The Reality of Centers

Prior to this school year, I put extensive amounts of thoughts into the reading centers I would implement during reading instruction. From substitute teaching and working in summer school, I saw how centers could work well and reinforce skills, and how centers could also function as little more than busywork. I was determined to construct center rotations that were engaging and well-run, reading through Debbie Diller’s Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work. Then, like many well-intentioned first-year teachers, I started school, and all my plans flew out the window. I wanted to make centers a part of our daily routine from Day 1; centers did not start until the third week of school. The need for reading testing in the first month of school made it difficult to model and correct behaviors. In short, I have lots of ideas of what I’ll change next year, but the big question is what will I do with my current group of students?

I’m fortunate that I have a great group of students and fairly strong classroom management procedures, so students are open to changes that I make. As guided reading begins, I’m planning on a more systematic and meaningful approach to centers. I still refer back to Diller’s book and the need to limit the number of children at each center. I also consider practice students require—for example, identifying nouns, verbs, and adjectives—and create stations for students reinforce the skills they will need. More than all else, consulting with knowledgeable, experienced teachers is helpful as I learn the most appropriate way to allow students the practice they need. I’m learning a lot by making mistakes—I just learned that a handwriting practice center is a bad idea because students need immediate feedback in order to make changes to their writing. These mistakes continue to inform decisions about literacy stations.

Next year, I think I may take my experience and apply an entirely new approach to reading centers. While substitute teaching, I met a 2^nd grade team that used Gail Boushey and Joan Moser’s The Daily Five. As students rotate through 5 reading/writing centers, students not only practice reading and writing skills, they also practice working independently. One significant advantage as a teacher is that students produce little paperwork—meaning there is less to plan, less to photocopy, and less to grade. This goes against conventional thought that centers need some sort of deliverable, but student independence is emphasized from day one. Regardless of the approach I choose in the future, I’m learning teachers need to be thoughtful and reflective to make centers meaningful.

Yet Another Policy Change?

As a career changer coming to the teaching, I feel especially attuned to conversations surrounding the teaching profession in the public sphere. Accountability drives policy decisions, which seems agreeable on the surface, but stakeholder definitions of accountability vary widely. Teachers are stuck in the middle of this debate, and the history of literacy instruction illustrates the challenges teachers face as the pendulum swings.

Current education policy in literacy instruction stems largely from research conducted within the past 10-15 years. The National Reading Panel worked to compile research findings into a single document, and details the Big 5 components of literacy. Balanced literacy fuses whole language and phonics-based approaches. As research is disseminated, journalists and reporters are also quick to make their voices heard. The NY Times’s Kindergarten Cram describes one mother’s desperate attempt to find a school that does not subscribe to the “push-down” approach so many schools have adopted in response to policy changes.

Teachers are left to sift through the divergent conversations and, using their education and professional expertise, develop developmentally appropriate means of teaching while also preparing students for testing. I think it is up to individual teachers to understand their increasingly complex professional responsibility. I’m fortunate to work in a district with a 90-minute reading block that emphasizes balanced literacy. Such a long time block allows the opportunity to reach each student at their ability level. I believe it’s up to each teacher to consider policy decisions, but also remember the research and best practices they learned in their teacher preparation program and their professional development. I’m learning how resistant many teachers are to training and continued coursework, but building expertise allows teachers to articulate rationale behind teaching practices.

Hello World!

The obligatory "Hello World" post!