“Let’s face it, adolescence isn’t plump full of safety and confidence. It’s a developmental stage in which students want and need to be connected and valued.” No wonder middle schoolers dread the “correction” approach to grammar. Jeff Anderson and Travis Leech have found a better way.
To celebrate Women’s History Month, middle grades teacher Kasey Short offers a list of nonfiction and fiction books representing a wide range of girl’s and women’s voices and experiences. All students benefit from reading about smart, brave women who make positive impacts.
Elements of Co-teaching / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 03/07/2021 · Last modified 01/03/2022
Language specialist Tan Huynh offers co-teachers an orientation he never had, sharing what being a language specialist looks like at different levels and with various tasks. Veteran co-teachers may also find helpful tips if they move among elementary and secondary grades.
To get her 4th graders off their remote screens for a good old-fashioned, hands-on collage project to strengthen fine-motor skills, Mary Tarashuk asked them to create image-filled books exploring Room 4T’s central Social Studies question this year: “Who Is America?”
When we take the time to research and develop leadership styles that are true to our beliefs and values, while at the same time encouraging others to develop themselves and their own leadership styles, we become ethical and transformational leaders, writes AP DeAnna Miller.
Instead of continuing our 130 years of running every public school student through the system in the same way at the same time, Alex Valencic believes we need to shift our efforts to acknowledging individuality, independence, and innovation through mastery learning.
Close Reading the Media / Internet Literacy
by Frank Baker · Published 01/26/2021 · Last modified 02/13/2021
New studies continue to reveal that many students cannot evaluate internet information for truthfulness, writes media literacy expert Frank W Baker. “It has become a crisis in American education,” he says, as disinformation becomes industrialized and “truth decay” spreads.
Overcoming the sense of intimidation she’d felt in the face of the US Constitution’s immensity and importance, Sarah Cooper has found fresh ways to draw her 8th graders into the power and complexity of our divided government during this year’s remote learning.
A school is an ocean of words, and many language learners are drowning in academic classes when content-specific words (Tier 3) are not explicitly taught. Tan Huynh shares an effective process to teach these specialized words from author and EL educator Stephen Fleenor.
Cutting-edge teachers never answer the question “why do we need to learn this” with vague references about an unlikely future, writes curriculum coordinator Alex Valencic. Instead, they provide “instant relevancy” and respond with immediate examples from our lives today.
