Answers From The Teacher
Darra Wheeler Happ

What are learning centers all about? My daughter is always talking about the Science center or the Math center. Her teacher only has centers on Fridays, but my daughter wishes she could have them every day.

Centers are all about "hands on" learning which explains why your daughter loves them so much. Centers are usually set up along the sides or back of the classroom and include pro-jects that the students can touch. Centers allow a student to practice newly learn-ed skills at his or her own pace, often alone or sometimes with a small group. They can also be used to introduce a lesson or provide additional knowledge or practical experience to a topic the class is currently studying.

Some teachers set up centers and then leave them out for a few weeks. Students may go to the center during a specified time, maybe during free time or snack time, or even during "work" time. Once at the center, the student is able to perform the tasks set up at the center.

A center can be a brief science ex-periment, a short writing task for Lang-uage Arts, or perhaps a challenging math problem that might be solved in a tactile, visual manner. There are many variations on centers, and teachers tend to develop their own ways to set up and manage centers. Because centers require a lot of time and preparation to set up, your daughter’s teacher may have chosen just one day a week for center time.

Teachers like to use centers because it gives them a chance to see what the students can do on their own, which is an excellent measure of the manner and extent of their learning. Although centers are not usually used for formal assessment, they can be useful to teachers because students can be observed as they are working. You could set up a few centers of your own at home, especially during the summer months when she’s not in school. There will be more on this in a future column.

My son has yet another book report due this month. Isn’t it enough that he read the book? He’s kept up with all the book reports this year, even though the assignments were pretty boring. He really just has to prove to the teacher that he’s read the book. I wish I could tell him just to skip it.

Please, don’t do that. It’s good that your son has been keeping up all year with the assignments, but don’t let him just skip these assignments. Summer will be here soon enough, and although he should be reading over the summer, no book reports will be required. Here’s a suggestion: have your son think of another, more interesting way to prove to his teacher that he read the book and have him ask the teacher if he can do an independent book report or project.

Perhaps your son would like to use technology in some way to "prove to the teacher" that he’s read the book. Can he make a short movie or presentation using technology? She may agree to his idea, but be sure that they are both clear on how the work will be graded. I would think that reading twenty or thirty formulaic book re-ports is as much a task for the teacher as writing them is for the kids. I think your son’s teacher might welcome the change as eagerly as your son.

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