Going Back to School with Stations

There are teachers out there who are masters of the lecture. They can stand and deliver for an hour without blinking an eye. I'm not one of them. 

I don't want to be the center of attention all of the time. I want my students to be working as hard as I am (and trust me, if you are lecturing, they are not working hard at all). And frankly, it's boring for both me and my students.

That's why at the start of last school year I decided I was not doing it. I would not stand in front of the room, introduce myself, review the syllabus, and click through my first day PowerPoint as I had for the past five years.

Instead, I would do stations. Stations?! On the very first day of class?! While it might seem crazy, I wanted students to see from day one how they would be working in my room. They would be out of their seats, engaged in learning, collaborating with classmates.

Here's a look at my six stations, some of which included group tasks while others included independent tasks. All six stations were intended to be completed within a 45 minute period and using a timer is a must anytime I do stations in my classroom.

Station 1 was a syllabus scavenger hunt (group task). I redesigned my syllabus last year, only including content I thought was absolutely necessary. I then used a newsletter format to create a more visually appealing syllabus and hopefully increase the likelihood of parents and students reading it.

For the syllabus scavenger hunt, I created questions focusing on the most important details of my syllabus. Students were directed to use the syllabus to answer as many of those questions as possible to earn the greatest number of points possible. Different questions were worth different point values and they did not have to answer the questions in order. The group with the highest score received a prize.

To introduce students to a growth mindset, Station 2 was a goal setting activity (independent task). Students were asked to fill in at least one goal for the present year and for their future (10 years from now). Then they cut out the thought bubbles, glued them together (small dots of glue; don’t overdo it), and decorated them as desired. I hung these in the classroom to remind students what they wanted to do that year and beyond. 

Literature Circles were a new concept in my classroom last year and I was eager to get them started as soon as possible, so I wanted students to select their books on day one. Station 3, "read dating," was an opportunity for students to preview their choices within the genre/theme of study (independent task). Students ranked their choices from 1 (most desired) to 5 (least desired).

To make their decisions, they were encouraged to look at the front and back covers and read a page or two of the book. These novel choices were given out later in the week to be read both in class and at home. Students' Literature Circle groups were formed based on their novel selections.

Again because I wanted to jump into instruction right away, at Station 4 students collected some of the supplies that they would need for the year (independent task). Students selected a notebook (for their homework assignments only) and a folder with a copy of the syllabus, parent and student surveys, and their homework calendar. Putting all of this paperwork in folders ahead of time meant time was not wasted on handed things out and everyone got a copy of everything.

To allow students input into the classroom environment and help students take ownership of their role as students, at Station 5, students were asked to describe what the perfect school, classroom, teacher, and student would be like (group or independent task).

Students could write complete sentences, short phrases, or words, or draw images as part of their description on the chart paper. I hung these around the room, which was a great way to incorporate student voice and decorate until I had student work to put up. I cover much of my wall space with posters but dedicate my bulletin boards to student work. Using the Post-It kind of chart paper for these lists meant I didn't even need a stapler to hang them up.

The final station, Station 6, was a "get to know you" activity for the students (group task). The quiz asked questions like "Which member of your group has the birthday closest to the start of the school year? When is it?" and "What are you most nervous about as you begin high school?"

Some questions required responses from all group members and some questions only required a response from one group member. These quizzes were a quick read for me later and an easy way to start learning about my students. I also kept them for later reference. 

If you are interested in starting your school year off similarly, you can find my first day of school stations, which are fully editable and included digital versions, here.