Family Engagement / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 09/02/2019 · Last modified 11/24/2019
Middle graders, especially ELs and newcomers eager to blend in, may not want to involve families at school. Yet partnering with families leads to greater achievement, lower absenteeism, and better behavior. EL expert Valentina Gonzalez shares her favorite strategies.
Literacy Strong All Year Long: Powerful Lessons for Grades 3-5 is crammed with so many literacy ideas and resources that you will want to try each one, writes teacher educator Linda Biondi. She predicts that it will be a βgo toβ book for the rest of your teaching life.
Close Reading the Media / News Literacy
by Frank Baker · Published 08/07/2019 · Last modified 11/20/2019
With the 2020 election underway fake news and deceptive social media posts and imagery are expected to become commonplace. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers a lesson to help our always-connected students acquire some of the βhealthy skepticismβ skills theyβll need.
New educators β particularly those in the middle grades β find themselves at the edge of the high dive, filled with enthusiasm and uncertainty. As they leap into the profession, Curtis Chandler shows how we can seek opportunities to provide support and collaboration.
The newly revised and resource-rich PBIS Team Handbook does an excellent job of breaking down what PBIS is, what it means to schools, and how effective it can be when implemented properly. The authors make a convincing case for Tier 1 implementation, says Christina Williams.
When middle schools see afterschool programs as partners, they help keep kids safe, inspire them to learn, and give parents peace of mind, says Jodi Grant, CEO of Afterschool Alliance. The value added to studentsβ academic and social-emotional growth may surprise you!
While the leaders of Algonquin Middle School do not claim to be “on the cutting edge of utilizing data in every aspect of our schoolβs program,” AMS teachers and staff are making headway with seven action steps that are benefiting students, says principal Rob Messia.
Want to help middle school students improve their reading skills? Mark Weakland suggests providing direct and explicit spelling instruction. Emphasizing syllables β roots and affixes β offers lots of building blocks for students. Weakland includes differentiation tips and activity ideas.
Beyond sharing titles, librarians Christina Dorr and Liz Deskins discuss justifications for circulating LGBTQAI+ literature to children and teens and share a brief history and approaches to βdealing with objections.β Sarah Cooper found ideas for her own classroom library.
Beyond the Textbook / Future of History
by Lauren S. Brown · Published 06/25/2019 · Last modified 12/02/2019
History is not just the causes of the Civil War, reasons for industrial growth, or dates associated with “big events” and major characters. Lauren Brown works to help her middle schoolers understand itβs about ordinary, often archetypal lives of human beings much like us.
