If student motivation and higher engagement is truly the desired end game, then we as schools must adapt right along with our students. To see that some media centers look the same now as they did 70 years ago is shameful. The students we share our classrooms with don't know life without constant connectivity, wi-fi, and a global audience. Outside the windows of our classroom is a dynamic, fast-paced, and ever-changing world full of choices. How can we expect our students to solve problems and make choices independently if we constantly solve their problems and make their choices for them? Our classroom and media center environments should be conducive to open collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This simply cannot be done when kids are sitting in rows of desks all day.
Instead of a place to just check out books, we want to transform our media center into a warm and inviting collaborative space where students and teachers alike want to spend time learning together and from each other.
With this project, we aspire to bring our media center into the 21st century through flexible seating options as well as enhanced technology. Some of the immediate benefits of flexible seating include using up excess energy, improving metabolism, increased motivation and engagement, and improving core strength and overall posture. It's no surprise that these benefits are linked to higher academic performance, better health, and improved behavior.
As we continue our MYP journey as a community and school, we aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The center and heartbeat of our school is and always has been the media center and we want to be sure it doesn't get left behind.
About my class
If student motivation and higher engagement is truly the desired end game, then we as schools must adapt right along with our students. To see that some media centers look the same now as they did 70 years ago is shameful. The students we share our classrooms with don't know life without constant connectivity, wi-fi, and a global audience. Outside the windows of our classroom is a dynamic, fast-paced, and ever-changing world full of choices. How can we expect our students to solve problems and make choices independently if we constantly solve their problems and make their choices for them? Our classroom and media center environments should be conducive to open collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. This simply cannot be done when kids are sitting in rows of desks all day.
Instead of a place to just check out books, we want to transform our media center into a warm and inviting collaborative space where students and teachers alike want to spend time learning together and from each other.
With this project, we aspire to bring our media center into the 21st century through flexible seating options as well as enhanced technology. Some of the immediate benefits of flexible seating include using up excess energy, improving metabolism, increased motivation and engagement, and improving core strength and overall posture. It's no surprise that these benefits are linked to higher academic performance, better health, and improved behavior.
As we continue our MYP journey as a community and school, we aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The center and heartbeat of our school is and always has been the media center and we want to be sure it doesn't get left behind.
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