Literacy Work Stations Presented by Dr Susan Field

Literacy Work Stations Presented by: Dr. Susan Field – Executive Director for Learning Services Wendy Gearhart- Curriculum & Instruction TOSA Summer Institute 2012

Norms v. Participate actively v. Be willing to learn something new v. Limit sidebar conversations v. Put cell phones on vibrate v. Have fun!

Textbook – Practice with Purpose by Debbie Diller

Purpose of Literacy Work Stations Workshop Purpose/Objectives – To provide teachers with a purposeful use of literacy work stations – To provide teachers with a framework to manage and assess literacy work stations – To provide teachers with an oppor tunity to participate in work stations and receive/make their supporting materials

Just What is a Literacy Work Station? • Break up into to groups of 3 -5 and brainstorm what you think a literacy work station is. • Choose a recorder • Choose a presenter • Be ready to share out in 8 minutes

What is a Literacy Work Station? “An area within the classroom where students work alone or interact with one another, using instructional materials to explore and expand their literacy. It is a place where a variety of activities reinforce and/or extend learning, often without the assistance of the classroom teacher. It is a time for students to practice reading, writing, speaking, listening and working with letters and words. ” (Practice with Purpose, pg. 3)

The Focus of Literacy Work Stations Comprehension Writing These areas of focus can be used in combination with content areas of study. Vocabulary Fluency Phonics

Key Components of Reading • Phonemic Awareness: the ability to isolate and manipulate the sounds of language • Phonics: “the alphabetic principle” mapping print to sound • Vocabulary: the ability to understand use a broad variety of words • Fluency: the ability to read with accuracy, automaticity and expression • Comprehension: the ability to understand what is read by applying appropriate strategies

Big Ideas (Phonics)

Changing Emphasis of Big Ideas K 1 2 3 -8 Phonological Awareness Alphabetic Principle Letter Sounds & Combinations Multisyllables Automaticity and Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Listening Reading

Five Big Ideas • Phonemic Awareness • Phonics • Fluency • Teach to Automaticity • Vocabulary • Comprehension • Teach deeper Cognitive Processing

Literacy Work Stations verses Traditional Learning Centers Literacy Work Stations Traditional Learning Centers -Materials are taught and used for instruction first. Then they are placed in the work station for independent use. -New materials were often placed in the center with out being used in teaching. The teacher may have shown how to use the materials once but they were often introduced with all the other new center materials at once. -Stations remain set up all year long. Materials are changed to reflect children’s reading levels, strategies being taught, and topics being studied. -Stations are used for students’ meaningful independent work and are an integral part of each child’s instruction. All students go to work stations daily. -Materials are differentiated for students with different needs and reading level. -The teacher meets with small flexible groups for guided reading or skills instruction during literacy workstations. -Centers were often changed weekly with units of study. -Centers were often used by students when they finished their work. Centers were used for fun and motivation or something extra -All students did the same activities at centers. There was not usually much differentiation. -If the teacher met with small groups, each group often did the same task.

Benefits of Literacy Work Stations • Provides students with meaningful literacy practice activities • Meets the individual instructional needs of all students. • Provides students with the opportunity to work independently to practice using their reading skills • It is fun and engaging for students

Grow your Work Stations from your Whole group Instruction

Gradual Release of Responsibility Modeling – through the use of read alouds, modeled writing, shared reading, guided writing and mini-lessons Guiding– Students practice with teacher in guided reading, writing groups or mini-lessons Independence – Students work independently at work stations with materials and strategies previously taught.

Principles for Teaching with Literacy Work Stations 1. Focus on practice and purpose, not the stuff 2. Link to your teaching 3. Slow down to speed up 4. Balance process and product 5. Less is more. Don’t put out too much at once 6. Use Novelty 7. Simplify

Literacy Work Stations in Action While teachers are working with small guided reading groups, students work independently at workstations that provide meaningful literacy activities.

