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Free Form Stations-Give This a Try!

Everyone in education is talking about differentiation and UDL (Universal Designed Learning). For once, this is a bandwagon I want to hop on!  I have always believed in differentiation, choice, and helping students be successful using different paths.  Not all students work at the same pace, and not all students learn the same way.  Free Form Stations allow me to better meet the needs of all of my students.  I have used the regular Station Rotation model touted by the eminent Catlin Tucker, but I hadn't yet tried her Free Flowing Station model. We are getting ready to begin Animal Farm (which I have never taught before) and there is a vast amount of prior knowledge students need to truly appreciate this classic.  I thought this was the perfect time to give Free Flowing Stations  a try!






First, I made sure everything was ready to go in Google Classroom and that I had all the hard copies of handouts I needed.  I explained to students that they would have to complete all five activities but could do so in any order they would like.  I made sure they knew where to find the directions, as well as which assignments must be completed independently or with a group. The activities included analyzing The Lorax, watching an Edpuzzle video about allegory, reading a Newsela article about Stalin, vocabulary in context practice, and completing the anticipation guide for the novel.

It was pretty impressive watching students work through the activities.  They were on task and engaged.  Because some activities did not require my assistance, (watching Edpuzzle video and answering questions)I was able to work with the other students individually, provide feedback,  and answer any questions.



At the end of the period, I posted a question in Google Classroom asking for their feedback on our time together.  It was 100% positive.  Here are a few of their comments:

 In class today, we had the opportunity to chose what we wanted to do and who we wanted to do it with. I really liked this because it made learning and working on something typically not enjoyable to being enjoyable. Thank you, hope we do it again.

 I liked today because of the varieties and getting to work with people. The options helped us stay focus and helped us know what we had to finish.

 Yes, like the Giver has shown, choice matters. It's more fun when students are given free rein over how and when to do each assignment. That's my opinion, at least. 

 I loved it because it gave us time to move around and also it was very fun to have freedom and choose the projects you would like too.

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