Is Your STEM the Real Deal?
STEM educator Anne Jolly says that authentic, mature STEM programs can point to 10 basic outcomes. Does your program have the real-deal ingredients?
Teaching and learning in grades 4-8
Close Reading Strategies
Students will take the strategies from Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading beyond their current classroom to strengthen their critical thinking and their enthusiasm about reading, says reviewer Sandy Wisneski.
Visual Literacy & Politics
Media expert Frank Baker offers examples of political stagecraft at the highest levels and suggests several visual literacy lesson ideas.
Help Students with Disabilities Close Achievement Gaps
Elizabeth Stein & assistant principal Paul McNeil consider personal, classroom, and school strategies that can help close achievement gaps for students with disabilities, including peer tutoring and support for high expectations. It takes a team approach, and it takes time and patience.
Crazy Good Teaching Stuff
The Collected Writings (So Far) of Rick Wormeli: Crazy Good Stuff I’ve Learned About Teaching Along the Way is a major collection of the author’s columns and articles on middle grades teaching practice and is indeed “crazy good stuff,” says reviewer Elizabeth Stein.
Nexus: STEM and the Arts
Research supports integrating arts into STEM curriculum, says educator Sammy Parker, citing studies of Nobel laureates and low-achieving students.
Arts Integration: Catch the Thrill!
In the middle grades, arts integration can deepen learning, address the Common Core, and spark academic progress across the curriculum.
Thank You, Public Schools
Independent middle school dean Bill Ivey acknowledges a deep debt to public schools for forging today’s “middle school model” for young adolescents.
5 Special Strategies for Teaching Tweens
The developmental needs of tweens are unique, and flourishing as a middle grades teacher requires special skills. Teaching expert Rick Wormeli offers five customized strategies that are attuned to the particular requirements of the adolescent brain!
Student Speaking Skills
Education consultant Erik Palmer believes students must become well-spoken presenters and communicators to be successful in the digital future.
