Teaching and learning in grades 4-8

New Teachers: 3 Tools Help Manage Learning

As new teachers develop routines for their classrooms, Class Tech Tips founder Monica Burns says it’s important to plan how they will check for understanding each day to gather information and inform future instruction. She shares three simple class assessment tools.

A Refreshing Approach to Teaching Poetry

Shirley McPhillips’ non-traditional book about teaching poetry is both insightful and fun to read, says retired principal and former California senior poet laureate Mary Langer Thompson. She predicts teachers will not be able to read for long without writing poetry themselves.

Active Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms

In the 2nd edition of Joyful Learning, Alice Udvari-Solner and Paula Kluth provide a great resource to promote teacher collaboration and move inclusion classrooms beyond the superficial and toward more meaningful engagement of every student, says Erin Corrigan-Smith.

Drones Take Flight in Middle School Program

Reading is reinforced when students have hands-on experience with the ideas they find in informational texts. ELA teacher Brian Cook’s after-school drones program helps students explore flight, consider privacy and safety issues, and learn more about new careers.

The Worst Teaching Mistake I Ever Made

Debbie Silver’s worst mistake? She managed to teach middle level science classes for too many years without ever fully embracing the practice of pre-assessment. See how her teaching changed and how yours might too with her simple go-to pre-assessment tools.

Challenging Learning Through Real Dialogue

Noting that high quality classroom discussion fosters content learning and critical thinking, social studies teacher Michael Yell reports that Challenging Learning through Dialogue is a powerful resource to help make middle grades discussion more thoughtful, engaging, and real.

A Guide to Multi-Tier Systems of Support

Catherine Collier’s strategies for building a multi-tier system of support (MTSS) fit into the planning, implementation, and monitoring of interventions to meet the needs of all students. Educator Rita Platt finds the RTI-focused book a useful addition to teachers’ resource shelf.