I Will Screw This Up / Pandemic Stress
by Dina Strasser · Published 11/10/2021 · Last modified 01/03/2022
As teacher Dina Strasser looks at the multiple sources of stress educators face in fall 2021, she shares insights from the radical origins of the concept of self-care: it is possible to tune in to ourselves without tuning out the larger social issues surrounding us.
In an earlier MiddleWeb post, professor and former middle grades ELA teacher Jason DeHart argued on behalf of teaching with graphic novels, with numerous examples. Here he delves deeper into a single text from the Kid Beowulf series, detailing his own instructional strategies.
Getting in touch with emotions, especially as a middle schooler, has become a critical component to classroom success. It’s also an essential life skill. Award-winning social studies teacher Jennifer Ingold shares some ways she helps students raise their emotional awareness.
Brain and learning expert Marilee Sprenger highlights the 25 most high-frequency words for learners in the English language to focus upon. “I call these words ‘essential’ because knowing and using them can boost academic success and lifelong learning.” Are they on your vocab list?
Students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) benefit when teachers consider how SLIFEs have learned previously – most often informally in their family culture. Tan Huynh shares ways educators can blend a formal literacy focus with the relational learning they’re used to.
In classes like social studies and science, students are expected to do complex nonfiction reading. How can we ensure they’ll process and retain the content for future use? History/ELA teacher Megan Kelly shares fun activities to help kids think more deeply about information text.
Teachers across the curriculum will welcome this post by nonfiction expert Marlene Correia and Melissa Stewart, author of 180+ nonfiction books for kids. Learn why the five categories of children’s nonfiction they identify not only excite and engage but are what many students say they want to read most.
Curtis Chandler looks into implicit bias, the unconscious stereotypes that drive each of us, including educators, to behave and make decisions in certain ways. He shares a Teacher Tracker Tool that can help uncover patterns and make sure we treat all students fairly.
To help middle graders learn and practice social and emotional skills, teacher and Director of Studies Kasey Short offers ways to incorporate SEL across the content areas, from considering the motivations of historical figures to creating reality-based math word problems.
Blended teaching? Hybrid teaching? Remote teaching? We don’t know for sure when teaching “pandemic-style” will go away, but with a look over the last year, here are 13 insightful MiddleWeb articles about surviving the “blend” and hanging on to some strategies that were long overdue.
