Applying New Policies to the Classroom

On Thursday this past week Taylor County Middle School faculty assembled for a meeting on the county's three hour early dismissal day. This would be my first faculty meeting with the entire school's faculty, and to be honest I was somewhat nervous about participating in this meeting. I was concerned about feeling overwhelmed by policies I don't really understand, and I knew that I was probably being watched by both the faculty and administration to see if I was behaving professionally. However, I now know I didn't have anything to worry about. By being at this meeting I truly got a better idea of what was going on at Taylor County Middle, and I also strengthen my professional raport with the other teachers and administration.

During this meeting one presenter discussed the school's new initiative to integrate physical activity into the classroom every day. According to this presenter, some sort of physical activity every twenty to forty minutes increases student performance. My mentor teacher has already integrated some physical activity into lessons. For example, we had students move around the room to complete puzzles of the continents of the world. We have also been posing questions to the class and having the students answer by standing. We recently talked about the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, and how the position of the sun affects our seasons. Ms. Cooper had students stand if their favorite season occurs when the sun is positioned on the Tropic of Cancer. This does many things at once: this allows students to move around, offer their opinions on a topic and encourages students to learn why the Tropics are important to geography. I always like the take aspects of teaching from my mentors to include into my own practice, and this will definitely be one of the strategies I use in the future.