Self-guided literacy centers are often touted as productive and creative alternatives to extended seat work while the teacher meets with guided reading groups. Indeed, they can be. But, if she is not careful, those same centers that a teacher lovingly puts together late Friday night also can turn into her greatest distraction early Monday morning. I still cringe at my early attempts at introducing centers in my 1st-grade classroom. "Read Around the Room" and the "Writing Center" could have been more accurately described as "Rush Around the Room" and the "Social Center." Children at the Listening Center spent more time pushing various buttons on the tape recorder than following along with the story, and they completely ignored any pocket chart activity. Generating center activities is not challenging; making them run smoothly is. I don't claim to have perfected the implementation and management of centers in my classroom, but I have learned some lessons along the way that I would like to share.
