Rotations: Read, Process, Record, Repeat

It was almost a Christmas miracle.  It was two days before Winter Break, and you could hear a pin drop in my class!  
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No, my students weren't watching a movie or doing a holiday word search or graphing lots of points that eventually draw a Christmas tree or Santa, we were learning about important cultural institutions of ancient China!

Here are the steps:

1. Find 5 or 6 or 7 articles about various facets of your topic (the number will depend on the length of the articles and the amount of time you want to give them on each one)
2. Make 7 or so copies of each article (enough for the number of students in each group)
3. Place the copies of the articles in folders (1 folder per topic, one topic per table)
4. Create a record sheet (click here for a FREE copy of the one I used)
5. When the students enter class, have them put their books or binders away - they will only need a pen or pencil and the record sheet you provide for this activity
6. Divide the students into equal groups (1 group per station)
7. I project a classroom timer from online-stopwatch.com (you can use your watch or any other timer too) to give them 7 minutes at each station (I used 5 stations) to read each article and record the critical content on their record sheet (the time you provide should be adjusted based on the length number and complexity of the articles you chose)
8. When the time expires, they are to return all the copies of the articles to the folders, and rotate to the next table and repeat the same process.

Benefits of this activity:

1. The time limit builds a sense of urgency that keeps students engaged and on task.
2. The activity can be used as a broad brush introduction to a new unit (lifestyle, art, religion, social structure, etc) or could be effectively used with a variety of articles about a specific topic (Egyptian dynasties or types of Roman buildings for instance).
3. By the end of the activity, students have an entire page of dense notes about the topic at hand and a list of questions you can use to help them develop future inquiry-based investigations or discuss in groups or as a class.
4. This activity utilizes a variety of important Marzano elements.

I recently used this activity as part of an inquiry about ancient Roman technology, and used my Roman Military Equipment Centers Activity as the resources the students rotated and got information about.  It worked great!  So, if you are interested in a great interactive way to learn about ancient Rome's military, click the link below, and don't forget to visit and follow my store for more great Social Studies resources!

• Roman Military Equipment Centers Activity
• My Store

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