Why I Ditched Literacy Centers for a Must Do May Do System

Literacy centers are popular, especially in early primary grades. What are literacy centers? Typically, students rotate in ability-based groups through a designated number of literacy centers in a given amount of time. These reading stations often contain word work (paper/pencil work), reading in a small group with the teacher and other hands-on activities to build phonics skills. While all of these things are wonderful in and of themselves, the factor of time was always missing when I used literacy centers.

The downfall of using literacy centers

One of the main components of literacy center rotations is the ability of the teacher to read with every reading group every day. I quickly realized that this arbitrary number (15 minutes) from a prescribed curriculum was never quite right for each group. It didn’t align with the time needed for students to work through their other literacy center rotations. 

Some students completed the literacy center work quickly and I was often left having to find “early finisher” work. This always felt more like busy work than anything of depth and meaning. Other students completed work at a slower pace and therefore never actually completed a center during the designated 15-minute rotations. 

Time

Time is one of our best resources and currency available to us. It needs to be used wisely and literacy centers never allowed myself or students to do use our time to our advantage. In my classroom literacy centers often felt rushed. I set a timer for roughly 15 minutes per rotation. This number was determined by how much time I needed to teach small groups guided reading instruction. However, 15 minutes wasn’t enough time for students to get into deeper learning and phonics discovery.

Flow

In relation to time was the aspect of a learning flow. A learning flow is when students are given time (there is that magical word again) to dive deeper into a task. This yields curiosity, better understanding, engagement and excitement. This is a huge aspect I feel is missing from many learning situations. We often ask students to complete task after task, but rarely, if ever, do we allow them to get into a learning flow which elicits curiosity and therefore more enriched and meaningful learning takes place.

Allowing students time to process their learning, become curious and apply it in meaningful ways leads to true understanding. I want my students to apply their phonic and reading learning beyond just a worksheet or literacy center rotation.

Stress

On top of this, there was the stress of constantly discovering and prepping new literacy centers and changing literacy center each week. Next, I needed to explain the new centers to students. Naturally, students would have questions and need help understanding the new literacy centers. I then stopped my small group reading instruction to support these students so the classroom wouldn’t erupt into chaos. Meanwhile, the students in my guided reading group were left without support. To me this always felt like a lose, lose situation.

Overall it was stressful for students and stressful for myself in preparation and action. My shoulders were up to my ears after each phonics instruction time. Teaching reading is my passion but this wasn’t how I envisioned it. Something had to change. 

I had to sit back and question how could I meet the needs of all students. How could I read with all the kids each day? How could I create a joyful and balanced learning structure? And most importantly how could I create an opportunity for students to get into an uninterrupted learning flow? 

Reading Stations

So what do I do instead? I threw out the traditional literacy center approach and inserted a “must do, may do” (MDMD) time.  

What is a Must Do Time 

What is a must do, may do approach to teaching reading by phonics? It is a designated literacy block of time where students learn to manage their time and have choice and autonomy over what order they want to practice phonics skills. This time consists of Must Do items that I build into the day to strengthen their reading ability. These Must Do activities are reading stations with no designated time frame. I moved away from only creating activities that I felt needed 15 minutes of attention. Now create activities that go deeper into the reading process often leading to higher quality output and less quantity output. Must Do tasks must be completed first. Click here to view various tasks I use as “must do” items. 

What are May Do Tasks

The second part of a Must Do, May Do approach is the may do section. This is highly motivating because this component contains things students love to do. However these tasks aren’t something they must complete to become fluent readers. May Do tasks are always completed after all Must Do tasks are done. Note: I structure this time so students should have enough time to finish all Must Do tasks. This way they can also experience May Do tasks. 

Items chosen for May Do tasks can vary from year to year and group to group. It is important to tailor these activities to individual classroom interests. These activities can also be extensions of other subject content taught. For example, one year my overarching thematic learning was centered around animals. Therefore, I created May Do activities that involved using reading, building vocabulary, and comprehension around learning more about animals. These were fun, hands-on and engaging activities. This also allowed a learning flow to happen while showing reading application.

Real Classroom Application

In the Must Do, May Do template, each day has a list of Must Do items to finish and students can work on these in any order. You learn a lot about students’ grit and determination often by how they choose to complete their tasks. Some students choose to tackle whatever they deem as a harder task first. Other students get their toes wet by starting with the easier or more preferred activities. This is the beauty of a MDMD literacy approach. The goal is to complete all Must Do tasks so the order of completion doesn’t matter.

From Literacy Centers to Reading Stations

By ditching literacy centers and moving to a Must Do, May Do systematic approach, my students and I gained the most valuable resource; time. 

Students still had the designated literacy block of time to learn and apply their phonics knowledge but without the constraints of a 15-minute timer. I, the teacher, had the freedom and flexibility to meet with each reading group every day, but I could do it more authentically. Some groups needed only 10 minutes of instruction while others required longer. I tailored the time I met with each group because I was no longer attached to a 15-minute rotation timer. 

Benefits of a Must Do, May Do approach

Not only did I alleviate stress for my students and myself by ditching literacy centers, I also helped students gain life skills. 

Time Management

Learning to manage time is a skill that requires practice. By using a Must Do, May Do approach students learned to manage their time in two ways.

First, since the reading tasks were generally the same each week, only changing in nature of phonics skills, students learned to gauge about how long each task took. 

Second, students are highly motivated to get to the enrichment section of May Do tasks and therefore learn to use their time wisely to finish Must Do items. 

Autonomy and choice

Remember learning to read can be challenging for some and requires perseverance for many. Stress can be alleviated by giving choices during a time that can be harder for students. I also found students are more motivated to begin and complete work that they are responsible for selecting. This was a win-win for all. 

Independence and problem-solving ability

I meet with small reading groups while students are working on their tasks. Therefore, I am unable to answer endless questions by students. This requires students to rely more on their peers to help them answer their questions. I have a rule that they have to ask 3 students before asking a teacher for help. I want them to know that their peers are great resources which is true now and throughout life. Generally, students receive answers to their questions without ever having to ask the teacher. Also, this is one of my students’ favorite movement-based, problem solving centers.

Reading Center Ideas

A difference between literacy centers and a Must Do, May Do system is that reading centers should be very predictable. The phonics skills are the only thing changing from week to week. For example, one reading center could always be phonics activity sheets. Each week you change the phonics activity sheet to match the new phonics skill you are currently teaching. If you are needing year-long K-2 reading center ideas click here.

Must Do, May Do for the Win

That is our MDMD and how it is run. I am 100% happy that I switched from traditional literacy centers to a Must Do, May Do approach to literacy. Students have choice and freedom over more of their learning which leads to a happier experience for them, while also teaching them valuable skills. Students are also able to get into a learning flow without constant interruption.

After teaching this model for 3+ years I will never return to literacy centers. If you are curious if a Must Do, May Do approach is right for you and your students, I highly encourage you to try it. Click here or the image below for a free MDMD template and plan to get you started. 

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