The Station Sensation -- Sara

Last Friday, I taught my first lesson using stations. We had a lesson on the Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist Reform Movement. I divided the classroom into 7 stations. At these stations, students were analyzing images and abolitionist propaganda, taking a Underground Railroad adventure on a National Geographic website, holding and analyzing artifacts that resemble life as a slave, and listening to a speech made by Frederick Douglass. I even had them read an excerpt from the slave narrative of Harriet Jacobs and created a simulation using a few blankets and a table where students had to crawl into and pretend they would hide there for seven years.

Although the preparation and the administration were exhausting, it was the best lesson I have taught yet. I recommend teaching stations because the students can focus on many different skills during one day. It is also a great way to accommodate for students with disabilities. There was a very limited amount of reading and writing. While working in cooperative groups, they were able to interact at the same pace with their peers.

Working in stations also got my students excited about learning the topic. They have never worked in stations in my CT’s classroom before. They were eager to identify with the historical persons we studied and asked many questions that showed they were thinking critically about the material. They were so excited after their class, they told other teachers about the lesson. Word spread around the school. By my fourth lesson, I had the librarian and media specialist taking pictures for the school newsletter, and four other Social Studies teachers came to check it out. One teacher even requested a copy of the lesson plan so they could use it next year! All my hard work had paid off.

Here are some recommendations I have for using stations in the classroom. Some are ideas I thought of, and others were hard lessons learned!

· Assign cooperative groups ahead of time. I was lucky to have thought of this before the lesson. As one person, it is hard to run around to seven stations discussing content, as well as worrying about discipline problems.
· Invite volunteer parents or other teachers into the classroom. I had one station where the students were so excited that they got a little silly. I was told after my lesson, that there is a volunteer list made of parents who are eager to come in and help. Our librarian also came in to help and she was delighted to be working in the classroom.
· Have something to do if students finish their station task early. I kept a list of discussion questions at the table that were relevant to the station content. This encouraged their learning and identification with the material, as well as kept them from finding something else to do for themselves (which is usually off task or bad behavior!).