In the “station activities” model, middle school students apply language arts skills in multiple ways. In the course of a single class, students working together in small groups move from one station to the next, focusing on the same problem from a new perspective at each station. The small group format enables teachers to be coaches and facilitators, helping to reinforce student-led explorations.
Station Activities for English Language Arts covers the four strands of Comprehension and Interpretation; Making Connections and Evaluation; Composing; and Grammar and Language Usage. Each strand contains five sets of activities, each with four separate stations.
For instance, under the strand of Comprehension and Interpretation is the "Reading for Meaning" activity. The four stations within this activity are:
- Idioms. Students use index cards to draw literal pictures of idioms and figurative expressions.
- Fact vs. Opinion. Students decode print advertisements.
- Reading for Meaning. Students chart their responses to a newspaper editorial.
- Context Clues. Students use colored markers to highlight context clues within a series of sentences.
Station Activities for English Language Arts correlates to IRA/NCTE standards. Teacher support includes discussion guides and answer key.
