{"id":2430,"date":"2021-08-10T16:42:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2021-08-22T14:11:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T14:11:53","slug":"making-math-stations-great-8-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/?p=2430","title":{"rendered":"Making Math Stations Great: 8 Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to beat math stations for hands-on, active, differentiated learning.\u00a0 Stations mirror attention spans…by the time a bit of restlessness creeps in, it’s time to move to something new!\u00a0 And novelty tweaks brain interest, memory, and attention.\u00a0 Stations also appeal to varying learning styles – students may sort at one, write at another, practice with a partner at station 3, and play a card game at station 4.\u00a0 Learning and student autonomy can thrive in station teaching…but not all stations are created equal.<\/p>\n

8 tips for implementing masterful stations:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Every rotation should serve an explicit purpose in meeting today’s learning target(s).\u00a0 By the end of the learning episode, visible progress should be evident on today’s target(s).<\/li>\n
  2. Differentiate stations.\u00a0 For example, learners\u00a0might chose between two writing topics or select problems that interest them.\u00a0 Scaffolding – differentiation by process – should be present.\u00a0 For example, a “cheat sheet” of perfect squares might be available.<\/li>\n
  3. Weave varying math learning styles into stations.\u00a0 Some love to collaborate on problems, so one station could incorporate cooperative learning, such as rolling cubes.\u00a0 Others like to defend their positions – so a sometimes-always-never or fact\/fib will get them moving.\u00a0 And your writers will enjoy math RAFT’s.<\/li>\n
  4. Incorporate an accountability piece.\u00a0 A graphic organizer with station names\u00a0may serve this purpose., or students may\u00a0simply accumulate work from each station that they\u00a0will employ for their final formative assessment at the end of class.\u00a0 Or…students can take pictures of their work on their phones.<\/li>\n
  5. Consider time and movement.\u00a0 What will the traffic flow look like?\u00a0 If some students finish early (always happens!) would an anchor activity be helpful?\u00a0 Organizing rooms is always a challenge – consider having desks in a semi-circle against walls and corners and one in the middle.\u00a0 Place numbers at stations with instructions.\u00a0 Model first, showing students what this will look like.<\/li>\n
  6. Typically, math stations include a teacher station.\u00a0 This provides critical time to work with a small group, often using individual white boards.\u00a0 Great practice and highly encouraged, UNLESS this is your first time to implement stations.\u00a0 If so, consider waiting on this.\u00a0 Why? This will allow you to float between stations, encourage proper traffic flow, and establish routines.<\/li>\n
  7. Group thoughtfully.\u00a0 Six reluctant math learners in one station? Probably not a good idea. \u00a0 Consider having a leader at each station and a materials organizer. \u00a0Utilize current classroom data.\u00a0 Groups today probably won’t look like groups tomorrow.<\/li>\n
  8. How do you know stations worked well? If you are floating between stations, it’s easy to see their progress and provide real-time feedback. During the close, the final formative assessment can incorporate something from each station.\u00a0 These responses can be on sticky notes. So, we open with our explicit learning target and end with measuring student progress on the target…How’d things go?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Get busy creating stations at www.mathinfastlane.com.\u00a0 If you don’t have your account, go to “Getting Started” at top of page.<\/p>\n

    Stations are the perfect blend of active learning and needed classroom structure.\u00a0 Go forth and create!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It’s hard to beat math stations for hands-on, active, differentiated learning.\u00a0 Stations mirror attention spans…by the time a bit of restlessness creeps in, it’s time to move to something new!\u00a0 And novelty tweaks brain interest, memory, and attention.\u00a0 Stations also appeal to varying learning styles – students may sort at one, write at another, practice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2433,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/2433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathinfastlane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}