Math Stations In Middle School And High School

When I went to college to get certified to teach math, I was taught to do whole class work.  There was nothing on small groups or even math stations because you didn't even consider those when working with upper grades.  Over time, I've come to the conclusion that there is a place for math stations in the classroom for all grades. 

There are many reasons teachers might say they can't incorporate math stations ranging from excuses such as the school doesn't have enough bandwidth, to the class periods are not long enough, students might use it an excuse to be off task, not enough time to prepare or the biggest one is that you don't know how to do it.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that you have to start small when implementing math stations.  Choose one day of the week to use math stations for the whole period.  This gives students a chance to work through the stations so they can practice what they've learned.  You can set up the stations so each station focuses on a specific skill that they learned over the past week or few days.  In addition, when most of the students are doing math stations, the teacher can pull small groups of students so she can work with them on skills they struggle with. 

Traditionally, we think of having students move from station to station but if it gets crazy when students change stations, you could have the materials in tubs, boxes, or folders that move from table to table so the supplies are moving, not the students.  In addition, you do not want to have groups that are too large.  If you have only gone over three skills and a room with 30 students, you might have six stations so there are two stations for each skill.  This way you have only five students per group, instead of ten and students only need to visit one station per skill so they do three stations, not six.

One way to set up stations is to have one station where students meet with the teacher for focused attention, one station designed to have students work at the desk or on a specific assignment, another station with technology, and the last station is designed to be hands on with manipulatives.  This way, you are able to meet the needs of your students better.

To keep students focused on the stations without worrying, have a timer showing so students can glance up and see how much time they have left.  When the timer goes off, it signals time for students to shift stations and then it is easy to reset and start again.  There are several online timers you can use.  I like this site because it has some fun classroom timers.  These timers can also be used to teach students how to change stations.  Simply state your expectations, set the timer for a minute, and have them practice moving on time, otherwise use the timer to have students move stations to the next group of students.

Take time to change things up a bit while following the same routine.  For instance, on the tech station, switch up the program students are expected to work their way through.  It might be khan academy one week, IXL another week, etc.  The at your seat assignment might be a maze one week, or a focused sheet with specific problems another week.

Always have a way for students to check their work.  This might be done with answers on the wall or via a QR code that can be read or even answers put into Google Forms so they get immediate feedback, but this way students can check themselves and if they have questions, you need to think of how to handle that.  In addition, think about how long the activity is going to take.  You want to make sure the activity will take as long or longer than the time they have at the station.  You do not want to have one station that takes 5 minutes while the other takes 20 minutes.

This is a great way to introduce students to math stations so that you can use them in class.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.