I really appreciate the ideas for male students

Last year, I had what seemed a bigger male to female student ratio overall. And it also seemed that most of the issues I had with students involved males. I definitely agree with strategy 85. I went to a workshop at region VII at the end of the semester and it was there that I first heard this. It says that exercise is crucial and that students should exercise on the hour. With me teaching a block class period, the kids either get restless or tired and I did try it once after I went to the workshop last year and it really did help. I noticed the students were getting tired(it was right after lunch) so I stopped in the middle of what we were discussing and made everyone stand up and do some simple exercises with me. They thought I was crazy at first but I think it really got them going again. Also its really good for those that can't sit still....they love the chance to get up and move whenever they can. The other strategy that I particularly liked was strategy 84 which states let the guys stand up behind their desks to do their work. I found I related to this because I had several students that could just not sit still and were always getting up. So instead of making them sit while they work on daily work, I think giving them the option to stand and work might help with this battle. This strategy also talks about giving this same males that can't sit or stay still a fidget toy, something that is non distracting to others but keeps the person at hand relaxed and calm. An example might be a rubber frog or a rubber ball...something quiet obviously but that they can play with in their non writing hand that will keep that student from getting to stir crazy while class is going on. The third strategy that I want to try next year has to do with motivation. I found way to often last year that a lot of the kiddos do not think much of themselves whether it be they think that they are not smart or not popular enough or not pretty, basically self esteem and confidence issues. I know most children and even adults suffer with this and I think that strategy 36 which says state positive attributes of your other classmates. I think that having each student write two or three positive attributes about each student in their class would do a world of a difference for each person in the room. Then I could give each student all the positive comments that were made about them. I just think it might lift some of them up and give each one a boost and they might learn something about themselves that they have but really didn't recognize. Ok so that was my spill, I actually liked this book. Hope your summers are going great! Bella is getting so big!!!