Using formative assessment effectively is key to becoming a reflective practitioner who can adjust literacy instruction to meet students’ needs and interests, write Lynne Dorfman and Brenda Krupp, who share their ideas for “breathing life into reading and writing lessons.”
Active listening is a key skill for school leaders, especially when faced with the need to mediate complex or volatile issues. Consultants Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn describe 5 barriers to effective listening and 10 tips to help every leader become more successful.
Writing is often overlooked as a positive way to help students and educators relieve stress, explore inner feelings, process their thinking and stretch their imaginations. Everyone at school is busy, writes Jeremy Hyler, but reflective writing is too powerful to put aside.
Co-editors John Norton and Susan Curtis highlight 15 of MiddleWeb’s most popular posts for middle level educators during the past 12 months. You’ll find articles that were new in 2021 or rediscovered and shared widely in this second “weirdest year ever.”
Frank Buck revisits the Wild West movie days in his quest to help educators defy the daily deluge of unsolicited or redundant email that steals their time. Get the details on how to circle the wagons, energize the pony express, and deny those emails entry to your inbox.
Middle grades teacher Kathleen Palmieri shows how Google’s Applied Digital Skills videos and lesson plans can help students in grades 5-12 tap the power of Google Docs and the Google Drive to learn portable skills like digital collaboration, file sharing, and organization.
Language specialist Tan Huynh explains how to use short teacher-made video tutorials to ‘duplicate’ yourself so you can be ‘in 20 places at once’ – responding to students’ questions during class and providing support at home and in study hall. A real help to multilinguals.
I Will Screw This Up / Real Self Care
by Dina Strasser · Published 12/15/2021 · Last modified 01/03/2022
As we encourage self-care it might not occur to educators that the concept is culturally driven and diverse. ELL teacher Dina Strasser shares resources that can help “decolonize” self-care by recognizing our students’ many differing cultural perspectives on healing and health.
Meaningful Math / Prior Knowledge
by Michelle Russell · Published 12/13/2021 · Last modified 04/24/2024
Michelle Russell’s algebra students repeatedly encounter foundational skills they haven’t mastered, trapping them in ‘no man’s land’ – unable to use prior knowledge to grasp the new. Shifting from discouragement to action, she sets goals and makes a plan to help them catch up.
Student trauma is widespread in schools today. School psychologist Katelyn Oellerich explores several actions we can take to help alleviate its ill effects – from deliberate steps to strengthen adult-student relationships to systemwide planning to improve trauma support.
