Week 7 Readings: Centers

The reading this week that I identified with the most was Holliman’s article about centers. I liked this article because I have seen centers done really well and I have also seen them done poorly. This article talks about what a center is and different logistical decisions that a teacher has to make when it comes to planning centers. I liked how the article described a center as, “An area of the classroom where a variety of hands-on materials and meaningful activities are available for children to choose.” This definition is important to me because I think it is essential that the activities are meaningful and not just done to fill time. When I volunteered in Mrs. Buckley’s kindergarten class she used centers as a tool for her students to learn new information. She usually has about five centers set out and three out of the five centers have an educational purpose, for example she would have one center for math, one for writing, one for reading. The other two centers would be fun centers, like blocks, computers, sand table, coloring, etc. I liked the way centers were run because Mrs. Buckley usually had two to three parents or aids to help the students at the centers. This way she could ensure that the students were doing their work and that they understood what they were supposed to be doing. Another way I have seen centers run is a little less organized and overall less beneficial for students. The students can choose whatever center they want, as compared to Mrs. Buckley’s centers where she assigns groups and each child does the center one time. This is not beneficial because some students choose the same center every time and are learning nothing. The centers in these classrooms are also not as enriching because they are the same ones all the time and they include things like blocks, kitchen area, coloring, computers, etc. Another thing I liked about this article was that it suggests that children should be involved in choosing what they want to do for centers. This could be done for the ‘fun’ centers so the teacher only has to focus on planning the ‘learning’ centers. Overall I found this article very helpful and will use some of these tips when I am planning centers during my internship year.