Debbie Silver and Jack Berckemeyer have updated Deliberate Optimism to help educators resolve unsustainable stress levels by adapting their immediately implementable ideas for making each school day better. Written with humor and practicality, says teacher leader Sarah Cooper.
“I want to recognize that my students are, in fact, highly literate human beings whose understanding of literacy has been shaped by an age of screens and digital interactions,” writes ELA teacher Jason DeHart. The question becomes, how do we change to meet them where they are?
Adolescent Development / Book Reviews
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/10/2023 · Last modified 06/23/2024
Phyllis Fagell’s Middle School Superpowers offers parents and educators productive ways to help tweens deal with change, social missteps, missed opportunities and disappointment as they encounter adolescent challenges. A must read, says consultant Anne Anderson.
To teach students to master standards while also cultivating a love of reading, Laura Robb offers new ideas and resources and a new outlook on old practices in Increase Reading Volume. It is exactly what teachers need for their reading blocks, says literacy leader Sarah Valter.
History & social studies / Resources
by Susan Curtis · Published 07/14/2023 · Last modified 08/14/2023
As the twenty-second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, help students born as much as a decade later understand the attacks and their impacts on us since that tragic day. We’ve gathered teaching resources from many sources.
Ever since Gilgamesh ran into challenges, humans have recorded stories that thrill us and help us gain social emotional skills. Stephanie Farley shares ELA activities that help students understand characters and learn the elements of SEL through projects they do together.
What might students learn about the “invisible process” of reading prose fiction by a comparative study of a novel and its graphic novel counterpart? Jason DeHart promises high interest and aha moments as readers see the story not only with their minds but with their eyes.
Math and ELA rule in the early middle grades. Kathie Palmieri asked her 5th graders to reflect on the science and social studies wedged into her class this year. She’s amazed at all they retained and their ideas to blend in more. Now she’s plotting to put their ideas to work.
Making Questions Count / Questioning Matters
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/19/2023 · Last modified 09/16/2024
Author and expert on classroom questioning Dr. Jackie Walsh partners with instructional coach Emily Brokaw and content-area teacher Anna Salazar for a new blog series exploring questioning strategies that strengthen teaching practice and empower students to self-assess and build knowledge.
Teachers want to create a space for their students to speak with authenticity and agency, writes author and English teacher Marilyn Pryle. She and 7th grade teacher Sharon Ratliff share ways to use Pryle’s Reading Responses strategy to deepen student thinking about literature.
