Literacy Work Stations

From Debbie Diller’sLiteracy Work Stations Making Centers Work

The Literacy Work Station Continuum…

Where are you at?

Freshman in College…

Watch out Debbie, here I

come!

The Vignette…

What do Literacy Work Stations Look, Sound, and Feel Like?

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.”Diller, 2003

Literacy work stations are:

• An area within the classroom– Save classroom space– They are not an extra– Integral part of instruction

• Working alone or with Partners– Most children work in partners– Sometimes children work alone

Literacy work stations are:

• Using Instructional Materials– Materials that have been used for whole-group

and/or small group instruction– Model first before moving to work station

• Variety of Activities– Choice is important for the success of literacy work

stations– Each work station should have a variety of choices

but not so many that they overwhelm the students

Literacy work stations are:

• Time for Children to practice– Meaningful, independent practice– Things are not put into the work stations just to

keep children busy.

The Purpose of Literacy Work Stations

The Purpose of Literacy Work Stations is Two-Fold:• Provide “meaningful practice that allows the learning

to take root in the child’s brain.” (pg. 2)AND

• Provide time for the teacher to work with small groups to focus on meeting the needs of all students

Work stations should include activities (independent practice) that are real, relevant, and meaningful for

both the students and the teacher.

To increase students’ attention to tasks, students could:

• Play a game• Make something• Talk with a partner• Tell a story• Be a recorder (have a job to do)• Move• Do something new• Do minimal amounts of worksheets

Literacy Work Stations • Must place an emphasis on teacher modeling and

increasing student responsibility.• All students have equal access to the high level of

engagement that Literacy Work Stations provide• Activities should be grounded in manipulative type

activities versus paper and pencil activities• Students are better able to internalize what they are

learning with multiple opportunities to practice what was taught – they can connect the old with the new.

Guaranteeing Independence

• Teachers must model appropriate behavior, allow for a gradual release of responsibility, provide a risk-free environment and a proper independent work level, and communicate clear, explicit expectations.– Modeling – must be modeled to children multiple times– Gradual Release of Responsibility – Modeled (I do) , shared (we do),

guided (we do), independent (you do)– Risk-Free Environment – a place where they feel safe and secure – Independent Work Level

• When the task is too hard, the students do not have a clear understanding of the task, or it has not been modeled, student struggle and then often misbehave

– Clear, Explicit Expectations – students need to know what they “can do” at each station

Non-Negotiables for Literacy Work Stations

• Focus on practice and purposes, not the “stuff” of stations– We must think about the WHAT (what you are trying to teach)

before looking for the stuff• Link to your teaching

– Student practice must be linked directly to instruction• Slow down to speed up

– Do not put out too many work stations all at once when starting out– Be sure you have explicitly modeled each station before releasing it

students• Balance process and product

– Include opportunities to create products at some work stations, but not all

Non-Negotiables for Literacy Work Stations

• Less is more– Do not put too many things in each work station –

keep it manageable for the students• Use novelty

– Introduce one new thing at a time – it will make the novelty last longer

• Simplify– Keep your management system simple– Keep your materials simple

Mini Lessons• Short and Focused (5 to 10

minutes)

• Explicit

• Types of Mini Lessons• Beginning of the year how tos

• Introducing a work station

• After adding something new

• Reviewing work station activities

• Anchor charts

• I Can Lists

“I Can” ListWhat is an “I Can” list?

A list if activities generated by the class that they could done at a work station.

Why use I can lists?• Helps build student ownership and

buy in.• They provide students with choice.• Provides opportunity for

differentiation.

Management

• Pocket Charts

• Rotation Wheel

• Planning Sheets

• Work Station Check List

How to Document Progress at Literacy Work Station

• Anecdotal notes

• Student work samples

• Take photos of students working at stations (twice a year)

• Use work station sharing time to collect information

The Focus of

Literacy Work Stations

Key Components of Reading

• Phoneme Awareness: the ability to isolate and manipulate the sounds of language

• Phonics: “the alphabetic principle” mapping print to sound

• Vocabulary: the ability to understand and 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

Five Big Ideas

• Phonemic Awareness

• Phonics• Fluency

• Vocabulary• Comprehension

Teach to Automaticity

Teach deeper Cognitive

Processing

Changing Emphasis of Big Ideas

Comprehension

Vocabulary

Automaticity and Fluency

with the Code

Alphabetic Principle

Phonological Awareness

3-821K

ListeningReading

ListeningReading

MultisyllablesLetter Sounds & Combinations

Big Ideas

Evaluating Work Station Activities

•Does the literacy station activity address one of the “Big Five”?

•How does this literacy station activity employ effective and efficient means to reach one of the “Big Five” goals?

•Does the activity provide meaningful literacy practice for your students and support what your are teaching?

•Is there anything that could be changed or added to this the activity to make it a more meaningful literacy activity for your students?

Work Stations for the Emergent Stage

Emergent Readers:

• Develop phonological awareness

• Develop print awareness and concepts of print

• Learn about letters and sounds

• Experiment with writing, using letters or letter-like forms

Work Stations for the Early Stage

Early Readers:

• learn to read and write high frequency words

• learn to decode and spell single syllable words

• use pictures and print to construct meaning, both in reading and in their writing

• are acquiring fluency

•they reread to self correct and attend well to print.

Work Stations for the Transitional Stage

Transitional Readers:

• Are gaining in fluency

• Have good decoding skills but may lack comprehension

• Have difficulty with decoding longer words or certain vowel patterns

• Are making the transition to silent reading and are learning to do more editing and revising

Places and Spaces

• Questions to consider:– What literacy stations do you want to have? Why?– Where will you put them?– How will they link to instruction?– How will you structure them for independence?– How will you share the ownership with the

students?

•

Places and Spaces

• Materials that are used frequently need to be readily accessible.

Places and Spaces• Worksheet driven literacy stations take the responsibility off

the student and put it all on the teacher –choosing the papers, running copies, finding places to keep them, and of course the hours of grading – instead put the learning in the hands of the students.

Places and Spaces

Stations do not need to be a “thing of beauty” or “as seen on Pinterest”

Places and Spaces

Think outside the box…

Places and Spaces

Word walls can be great teaching tools, but are often “out of reach” for the students – they are intended for the students use and must be located where students can use and own them.

Places and Spaces

• Don’t lose sight of your whole-group instruction area – it is a place where kids feel like they are a part of the learning. Older students often pay more attention here than they do at their desks.

Places and Spaces

• Having an organized space can make more time for actual instruction

• Must make space for kids our priority

Places and Spaces

Planning Your Space – Quotes from Debbie• “Think about your instruction first…then plan

for space to make that happen.”• “There is a direct link between structure,

organization, and effective instruction.”• “Clutter can lead to chaos.”

Planning YOUR Space

Reflect on your CURRENT space…• Do you like the way your room is arranged? • Is it conducive to student learning?• Are there changes you would like to make for

next year?

Work Stations

How to Add Literacy to Traditional Kindergarten Centers

• House Keeping – Simple recipes, children’s cookbooks and class

address or telephone book

• Blocks – Maps, architectural books, take pictures of structures

for class building book

•Sand and Water – Letter molds, catch ABC confetti, bury

magnetic letters for a letter treasure hunt

See pages 123-125 for more ideas