As I started writing this article, I began having flashbacks to middle school when I was assigned to write a persuasive essay of my choice. My objective in writing about why I have reconsidered using centers isn't to persuade you to do anything. I think that conversations with other colleagues mixed with some self-reflection have led me to the discovery that centers aren't needed in my classroom.
I hope this article makes you think, but that doesn't mean you'll discover you need to change your centers program. As a teacher, I make decisions about my classroom, yet kids are the classroom. This space may be assigned to me, but it is their thinking, questioning, and inquiring that keeps our classroom alive. Implementing reading and writing workshop has allowed my students to have more of a voice in our classroom. While it's led me away from centers, it may lead you to use them in thoughtful, interesting ways.
Here is my current thinking on centers, and why they no longer seem to be a fit for my classroom:
1. Kids need to practice reading (and writing), not practice doing centers.
Just like kids learning to play soccer, kids learning to read need time to practice. Consider the time players have for warm-up/stretching. Now think about kids who are learning to read and write. Primary kids need time every day to warm up to books and stretch their muscles for reading.
We show kids how to stretch and warm up before playing soccer; I know I need to teach my students how to warm up before reading (think about the title, pictures, make predictions . . . etc). Then consider how kids become better soccer players. Coaches make sure their players actually play soccer. Coaches are aware that it is the best practice for improving a team's game. Readers benefit from the same authentic practice as soccer players . . . quite simply kids need to read to become better readers.
Next, consider the player who needs improvement. To support an individual soccer player's improvement, a coach pulls aside a player (or group of players) and talks with her about her strengths and weaknesses on the field. As the teacher (similar to the coach), I can assess and support my students with conversations about their strengths and weaknesses (because weaknesses seem to be those areas that we just need more practice). Reading workshop allows my readers time to warm-up, practice and gives me time to confer with kids learning to read.
2. Centers don't seem to support student inquiry...teachers do the thinking and creating here instead of the kids.
Centers are often pre-set up activities that students work on while the teacher meets with a small group of students. When I ran centers in my room I ended up creating tasks or activities that children would accomplish throughout the morning. I would explain the activities. I decided when center time was over. I never really asked them or talked with them about how the activities related to anything. They really didn't have a say in what was going on in our classroom. They just "did" the centers.
Today, inquiry really drives my classroom. My student's noticing and questioning not only motivate them to want to understand more but also create a feeling of ownership within the classroom as readers and writers. Katie Wood Ray reminds me that "In an the inquiry stance, teachers help children explore different alternatives for how to write something, and then they let them do what writers really have to do and make decisions for how their pieces go." (Katie Wood Ray in Study Driven, Heinemann 2006). With centers, I was making all the decisions for my students but with reading and writing workshop students are making decisions on their own. Isn't that what we ultimately want for our kids - to be independent learners?
3. Centers seem to be a tool for management instead of a tool for teaching.
Ok, I am just going to come out and say it. Centers seem a bit impractical. I remember spending time thinking about and creating numerous activities for centers. Prep was time consuming and then I had kids finishing at different times. I found myself creating layers of activities or more centers to manage kids with different needs and speeds. I was trying to manage kids, but spending too much time and effort in preparation. I remember thinking, "All this work just to find time to meet with kids in small groups or individually?"
The fact is, kids can be managed during reading workshop and the outcome, according to Keene and Zimmerman (2007), is that we are creating avid thoughtful readers. These two authors of Mosaic of Thought remind me that " we start with baby steps and graduate, over time with support, to miles or marathons." That is we start with short periods of time for independent reading and gradually extend this time reading on a daily basis.
I even find that breaking up reading workshop into two smaller workshops (mini lesson- partner reading-share then read-aloud- independent reading-share) helps my students work through the longer workshop I come to expect by the end of the year. I know the break helps younger students who need to move physically as well as allows for social interaction and conversation with partners.
4. Center work doesn't allow me to look at authentic progress.
Often I prepared the centers work (draw and write three things that rhyme with cat or a specific skill practiced), with children writing on a worksheet of some kind (sometimes made by the teacher sometimes just a worksheet). I remember not coming back to that one-time activity, so it was more or less "busywork." I also struggled to talk with parents about this work. When I look at assessments including DRA's, developmental spelling assessments and work samples from writing workshop over time, I know that I have a clear picture of how my students are progressing. I can talk to parents about progress (a comparison of beginning of year to present) as well as practice (writing pieces, running records, observational notes) in between.
5. With centers I was missing out on meaningful and purposeful conversation with the kids.
While centers were occurring, kids were talking and I was meeting with ability groups but I always felt a step behind. I felt like my work with small groups was meaningful but the rest of the kids . . . well, I don't know what they are thinking. And I knew students like Chris (who was in the green group) would have benefited from the discussion we had on fluency while I met with the red group. I wondered, how can I be more efficient with our talk?
The format of reading workshop has changed and lifted the level of discussion in my classroom. I've moved beyond centers, to a more fluid structure with reading and writing workshops, with students moving in and out of groups, individual conferences, and whole class lessons much more fluidly than I ever did when I used centers. There are now more opportunities for kids to think out loud, turn and talk with each other, and talk with me.
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