Station Rotation: Tips and Tricks to Address Common Questions and Concerns

Many teachers in our school district use station rotation with great success in terms of academic achievement, student engagement, and student self-regulation. However, even the most accomplished teachers encounter complications with station rotation or have misconceptions about the way it "has to" be.

Every Station, Every Day

Some teachers adopt wonderful models like READ or MATH, which involve students completing the same stations within a class period (i.e. manipulative station, application station, technology station, etc.) However, many teachers also feel pressed for time or pressured to see every student group every day. In a recent blog post, blended learning expert Catlin Tucker shared: 

A teacher recently asked me whether students always need to attend every station in a rotation. The short answer is “no.” 

As many practitioners know and practice, station rotations can be spread out over the course of a week, but Dr. Tucker's answer goes beyond this to clarify that station rotations can be designed to allow for students to omit stations or even select stations based on preference. 

By contrast, the must-do versus may-do variation of a station rotation requires that teachers use data to identify student needs and design a rotation in which specific students are required to attend one or two “must-do” stations. In addition to these “must-do” stations, students can select a certain number of “may-do” stations to spend time at based on their preferences and interests.

In this way, students who are ready to move ahead or may be ready for an extension can do so, while students who need more time with the teacher might be assigned to more than one station involving the "teacher table." This can work best with a document to help facilitate a virtual station rotation, allowing students to select from a menu of activities at their 3rd or 4th station. This can involve individual student contracts or playlists...which leads to another tip!

Noise

One concern many teachers have is that a station rotation will be noisy and chaotic, especially if the teacher is scheduled to be at a teacher table. However, a teacher does not HAVE to be at a teacher table at all! A teacher can plan to circulate, especially if direct instruction is delivered in the form of a video. In this station rotation model, the stations can vary based on where in the unit the class is, and the decisions about which stations the teacher will be at are flexible as well, with the teacher at the station for feedback or reteaching depending on the task and the needs of each group of students. 

Dr. Tucker also suggests that in addition to explicitly teaching the expectations for each station (i.e. looks like, sounds like), that teachers have anchor charts or other visual aids to reinforce expectations. For example, many teachers who project their computer screen (since the computer has a microphone) are able to use this noise monitor feature of ClassroomScreen, as well as visuals projected on the screen, to cue students to expectations.

Preparing for station rotations can take a little time up front; it's best practice to start small and really devote time to model expectations, and once students are clear about the expectations, this model can actual DECREASE the chaos and noise. Predictability is powerful!

Accountability

Especially as the year draws to a close, teachers worry about students being off-task at stations, especially if there isn't a "product" that needs to be produced at the end. While talking chips can be helpful at discussion stations and embedded questions (as with Screencastify or Edpuzzle) can help with accountability during instructional videos, sometimes students need more.

This is where checklists can be helpful. As the following video shows, pairing with the checklist (kind of like a playlist, but used for accountability) is almost like giving students a passport from station to station. In order to pass to the next station, students need to complete the reflection, question, or other quick task on the checklist.

At the end of the class, students turn in their checklists as a sort of ticket out of the room, and they get the tangible benefit of seeing all of their tasks checked off!

While station rotation can seem like a lot to pull off, by devoting time to planning and setting up structures, this model can help teachers create the responsive and smooth classroom that we all dream of!