Embarking on the Road to Authentic Engagement: Investigating Racism through Interactive Learning Centers

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article Embarking on the Road to Authentic Engagement: Investigating Racism through Interactive Learning Centers ( Taylor & Otinsky, 2006) because I found it not only engaging, but also inspiring. My district has initiated a differentiated instruction program for reading using a guided reading approach. While guided reading groups are in progress I have been implementing learning centers. Usually the centers literacy based. I love the value in the centers because the way that I have set them up they are a meaningful way for the students to review skills that have been taught in whole group situations. The students visit the computer center and can visit a program called "Puzzle Maker" to create a word search using their spelling words that they can print out and solve. They can also visit a program called "Star Fall" to practice phonics skills. There is a listening center where the students listen to a story, draw a picture to show something that happened in the story, and they write about that part. In the language center they might edit a paragraph for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation mistakes. They might play a matching game to look for synonym pairs. At the spelling center they might use magnetic letters to try to have their partner unscramble the letters to spell one of the words from the week's list. They also play the riddle game in conjunction with tic-tac-toe.
I love the premise of centers but it's the classroom management that can be a problem at times and the transition time between centers that I need to fine tune. I took a graduate course on differentiated learning last spring. It made me think about the possibility of differentiated math centers maybe every Friday or every other Friday afternoon. The students really did enjoy and looked forward to the centers each day. Many students have an ability in math that I feel I need to tap into and I thought that differentiated math centers would be the perfect venue.
I have been thinking about creating a Native American tabletop exhibit. I would love to see if I could somehow create interactive learning centers that would be appropriate for first graders where they could learn about Native American life. I would need to explore the amount of time that would be required to research the information, gather the materials/resources, and plan the course of action. Would volunteers be needed? If so, how many and in what capacity? I do implement centers for other themed units but after reading Understanding by Design ( Wiggins & McTigue, 2005) it has enabled me to examine what type of learning I have selected at each center. Is apple printing a valid learning activity in the study of apples? It is if the student is using the apple to create a pattern with the print design that they create. My goal is to make the activities more meaningful and more tied into the knowledge that the students can walk away from at the completion of the activity. I want to ask my students more of the critical questions such as "Why are we learning this?" " What does this learning have to do with what we have been learning?" "Why will you need to know this?"
I am hoping to build not only academic skills through the use of interactive learning centers but also cooperative learning skills as well through the use of social skill development. Observing my students in these situations will be of great value to me since my action research project is based on social skill interaction. I will be looking to see the roles my students will assume within their groups, their relationship with each other, and the general group dynamics. It will be an interesting observation to make while the students are engaged in the learning process.
So many ideas are racing in my mind regarding the use of learning centers in my classroom after reading this article. My mission is to find meaningful activities to match to the unit themes that will be shared in my first grade classroom. I want the activities to engage all learners using a variety of activities and in a variety of mediums. I was truly inspired to engage my students as learners utilizing this exiting and motivating method.