Mrs. Nguyen co-teaches a 90-minute STEM block class three times a week. Her students split time learning both Science and Math during the block period. Because the middle school students in her class need transitions and differentiation in order to stay engaged, Mrs. Nguyen tries to offer different ways to practice and incorporate technology into her classroom. Mrs. Nguyen has a station rotation for 20-minutes in the block that she utilizes Mathspace for.
After students transition from Science instruction to Math instruction 30 minutes into their block, they are often restless and in need of a break. Mrs. Nguyen uses stations to allow movement and an opportunity for students to utilize technology within the block.
Mrs. Nguyen has set up stations in which students rotate between herself, her co-teacher, and a setup of technology.
Small groups of students, strategically grouped by need, rotate to different stations for 60 minutes.
At each 20-minute station, they have the opportunity to work with Mrs. Nguyen, her co-teacher, or on Mathspace for 20 minutes each.
Each station has a different focus depending on student need and Mrs. Nguyen finds that these rotations help her a great deal with differentiating for students.
When her students rotate to her station, Mrs. Nguyen teaches them a new skill through direct instruction. She teaches each group a different skill as some of them need more remediation than others.
Her co-teacher reinforces the skill and provides an opportunity for group practice on a skill that students have already learned, but may still struggle with.
At the Mathspace station, Mrs. Nguyen has strategically assigned custom tasks for students to work on based on their needs. They are able to work for 20-minutes on specific assigned topics.
The data that is gathered through these station rotations drives the planning of the upcoming week and what is needed for block periods.