Using the strategies he shares here, ELA teacher and professional development author Jeremy Hyler has been able to reach more middle grades students and help them understand how they can power up their ability to communicate by learning grammar skills and code switching.
Digital storytelling lets student writers share their own characters who come to life, engage in dialogue, and move around the setting. Best of all, it helps middle grades teachers reach all types of learners. Sam Weigle and Katie Caprino offer examples and suggested tools.
Close Reading the Media / The Emmy Awards
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/08/2021 · Last modified 09/12/2021
The Emmy Awards continue to be a rich source of teaching ideas for educators who have an interest in media, television and film literacy. Expert Frank Baker’s latest edition of his annual Emmys column offers background perspective, teaching ideas and additional resources.
Children are suffering more anxiety and depression, which many researchers attribute to overuse and misuse of personal devices and social media, writes author-educator Debbie Silver. Our response needs to focus not on scolding but on helping students become self-regulating.
Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, it’s essential to teach students about the lives lost, the heroes who helped, and the Islamophobia that followed. To examine 9/11’s legacy and impact, middle grades teacher Kasey Short recommends key online resources and four YA novels.
Class Apps / Student Participation
by Curtis Chandler · Published 08/15/2021 · Last modified 08/16/2021
Great lesson. Weak response. When it comes to full participation, middle schoolers are a tough audience. The solution is in our hands, says teacher educator Curtis Chandler, who shares strategies from research and many hours observing in the classrooms of effective teachers.
When we are passionate and persistent advocates for middle graders and get them aboard the invisible elevator of agency, we can help them reach levels they once thought unachievable – and show the world what young adolescents can achieve, says middle school principal Dru Tomlin.
Award-winning social studies teacher Ron Litz shares some of the ways he makes student voice a top priority in his history classroom – using teaching strategies that focus on engaging students with the past and allow them to demonstrate their learning in a variety of formats.
“My collaborative approach to discipline may sound too good to be true. But it’s still working, eight years into the experiment,” writes David Finkle. “Some classes respond immediately; some need time to adjust to the paradigm shift. But in the end, it nearly always works.”
Using rough drafts and revision in middle school math class can reduce anxiety and boost math learning. Kathleen Taylor and Amanda Jansen relate an action research project aimed at shifting lessons from a process of task completion to one of continuous, ongoing learning.
