Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Controlled Chaos

I had longed for creativity and freedom while teaching in Tokyo.  The elementary school was by the worldly famous fisherman's market and (therefore) several hidden Sushi bars were available nearby. All students wore the navy blue uniform.  All classrooms line the students' desks in rows with no exceptions.  Four or five students move their desks together during the collaborative group assignment, of course, under the teacher's instruction.  Students seem to be very engaged.  But each group's assignment is always the same because teachers want to conclude the day's concept by comparing and reflecting each others' activity report/result.  Although this approach is beneficial to the students' learning, as a freshman teacher, I questioned in my mind, "Why does every group have to do the same activities all the time?"  I have never shared my question.  Why?  Because that is what most teachers have been doing.  No one, especially then younger ones, stand up and ask about the instructional system that is currently working without any major problems. 

So I was stunned what I saw during my internship in early 90s in a little town of Idaho.  The second grade classroom was in chaos right in front of my very own eyes.   Students were scattered randomly  at their desks, at the big table, and on the floor.  On the floor?????  I couldn't believe my eyes.  There were different activities going on simultaneously, which, I have never done or seen in Japan.  Observing a little closer, I realized this chaos was well under control.  Except for one student rolling on the floor during the entire lesson, every student seemed to know what they had to do.  My host teacher wisely whispered, "Welcome to America, this is called center activities."  Nice to meet you, Center Activities!

To this day, the centers enable to differentiate my teaching instructions.  Today's 3rd grade reading centers went well.  Groups are divided based on the correct words per minute and previous year's MAP (Measurement of Academic Progress) test scores.  Perhaps most teachers would call it the guided reading group, but manageable centers are my motto while students were on their own.  Basically, I don't believe in "Read to Self" for students whose reading level is more than one grade level below.   Individual working options today were: 1. Dictionary...To be familiar with dictionary  by simply copying guided words and all entry words.  2. Cursive Handwriting Practice...Individual students work on their own without interruption.  I let two students at a time (from the same group) play with Leap Frog's Talking Globe for the geography connection.  Students quickly and quietly take turns.  3.  E-Word Games on Computer...Individual student on the station with a headphone, reviewing vocabulary words that we had just learned in Tier one.  4. Guided Reading Group:  Assign books at the groups level.  Depending on the reading level, students read aloud with me, without me, or read quietly.  Each page, we discuss about the focus reading strategy of the week.  I transition from prediction to summary to the middle group.   During discussion, I dictated their summary as a model.  My timer rings every 15 minutes, so all groups can rotate to every center in an hour.  I felt accomplished.  So did my students.  One student suggested, "Mrs. Hallinan, YOU have to put our celebration marble in the jar for you and us!" 

Children with different hair colors engage in the different centers in such an orderly manner that almost reminds me of my Japanese students.  Today, I feel like I answered my own question from a quarter century ago.

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