Learning Stations
Learning stations are great for student engagement but they often take a lot of planning and organizing for the teacher. When I first started creating learning stations in the classroom, I quickly realized some of them can take longer to plan than a traditional lesson plan. I am here to offer some suggestions to streamline the process and take some stress off of the teacher.
Stick With a Simple Set Up
When planning learning stations it is important to think about the ultimate goal. Most of the time learning stations are used to further language development, give students a change of environment, allow authentic communication to take place, bring movement to students in the classroom and offer additional practice time to name a few perks.
If you consider various modalities and skills used in the language classroom, you can begin to envision a basic setup for your learning stations. Here are a few of my go-to’s for learning stations.
- Interpersonal
- Interpretive
- Culture
- Translations
- Video production
- Games
Creative Language Class blog suggests using templates to help with the process. You can read more about that here and download the template here.
An Idea Station
In a dream world, stations would be effective in culminating in one
big learning finale. They would be level appropriate, relevant to students, and powerful enough to move students forward in the learning process. They would keep students progressing towards higher level proficiency learning and not bring them back down to a beginner level. Stations need to be created specifically for each level and be where students are in the learning process. Finally, the idea station would connect to what students want to learn.
Assessment
It is equally important to ensure that the learning station you are creating holds students accountable. In order to 
streamline the learning process, create a self-assessment rubric like the example here that allows students to really think about their learning. Students reflect at each station and after practice, the reflection can become part of the station grade. For a reflection to earn the full points, students would need to complete the form thoroughly with proof of learning. At the end of the rotations, students turn in the reflection rubric for credit. However, you choose to score, make sure you are assessing the process.
Students can also use peer review for the videos made in the stations to keep the learnaing process moving forward.
Create your own stations or choose one of these to use on the fly, for a sub day, or to add some movement to your classroom.
Stations Bundle (all 4 station activities)
poetry-themed stations activity.
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