Instructional Strategy - Stations

Wow, my last post was September 18th. Time flies when your working on different projects simultaneously. Lately, my fellowship work has been focused on observing different classrooms, sneaking a peek at different instructional strategies. Yesterday I observed a geometry class. This was an interesting experience for me as I proved to be a very unsuccessful student in my own high school Geometry class. (See previous post - A New Perspective) Oh, Ms. G still haunts me, but her purpose in my life is starting to make sense now. When I observe a math class, I am probably at the same level of our struggling students. I think this is a good perspective as it helps me to better understand where our struggling mathematicians are coming from. After observing the Geometry class, my first thought was how to better structure the use of class time by incorporating stations catered to different learning styles. Stations are a great differentiated instructional strategy. Carol Ann Tomlinson, the author of differentiated instruction, provides a sample of how a math teacher, Ms, Minor, uses stations. The following is an abridged version of what is in the text (please come see me if you want the full explanation for each station):
Station 1 - The Teaching Station - Students have direct instruction with teacher. Students work at the board with the teacher and record their work by summarizing the kind of computation they worked one.
Station 2 - Proof Place - Students use manipulatives or drawn representations to work with number computations and to explain and defend their work.
Station 3 - Practice Plaza - Students practice with the computation on which they need additional experience.

Other stations ideas based on my own observations:
Million dollar questions - Students are challenged with questions that are brain twisters.
Homework Corner - Very applicable to BCP where homework time is given in class.

More suggestions for station ideas? Or, how stations might apply to other content areas? Please send any ideas my way.

One more thing, I found this site with fun Geom activites.