Spring’s promise of renewal is just ahead. But for many educators, spring is also the season of testing anxiety. Curtis Chandler shares research and wisdom from fellow educators that can help turn angst into achievement for students and for their teachers.
Make the most of your digital Contacts app. In Part 3 of a productivity series for school leaders, organization consultant and former principal Frank Buck explains how to maximize such useful resources as contact notes, special ringtones, syncing, and more.
Book Reviews / Student Driven Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/25/2016 · Last modified 11/29/2019
Every time Elisa Waingort opens Leaders of Their Own Learning, she finds another simple but brilliant suggestion to improve her teaching and the learning of her students. She recommends repeated reading of this fully resourced guide to student-driven learning and assessment.
Research and Rhetoric, based on the CLEAR curriculum, is a must-read for teachers who have been wondering how to foster creativity and increase student engagement while teaching research and persuasive writing, says classroom teacher Linda Biondi.
Teaching students to write effective arguments supported by reliable evidence is one of the notable “stretch goals” of the common core. Expert Sarah Tantillo has added a critical new step to her own strategy in an effort to help more students reach the goal.
It's Not Easy Being Tween / Winter Doldrums
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 02/21/2016 · Last modified 01/21/2020
The winter doldrums that threaten many classrooms can be blown away with fresh teaching ideas, humor, movement and more. Middle level educator Cheryl Mizerny shares suggestions for enlivening the weeks that fill the calendar between the holidays and spring break.
As the 2016 Presidential Campaign heats up, media literacy expert Frank W. Baker brings the political races to the classroom with standards-based activities to help students understand the persuasive power of plentiful and often misleading political ads.
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 02/15/2016 · Last modified 12/02/2019
Sarah Cooper’s 8th graders recently attempted to create a “consensus document” on U.S. gun laws. She describes the research and discussion process, then shares what she and the students learned about consensus building when issues are highly controversial.
Genius Hour gives students the opportunity to be autonomous in their learning. Sometimes, though, they need a little start-up help. Experts Gallit Zvi and Denise Krebs share lots of starter ideas for students and classrooms and urge readers to add their own.
Rubrics are important tools, says author and veteran MS educator Elyse Scott, but teachers need a more whole-student approach to formative assessment and feedback — one that attends “to that most basic need of young adolescents: one-on-one communication.”
