Future of History / History and Spoken Poetry
by Sarah Cooper · Published 09/24/2017 · Last modified 11/24/2019
History teacher Sarah Cooper is enthusiastically barreling into the year with a totally untried project. It asks eighth graders to research a current issue in the news that they’re passionate about, then write and film their own spoken word poem. What could go wrong?
National Bullying Prevention Month begins October 1. Throughout the year MiddleWeb’s collection of anti-bullying resources from educators, nonprofits and agencies can help teachers and schools respond to bullying and cyberbullying, both of which peak in middle school.
In Making Curriculum Pop, Pam Goble and Ryan Goble have done exactly what harried teachers need most: provided a raft of templates for student work as well as grounded the notions of textual exploration in proven research and thoughtful theory, says Kevin Hodgson.
Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/21/2017 · Last modified 11/17/2019
Debbie Silver and Dedra Stafford offer a detailed look at social-emotional learning in Teaching Kids to Thrive. Veteran teacher David Bever finds the up-to-the-minute research coupled with extensive strategies a winning combination for boosting SEL practice.
Excited about Science / The Science Lady
by Kathy Renfrew · Published 09/20/2017 · Last modified 12/01/2019
What can science teachers do in the first weeks of school to get students intrigued, energized, and focused on science studies all year long? Using an NGSS framework, veteran middle grades teacher and science specialist Kathy Renfrew shares some of her favorite ideas.
Done right, teacher coaching “can create bridges between varied experiences and classroom contexts, so that teaching knowledge flows in many directions, and teaching becomes a less isolated, more connected profession.” Ariel Sacks shares two lessons she learned early on.
When low-risk, high-interest writing becomes a daily habit for all of your students, whatever your content area, they’ll discover the powerful write-think-learn connection. Teacher-author and NBCT Mary Tedrow shares her classroom-tested “daybook” method for getting started.
Laura Von Staden says Joy Kirr’s “Shift This!” is a must read for all teachers, full of actionable strategies, the research and reasons to implement them, and the steps and support to transform your teaching to reach every student with the maximum impact possible.
From Texting to Teaching: Grammar Instruction in a Digital Age by Hyler and Hicks led teacher Desiree Tabor Carter to think about technology tools strategically and inspired her to overhaul her website, adding a grammar and vocabulary page to each course section.
Making Thinking Visible / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 09/05/2017 · Last modified 11/28/2019
How can co-teachers honor the strengths and needs of each learner and assure everyone becomes an important contributor to the classroom learning experience? Elizabeth Stein believes the process begins by creating a framework that makes every student’s thinking visible.
