Rotating Reading Stations for Building Literacy
by TESOL International Association
As you prepare your classroom for the new school
year and think about all the exciting ways you might grow your students’ love
for reading—while also nurturing their literacy skills and learning
autonomy—take a moment to consider using rotating reading stations. Rotating
stations offer both flexible learning spaces and student choice, which promotes
active learning, independence, and engagement, as well as increasing students’
intrinsic motivation to learn (Digital Promise, 2017a, 2017b).
TESOL recently partnered with Microsoft to create a
free guide that outlines multiple ways teachers can use Microsoft’s
new literacy tools (Immersive
Reader, Reading
Progress, and
Reading
Coach) to boost language and literacy development in tandem. The
guide provides concrete, practical classroom activities across a range of
contexts and student proficiency levels for use in classrooms with multilingual
learners of English (MLEs).
The following activity, from the guide, uses the 5E
instructional model in tandem with Reading Coach to help students see for
themselves where they have literacy gaps, and to help them learn to
self-correct.
About the 5E Instructional Approach
The 5E instructional approach to teaching and
learning helps students build understanding through their own experiences and
critical thinking. Utilizing the 5Es—engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and
evaluate—may generally assist teachers in structuring lessons efficiently and
getting students involved in the learning process. It offers a structure for
teachers to convey material in a motivating and relevant way while also
allowing for flexibility and modification to meet the needs of individual
learners.
About This Activity
This activity takes place in a diverse high school.
The 15 MLEs in this class are from different backgrounds and have varying
proficiency levels, though the majority of students are at a proficiency level
of CEFR A2. The teacher has determined that students need help with reading
comprehension, so decides to use Reading Coach in Teams as a station during
reading rotations. Students spend 20 minutes at each of four stations during
reading rotations.
Utilizing this activity, students will be able to
identify areas of improvement in their reading and critical thinking
skills.
Download the Activity:
Download the full guide for free!
References
Digital Promise. (2017a). Mobility and flexibility. https://bplawassets.learningaccelerator.org/images/Mobility-and-Flexibility-PK-3-Reading-Digital-Promise-Global-v2.pdf
Digital Promise. (2017b). Student choice. https://bplawassets.learningaccelerator.org/images/Student-Choice-PK-3-Reading-Digital-Promise-Global-v2.pdf
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