Meet Me in the Middle - Chapter 2: Motivating Young Adolescents

Chapter two involves ways to keep students motivated. You can’t go through a whole school day without any means of motivation because kids will get bored very easily if you don’t take it up a notch every now and then. Various ways include creating an environment that students feel comfortable in so that they do not feel afraid to speak up in class. A lot of student may have something to say in class but need that extra push in order to spit it out. Another way is to act out something that is being taught such as the Aunt Sally example to remember the order of operations in math. You can use games or build suspense on an upcoming lesson. All of these methods will help to create a fun and interesting learning environment.

I feel that when thinking about teaching I get caught up in the rules and just teaching aspect of it. But in order to motivate students and teacher should be kind of fun. You should have a few giggles here and there with your students especially if it can benefit a lesson. I like the idea of letting loose a bit where students could even run down the hall yelling something. I mean, it seems a little ridiculous and border line breaking some sort of rule, but it sure sounds fun. I think that allowing students to listen to music in the classroom when working on certain assignments is a good idea because for some people it can really keep them focused. As a teacher it seems you need to let your hair loose every now and then.