I would consider today my first attempt at stations with technology. I’ve done stations before with paper worksheets, but wanted to give it a try with technology now that I’ve got Google Classroom up and running (plus it saves paper and they get immediate feedback!). I did not personalize the stations in terms of content today, every student got the same assignment, just to see how it would go. I have 40 students in my Integrated Math 1 classroom, yup, you read that correctly, 40 lovely freshman in one relatively small classroom with 24 chromebooks. Today I tried a most basic approach: back two rows, get chromebooks and move your chair so your screen is facing the front of the room. Front two rows get a worksheet. I had the worksheet group do the front page on their own and we walked through the back page (more challenging content) together.
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| Google Slide shown to students to clarify expectations during transition |
After twenty minutes, we switched.
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As with all things in the classroom there were hits and there were misses.
Do a few practice problems together as a whole class. I put up one of each problem type I had assigned them on IXL for us to do together as a class before chromebooks were passed out. I would highly encourage you to consider this as well.
Do all of the problems you’re asking your students to do. I’ll be honest. I didn’t. And my students got to a section of problems we haven’t covered leaving them confused, frustrated, and therefore… off task.
Be prepared to help with log in issues. Today was the first time my Math 1 students logged into IXL, so I was prepared to be on hand to help and sure enough they needed it. I think we will have to practice this a few more times before it’s operating smoothly. Make sure your other students have an engaging enough assignment that they can get started by themselves while you’re helping the computer group.
Utilize the small group aspect. I was able to take my class of 40 and make it a class of twenty to work on the printed worksheet together. It was great! I was able to get many more students involved in the conversation (and no one could put their head down!).
Enforce expectations. If you read my earlier post about Day 1, you’ll remember my computer agreements that I had the students sign. We read through them as a class again today and I was on the lookout for phones and music. It just took making an example of the first student for everyone else not to try it. I saw one student on his phone early on, asked him to sign out and grab a worksheet. I made sure everyone heard me when I told him he’d lost the privilege to be on the computers for a few weeks until I felt like he could handle it again. No one else took their phones out while on the computers.
Reflection
Next time I do stations I’d really like to make it more personalized and have groups of students working on different content. As we prepare to finish the unit next week I think this will be very do-able! I also need to follow up with students next week and give them feedback on their online performance so they know I’m aware of their work pace.