Questions for Reflection: How do you interact with each of your students on a regular basis?
How do we keep track of all of our students competency development throughout the process of a learning situation?
How can a stations approach help to provide content for learning while students develop competencies for critical thinking and action?
Why use stations?
Organizing your classroom into learning stations is a simple modification that can reap many benefits. The way to get the most benefit though, is to ensure that there is a teacher station amongst the stations in your room. That way you are guaranteed to have valuable contact with each of your students during each of your classes.
Small group instruction is somewhat magical. When we teach to a large group, it is difficult to gauge understanding and engagement. When we work with small groups at a time we can ensure that we are reaching them all.
This is especially important when teaching through learning situations, where students are developing competencies at different rates and in different ways than before. Small group interaction through stations can allow the teacher to touch base with all students on a regular basis throughout the process.
See why Emilie Bowles, history teacher at Nova Career Centre, New Frontiers School Board in Chateauguay, Quebec started to use stations:
For more on Emilie’s experience with stations, including her ideas about building community and formative assessment: Emilie’s YouTube Playlist
See why Lindsay Harrar, teacher at ACCESS, Riverside School Board in St Lambert, Quebec started to use stations in her Literacy classroom:
***Update Dec 8, 2017 – Lindsay wrote a great article for CEAs EdCan Network magazine that really sheds light on how she uses stations in her daily practice: Differentiated Stations: A Learning Strategy for the Mixed Ability Classroom.
Teacher Testimonials
Here is some feedback from teachers in adult education about their experimentation with stations in their classrooms.
(Go here to see feedback from students).
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Learning resources created by Emilie Bowles (Teacher, NFSB), Lindsay Harrar (Teacher, RSB), Avi Spector (RECIT Consultant, RSB), and Tracy Rosen (RECIT Consultant, CSSMI), 2016, 2017.
Thank you!
If you would like more information about these resources or if you have something you would like to add to this tile, please contact Avi Spector or Tracy Rosen.
All materials are expected to be reused and shared according to this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0