Meet Me in the Middle Chapter 9

Chapter 9 of Meet Me in the Middle talks about the benefits of block scheduling, as well as how a teacher can appropriately plan for that block of time. One major benefit of block scheduling that stood out to me is the ability to to better maintain the momentum of the learning. Block scheduling gives a teacher the opportunity to better pace their content, as well as integrate more learning objectives into a single lesson. For students block scheduling is a huge benefit because it allows the teacher to give more individual attention to the students who need it. In addition, it takes pressure off of students because they fewer classes each day. Another thing that stood out to me in this chapter is the suggestion the author makes on how to space out your time. He suggests that a teacher should always start with off with materials and methods that will get students engaged. Then, after students have finished a task is an appropriate time to focus on clerical duties. He also suggests to always save time at the end for reflection of the lesson. I like this idea of saving clerical duties for the middle of the lesson when students are already engaged in the material. Students will likely have an easier time transitioning back to the material after the clerical duties have been taken care of. The rest of the chapter outlined how a teacher might develop a lesson plan to fit a block of time. One thing that really stood out to me about this lesson plan is the instructional strategies that were used. I liked that it incorporated real life experiences like going to the store and picking out items to bring to the checkout to see if the calculations for sales tax were correct.