What would it be like to spend time together with colleagues on a regular basis to learn and improve our teaching skills? To investigate that question, Anne Jolly embarked on a year-long, onsite action research project to design and test a middle school teacher collaboration process.
Despite misgivings about plagiarism, many educators are excited about the promise of ChatGPT to help students research content-area topics for papers and projects. MiddleWeb’s John Norton shares his “conversation” with the new ChatGPT-4 while researching some family history.
If educators are serious about teaching critical skills and serving the whole child, they need to get serious about SEL education and “make it a core and central organizing principle for middle school programs,” writes teacher, principal and leadership mentor Jason Ablin.
Deciding when – and how much – to help our students can be difficult, writes new-teacher educator Curtis Chandler. It requires both a self-assessment of our own preconceptions and the ability to strike a delicate balance between high expectations and full support for all.
Sara Kugler’s Better Book Clubs offers teachers a valuable resource that supports authenticity and independence in book clubs, helping students deepen comprehension and elevate their conversation. Anne Anderson outlines the book’s take on scaffolding, grouping, and more.
Is bullying in schools a social pandemic we need to take more seriously? Middle grades teacher Laleh Ghotbi makes a compelling case that educators and parents can do more to protect students being harmed by religious, cultural, racial and gender prejudice and animosity.
Fisher and Frey’s “Leader Credibility” provides a roadmap to strengthening leadership skills. It outlines traits of those who engage, inspire and transform and offers guidance on the essentials of trust, competence, dynamism, forward thinking and more, says Cathy Gassenheimer.
Do you spend time every day doing repetitive email and typing tasks at school – time you don’t have to spare? If so, like Bill Murray in the classic comedy, you’re stuck in your own endless Groundhog Day cycle. Time management expert Frank Buck is here to break you out.
Noting that stoicism is having a resurgence as modern Stoics create content online and in books, educator Greg Feezell reviews Ryan Racine’s The Stoic Teacher with its strategies to help teachers focus their energies on the things that they have influence over.
To make sure that kids, teachers, and families have what they need to be successful and joyful, Stephanie Farley details how assistant principals can show up, listen deeply, and chill out. To start, spend time with students during lunch and find ways to do some teaching.
