it in Spanish and owned it! Everyone spoke at least a word and then participated in being a character or supporting detail.
Station 4: Improved- Mano nerviosa
This is the card game like Slap Jack. Students count 1-10 in Spanish. If the number they say matches the flipped card, anyone can slap the card to win the pile. I made it so anything with a face is worth 10. It was a great community builder and for the few students who "didn't know" or were holding up the game, the positive peer pressure to participate was awesome.
There were several new students who really didn't know their numbers 1-10 and several students who got stuck after cinco. I just counted with them for a few rounds and they eventually counted in unison (output for many, input for some).
Station 5: Collaborative Smash Doodles
I had three cognate readings with "tiene" "esta" "dice". The stories were written at three different levels of difficulty. Each table group had the readings taped to the desks, a big piece of paper, and a set of markers. Stories were all the same at the same table.
Students could move around and pick any story and add details or draw whatever they understood. It's like the group before provides the scaffolds for the next group.
Students were really protective of their drawings and I didn't see any penises drawn on. Win.
I hung up the best ones in the hallway bulletin board with a copy of the story with it.
Additional Station Ideas
Cloze listening with computers
Cultural components on YouTube
Reading/Chatting with teacher
Logic puzzles
Hidden object search
Art analysis
Guess Who or Rako
Prinola (Mexican top game)
Catch-up and Pick-els
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