Create and Manage Effective Differentiated Classroom Learning Centers

Michelle ObertInstructional Technology Specialist

What is a Learning Center?The organization of differentiated activities that provide students opportunities for self-directed, hands-on learning that engages learners. May include individual or group activities.

Types of Activities that Work Best

• SMART Board Activities• Games• Experiments• Computer research or relevant website activities• Listening activities• Writing activities• Discussion• Jigsaw reading• Review for test

What is Differentiated Instruction?

Wikipedia- Providing students with different avenues of acquiring content, processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas. Also, to develop teaching so that all students can learn effectively regardless of differences in ability or preferred learning style.

Carol Ann Tomlinson- The process of “ensuring that what a student learns, how he/she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he/she has learned is a match for that student’s readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning”. Differentiation stems from beliefs about differences among learners, how they learn, learning preferences and individual interests

Shaking Up the Schoolhouse- Schlechty

“Most failures in learning arise because the schools have yet to invent work that will motivate the student to expend the energy to do what needs to be done to learn what needs to be learned.”

Why use Learning Centers?• Provide students with more

opportunities to do hands-on learning activities

• Offers easy way to differentiate instruction

• Lends itself to project-based learning

• Allows students to practice working cooperatively with others (social skills)

• Facilitates the teacher being able to work with smaller groups on activities

• Promote authentic student engagement

• Students take more responsibility for learning

• Students gain deeper understanding and remember what they learned (long term memory)

• Develop language skills by talking to others

• Increase in confidence about learning

• Show what they know using their strengths and creativity

Learning Centers AKA…

• Centers• Literacy Centers• Workstations• Stations• Small group

Organization and Management• You must develop rules for moving/rotating through centers• Set rules for appropriate behavior in centers, especially involving

communication with each other, handling materials, keeping up with the time, cleaning up

• Some activities require assistance from the teacher• Clear steps for activity must be discussed and sometimes typed up to refer

back to• Materials for each center must be in place and ready to go• Develop a system for deciding which group moves to each center first, etc.• Decide how long each center interval can be based on class length• Think about how many centers you need to provide activity for each

student• How many students do you want in each group• Establish consequences for students who misbehave in centers• Decide what will be assessed and how (rubric, checklist on clipboard,

report to class, turn in some activity sheet or project)

Technology Tools to Use in Centers• SMART Board• iPods• Microscopes• Digital Camera• Computer• Internet• Textbook on CD• Textbook Publishers Website• GA OAS• Classroom Response System• Elmo• Graphing Calculator• Photostory

• Video/GPB site• Podcasts/Vodcasts• eBooks• Netbooks• Cell phone• Email• Glogster• TimeLiner• Graph Master• PowerPoint• Word• Excel• Google

Examples of High School Centers

• View slides under miscroscope/record findings• Jigsaw the History chapter• Research for pictures of shapes in the environment• Label types of crops produced in each state via

SMART Board• Listen to podcast on the states of matter• Use the computer independently to research a

past president• Create a Venn diagram about a book the class read

Assessments for Learning Centers• Grade the finished project using a predetermined rubric• Participation points• Rubric for presenting/sharing information responsible for with

class• Checklist on clipboard• Activity response form• Written assignment• Email a response or answers• Text a response or answers• Class discussion the next day• Students post responses to the class wiki• Students or each group create a finished project like a slide in

PowerPoint or a notebook page in the SMART Notebook software

Formative Assessments

Examples:• Daily work• Practice/Center activities• Criteria/goals learning• Recorded observations• Questioning Strategies

(Exit slip, Thumbs up/down)

• Self and Peer Assessments• MAP tests (could be both

types)

• Think of as “practice”• Provides the information

needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening

• Informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made

Summative Assessments

Examples:• CRCT• GHSGT• State assessments• District benchmark• End-of-unit/Chapter tests• End-of-term/Semester exams

• Given periodically to determine at a particular point in time what students know and do not know