Literacy Stations In English 9

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to guest teach in a Chesterfield County High School classroom. I worked with the content teacher and special education teacher to prepare and implement literacy stations in two small collaborative English 9 classes.

The stations in these classrooms were slightly different than how we typically use them. In this case, the teachers were using stations to introduce unfamiliar vocabulary words before reading selections from The Odyssey, so all of the stations used the same set of words but focused on a different skill.

Station 1: Sentence Writing Station
We printed 12 color pictures on 11x17 paper. Each image was labeled with a vocabulary word. Students were given a handout (chart) with boxes labeled for each word. They were directed to analyze the image and write original sentences using the vocabulary word and the image.

Station 2: Context Clues
At this station, students were given handouts with printed sentences. Here they were directed to fill in the blanks with the appropriate vocabulary words using context clues including synonyms, antonyms, examples, and inferences.

Station 3: Root and Affix Sort
The last station involved sorting the same vocabulary words by root, prefix, and affix. The students were given a chart of various words. They were directed to identify the given word part and write it on the handout chart beneath the word with which it shared the word part. (For example, they were given the word "titanic" and had to write in all of the words that shared the suffix.)

The stations were a great success! The activities were the appropriate level of difficulty for the struggling readers. Because we had three teachers in the room (myself, the content teacher, and the collaborative teacher),  we were able have one teacher leading at each station to guide students who struggled with understanding the activity or the words. The students worked cooperatively and stayed on task. The class began with the regular warm-up (journal writing), followed by station introductions and expectations. With fifteen minutes for each station, both classes were able to begin a shared reading of the first Odyssey story after completing the station rotations.

I followed up with the teacher after the lesson, and she had already created her own stations for implementing the next set of vocabulary words!

If you would like any assistance with customized stations to accommodate your students, please contact me through email (emma.zayas@gmail.com).