A Successful Observation- Station Teaching

In our district the pressure is on for inclusion teachers to use varying techniques of co-teaching. We have been utilizing these techniques for years now. For an upcoming observation by our principal, we decided to set up stations in our 7th grade language arts class.  We have 22 students in our class, half of which have IEPS. The majority of the remainder of the students are identified as basic skills or have 504s. We decided to focus on the skill of citing evidence from text. The class was divided into 5 groups. The day before the stations we went over wit the class the procedures. The day of the stations we reviewed the procedures (just to make sure). The desks in the classroom were arranged so that the groups were facing each other. Each group was given a basket with all the materials they needed for each activity along with answer keys. For my station,  I had created a drag and drop activity on the Smart Board. Students were asked to determine which evidence from our novel, Walk Two Moons, supported two different themes.  Even 7th graders love using the Smart Board. My co-teacher had students at the round table scrutinizing an answer to an open ended question. The students used different colored pens to underline the important elements. The other 3 stations were independent practice. It is important to give students specific directions in order to allow for independence.  Needless to say, our principal was very impressed. He told us later it was one of the best observations he had seen all year.