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REFRAMING BULLYING IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Do we expect bullying from adolescents? Are they brutish, evil, aggressive, and immoral, as some media stories and anti-bullying programs might lead us to believe? Middle school principal Sarah Shulkind thinks it's time "we stopped pointing fingers at adolescents and look instead at the culture that has produced rampant cruelty in many public middle and high school." Shulkind points to overcrowded, poorly maintained schools and zero-tolerance policies that can leave students feeling anonymous and imprisoned. She shares the story of Dillon, the coolest boy in the 8th grade, to press her pragmatic point that "brutish or tender -- we get the behavior we expect. It's all in the messages we send, the attitudes we display, and the expectations we communicate." (Education Week - free registration)
MATH FOCAL POINTS
There's a new series of Explore in Depth mathematics resources at the NSDL Middle School Portal. Grades 5, 6 and 7 are already available and grade 8 should appear soon. Terry Herrera, who taught math in both middle and high school, writes these publications, which tie NCTM's new curriculum focal points to supportive resources on the Web. In Grade 7, for example, we find the focal point: "Developing an understanding of and applying proportionality, including similarity," followed by annotated links to engaging problems that deal with ratio, in the concrete as well as the abstract. One activity has students working hands-on with online images that make visual the abstractions of ratio and percentage. A high-quality resource developed by math educators at Ohio State University.
GRADING: SHOULD IT BE DIFFERENTIATED?
Middle grades teacher Deidre Grode is ASCD'S Outstanding Young Educator for 2008 — recognized for her focus on student community service and global citizenship. In a recent entry at the ASCD Community Blog, Grode (who teaches social studies and language arts in New Jersey) reflects on two workshops she attended at the recent ASCD national conference. Both pushed her thinking about formative assessment and led her to pose this question: "How much can we differentiate student to student...when it comes to something as objective as grading?" She'd like to have your input, so leave a comment. It's simple to do!
GRADING: DO RECIPES REALLY WORK?
Speaking of talented young teachers who are puzzling through the mysteries of grading, let me introduce you to Ariel Sacks, a new blogger for the Teacher Leaders Network. She poses some challenging questions for herself and others when she writes: "Today, testing has been thrust into the position of Single Most Important Measure of Student Learning in the life of a school, and I'm wondering, what kind of assessment would I put in its place? Would I prefer to rely instead on my own classroom grading system? If not, what is its purpose? And what am I really grading?" Ariel has the creeping notion that "grading recipes," which she and many other teachers use, are "a totally inadequate measure of student learning." Her thoughtful reflections have already produced a slew of comments. Add some more!
COPYRIGHTS AND WRONGS
"I don't think most teachers willingly ignore copyright issues," says David Ensign, a professor of law at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky. "But I do think many have the impression that any use of material in education is fair use." Not so, says Ensign. This short article from Edutopia magazine highlights the legal nuances of fair use of Web materials. Suffice it to say: Downloader, beware. But not to leave YOU with a downer — here's one terrific source of photography (over 40 million images) that can be used without acquiring specific permission, thanks to Creative Commons agreements.
FRESH IDEAS ABOUT TEACHING STUDENTS TO EDIT
Teacher-author Jeff Anderson says he's been in quite a few classrooms where teachers who do great stuff with writer's workshop and craft lessons get out the spoon and the bottle of castor oil when it's time to work on editing and grammar. "In the classic daily oral language drill, a teacher puts up a sentence filled with errors and students shout out all the things that are wrong with it." What messages are student's taking away from all this examination of bad patterns, he wonders? In this 45-minute webcast at the Stenhouse Publishers website, Anderson talks with a teacher audience about a different strategy involving the use of "wonderful mentor sentences" that students are invited to analyze and imitate. It's easy to watch the webcast, all at once or in segments, and you don't need special software—just your browser.
THE BIOLOGY CORNER
This teacher-built site comes recommended by The Scout Report for its wealth of lesson plans, useful handouts, lab ideas, and other classroom activities. Science educator Shannan Muskopf also has a master's in technology ed and has included webquest ideas and other digital enhancements she's adapted from the Web (see, for example, the guppy simulation). Another site worth visiting, which includes complimentary references to Muskopf, is MY SCIENCE BOX, subtitled "hands-on science curriculum for the adventurous teacher." The boxes contain kid-tested 4-6 week middle school science units built around activities, projects, and field trips.
SUCCESSFUL CLASSROOM BLOGGING
This week we point you to two resources that can help teachers and students turn classroom blogging into meaningful learning. The first (link above) comes from OPI regular Bill Ferriter, who answers the question: "How much emphasis should be put on maintaining a higher level of spelling and grammar while still encouraging students to be active users of the blog?" Bill, who teaches sixth grade, begins by cautioning teachers not to blog for blogging's sake. Instead, "decide what exactly it is that you want students to accomplish with a blogging project before you even begin." Bill includes a link to his wiki about teaching with web tools, which he's compiling for a book project. We're also pointing you toward a new article from Educators eZine titled "Student and Teacher Blogs that Succeed." Canadian educator Dean Shareski begins with the intriguing observation that "blogging is way more about reading than it is writing."
