The number one frustration Barbara Blackburn hears from educators is TIME! “I just don’t have time to do everything I need to.” Try her seven strategies to cope with constant planning and overflowing calendars. And remember this: perfectionism can be the enemy of completion.
Taylor Swift is back on stage with her 2023 New Eras tour, rekindling the fervor of her school-aged fans. You can bring Tay Tay to ELA class with ideas from Patty McGee: selecting TS songs to understand a fictional character, analyzing her lyrics in several formats, and more.
As the world becomes increasingly digital, teachers want their STEM students to be comfortable using technology and digital tools skillfully and with purpose. STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly identifies five specific STEM skill sets and relates them to dozens of current apps.
Despite misgivings about plagiarism, many educators are excited about the promise of ChatGPT to help students research content-area topics for papers and projects. MiddleWeb’s John Norton shares his “conversation” with the new ChatGPT-4 while researching some family history.
If educators are serious about teaching critical skills and serving the whole child, they need to get serious about SEL education and “make it a core and central organizing principle for middle school programs,” writes teacher, principal and leadership mentor Jason Ablin.
Kasey Short shows how nontraditional fantasy books can be used to address difficult topics, provide real world commentary, counter stereotypes, allow students to see kids that look like them as heroes, and inspire new ways of thinking and imagining. Lots of titles included!
I Will Screw This Up / Technology
by Dina Strasser · Published 03/12/2023 · Last modified 05/21/2023
If we teach writing right, we’ll be fine with our kids having access to ChatGPT, says ENL/ELA teacher Dina Strasser. ChatGPT is a machine, following a formula. “It is not a student in a learning community.” She shares several instructional strategies to AI-proof your classroom.
“Ultimately book talk videos recorded by peers are beneficial if we want to inspire middle grades reluctant readers. They need to witness peers having fun with books. It nurtures the idea that reading is worth a try.” School librarian Kristen Day shares how her “EGGs” are doing it.
5th grade teacher Kathie Palmieri has been exploring ways to better infuse mathematics in other subject areas and help students gain a more positive attitude about math’s central place in their lives. She shares some ideas about SEL and two examples from her science lessons.
“In my classroom, sticky notes earn top honors for Best Multipurpose Teaching Tool,” writes literacy teacher Kelly Owens. She displays 15 ways to use the tacky squares to chunk large tasks into manageable clusters and empower students to contemplate, coordinate, and connect.
