At times we can be overwhelmed by all the fresh ideas we want to try out in a new school year. By narrowing her goals down to three top priorities, Megan Kelly aims to make lessons more meaningful for students, improve family engagement, and do better at tracking individual progress.
When trust is present, people are generally more productive, more satisfied with their work, and less likely to search for a new job. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn share six research-based strategies leaders can use to build a trusting, collaborative school community.
Where there are challenges, there are also opportunities for creativity, novelty, and adventure to put a barricade between us and burnout. Stephanie Farley offers strategies to help teachers avoid or at least soften the sense of emotional exhaustion that leads to collapse.
When we give students time to read a book they’ve chosen, time to practice skills and strategies they’ve been taught, time to read for pleasure and intellectual growth, time to talk about what they’ve read, they build reading stamina and endurance, write Dorfman and Krupp.
Students in the middle grades think in polarities and will go to great lengths to avoid embarrassment, writes author and school counselor Phyllis Fagell. But with the right supports, they can learn to take risks – asking questions, joining discussions and learning more.
A Learning Culture / Making Questions Count
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/30/2023 · Last modified 07/17/2024
What teachers do the first weeks of school has a dramatic effect on student engagement and achievement the rest of the year. Building a classroom culture of learning and questioning – co-created with students – paves the road to success. Jackie Walsh and colleagues show us how.
Allison Paludi’s search for student note-taking that makes learning sticky led her to the brain-based concepts of Zaretta Hammond and Harvard’s Project Zero. Applying Hammond’s “ignite, chunk, chew and review” she fashioned a new notes strategy that’s “truly deepened learning.”
Mona Iehl’s Word Problem Workshop lesson plan helped her realize that teaching math was just like teaching everything else. You have to allow students to bring themselves to the work – letting them use what they know and are able to do to figure things out. Then you step in.
Articles / Back to School / Mentoring
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/20/2023 · Last modified 07/17/2024
How can seasoned educators improve teacher retention rates? By helping new colleagues address two retention factors – student behavior and classroom climate – says middle grades veteran Sharon Ratliff. “Let’s show them how to manage their school of fish without being a shark.”
Debbie Silver and Jack Berckemeyer have updated Deliberate Optimism to help educators resolve unsustainable stress levels by adapting their immediately implementable ideas for making each school day better. Written with humor and practicality, says teacher leader Sarah Cooper.
