Education Standards
Content Learning Centers
Designing Effective Activity Centers for Diverse Learners
Editing Center Sample
Learning Centers
Learning Centers
Learning Centers (1)
Learning Centers[6860]
Story Telling Center Sample
Using Center Activities to Promote Student Learning
Content Learning Centers
Overview
On this OER, My group and I focused on Content Learning Center, and we focused on how students and teachers were able to include centers into their curriculm.
Introduction to Content Learning Centers
Content Learning Centers:
- Are small areas within the classroom students select from teacher prepared activities to practice and the skills they have been taught. The teacher creates these centers for the students, so they can build and reinforce their skills. In these centers, students need to be actively engaged in their centers while accommodating their own different approaches to learning, as well as their playful natures, and their need for choice. Allowing students to have the freedom of choice and developmentally appropriate centers differentiates instructuction. Which helps students build physical, social-emotional, and cognitive skills.
The Benefits of Content Learning Content Centers
The benefits of learning in a content learning environment. Our learning centers empower engagement when it is self-directed and based on learners' strength, ability, and interest. The benefits to gain are enhanced language interaction, responsiveness to story, increased art, reading and writing like behaviors, collaboration, peer activity, and independence. Research shows that content learning centers provide open ended activities that allow students to practice skills and strategies taught, and offer opportunities for development.
The Goals to achieve when doing an activity center are
Fairness: Increase opportunities for assistance by teachers and peers
Instructions for all students through conversation and collaboration with the teacher in small groups, homogenous groups
Harmony
Collaboration on shared products with peers in small groups
Inclusion
Increased participation by all students
Academic Excellence
Instruction that is relevant and meaningful to students
Opportunities for students to engage in extended reading time, writing. And speaking using academic language
Instruction that is cognitively challenging and advances students understanding to more complex levels
Instructional framing/ Topic center
- The instructional frame:
Framing each intructional between an opening and closing is an affective routine for developing, modeling, and practing the community values necessary for an activity center intrusction. The idea behind the opening and closing structure is to facilitate cooperative working relationship; encourage quality work by students, both independently and jointly with peers and the teacher: and promote high expextations for everyone particpating performance and learning
Guidelines For A Successful Activity Center
Applying learning centers into your classroom will look a little different for every class. Some general guidelines to follow include:
Create activity centers that will be challenging to students, but ensuring they will still be able to complete the tasks on their own.
During student directed activities, make sure to give the students some choices during the tasks.
Make sure the room is set up for group work. Students should be familiar with the layout and where the supplies are located.
Include activity center instructions such as task cards or instruction sheets. Break up the tasks of the center into steps for students to more easily understand what they should be doing.
Establish a way to assess students after completing a center. There are many ways to accomplish this. An example would be a checklist that the student or teacher completes.
(Application Do’s and Don’ts )
Do: Create a challenging environment for students where they still feel comfortable to share their ideas.
Don’t: Dismiss student responses.
Do: Actively listen to student responses and use them to further the discussion or build on their understanding.
Don’t: Ignore answers you get from the students and only use known answers.
Do: Ask questions that require discussion with students that will activate their knowledge.
Don’t: Only ask questions that have one correct answer.
- Do: Connect the instructional unit and activity together so that there is a good flow between topics. Selecting a theme is a great way to tie everything together.
Don’t: Hop around to different topics without any connection.
Do: Let students talk amongst themselves without selecting a group speaker to encourage participation for all members.
Don’t: Assign a speaker or dictate speaking turns.
- Here are some examples of activity centers that could be used for language arts:
Storytelling Center
In this storytelling center, students select a fairy tale and create a story map following the fairy tale. To add movement and role-play into the center, students will act out the selected story.
Editing Center
For the editing activity center, students will create their own editing checklist to use everytime they get done writing. After working as a group to come up with the things that will be on their editing checklist, they will have the opportunity to try it out with sample paragraphs and their own writing.
Bookmaking Center
Students will create their own paper bag book in this center. In this book, they will write their own fairytale
Activity
| Date Month/Day/Year | Check Yes ☑️ | What did you do today?
|
Storytellng | 12/8/22
| ☑️ | How to read in front of my friends |
Editing
|
| ||
Bookmaking | 12/8/22 |
Applying it to the teacher
> How does it apply to the teacher?
- This idea of centers applies to teachers in two ways. First a teacher will need to establish routines, use age appropriate materials, and encourage problem-solving in the centers. The teacher will need to find a way to introduce the idea of centers to his/her students. The best way a teacher can do this is through a hands on/modeling demonstration.
The second way centers apply to teachers is during center time, a teacher needs to be visibley walking around the room asking questions, providing feedback, highlighting positive examples of student behavior and work, and making adjustments when necessary. The teacher uses these centers to introduce a new skill or reinforce a skill already learned. A teacher should always keep documentation that they can use as a formative assessment to see a student’s progress.
Article feedback/Being applied in the real world
- In the article, Two Teachers Learn from Their Students:
Examining, Teaching, Learning, and the Use of Learning Centers, by Barbara Dian O’Donnell and Rebecca Hitpas, the teacher, Becky did a study of her students, and while documenting this experience she was able to document and observe a couple of her studetns who were in this new transition of actvity centers. She wanted to document they progress her students gianed and the adapting part they failed to gain.
Becky and a classroom aide documented each student as they work on the centers and were able to monitor her students’ progress and what they were lacking
The students were given a checklist to monitor the progress of their literacy skills
During the centers, Becky and her aide attended the centers with the students to
Ask question
And remediate when necessary
The results of Ms. Becky and her Aid both learned that:
Students A, one of the youngest students in the class, did not attend preschool and was noticeably behind the other students when school began. Although he made great strides to improve, he was a challenge for Becky, resisting authority and often arguing. As she stated, “He disputed me as well as other adults multiple times on a daily basis.” Becky soon found this new center format fit his circumstances well. She determined that he needed to have control over his environment. When center time came each day, his excitement and enthusiasm was apparent, and even contagious to those around him.
- Student B, the youngest of three children and daughter of a fellow teacher, was used to getting her share of attention at home. Although she was normally a cheerful child, she had moments of stubbornness as most kindergarteners would be. Did Student B become more accountable as a result of the new center format? Videotapes and observation notes show that she used her checklist to document center work appropriately. Student B was productively involved on most occasions, but observation notes showed that on a few days she used center materials for actions having nothing to do with literacy, like a hiding game. Her written work samples showed that she was often careless or seemed to be rushed. Despite these occasional problems, Becky felt that Studnet B did become more accountable, and given more time, would show more improvement.
The most important lesson she learned was that she does not need to be in control constantly
She has to give her students choice and self-accountability in the centers to truly learn and to be productive
Becky found new teaching roles in the literacy learning centers
She formed new literacy centers and as students worked on the same activities, she will modify the activities on the spot to meet the needs of each different student
Conclusion
Learning centers are one of the most important ways to learn new content by either working in a group or individually for the students. Working in Centers students can gain social and emotional skills, and learn how to think independently. A good thing to remember when implementing learning centers in your classroom is to establish routines, use age appropriate materials, and encourage problem solving.