In my classroom we are always working towards more general education appropriate behavior. I have my students start utilizing Independent Work Stations as soon as they enter my classroom. Check out my posts on our initial work stations in these posts:
{A Peek in Our Classroom: Independent Work Station #1}
{Independent Work Stations #2}
This work station is probably the easiest to implement in the general education classroom. I got a pack of 6 cardboard magazine holders at IKEA for $1.99. They usually last me about a year, sometimes more, depending on how rough my students are. If the student is rough on materials, I will occasionally get a plastic magazine holder for durability.
As always, Independent Work Stations need to answer 3 basic questions:
When my students enter the Independent Work area, they grab their magazine holder and follow this routine.
The students complete this for as many jobs as they have on their task strip (usually 3-5 tasks depending on student). When they’ve finished all the tasks they get to engage in a choice or break time activity (they choose this when they enter the independent work station).
The goal in our classroom is to get to this point because it is so easy to implement in a general education classroom! The tasks can easily be workshop tasks, center tasks, or tasks from the general education curriculum.
