Today I observed my host classroom working in centers doing math work. I spent most of the time with one of the centers at a group of four students who were completing a worksheet. The assignment was to measure the lines drawn on the paper using a ruler and recording the length of the line to the nearest 1/4 inch.
What I observed was that the students I was working with did not know how to use the ruler. I had to show each of the four students repeatedly what a 1/4 inch looked like on the ruler and help them measure most of the lines.
In both sections of the reading courses I have taken we have talked a lot about using centers or stations as a strategy for reading instruction and there have a been a lot of ideas that I hope to include in my classroom from that. What I observed today was not, in my opinion, an effective use of stations. From what I saw the students were struggling to complete the assignments but rather than ask for help they were simply completing the worksheets with answers that didn't make sense.
As far as the group I worked with is concerned I think they could use a great deal more time with the teacher for explicit instruction. It did not appear to me that these students had been explicitly shown how to use a ruler to measure to the 1/4 inch mark. If they have it did not stick and they need more time practicing with individual attention. I did not think these four students were ready to be sent off to a station to do this work individually just yet.
I think that if I am going to use stations in my classroom I will use them for students to practice skills that I am sure they have a decent grasp on already and as a way to provide students time to get hands on experience as individuals applying what we have learned. I learned today that it will be important to monitor my students progress in order to make sure that their work in centers is an effective use of their classroom time.
No comments:
Post a Comment