Meet Me In The Middle: Chapter 4

Abstract:

Middle school students have a lot of thing going on, their attention span is low; their bodies are growing; they are going through puberty; they like to socialize. All of these reasons are good reasons for planning movement into your lesson plans. Allowing students to get up and move by handing in papers or planning a stretching session helps them refocus on the material. If you plan the movement into the lesson you might keep their attention longer. Really playing on student's kinesthetic abilities will get you far as a middle school teacher.

Reflection:

I think that getting up and moving was always the highlight of my day when I was in school. Those times were always so few and far between that it was extremely refreshing. I think that we have kids asking to "use the bathroom" a million times a day for a reason - they just want to move and we should make room for movement during our school day. This will eliminate wasted time during those trips down the hall (or arguments over not going "to the bathroom"). I think that I work best while moving and will not have a problem making this part of my classroom routine.