Establishing and Consistently Utilizing Effective Classroom Centers

The centers you start with should be something you have had success in teaching or are very passionate about. It is important when you begin to design centers in your room, start with just 2-3 that you have a strong, personal interest in, or your area of teaching strength. In other words, if you have difficulty teaching science, or have never taught that subject before, stay away from creating a science center for now. At least until you have implemented a few strong ones that function well with your class.

Have fun with the center names too! Instead of having the "Writing Center", call it the "Writing Wizards Center" or the "Magic of Writing". Much more stimulating and intriguing. Instead of the "Math Center", why not call it "Mountain Math" or the "Math Train Station"?

Having catchy names not only makes the center more kid-friendly, but also gives you plenty of decorating ideas to build off.

The Writing Wizards Center area can be designed with a magical theme. The Math Train Station can have train related decor. And now the ideas become limitless!

Once you have a specific number and names of the centers you want to have, it helps to sketch out the layout of your classroom to determine where would be the ideal places to create them.

If possible, try and establish centers in a cozy corner of the room or in a place where students feel as though they've temporarily escaped the usual. Try and make the center as decorative, colorful, and eye-catching as possible. The students should be eager to get into the center and complete the activities you have for them. Build off the center name, get creative and have fun.

It's extremely important to have some type of storage system using boxes, buckets, trays, bins, anything so that all the supplies needed for the activities in each center will be clearly stored and labeled for students to access. This helps limit confusion and also gives a specific location where the students need to return everything when it's time to cleanup. Organization of all the materials for each center is imperative.

Centers Are Established, Now What?

Once you have all your centers set up, it's time to plan how they will be actually used in your classroom.

There is no right or wrong way on how to implement centers. It will depend entirely on your preferences and the students you have for this particular year. Your common teaching strategies you've used will come into play.

Here are some key points to keep in mind. How will the students access centers? In predesigned groups/teams or individually? When will you have centers time in the Class? On what days? Will you have a system in place to keep track of their progress?

It can be difficult if you have 30 students in your class for them to all use centers at the same time. That might not be realistic or even feasible especially if you are starting off with only two or three centers.

One option that can be very effective is having two, thirty minute time blocks where half the class is in centers and the other half in small instructional group with you. This will give you the opportunity to work with a small group of students to focus on a standard/topic they may need help with, while the other half of the class is immersed in your centers.

Don't worry if you do not have enough time during the day to run two separate groups of centers. You can simply have one group use the centers one day, and the other group on the following day.

Teaching Strategies: Explicitly Teach Students Procedures

Before the students begin using your newly designed centers, they need to be explicitly taught how they are to use them. Teach them every single component even down to transitioning to and from the centers. This is one of the most crucial steps you shouldn't overlook. Do not under any circumstances take for granted the students will know how to use a center. This can be the difference of what makes your centers successful or what makes them an absolute nightmare.

Here are some questions you need to know the answers to before centers begin:

1) How do students know which center to go to on any given day? 2) What are their center teams or partners? 3) Where do they put the completed center activity when finished? 4) What if they finish the activity before center time is over? 5) Is there a tracking method you have in place so that students get an opportunity to work in each center throughout the week(s)? 6) What is the signal for centers to commence and end? 7) What is the appropriate level of noise when working in centers?

**** MOST Important Teaching Strategy - Make sure you make an activity checklist for each center. This checklist should include a step-by-step sequence of what they should do while there for the allotted time. The instructions should be basic enough to where they will not get confused about what to do.

Afterwards - Reflection Time

Take time to truly reflect on the centers experience in your classroom especially when you're beginning. How did it go? What were some positives? What were some things that need fine tuning? Small problems can quickly grow into large ones so don't ignore the warning signs that you most likely witnessed.

How did the groups of students interact within the center? Were there things that were confusing for the students? How was the noise level?

Wherever you see a potential issue, that should raise a red flag. That means you need to address this before centers are used again.

Maybe students were just too loud in the center. Reteach appropriate center communication/noise level. You may possibly need to create center rules and consequences if students are having difficulty maintaining themselves per your expectations.

Maybe students finished their center activity early and started interrupting your group. Review their center activity checklist and remind the class that even when they finish an activity that does not give them permission to stray from the checklist or start disturbing you.

You may even want to assign a reliable student(s) to be in charge of the center as a monitor, helper, and custodian to relieve you of the worry should it arise.

Closing

Even though it does take a fair amount of planning and preparation on your part to establish functioning centers in your classroom, the benefits will be immense in the long run.

Not only will your students gain from the learning experience, you will have a valuable small group instructional opportunity that is vitally needed to help struggling students.

Don't feel overwhelmed when establishing centers and the activities. Take it step-by-step, a little at a time. There is no award for finishing all your centers in a week. Don't burn yourself out. The more time you take to carefully plan, organize, and decorate your centers, the more in tune you will be with their functionality and their effectiveness with your students.