Cultural Identity / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 02/25/2019 · Last modified 09/21/2024
Wanting to fit in is not a new phenomena in the middle grades, writes Valentina Gonzalez. Most adolescents experience the urge to be more like their peers. The sooner kids realize how valuable their identity is – how it’s their special power – the better off they will be.
Service Learning / Wide Open Learning
by Megan Kelly · Published 02/24/2019 · Last modified 11/13/2019
Incorporating more service learning in your teaching can offer opportunities for students to experience empowered citizenship. Megan Kelly shares how her 6th graders connected learning about the science of water and world-wide challenges with related Kiva fundraising.
Every teacher who works with students as readers should read Jennifer Serravallo’s new book, Understanding Texts & Readers, writes NCBT and principal Rita Platt, noting it brings big-picture reading goals, skills, strategies and texts together in a meaningful hierarchy.
Once readers assess their time management issues, they can try PJ Caposey’s easy-to-implement suggestions to overcome such practices as being tech avoidant, disorganized, checklist dependent or a “people pleaser.” Consultant Anne Anderson likes the book’s education focus.
Classroom Equity / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 02/20/2019 · Last modified 11/30/2019
To meet the learning needs of students with diverse abilities in inclusion classrooms, NBCT Elizabeth Stein suggests a focus on equity. She offers four key strategies (with supporting resources) that align specifically with co-teaching strengths and student abilities.
Math Testing / Meaningful Math
by Michelle Russell · Published 02/19/2019 · Last modified 02/04/2023
Michelle Russell’s first try at giving a group math test – with students self selecting into groups of four – will add a new tool to her practice. She reports on how her students responded, what they achieved, and how she and the students evaluated the experience.
Background Knowledge / Class Apps
by Curtis Chandler · Published 02/18/2019 · Last modified 11/11/2023
Good teachers ‘stir the pot’ to activate student background knowledge before a new lesson. But what if student understandings are flawed? Teacher educator Curtis Chandler has research-based tips to help detect and fix the faults. Plus some tech tools that can add fun to the process.
It’s time to think about a more respectful way to disagree in edu-world, writes principal and NBCT Rita Platt. Her questions for reflection could help educators be more yes/and and less either/or as we communicate, especially in social media, where rancor is too common.
Nurturing Informed Thinking is filled with practical and inspiring ideas to help students integrate multiple texts about a nonfiction topic. Both content area and ELA teachers will find this book a valuable resource, writes middle school educator Mary K. Marsh.
Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker’s concise, tips-packed book is a quick read with strategies that can easily be implemented tomorrow, says teacher leader Laura Von Staden. Among her favorites: “Leave One Compliment a Day” and “Ask Yourself Five Questions.”
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