Edutopia: Learning From Elementary Teachers

 

Learning From Elementary Teachers

Middle and high school teachers can adapt several strategies used by their elementary school peers.

After more than 12 years of teaching high school English, I experienced what some teachers might call a bit of a mid-career crisis. I craved professional development that didn’t come in the form of a typical workshop. In an attempt to use other teachers’ classrooms as my own personal curriculum, I decided to leave my job and take a position as an upper elementary instructional coach.

I had the opportunity to observe how effective elementary school teachers create safe, engaging, and productive learning environments for their students. Thinking back to my time teaching high school, I realized that many of these elementary school strategies could be used—with some modifications—with middle and high school students.

BRAIN BREAKS AND FOCUSED ATTENTION ACTIVITIES

When I first witnessed an elementary teacher stopping a lesson so that students could jog in place for a minute, I thought it was just a strategy to keep kids from bouncing off the walls. But over time I realized that the teachers who incorporated frequent brain breaks throughout their lessons were able to keep their students on task for longer bursts of time than those who didn’t.

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