Promotes independence
Helps students become more responsible
Creates opportunities to learn at their own rate through differntiated 
    learning activities
Provides opportunities for students to learn through multiple intelligences
Allows students to learn through self-discovery
Provides teacher with time to pull students one-on-one or in small groups to 
    target specific academic skills, modify and enrich curriculum, and better meet 
    the needs of individual students

1. Begin slowly and gradually increase the requirements. 
Week 1 & 2 - Make your goal for students to simply understand the schedule and rotation. Activities should be easy and familiar, allowing students to gain an understanding of the station approach. Initially constant modeling and role playing are required, and for a while, it does take longer to get everything done.
Week 3 & 4 - Expand the focus to include following printed directions, increasing activity levels and independence. Focusing on the importance of reading directions in the beginning of learning station implementation will assist all students in assuming their roles as active learners. (This is difficult in K-1 classrooms.  However, I try group students by mixed ability.  If you have a strong reader in each group they can help read directions.)

2. Plan and rehearse your management system - how will students organize and record their progress? 

3. Rehearse movement through stations- over and over.  In the beginning, I facilitate and establish rules and procedures by being extremely visible.  We practice station procedures multiple times for the first few weeks.  This is the biggest lesson I have learned in implementing stations.

4. Practice helping procedures - model how you want students to handle questions or problems and role play. Promote cooperative learning with strategies such as "Ask 3 before me." 

5. Evaluation and sharing time - 5 minutes for evaluating the success of the group or individual personal reflection on the student’s work. 5 - 10 minutes of sharing to bring reinforcement and positive closure to activity time.

6. Work smarter not harder - develop a station and keep it going all year long simply changing the activities to suit the instructional needs and interests of the students, classroom themes etc. 

7. Solicit parent help in the younger grades to work at stations with games where rules may be an issue.  Teach "Who goes first?" strategies, consensus skills and majority rules through discussion and role play.