Recent Weeks
ENERGIZE YOUR TEACHING CAREER
As teachers advance in their careers and increase their effectiveness, how do they continue to grow professionally and find personal satisfaction? You'll find fuel for thought about 'Energizing Your Career' in Teacher Magazine's new print periodical, the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook. Among the offerings are articles about school-based coaching roles, new-teacher support, online professional development, and revitalizing your classroom practice. There's a good interview with teacher-author Coleen Armstrong who offers practical ideas for teachers suffering from mid-career doldrums. We also spotted some excellent tips aimed at helping teachers and school teams avoid Professional Learning Community burnout, written by Friend of MiddleWeb Anne Jolly, a middle school science teacher turned PLC coach.
LIFE IN THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
You'll find several excellent articles about life in the Roman Empire at this website developed by author Judith Geary, in connection with her YA historical novel Getorix: The Eagle and The Bull."The free articles include topics like "Republican Roman Names" and "Big Changes in Ancient Rome." Geary teachers at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Here's a detailed review of the novel.
AWARD-WINNING MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMWORK
A couple of years ago we spotlighted a team of teachers from Dutchtown Middle School in Geismar LA who won a Disney Teaching Award for their exceptional teamwork. Now Monique Wild, Amanda Mayeaux, and Kathryn Edmonds have co-authored TeamWork: Setting the Standard for Collaborative Teaching, Grades 5-9, describing their evolution into a high-functioning interdisciplinary team built around a literacy core. "We offer a view of teaming that is grounded in the everyday experiences of working teachers who know what it means to cope with state and federal mandates, at-risk learners, and constant scheduling changes due to a rapidly growing school." You can download and read (but not print) any or all of TeamWork at no cost, by following the link above.
NEW TEACHER HELPLINE
Let's say you're a newbie who's nearing the end of your first year, and you still have questions -- maybe even some doubts about your future in the classroom. You might want to grab a few minutes (hard as that can be) and check out Scholastic's "New Teacher Helpline." We see a lot of teacher discussion boards around the Web and find that most are unfocused or undependable (you ask a question and then keep checking back in vain for an answer). The Scholastic board seems to be well populated, with responses coming both from other visitors and from a savvy moderator who is also a full-time teacher. The range of participants is K-12, but heavier on the K-8 end. For a sample, take a look at this recent post by "Bad Teacher" and the replies.
BULLYING: STORIES OF US
Here's a university-supported anti-bullying initiative known (in shorthand) as Stories of Us. The video series and supporting materials have been developed in partnership with middle grades students -- an unusual and effective idea. NASSP's Patti Kinney offers this catchy testimonial: "The storylines and dialogue are that of the students and it is so realistic that I felt at times I was reviewing a surveillance tape instead of watching a scripted drama unfold in front of me." This site worth a visit, whether or not you're in the market for a structured program to address bullying and promote positive peer relationships. You can read synopses of the videos, watch several sizeable excerpts, and peruse commentaries by two dozen students involved in the project.
INTEGRATING LA AND SS WITH WEB 2.0
We've mentioned sixth grade teacher Bill Ferriter enough times to send him an invoice for public relations work. But hey, the guy is good -- as evidenced by this recent Edutopia feature highlighting his Web 2.0 teaching strategies. The story provides a fulsome description of the innovative work Bill and his kids are doing the free web tool Voicethread. What's that? "VoiceThreads might best be described as interactive media albums," the article explains. "They are essentially online slide shows of images, documents, or videos that enable viewers to comment on any slide (or at any point in the video) by typing, recording an audio or video comment, or drawing on the image itself." Read the story and find out how Bill is using this tool (and others) to integrate his language arts and social studies instruction.
LITERATURE CIRCLES RESOURCE CENTER
Developed by the co-author of Getting Started with Literature Circles and Literature Circles in Middle School, this resource center at Seattle University includes plenty of ideas about ways to fit the literature circle concept into a balanced literacy curriculum in the middle grades. There's a wealth of material to explore, so we propose that you start (as the creators suggest) by clicking on "How to Use This Site." If you want to go straight to a middle school example, visit this page.
BLOG: THE DREAM TEACHER
We're becoming big fans of The Dream Teacher, a blog written by NC middle grades educator Cindi Rigsbee, who brings a warm voice and a sharp, self-critical eye to her musings about the public school teaching life. Rigsbee, who has twice been named a North Carolina regional teacher of the year, is currently a reading specialist at Gravelly Hill MS, but her blogging is less about literacy than "the teaching life." Introduce yourself to her fine writing style by clicking on March and reading "Other People's Children," where Cindi reminds us that a few thoughtfully spoken words can change the whole parent-teacher dynamic.
EARTH SCIENCE: PROJECT CENTERED TEACHING
We'll stretch the definition of middle school to include 9th grade today. Sakhalin Finnie teaches science to freshmen at the Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, in Wilmington CA (part of the Los Angeles Unified School District). A former chemical engineer, she was recently named one of Edutopia's "Daring Dozen" for 2008. Her kids won the district earth science challenge this year with a 10-week project that fit nicely into the geo-dynamics of their local terrain. Finnie's students designed an emergency earthquake plan for the home, complete with emergency kit. They also created an illustrated newspaper that "tells someone who doesn't know anything about earth science" all about earthquakes, volcanoes, and plate tectonics just how they're all related. The kids clinched their contest victory with a five-minute earthquake safety commercial, presented in the form of a rap song. Kind of a feet-on project.
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