Lessons+from+Loyd

Learning Centers
Loyd teachers demonstrated the simplicity of learning centers. Learning centers can be as elaborate or as simple as we make them. There is no one, single definition of a learning center, but Michael Opitz, author of //Learning Centers: Getting Them Started, Keeping Them Going//, has developed a working definition that is clearly articulated:

"For me, a **learning center** is a small area within the classroom where students work alone or interact with others, using instructional materials to explore one or more subject areas. It is a place where a variety of activities introduce, reinforce, and/or extend learning, often without the assistance of the classroom teacher." According to Opitz, a learning center can be a permanent location in the classroom such as a book nook, or it can be at a table where students bring a learning center basket or box. As teachers at Loyd demonstrated, the center can also be a large envelope containing activity elements which can be taken to an individual's desk or to a group's table.

The most important considerations for learning centers are as follows:


 * They should be current - the learning center activity should reinforce the current or most recent topic.
 * They should be self-contained - the learning center activity box, folder, or set-up should be complete within itself so that students do not have to disturb others to retrieve materials. Be sure that you have pencils and paper in the writing center, math manipulatives in the math center, etc. If students will be playing a game in the center, be sure all of the pieces are present and that there is an easy storage system that students can use to gather materials back together after finishing the game.
 * They should offer choice - children are often more interested and motivated when they are allowed input into the learning environment. By allowing children to select some of their center activities, they may feel more empowered in their own learning process. It has been suggested that teachers might develop five or six centers to support units. Two may be assigned, and students may select two additional centers during their center rotation.
 * They should have an objective and a method of evaluating whether the objective was met - the objective will likely match the current day's or unit's standards; the evaluation can be as easy as a checklist.