Ideas for Preparing to Use Math Centers

  I often wonder why we do not usually use centers in middle or high school.  It seems that by the time students arrive in the upper grades, they are used to a more lecture based type lesson.  There are some activities that could easily be done in centers.

First of all, centers allow students to take a more active role in their learning.  Centers can be used at any stage in the learning process from introduction of the material to review and assessment.

Secondly, centers offer students the opportunity to choose which activity they want to do in what order.  Usually teachers have a specific order they deliver a lesson to students but with centers they can choose the activity they want to start with.  Furthermore, the use of centers helps foster the ability for students to work independently.  It also helps with classroom management because as students finish their current activity, they can move on to another.  In addition, centers can make it easier for teachers to differentiate so both students who struggle and who are advanced will have their needs met.

To successfully use centers, you have to plan everything ahead of time otherwise their use may not be as effective as they could be.  One of the first things to determine is how much time are you able to have students work at centers.  Will it be every day or three times a week.  Once the time issue is decided, you need to set up all the rules and procedures on how the centers should be done.  You have to decide if students will be working individually, in pairs, or in small groups.  What should they do if they finish early?  How will cleanup be handled? How are students expected to transition into center time and then how will they move from center to center?

Once you've got your procedures down, the next step is to plan for the centers themselves.  The planning covered everything from what concept is being addressed, to what is the activities will be used for that concept, to materials, and the number of centers total that are planned.  It is suggested the teacher keep a binder with daily and weekly planning sheets so you know the concept and materials for each center.  One should also have a binder where the master sheets and instructions are stored for every center.  It also helps to have materials organized according to concept and center so you spend less time having to prepare.

When you start using centers in class, it is important to go over both expectations and procedures with your students.  It will take several times before students get the hang of using centers.  When looking at designing activities, remember to vary the type of question and the way questions are designed so students do not get used to questions only being asked one way.  Questions can be written in several different forms such as true or false, correct or incorrect, multiple choice, short answer,  matching, or fill in the blank.

In addition, if you ask other types of questions make sure they are open ended rather than closed.  Instead of asking how many sides a square has, you might ask how a square and a rectangle are similar and different.  If you are asking question, do not ask simple questions such as "Round 12,438 to the nearest hundreds".  As them a more complex question such as "You have a number that rounds to 700 when rounded to the nearest hundreds, but rounds to 750 if you round it to the nearest tens, what are three possible numbers that match the criteria?". Do not forget to provide visual, models or manipulatives for each concept because this is the intermediate step between concrete and abstract.

Finally, be prepared to troubleshoot problems during the use of centers in class.  For instance, how do you handle students who are off task, finish early, students who do not engage in math talk, students did not get through all the stations, or cleanup can take longer than expected.  Think about these situations and decide how to handle them before beginning the use of centers in class.

On Monday, I'll address the question of activities one can do in middle school and high school math classes.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.