Love The Book "Reach Them All"

I seldom get around to reviewing books but this is one I think could easily solve some of the issues we face as teachers.  One big issue is how to work with students who are missing certain fundamental  skills which make it harder for them to do the expected work.

Most of the time, the recommendation is to work on filling the gap while teaching the current unit rather than giving them the work at the level they test at. Unfortunately, I've never seen a plan which provided a reasonable way to accomplish it. Thi s is where this book by Chris Skierski comes in.

He suggests teachers, including high school teachers use Learning Stations to accomplish this.  The idea is the teacher determines which basic skills are needed to do well with the current topic.  For instance, if you are teaching students how to solve one and two step equations, they should be able to add, subtract, multiply, or divide integers both positive and negative before the lesson begins.

The process involves a pretest, learning stations, and a path of specific requirements to move on.  Students take a pretest to determine if they have all the necessary skills to begin solving one and two step equations or if they are missing some skills.  The results of the pretest determine which learning station the student begins with.  Each learning station is set up with a video on the topic and students are expected to at least write down the examples given on the videos.  Then they practice on-line at IXL, Khan Academy, or other location.  This is followed by a work sheet and then they finish the station by taking a quiz.

If the student does not pass the quiz, they are expected to redo the material with different videos, practice, worksheets and quizzes.  If they pass, they move on to the next learning station until they've completed every skill needed for solving one and two step equations and the lessons on the topic.  In addition, as students complete the skills, there is a small celebration held acknowledging their success.

The book includes all the forms, details, and information needed to create this in your room. Furthermore, students are not expected to work at learning stations for the whole period so the process is broken down into smaller chunks to be completed each day. For instance, the student should do the video and notes on the first day, the online practice on the second day, the worksheet on the third day and on the final day, the student takes the quiz.  In addition, there are some enrichment or extensions included for students who have most of the skills but just need a brush up.

I have been looking for how to do learning centers effectively in high school and this is the first book that offered solid information.  Usually the information I've found on learning centers is geared for elementary or just tells you what should be there in a vague way.  This book provides concrete examples so I can set up learning stations for all the topics I need to cover.

My next step is to sit down and figure out how I'm going to incorporate learning stations into my classroom. I've realized that I can combine topics in the book so they line up with basic skills such as combining like terms when I address adding and subtracting polynomials and binomial or trinomial multiplication for multiplying polynomials.

In addition to the book, Chris has a great website with some really helpful resources and classes. At least one class is free and I've signed up for it and need to get started. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.