Student CENTERed

The Key is Organization

Using centers in the secondary classroom takes some planning on the front end. However, once everything is set up, you can just sit back and facilitate. The best part of centers is letting kids learn through discovery. I've already blogged about bringing centers into high school. Now, I'll show you how I implement them in my class. 

Classroom Arrangement

First things first: the groupings. As a rule I never allow more than four kids to gather in one place. Somewhere, someplace, someone said something about the more the evil-er... or something along those lines. To help kids get where they should be for the centers, I organize my classroom like this:

The view of my room from atop a rickety ladder

No grouping has more than four, no less than three. Each table has all the needed supplies for whatever their task may be. Crayons and paper for pictures, dictionaries for vocabulary, file folders with directions.

Dispersing the Kiddos

But how do kids know where to sit? Do you just let them sit ANYWHERE? Uhhh.... no. These are freshman. Upon entrance into my fortress of high expectations I hand them a card with a number on it. The number corresponds to numbers on each table. When I make the cards I ensure that the number of chairs matches the number of cards at each station. This eliminates seven people around one station.

Folders and Switching

Once they get to their table, they find a file folder. Inside the folder, the students can find everything they need to complete the task.


Each center takes about twenty minutes. For me, that's half of the class which means we switch in the middle of class. That sounds like a huge headache, right? I can hear them now: I did this center already? Which number am I supposed to get? We didn't get a folder! We have three folders on our table! CHAOS!! Nothing a simple sticky note can't solve. On each file folder I have where they send their folder and which number they should be receiving. If the kids know their numbers, then they can do this.

You can find the center directions that I put in each folder here. These centers cover skills in "The Most Dangerous Game."

Happy teaching!