For special education teachers, our goal is always to help our students BUILD INDEPENDENCE! Working independently is a life skill that sets kids up for success in both school and life. Luckily, it is easy to teach this skill through a simple classroom activity: centers! Read on to find out how your classroom’s centers can help promote student independence!
The Importance of Centers in the Classroom
Many classrooms – both special education and general ed – already run on centers. (If you need more info about setting up centers, check out this post!) Centers help our special education students thrive! Some of the benefits of using centers in your classroom include:
- Keeping students engaged by rotating through a variety of activities
- Providing a built-in movement break as students move through centers
- Allowing teachers to provide targeted direct instruction to students
- Utilizing paraprofessionals to supplement your instruction
- Creating opportunities for data-taking
- Promoting student independence!
Teaching Independence
How can we help students build independence during center rotations? Start with explicit teaching of routines. When you introduce centers in the classroom, model for your students how they will rotate through centers, use visuals aids, and complete activities. Then, practice it! Have students practice doing their center tasks (taking data as needed) and transitioning around the room so that they become comfortable with the process.
It is important to be intentional with your routines. Keep things predictable so students will be successful. The more kids follow the same routine, the easier it will get! Your students will become more independent, and you will spend less time giving directions. It’s a win-win!
Helping Your Students Succeed
After students have mastered their centers routine, keep the momentum going! Use supports like visual schedules and token boards to help students navigate the room. Projecting slides on your classroom board helps keep everyone in the right place. After a bunch of practice in my classroom, my students are so used to their centers routine that they are able to change the slides and prep their schedules independently!
Another way to keep the independent streak going is by utilizing an independent work center. These centers have tasks that students have previously mastered so you know that they will be able to work in that area with minimal adult support.
Independence is such a crucial part of teaching our students, and centers are a great way to help build it. How do you use centers in your classroom? Share your ideas below!