Mini Lessons - Short and Focused (10 minutes) - Explicit - Types of Mini Lessons - Beginning of the year “how-to’s” - Introducing a work station - After adding something new - Reviewing work station activities - Anchor charts - I Can Lists

“I Can” List What is an “I Can” list? A list of activities generated by the class guided by the teacher that they could do at a work station Why use an “I Can” lists? • Helps build student ownership and buy in • Provides students with choice • Provides opportunities for differentiation Pictures from Mrs. Santillan’s 1 st Grade Class Niños

Management Boards Used to help direct students where to go during work station time, and to help teachers keep track of which student has gone where • Pocket Charts • Rotation Wheels • Planning Sheets • Work Station Check List Pictures from Mrs. Laidley’s Kindergarten Class Niños

Some Possible Work Stations • • • Classroom Library Work Station Listening Work Station Writing Work Station Word Study / Spelling Work Station Drama / Reader’s Theatre Work Station Poetry Work Station Overhead Work Station Math Work Station Content-Area Work Station (Science) Content-Area Work Station (Social Studies)

Where Do I Begin? 1 st 4 Weeks of School • • Begin independent reading routines Begin writing response folders/notebooks Introduce literacy work stations routines Model reading strategies in whole class read aloud, shared reading, • modeled and shared writing (include decoding, fluency, and comprehension strategies) • Begin writers’ workshop • Begin word study routines

And next… • Layer about 4 -6 weeks after school starts on small group reading instruction including guided reading and literature discussion groups

How Do I Get Started With Work Stations? • Plan for Space for work stations in your classroom. Use existing equipment that won’t require any extra room, such as the computer, a pocket chart and the overhead. Put a tape recorded on the floor. Keep your classroom uncluttered so there’s room for traffic to flow easily. Store some materials on shelves or inside cabinets and allow students to take these to the floor or a desk to work • Label each space with a sign. You might use those included in this packet. Label materials at each station, too, to keep areas well-organized. Have students help you make the labels. This gives them ownership! • Start Slowly. Introduce one work station at a time, possible just one a day. Show and tell the work station. . . This is the overhead work station. When you come here, you will practice reading poems we have read together in class. . .

Starting Work Stations Continued • Be Explicit as you explain and model procedures, step by step. At the writing station, you must write something. You may illustrate it, but I expect most of your time to be spent writing. Use the words on the word wall to help you spell. I’ll expect those words to be spelled correctly. . . • Peer Model use of the station for the class. Have two students demonstrate how to work at that station. Have others give feedback. • Explain Consequences. Let students know what will happen if they don’t follow the rules. Then be sure to Follow Through.

Starting Work Stations Continued • Allow For Practice in Pairs at this station. This initial practice should be short. Be available to observe • Introduce A Management Board once students have been practiced briefly in several stations • Teach Students How To Transition between stations. You might use a bell to tell students that it is time to change work stations • Pull Small Groups only when students demonstrate they can work independently at their stations. This will take time, probably weeks!

Evaluating Work Station Activities • Think about what you’re teaching and what your students’ needs are, considering the combination of curriculum and your students • Stations may change throughout the year as the needs of your students change • Keep in mind, if the station takes more time to set-up than it does for students to complete, it probably isn’t worth it • Does the station build comprehension, fluency, phonics, vocabulary, and writing?

How to Document Progress at Literacy Work Stations • Anecdotal notes • Student work samples • Take photos of students working at stations • Use work station sharing time to collect information

Planning for Literacy Work Stations 1. MINI LESSON: (5 -10 min. ) • • • introduce what to do get kids’ input write directions together 2. LWS TIME: (20 min. for 1 rotation; 45 min. for 2 rotations) • • • 20 min. each work with partners teacher w/small group 3. SHARING TIME: (5 -10 min. ) • • • get kids’ input reflect together adjust accordingly

So Let’s Experience Literacy Work Stations • We are going to model what a typical literacy block may look like when implementing literacy work stations – Mini-Lesson – Management Board – Literacy Stations Rotation – Make some support materials for the literacy stations

Time to Get Busy… • Time to begin making some of the materials you might need in your literacy work stations

Time to See Some Literacy Stations in Action • We are going to view a part of a DVD created by Debbie Diller that allows us to see what a class implementing Literacy Work Stations looks like

Thoughts… • So what were your impressions? ? ? – Your hopes… – Your concerns…

Thank you for Coming! • We hoped that you enjoyed this class • Please feel free to contact us if you would like support in implementing Literacy Work Stations in your classroom – Dr. Susan Field- susan. field@asd 20. org – Wendy Gearhart- wendy. gearhart@asd 20. org