Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/17/2017 · Last modified 11/19/2019
In Teaching Kids to Thrive, says special education teacher-coach Laura Von Staden, Debbie Silver and Dedra Stafford provide a great book, full of research and resources, that craftily ties together the theories and research on vital, overlapping SEL skills.
Do you want a book filled with lesson plans that you can use the next day or something based in theory that will inform your teaching decisions along the way? Pam Hamilton writes you can have it both ways in these fiction and nonfiction guides by Gravity Goldberg and Renee Houser.
We might think a new school year should start off with solemnity. But that’s not the message teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron has garnered from her survey of 6-12th graders across the country. Students learn more when teachers share their humanity and their humor ASAP.
As the new school year approaches, explore a selection of digital tools recommended by teacher educator Curtis Chandler that can help you streamline lesson planning, create secure class websites, connect with families, and gather information on how your new students like to learn.
Book Reviews / Race, Class and School
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/03/2017 · Last modified 11/18/2019
After building a theoretical groundwork for social justice education, Caldwell and Frame organize their book around the constructs of gender, race, and class. Each section includes a bank of relevant lesson plans, activities, and videos, says teacher Amy Estersohn.
Teachers are always looking for more engaging ways to help students demonstrate their understanding of a concept. Author and engagement expert Barbara Blackburn looks at five cool ways that students can “show you what they know” without giving them a test.
Future of History / Learning Spaces
by Sarah Cooper · Published 07/30/2017 · Last modified 12/05/2019
Amid a near-universal celebration of collaborative, interactive work as a 21st century reality and ideal, teacher Sarah Cooper investigates something we so often forget in our classrooms and our schools: the need for quiet space and the challenges of achieving it.
Close Reading the Media / Tobacco Advertising
by Frank Baker · Published 07/18/2017 · Last modified 11/26/2019
What works to discourage adolescents from smoking? Media literacy expert Frank Baker suggests taking on Big Tobacco’s pervasive and persuasive marketing tactics, involving students in creating their own anti-tobacco ads. Baker provides the background and resources.
Literacy coach Shawna Coppola urges us to rethink the familiar start-of-year writing activity – the personal narrative. In its place she suggests a framework of ideas to free students to write about what interests them. As we try new approaches, we also renew ourselves.
Every school has unique procedures, traditions, and personalities. What if new and transitioning teachers, starting fresh in an unfamiliar space, had a checklist to make induction easy and systematic? Author-consultant Frank Buck supplies that tool!
