Bring Halloween to Class for Fun and Learning
This fall with some tweaks and fresh online tools and resources, Halloween can be fun and packed with learning. Check out MiddleWeb’s updated resource collection for ideas across the content areas.
This fall with some tweaks and fresh online tools and resources, Halloween can be fun and packed with learning. Check out MiddleWeb’s updated resource collection for ideas across the content areas.
Lesson design differs from lesson planning, says this teacher/coach/consultant team. While both are essential, design is a creative process that makes sure we consider the learning needs of both students and teachers. Included: design template; questioning and feedback charts.
Middle schoolers encounter and process information in ever-changing ways, writes teacher Jason DeHart, who uses podcasting opportunities in his ELA classroom to teach fluency, explore genre, and engage with authors and authentic audiences. Learn about his six-step strategy.
Prior to 9/11, Barbara Blackburn’s first choice when crisis and tragedy impacted the classroom was to allow an open discussion. After an inappropriate statement by a student shut down communication, she began to develop more tractable writing strategies, which she shares here.
Andi McNair’s Genius Hour (2nd Ed) guides educators across grade levels and content areas in developing student Passion Projects start to finish. Reviewer Stephanie Choate gives high marks to the book’s 6-point strategy: passion, plan, pitch, project, product, and presentation.
New Teacher Tips / Strong Class Closures
by Curtis Chandler · Published 10/09/2023 · Last modified 07/28/2024
Don’t devote all your class prep time to the start and middle of lessons, says teaching expert Curtis Chandler. Closure is critical if the learning is going to stick. See his wide selection of quick and meaningful wrap-ups to reinforce each lesson, including student favorites.
“I read professional books like movie critics watch films: with a critical lens and respect for my time,” writes veteran principal Matt Renwick. “If I am going to dedicate hours to a text that is supposed to help me improve as an educational leader, it needs to deliver.”
Nancy Akhavan’s Literacy Walks is well organized, concise and thorough in its explanation of the walk-through process at school and district levels. Its insights about trust, judgment and effective collaboration will also be valuable to coaches and PLCs, writes Beth Hassinger.
The Heart-Centered Teacher lives up to its promise of renewal, writes educator Sarah Cooper. Routman’s newest book “strives to be a mosaic of sorts: a combination of sometimes searing, sometimes poignant personal stories with on-the-ground insights from decades of experience.”
This year Katie Durkin’s 7th grade ELA students are involved in a weekly routine of G.R.O.W. work (Grammar, Reading, Open Write, and Word Work). Each 15-minute lesson aims to ‘grow’ stamina and literacy skills they can apply in her class and across the academic disciplines.