Such A Good Idea

This past summer, a high school ELA teacher told me about a cool way of breaking up a long block and energizing her students. 

Her school does two-hour blocks twice a week for ELA and Math.  She feels it is really hard  for students (and teachers) to concentrate for such a long class. “It’s really asking a lot of active, young students to focus for, basically two, back-to-back, classes.” she said. 

“I like to give them a break about 90 minutes into the class,” she explained.

Her break is to play Sweet Caroline.

The catch is…everyone has to stand up and sing along - just like they do at Fenway Park in the middle of the eighth inning. (Like this)

She described how into it the kids get. “They’re sooooooo loud,” she said. They are so loud the classes on either side of her classroom open their doors and all those kids and teachers sing along as well.

Then, fully refreshed, they all power through the final 30 minutes of class.

What a great idea…so good, so good, so good.