Building Empathy / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 12/30/2018 · Last modified 12/01/2019
While photos and texts can bring alive an issue one medium at a time, reality-based comics have the power to drop us into a story both visually and verbally. Sarah Cooper’s eighth grade students learned that lesson when they followed the trek of Syrian refugee Mohammad.
Nonfiction Texts / Wide Open Learning
by Megan Kelly · Published 12/18/2018 · Last modified 11/21/2019
Students getting a bit bored with your classroom library? The return from winter break is a perfect time for a “refresh,” says teacher Megan Kelly. She stretches her dollars by purchasing nonfiction books with broad appeal. Here are a few of her cross-content favorites.
It’s true. Teachers in K-6 need to prepare students for STEM and engineering careers that don’t exist yet. The solution? Focus on gifting our younger students with a broad range of inquiry experiences and collaborative know-how, writes STEM education expert Anne Jolly.
What improves achievement by an average 11 percent, increases appropriate social behavior, improves students’ attitudes, and reduces stress? Social Emotional Learning. Author-educator Marilee Sprenger shares brain-wise strategies to blend SEL into your everyday practice.
Implement the elements of reciprocal teaching – predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing – using Lori Oczkus’s revised book on reading comprehension. ELA teacher Erin Corrigan-Smith likes the guidance in starting the scaffolded discussion method and more.
Small Group Instruction / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 12/05/2018 · Last modified 12/04/2019
Co-teaching/UDL coach and NBCT Elizabeth Stein makes the case for small group instruction being the very thing to engage co-teachers in co-designing accessible, meaningful learning and effective outcomes for everyone in inclusive classes. See: benefits for learners.
Assessing Reading / Create Compose Connect
by Jeremy Hyler · Published 12/04/2018 · Last modified 11/27/2019
We want to help our students discover the joys of reading, writes 7th grade ELA teacher Jeremy Hyler. We also need to track their progress as readers. Check out some ways that Hyler assesses reading without committing “readicide,” using book websites, trailers and more.
Reading / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 12/02/2018 · Last modified 11/27/2019
Whether a student is an English learners or native English speaker, the strategies EL specialist Valentina Gonzalez offers will provide support for middle graders who are struggling to read text on grade level. Insight: Often we must help unlock the new language.
Make the most of those minutes of fragmented class time that testing schedules, assemblies and pre-holiday half-days can create. Megan Kelly shares some of her own cross-curricular ideas to promote fun and active learning whether you have five minutes or five hours to fill.
Executive Function / It's Not Easy Being Tween
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 11/19/2018 · Last modified 02/17/2024
Drawing on her special education background, ELA teacher Cheryl Mizerny works to build kids’ executive function skills. Here she offers techniques to help strengthen what she considers the most crucial skills for middle schoolers: task initiation, organization, and time management.
