One year I had a particularly chatty group with a handful of students that were frequently interrupting instruction, mostly immature boys who could not help but make a comment about everything or made constant annoying noises. I was following my usual procedure of issuing warnings, assigning behavior reflections, and making phone calls home, which would lead to temporary improvements, but I was still frustrated by the lost instruction time, so I decided something had to change.
I was still pretty new to teaching middle school at that point (I had taught high school for six years and then worked as a middle school reading intervention teacher, which is not the same as trying to command a room full of preteens), but I had had some success with using small groups when I taught math the previous (and only) year. I decided to try it out in my ELA classes, but knew I needed more structure to the class than just adding small groups to the mix, so I decided to try out the stations rotation model.
What Is The Station Rotation Model?
In this learning model, students are broken into groups, often by ability, and rotate through different activities on a set schedule. One of these activities is usually meeting with the teacher in a small group. For short, I just call this method of teaching "rotations."
My first experience with rotations was teaching Read180 as a high school reading intervention teacher. After a chunk of whole class instruction, students would move through rotations of: 1. close reading texts and writing in a small group with me, 2. reading independently a book of choice, ideally at their reading level, and 3. using the Read180’s computer program.
How Do I Group My Students?
I usually have about 24 students in my classes so I break them into three groups of about eight students. Most often these groups are based on students’ MAP scores, forming a low, middle, and high group. Students take MAP benchmark testing three times a year, so I adjust groups as students’ scores shift. I also move students from one group to another based on personality conflicts or if I observe that their test scores don’t match up with their performance in class.
I meet with my middle group first, my low group in the middle, and my highest group last. My low group usually has students that will have the most difficulty sustaining independent work so meeting with them in the middle is purposeful and key to success. They’ll have just reviewed directions at the start of the first rotation and after the second rotation where they meet with me, I can remind them of the directions for the third rotation.
For my middle group, they start with meeting with me for their first rotation. I can remind them of directions as they leave me for their second rotation, and when I am meeting with my highest group last, I am often able to give directions at my small group table and then get up to circulate the room and check in with students before returning to the small group table to continue working with that group.
Timing Of Rotations
Depending on the other items on our agenda for the day, rotations are usually 10, 12, or 15 minutes long with 2 or 3 minute transitions in between. This transition time also serves as a buffer between groups if I run over the allotted time for a group or if we get a later start.
Tasks During Rotations
I don’t use rotations every day in class, but I do use them most often when I want to check in with students’ understanding of a text or provide targeted writing instruction.
Outside of the work with me in a small group, the other tasks for students during rotations should be ones students can complete independently. There’s no point in working with small groups if you are going to be constantly interrupted.
Using the same types of activities over and over during rotations helps build students’ ability to work independently. If I am introducing a new type of activity, I make sure to spend time working on it as a whole class before starting rotations and sending students off to work on their own.
Sometimes rotations include technology, particularly tools that provide immediate feedback for students. Game sites like Kahoot!, Quizziz, and Blooket can be used for practice or review of terms of skills. I use Blooket frequently to review students’ current sets of vocabulary words because different game modes, like Tower Defense and Monster Brawl, can be assigned each time.
Self-paced learning sites like NearPod, PearDeck, and EdPuzzle can also be used for practice or review of terms or skills. I like the variety of ways to respond within NearPod: matching, drag and drop, multiple choice quizzes, open responses, and even its own game, Time to Climb. I also frequently embed videos to reteach concepts or for students to apply learning to.
Rotations can also be an opportunity to add movement into the classroom, with just a few students out of their seats at a time as opposed to the whole class at once. Possibilities include having students work on a question trail, gallery walk, or annotation stations. In a question trail, students answer multiple choice questions with each correct answer choice pointing them to a next question to answer. In a gallery walk, students examine examples of different visuals or texts. Annotation stations ask students to closely read a text, marking up different elements of it.
Using exercises from our vocabulary or grammar workbooks is an easy option for rotations because students are familiar with the format of those tasks. If we are reading a longer whole class text, reading a section of that text might be a task during rotations with the option to listen to the audio through our e-book. Students might also work through a checklist of steps to revise or edit a piece of writing.
The Schedule
Depending on the tasks, during some lessons all three groups will be working on three different tasks at different times and during other lessons the groups not currently working with me in a small group will be working on the same task. This largely depends on classroom management needs.
If students are going to be out of their seats, I just want one group up at a time, but if students are going to be reading independently, the classroom is more quiet and focused if both of the groups not working with me in the small group are reading at the same time. Students can also more easily help each other if the two groups at their seats are working on the same task, and if students are using devices, it is also easier for me to monitor their activity on their devices during rotations when two groups are working on the same task.
Examples of Schedules
In this first example, students are working on three different, but connected tasks at three different times. One of the activities is working in a teacher-led small group to determine the theme of a poem we’ve already read aloud as a class. A second activity is to annotate the same poem through a set of close reading stations around the room. These stations ask students to focus on terms and skills such as summarizing stanzas, identifying and explaining figurative language, and identifying and visualizing imagery. The third activity is a Nearpod lesson reinforcing the same terms and skills in our small group lesson and the close reading stations.
In this example, it is key for all three groups to be working on different tasks at different times so only one group is at the small group table at a time and only one group is out of their seats at the close reading stations hanging around the room.
In this second example, students are working on three different tasks (two of them are connected), but some of those tasks are happening at the same time. One of the activities is meeting with me in a small group to review the topic sentences that students have written in their informational essay. A second activity is to continue typing up that same essay. A third activity is a Blooket game reviewing students' current vocabulary words.
In this example, students are all working on different tasks during the first rotation time, but during the second rotation time, the two groups not working with me are both typing up their essay, and during the third rotation time, the two groups not working with me are both playing Blooket.
This arrangement of the schedule means students (the ones not in the small group with me) will all be focused on the same tasks during two out of the three rotations which will help students to be quieter and more focused. I can more easily observe students' devices on GoGuardian or do a quick check in walk around the room to help students because they are all working on the same task.
In this example, even though students are technically working on three different tasks, I have the schedule arranged so that they are working on their essay with me and working on their essay on their own at back to back rotations, which allows for more time on task because students don’t need different materials; they are just moving from the small group table to their desks or from their desks to the small group table.
In this third example, students are working on two different tasks (one of them is worked on in a small group as well as independently), and some of those tasks are happening at the same time. One of the activities is meeting with me in a small group to read a whole class text and work on pulling out main ideas and key details. A second activity is to read that same whole class text independently, also pulling out main ideas and key details. A third activity is working on exercises in our grammar book focused on compound sentences.
In this example, students are all working on somewhat different tasks during the first rotation time, but during the second rotation time, the two groups not working with me are both reading independently, and during the third rotation time, the two groups not working with me are working on exercises in their grammar book.
Similar to the previous example, this arrangement of the schedule means students (the ones not in the small group with me) will all be focused on the same tasks during two out of the three rotations which will help students to be quieter and more focused. I can more easily do a quick check in walk around the room to help students and they can help each other with the grammar exercises.
Also similar to the previous example, I have the schedule arranged so that students are working on the whole class text with me and on their own at back to back rotations, which allows for more time on task because students don’t need different materials; they are just moving from the small group table to their desks or from their desks to the small group table.
You can find a copy of my rotations schedule in this resource.
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