Learning centers are not just for kindergarten classrooms—they can engage students at all levels, for a variety of purposes, including previewing a new unit, practicing new content, and assessing student understanding. Centers also offer a prime opportunity for students to take a leadership role in designing and facilitating learning. Giving students a voice and choice in creating and leading the centers has the added benefit of boosting engagement and increasing student learning.
Try the following steps to start creating learning centers that gradually release leadership responsibilities to students in secondary classrooms.
- Choose the theme and learning objectives for the learning center activities.
- Decide if the learning activities will take place in one class period or span multiple periods.
- Talk to students about learning center activities and responsibilities, and then survey them to find out their interests and comfort level in facilitating a small group learning activity. Not all activities require a facilitator; some can be conducted independently. Ask students these questions:
- What types of learning activities would you like to participate in?
- Would you like to be a facilitator or cofacilitator at a learning center?
- If you are interested in being a facilitator, with how many students would you feel comfortable working?
- Consider creating learning activities that will last the same amount of time so that groups of students can switch activities at the same time.
- Allow students to create small groups that will rotate through different learning centers.
- Provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their learning and give feedback. Create an exit ticket and ask students these questions:
- Which learning center did you find the most helpful? Why?
- What can we do as a class to improve our learning centers?
- What did you learn from today's learning activities?
As you assess what's working and what needs to be adjusted with your learning centers, continue to work with students on design and implementation, with regular cycles of reflection and feedback. Discuss ways to support and encourage all students to take a turn at facilitating.
Learning Center Examples from a Language Classroom
As a Spanish teacher, I worked with my students to create many different types of learning centers that allowed them to connect with the culture of the Spanish-speaking world while practicing their Spanish language skills using the different modes of communication: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Here are some examples:
Café. Facilitators take on the role of servers, set up the café, and practice what they will say to their "customers." As students rotate through the café, provide them with scripts for support. Set out iPads and Spanish language magazines for "customers." Provide cookies and juice for a more authentic experience.
Graffiti wall. Facilitators create a graffiti wall by covering part of the classroom with paper. Ask facilitators to choose a theme for the wall related to the unit. Students use language skills to design text and images for the wall. Facilitators create prompts for students to use if they struggle to come up with sentences.
Bingo or "Lotería." Facilitators organize and run a number or word bingo game, using only Spanish language.
Matching. Facilitators create card sets with different themes using Spanish vocabulary from the lesson. Students listen to the word spoken in English and then compete to be the first one to pick up the card with the correct Spanish word.
Spoons or "Cucharas." This game uses the template of the traditional card game, spoons, but instead of players picking up a spoon when they have four of a suit or number, they must collect all five conjugations of a verb or five verbs with the same conjugation. Facilitators create decks of cards with verb conjugations and act as dealers, drawing new cards and passing discarded cards to the left.
Cultural Puzzle. Facilitators select images of famous people, places, or things related to the unit and cut the images into pieces for students to reassemble to reveal the mystery item.
Visitors. Students talk in small groups with guests who are native Spanish speakers. Provide prompts for students who might struggle to keep the conversation moving forward. Encourage students to facilitate the discussion or invite parents (or other community members) who are native speakers or can share cultural information about the countries being discussed.
Incorporating student-led centers into your instructional design may take a little extra effort at the start, but once students get into the routine of creating, participating in, and leading centers, you will have the foundation for elevated student engagement, learning, and leadership.
