{"id":3483,"date":"2015-04-30T00:22:04","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T05:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483"},"modified":"2020-07-25T18:58:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T23:58:22","slug":"thoughts-on-classroom-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There are aspects of the &#8220;art of teaching&#8221; I have long taken for granted, but are apparently no longer taught in preservice education programs. Classroom centers is one such critical topic. Since I cannot find the seminal book(s) or papers on the importance or creation of centers, I created the following document for the school I work for.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Thoughts on Classroom Centers <\/strong>(v 1.0)<br \/>\nGary S. Stager, Ph.D.<br \/>\nApril 2015<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>THE CENTER APPROACH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Centers are clearly delineated areas in the classroom where students may work independently or in small groups on purposeful activities without direct or persistent teacher involvement. Centers may be designed by the teacher or co-constructed with students. Deliberate materials are presented in a center to scaffold a child\u2019s learning, or nurture creativity. Such materials may be utilized in both a predictable and serendipitous fashion. Centers afford students with the necessary time to take pride in one\u2019s work, overcome a significant challenge, develop a new talent, or deepen a relationship (with a person or knowledge domain).<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cLearning as a process of individual and group construction &#8211; <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Each child, like each human being, is an active constructor of knowledge, competencies, and autonomies, by means of original learning processes that take shape with methods and times that are unique and subjective in the relationship with peers, adults, and the environment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The learning process is fostered by strategies of research, comparison of ideas, and co-participation. It makes use of creativity, uncertainty, intuition, [and] curiosity. It is generated in play and in the aesthetic, emotional, relational, and spiritual dimensions, which it interweaves and nurtures. It is based on the centrality of motivation and the pleasures of learning.\u201d<\/em> (Reggio Children, 2010)<\/p>\n<p><strong>GOALS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minimize direct instruction (lecture)<\/li>\n<li>Recognize that students learn differently and at different rates<\/li>\n<li>Reduce coercion<\/li>\n<li>Honor student choice<\/li>\n<li>Increase student agency<\/li>\n<li>Make classrooms more democratic<\/li>\n<li>Enhance student creativity<\/li>\n<li>Build student competence and independence<\/li>\n<li>Employ more flexible uses of instructional time<\/li>\n<li>Inspire cross-curricular explorations<\/li>\n<li>Develop the classroom as the \u201c3<sup>rd<\/sup> teacher\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Encourage more student-centered classrooms<\/li>\n<li>Respect the centrality of the learner in learning<\/li>\n<li>Create more productive contexts for learning<\/li>\n<li>Supports the Hundred Languages of Children<\/li>\n<li>Match a child\u2019s remarkable capacity for intensity<\/li>\n<li>Provide opportunities for teachers to sit alongside students<\/li>\n<li>Make learning visible<\/li>\n<li>Shift the teacher\u2019s role from lecturer to research responsible for making private thinking public \u2013 invisible thinking visible<\/li>\n<li>Team teaching in the best collegial sense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>BENEFITS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased self-reliance, self-regulation and personal responsibility<\/li>\n<li>Shift in agency from teacher to student<\/li>\n<li>Development of project-management skill<\/li>\n<li>Supports project-based learning<\/li>\n<li>Opportunities for \u201cflow\u201d experiences (Csikszentmihalyi, 1991)<\/li>\n<li>Intensify learning experiences<\/li>\n<li>Encourage focus<\/li>\n<li>Expand opportunities for:\n<ul>\n<li>Creative play<\/li>\n<li>Informal collaboration<\/li>\n<li>Experimentation<\/li>\n<li>Appropriation of powerful ideas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Acknowledges the curious, creative, social and active nature of children<\/li>\n<li>Matches the individual attention spans of students<\/li>\n<li>Reduces boredom<\/li>\n<li>Increases student engagement<\/li>\n<li>Teachers get to <em>know<\/em> each student (better)<\/li>\n<li>Recognition that quality work takes time<\/li>\n<li>Acknowledges the centrality of the learner in knowledge construction<\/li>\n<li>Thoughtful documentation of student learning by teachers<\/li>\n<li>Minimize misbehavior<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>CENTER EXAMPLES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Experimentation\/laboratory center<br \/>\n<\/strong>A place for experimentation<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Project center<br \/>\n<\/strong>An area where a long-term project may be undertaken and securely stored<\/p>\n<p><strong>Game center<br \/>\n<\/strong>A place where students play games that helps develop specific concepts, logic, or problem-solving skills<\/p>\n<p><strong>Studio center<br \/>\n<\/strong>An art center where children sculpt, paint, animate, draw, etc\u2026 with sufficient light and appropriate materials.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Creative play center<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dress-up area<\/li>\n<li>Puppet theatre<\/li>\n<li>Blocks\/LEGO\/Construction with found materials<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Classroom library<br \/>\n<\/strong>A comfortable well-lit area, stocked with a variety of high-interest reading material<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pet center<br \/>\n<\/strong>The class pet to observe, care for, and in some cases, play with<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plant center<br \/>\n<\/strong>Classroom garden to care for<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening center<br \/>\n<\/strong>A setting where students can listen to recordings or watch a video with headphones<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>CAUTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Learning centers should neither be chores or Stations of the Cross. Flexibility, student choice, and actions that do not disturb classmates are hallmarks of the centers approach.<\/li>\n<li>Centers should not be managed with a stopwatch. \u201cFairness\u201d is not a priority, except if there are scarce materials.<\/li>\n<li>Learning center use should not be used as a reward or punishment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>TIPS FOR PREPARING A CENTER<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create clear and concise prompts, questions to ponder or project ideas. Place these prompts on index cards, a single sheet of paper, or in a binder.