As pre-service teachers anticipate their first classrooms, former Kansas TOY and teacher educator Curtis Chandler is ready with expert strategies to help them select the right schools and successfully complete the interview process. He stresses staying positive and being persistent.
What can you and your students accomplish the last few weeks of school? In this MiddleWeb resource educators share activities that align learning with fun, offer ideas for responding to stress, and suggest strategies to help sustain your classroom community.
Recognizing the gap between formal curriculum standards and the emotional and organizational hurdles of writing, Matt Renwick shares some of his ideas for student-centered strategies that acknowledge these challenges and equip students with tools they need to overcome them.
Resources / Summer Reading & Learning
by Susan Curtis · Published 03/31/2024 · Last modified 05/07/2024
How can teachers help students enjoy reading and learning during summer following another challenging year? Visit MiddleWeb’s expanded resource for Summer 2023, where you’ll find teacher ideas and heaps of book and online suggestions.
Whether read individually or as a group study, Melissa Collins’ book will help educators understand the growth cycle of a teacher leader and to reflect on their own experiences. Collins includes teacher leader roles beyond the classroom, notes reviewer Stacy Haynes-Moore.
Students need to know what to expect when they enter our classrooms, writes teacher Kelly Owens. Consistency on the front end paves the way for more student autonomy and engagement throughout the lesson. Three tips can help teachers achieve “the loyalty to learning we want!”
The negative tone and unkind remarks adolescents use with one another make it tough to develop a classroom sense of community. They won’t learn to communicate appropriately without explicit instruction, write Samantha Layne and Susanne Croasdaile. Learn how UDL strategies help.
Women’s history is no longer in hiding, thanks to scholars who are documenting women’s impact on society. Middle grades teachers can help their students trace that history with these resources, just updated and expanded, for Women’s History Month and beyond.
History & social studies / Resources
by Susan Curtis · Published 02/10/2024 · Last modified 02/21/2024
African Americans faced severe repression when Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926. In this updated MiddleWeb resource, we share links that trace the impact of African Americans in politics, arts and sciences, and report on the call to teach Black history throughout the school year.
Jeny Randall introduces her 6th graders to Shakespeare, first tossing quotes around a circle, then character mapping, and finally prepping and presenting scenes. Keying into themes of Identity and Origin, she rotates among 3 comedies’ mistaken identities. The kids love it!
