When I was in middle school I loved to play sports and music. I was competitive in field hockey, lacrosse, and Nordic skiing. Field hockey was my favorite sport at the time so I would go to different field hockey camps all summer. I was also quite musical, taking private piano and flute lessons every week. I played the flute in our middle school band and played the piano in our jazz band on top of the lessons. In middle school I always wanted to be like my big brother Nate, which is why I got into competitive Nordic skiing and hiking. The picture posted above is a picture of my brother and I on top of Buck mountain in Lake George. I didn't have any pictures from middle school with me but this is us in high school.
I had a great time in middle school. I tried to be involved in as much as possible, I would plan the dances and parties for the school with my friends. My two favorite classes were math and PE. I was in the accelerated math program all through middle school, I loved working with numbers. PE was also another favorite class because I got to play sports and games with all my friends instead of being at a desk. The girls PE teacher was the field hockey coach and always made PE class exciting.
I view middle school a little differently now. Back in middle school the 8th graders looked so old and we looked up to them. Now I go back and everyone is so young and insecure about themselves. Over my breaks I go home to New York and substitute teach around the local schools for PE. Last year I had the chance to teach middle school PE a few times. I found it interesting how different the kids are at the elementary, middle, and high school level. The middle school kids were always trying to act cool and do what there friends were doing. They only wanted to be partners with their friends. I had additional experience with middle school kids this past summer. I moved to Boston for the summer and was a camp counselor at the Roxbury YMCA, which is a very diverse area. I was assigned 10 kids that I spent 10 weeks with. One of the kids I had was a persons with disabilities and another had anger management problems. After the summer I learned a lot about middle school children and greatly improved my behavioral management skills. From this module I want to gain the materials and knowledge to effectively teach middle school PE.