Time for Literacy Centers How to Organize and Differentiate Instruction By: Gretchen Owocki

1. Time for Literacy CentersHow to Organize and Differentiate InstructionBy: Gretchen Owocki Presented by: Chelsea Leister, Alyson Foreman Colby Gehrig, Katie Hohl Danielle Ritchie, & Leslie Silverio

2. Introduction • “There is simply no chance, in the whole lifetime of the universe, that any two children would ever end up the same; they would never end up knowing exactly the same things or learning in the exactly the same ways. Children differ” (Owocki, ix). • “A literacy center is an area of the classroom in which a set of literacy-related materials is arranged for collaborative exploration which is intended to meet the literacy needs of a widely diverse set of learners” (Owocki, ix).

3. Chapter One: Using Learning Principles to Guide Center-Based Instruction • Centers are a place for all learners. They allow children to bring their unique knowledge and unique ways of listening, interpreting, understanding, and expressing. • “Differentiating is when teachers adjust and vary instruction, materials, activities, requirements, and learning environments in response to individual children’s strengths and needs” (Owocki, 3).

4. 6 Learning Principles to Guide Center-Based Literacy Instruction Meaningful learning… • Builds from a child’s sociocultural experiences • Builds from a child’s interests, tastes, and preferences • Progresses uniquely for each child • Occurs through child-directed talk and social collaboration • Is grounded in functional activities • Is the result of an active teacher within each child