Book Review Festival / Book Reviews / MiddleWeb
by John Norton · Published 10/04/2012 · Last modified 07/19/2023
Our Fall Book Review Festival features 15 brand-new reviews of professional books – each one written by and for middle grades educators – on teaching strategies, visual & media literacy, test preparation, the Common Core, academic icebreakers, RTI & special education, social studies, mathematics, teacher research, ESL students, and student motivation.
Students don’t like school because we don’t create the right cognitive conditions for learning. Bill Ivey reviews Dan Willingham’s book, Why Don’t Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom.
Reviewer and math teacher Michelle Schwartze says the eight essential elements for school-wide math success identified by Chris Confer and Marco Ramirez in Small Steps, Big Changes: Eight Essential Practices for Transforming Schools Through Mathematics ring true.
Bill Bigelow’s teacher-friendly book, The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration, offers concrete strategies & teaching resources to help students understand immigration and globalization issues, says reviewer Kelly Moser.
Special ed teacher Laura Von Staden, mom of two children with ADHD, says this otherwise useful book, The Energetic Brain: Understanding and Managing ADHD, lacks the detail about specific interventions teachers need.
Book Reviews / English Language Learners
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/28/2012 · Last modified 12/02/2019
Minding the Achievement Gap One Classroom at a Time by Jane E. Pollock, Sharon M. Ford and Margaret M. Black is a great resource for implementing Classroom Instruction That Works strategies for ESL/ELL students, says ESL teacher Julie Dermody.
Book Reviews / Visual & Media Literacy
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/27/2012 · Last modified 11/17/2019
Reviewer Jamey Cates says this ISTE guide, Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom by Frank W. Baker, is an excellent resource for cultivating media literacy skills, with ready-to-serve lessons correlated to standards.
We interview middle grades “teacherpreneur” Sarah Henchey about her school-based leadership role in developing integrated CCSS curriculum.
Many teacher librarians struggle to explain their continued relevance to a skeptical audience. But Daring Librarian Gwyneth Jones has no problem explaining hers.
Blogger Anne Jolly shares three ways for students to do STEM project research without poring over books with fill-in sheets at hand.
