Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 9

Chapter 9 of Meet Me in the Middle focuses on the benefits of block scheduling and how to effectively plan for block scheduling. I never looked at having fewer, longer class periods to be a good thing. I always thought that students would have too short of attention spans to really get a lot out of a long class period. Personally, I have trouble focusing during long classes so I assumed this problem would be even worse for early adolescents. However, this chapters shows me that if the teacher plans effectively, students should be able to learn and stay focused in these long periods.

There are actually many benefits to having a longer class period that I had never considered. One benefit to having fewer, longer class periods a week rather than many, short class periods is that less time is wasted with transitions and getting settled. Another benefit is allowing for increased wait time, allowing students to really think and reflect before forming answers. While these benefits seem small, they are actually quite important and can help to shape a positive classroom experience. A larger benefit that I had not considered was the ability to bring in guest speakers, other teachers, or have student presentation in class. Including a variety of people and activities into a long class will help students stay engaged and actually learn the material. With longer class periods, students have better opportunity to actually master material, rather than just be introduced to it.