CREDE Standards in my classroom

The other day I introduced learning stations to my 8th grade civics class. The learning stations introduced group work and cooperative learning activities. Students worked together on skits, current events problem solving, and deciphering the preamble. I think all stations meshed well with several CREDE standards. Students were engaged and working toward reaching the expectations of each station.

In station one, students worked in a group to find articles relating to the fundamental principles of our government. There were five principles learned in class. The class already learned the definitions and went through scenarios before encountering this activity. The activity encouraged students to collaborate and work together in matching articles to principles.

The second station had students working to break apart the preamble. The preamble was broken up into 6 groups. Since the preamble was written with Old English text, students had to divide up the groups and work in partners. Their task was to research and come up with a more understandable preamble. Students had to discuss their finding and put together their own version of the lead paragraph to the U.S. Constitution.

In the last station students had to choose one of five documents they have been studying in class. The idea in this station is to read a small comic on the document chosen and create a mini skit to share with the class. This script was called talking statues. Only one student could act out at a time, with the other students standing as a statue until they are tapped by one of their peers. This group would have to divide up roles for the script and everyone has to participate.

In every station, students collaborated in order to come up with an end product to share with the class. I walked around and sat in the stations as they prepared each task. I was there for guidance in helping students engage and share ideas. The room was arranged so that students faced each other in their groups for effective communication, and they worked together in cleaning up each area before moving on the next station. Groups were divided up by academic strength and friendships to promote better dialogue while completing each activity. I think these are all good examples of how the CREDE standards one and five were met in this lesson.

CREDE standards two and four were evident in some of the stations. In the preamble activity, students were looking up voacabulary in their textbooks and dictionaries to better understand a U.S. government document. Studetns were able to interact with one another and express their thoughts and understanding of meaning in each preamble group. Each station gave the students a challenging task. It made students talk to one another t figure out and clarify instructions and the best approach to reach the expecations of the activity.

Even though I believe that many CREDE standards were met, I can work to improve some areas. I will be back to discuss being more culturally responsive and how I can some adjustments to improve my lesson with learning stations.