Want to start a writing club to reach beyond curriculum boundaries and provide a comfortable, social experience for all writers? Sharon Ratliff did just that and shares what worked for students as they took the lead in setting it up and now meet regularly across grade levels.
As educators search for the best instructional approaches and resources to address the effects of disrupted and unfinished learning, they should reject remediation and identify strategies that accelerate the learning experience of students, write Sonya Murray and Gwen Turner.
Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/14/2023 · Last modified 11/02/2023
The new edition of Amber Chandler’s “The Flexible SEL Classroom” keeps its promise to provide practical ways to build social emotional learning, writes Anne Anderson. Chandler supports teachers with fresh ideas as they personalize learning for today’s post-pandemic students.
To help long-term English learners meet reading comprehension challenges, language specialist Tan Huynh shares strategies to use before reading, during reading, and after reading so that multilinguals have the scaffolding they need to read grade-level texts with understanding.
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.”
Need fresh titles for your classroom library? ELA teacher Kasey Short shares 13 new books that are sure to resonate with middle graders. These relatable stories offer diverse perspectives and themes that authentically capture the experiences and challenges of today’s students.
Teachers want to create a space for their students to speak with authenticity and agency, writes author and English teacher Marilyn Pryle. She and 7th grade teacher Sharon Ratliff share ways to use Pryle’s Reading Responses strategy to deepen student thinking about literature.
What would it be like to spend time together with colleagues on a regular basis to learn and improve our teaching skills? To investigate that question, Anne Jolly embarked on a year-long, onsite action research project to design and test a middle school teacher collaboration process.
Social studies teacher Megan Kelly and her students start each class with Canva-created Questions of the Day and continue Canva-assisted learning with topic explorations, visual formative assessments, student-made reports, infographics and more. All with the free version!
Working together in small groups using a book club model has helped sixth graders in Sara Kugler’s K-6 school shift from passive and disinterested to engaged and self-reliant. They’re eager to read and ready to “talk books,” writes the literacy coach and co-teacher.
