I have been making a point of ensuring my students have at least 15 minutes at Math Work Stations each day. It is interesting to observe and see where the strengths and challenges lie. The whole idea of students working in pairs, on different tasks, and remaining engaged is extremely interesting to watch, but, not always pretty! My students, overall, struggle with following the routines of Literacy Stations as well as Math Work Stations. I have a few who just LOVE to do things thier way. I have been floating around the classroom during this time, watching, listening, & coaching students on how to use the work, and, still, how to organize thier work and solve problems. Today, I took a large step back and just 'got busy' away from the students. It was amazing! Even though they may not be 100% efficient with the materials/concepts at each station, there was not 1 pair of students who was NOT engaged! They stayed engaged for 10 minutes without any interruptions from me! (super hard not to step in!). I heard/saw some disagreements get solved, 1 guy & girl challenging each other for speed in addition/subtraction, and they were all talking to each other!
My next step is to add more choice to the Work Stations, but, after our Mclass math meeting today, I am not sure I will have time to take a breath, let alone think through more choices! We'll save that 'discussion' for another day!
How is it going for you? Please leave a comment or share any other blogs/websites that show how others are doing with Math Work Stations!
Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment