Articles / Back to School / Mentoring
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/20/2023 · Last modified 07/17/2024
How can seasoned educators improve teacher retention rates? By helping new colleagues address two retention factors – student behavior and classroom climate – says middle grades veteran Sharon Ratliff. “Let’s show them how to manage their school of fish without being a shark.”
Over 40 years of research on successful middle schools has verified the amazing benefits for students of interdisciplinary teacher teaming. Author, consultant and middle level evangelist Jack Berckemeyer offers 10 snapshots that define the characteristics of effective teams.
Jack A. Naglieri and his co-authors offer a comprehensive guide to using the Naglieri General Ability Tests to reach gifted students equitably and also deliver instruction to those students identified through the tests, writes NBCT and gifted services specialist Kim Rensch.
Summer is not only a chance to relax and recharge but a great time to collaborate with colleagues, writes consultant Elisa B. MacDonald. Whether you are leading a retreat or planning with grade-level teammates, keep these four intentions at the center of your facilitation.
Last Weeks of School / New Teacher Tips
by Curtis Chandler · Published 04/12/2023 · Last modified 05/01/2024
To avoid having movies and parties consume valuable learning time during the last weeks of school, teacher educator Curtis Chandler suggests ways to celebrate and solidify knowledge gained during the year. Tips for new teachers and veterans, including a list from ChatGPT-4.
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.
Students continue to struggle with the effects of trauma from the pandemic and their lives outside of school. To help school communities support healing and growth, four authors suggest strategies and policies based in research and their own experiences, writes Brenda Yoho.
Is bullying in schools a social pandemic we need to take more seriously? Middle grades teacher Laleh Ghotbi makes a compelling case that educators and parents can do more to protect students being harmed by religious, cultural, racial and gender prejudice and animosity.
Star Sackstein’s Assessing with Respect is about focusing on meeting students’ SEL needs and how that allows us to work with them on greater academic achievements. She effectively discusses the theory of CASEL competencies and their implementation, writes NBCT Megan Balduf.
Having volunteered for her district’s PBIS Tier I committee, Dina Strasser looks into the current viability of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports with help from a new federally funded meta-study. She finds lots that hasn’t worked but also some potential.
