Personalized Purple Circles
Self-sufficient Workstations for
Developing Competencies
Wynanne Watts, CS Des Samarres
Frédéric Bédard, Collège Saint-Bernard
What we are trying to do...
ESL competency 2: to reinvest
understanding of oral and written texts
Set up a Purple Circle
Teacher...
Prepares 7 independent workstations
• on the same theme
• of the same length
• using clearly written instructions
7 independent workstations
Each developing...
• cross-curricular competencies
• accountability: individual and group
• strategies
• paper trail for portfolios
• multiple intelligences
Students
•
•
•
•
cooperative groups of 4
Materials Manager
are shown why and how
become aware of the expectations
Time Frame
• 60 minutes for each station per day
th
• 7 days + an 8 day to finish up loose
ends
What students are expected to do
•prepare
•demonstrate understanding
•carry out meaningful tasks
HOW?
What and How
Cross-Curricular Competencies
CC - to use information – Computer Corner, Science
Laboratory
CC - to exercise critical judgement – Co-op Survival
CC - to adopt effective work methods: manages his/her
materials and time and adjusts actions as required – all
stations
Integrated transfer
How what students learn in the
Purple Circle relates to their own lives and
to other aspects of academic learning:
geography, history, sciences, drama, arts,
use of ICTs,...
=
Concrete, long-lasting
learning!
Advantages
For the teacher...
- Quality time to get to know and help
each student / team
- Pedagogically gratifying
- You get to sit down and observe!
Advantages
For the students...
- Develop interdependence, accountability
and autonomy
- Explore a broad variety of intelligences
- Long-lasting learning and transfer from
a broad variety of academic subjects
Potential problems
- Staying on task: the road to autonomy is a long
one sometimes...
- Noise
- We don’t understand : how to write clear
instructions (vocab and layout)
- Technical breakdowns
- We’re finished : stations of unequal lengths
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken
joy in creative expression and knowledge.
-Albert Einstein
Thank you !