Chapter 7- MI

When reading this chapter I felt like the MI activity centers were for younger aged kids. The example the book used was about the changing seasons. Most students know their seasons quite well by 7th grade and building something, or creating something about the season may get pretty boring for them. But perhaps the simplistic idea of the activity centers can be changed and built upon for my age group. The cool thing about the activity groups is I could easily see which areas my students were best at, plus I could keep the students motivated, moving from one group to another. This movement would be a form of classroom management because the students would be so busy they wouldn’t be likely to act up or get off topic with friends. I also agreed that the students shouldn’t have the same old seats each class because it limits the learning capabilities. Besides trying the four activity corners, I think that I would have all the student’s desks in a large circle, and each class I would take out small folded pieces of paper from the “class basket”. On he folded slip of paper would be some type of symbol that each students drew to represent themselves. I would randomly place the slip of paper on different desks around the room, mixing up and shuffling the order. When students came in they would find their slip and sit down. This would randomize who students sat next to each class and could help me notice and call on more of the class then the students I normally notice first. I loved the comment about the fly on the wall. If there really was a fly that was distracting everyone, since students are attracted to notice real animals of all types, then perhaps I could incorporate the fly into my lesson or assignment and use it to my advantage. For example, write a paragraph for the fly’s perspective at this moment in time. Having the class go outside and sit on the lawn reminded me of my poetry class that did that when writing our poem labeled “What is Grass”. Assignments like this would be fun for all students and would use the nature learning style at the same time!