I attended Coach Turner's talk about Middle Grades Classroom Management on November 11. The workshop was exceptionally helpful and informative in relation to the work I'm hoping to do in my middle grades classroom in the future. Coach Turner had taught in every venue from elementary to high school and truly knew a lot about the way students learn and how to keep the classroom engaging and effective.

The main aspects of the talk that I took with me were the numerous activities that he had us partake in so that we understood how they might work in the classroom. Coach Turner loved to stop his class and have activities that got the middle schoolers out of their seats and excited about learning. The activities ranged from classroom enrichment (simply getting kids to know each other better) to application a certain lesson.

The "brain-based learning" that Coach Turner taught us created a safe outlet, encouraged more senses to be used thus more students learning, and linked the classroom to the world. Those points really stuck out to me because I feel like they were never used enough when I was in school and they would have been exceptionally helpful. Also keeping the classroom in a particular (not too strict) routine was another encouragement he gave. By doing so the students are not bombarded with some new form everyday and they gradually become accustom to a particular way class progresses.

I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and felt like it was a great help for me. Though it may not appeal to everyone's desired type of teaching, I feel like I can and will use the tips Coach Turner gave that also reiterated things I have already learned.