<\/li>\n<li>Less is more! Do not clutter up a center or overwhelm a learner with too many options.<\/li>\n<li>Keep prompts simple and not overly prescriptive. Allow for serendipity.<\/li>\n<li>Rotate out \u201cstale\u201d materials \u2013 things that students no longer show interest in<\/li>\n<li>Assign classroom roles for tidying-up centers<\/li>\n<li>Place louder centers away from quieter areas in the classroom.<\/li>\n<li>Provide safety materials and instruction when appropriate at centers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>REFERENCES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1991). <em>Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience<\/em> (Reprint ed.). NY: Harper Perennial.<\/p>\n<p>Reggio Children. (2010). Indications &#8211; Preschools and infant toddler centres of the municipality of Reggio Emilia (L. Morrow, Trans.). In Infant toddler centers and preschools of Instituzione of the municipality of Reggio Emilia (Ed.): Reggio Children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are aspects of the &#8220;art of teaching&#8221; I have long taken for granted, but are apparently no longer taught in preservice education programs. Classroom &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[430,428,526,434,429,431],"tags":[1222,1349,1181,664,460,1269,1156,1348,667,467],"class_list":["post-3483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity","category-general","category-leadership","category-learning","category-project-based-learning","category-teaching","tag-agency","tag-autonomy","tag-classroom-centers","tag-constructionism","tag-constructivism","tag-maker-movement","tag-making","tag-pedagogy","tag-play","tag-teacher-education"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are aspects of the &#8220;art of teaching&#8221; I have long taken for granted, but are apparently no longer taught in preservice education programs. Classroom &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stager-to-Go\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gary.stager\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gary Stager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@garystager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@garystager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Stager\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gary Stager\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184\"},\"headline\":\"Thoughts on Classroom Centers\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483\"},\"wordCount\":825,\"commentCount\":1,\"keywords\":[\"agency\",\"autonomy\",\"classroom centers\",\"constructionism\",\"constructivism\",\"Maker movement\",\"making\",\"pedagogy\",\"play\",\"teacher education\"],\"articleSection\":[\"creativity\",\"general\",\"leadership\",\"learning\",\"project-based learning\",\"teaching\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483\",\"name\":\"Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?p=3483#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thoughts on Classroom Centers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stager-to-Go\",\"description\":\"The personal blog of Gary S. Stager, Ph.D.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184\",\"name\":\"Gary Stager\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/Gary-gravatar.png\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/Gary-gravatar.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/Gary-gravatar.png\",\"caption\":\"Gary Stager\"},\"description\":\"Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer - Forward 50, co-author of\u00a0Invent To Learn \u2014 Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at\u00a0Constructing Modern Knowledge Press,\u00a0and the founder of the\u00a0Constructing Modern Knowledge\u00a0summer institute. He led professional development in the world\u2019s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about\u00a0Gary here.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/cmkpress.com\\\/gary\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/stager.tv\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go","og_description":"There are aspects of the &#8220;art of teaching&#8221; I have long taken for granted, but are apparently no longer taught in preservice education programs. Classroom &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483","og_site_name":"Stager-to-Go","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gary.stager\/","article_published_time":"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00","author":"Gary Stager","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@garystager","twitter_site":"@garystager","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gary Stager","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483"},"author":{"name":"Gary Stager","@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184"},"headline":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers","datePublished":"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483"},"wordCount":825,"commentCount":1,"keywords":["agency","autonomy","classroom centers","constructionism","constructivism","Maker movement","making","pedagogy","play","teacher education"],"articleSection":["creativity","general","leadership","learning","project-based learning","teaching"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483","url":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483","name":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers - Stager-to-Go","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-30T05:22:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-25T23:58:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=3483#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thoughts on Classroom Centers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/#website","url":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/","name":"Stager-to-Go","description":"The personal blog of Gary S. Stager, Ph.D.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/8bd320bea4758fc56f376ecdd9b8b184","name":"Gary Stager","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Gary-gravatar.png","url":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Gary-gravatar.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Gary-gravatar.png","caption":"Gary Stager"},"description":"Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer - Forward 50, co-author of\u00a0Invent To Learn \u2014 Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at\u00a0Constructing Modern Knowledge Press,\u00a0and the founder of the\u00a0Constructing Modern Knowledge\u00a0summer institute. He led professional development in the world\u2019s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about\u00a0Gary here.","sameAs":["http:\/\/cmkpress.com\/gary"],"url":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/?author=2"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stager.tv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}