“High expectations” shouldn’t be about teaching obedience or expecting cookie-cutter work from all students. Middle school educator Cheryl Mizerny offers her take on teacher attitudes and practices that help or hinder student efforts to achieve their very best.
Book Reviews / Technology and Writing
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/06/2015 · Last modified 08/07/2015
Why blog? Starr Sackstein provides lots of reasons in her book, Blogging for Educators: Writing for Professional Learning. Sackstein also shows how to set up a blog. Reviewer Mary Langer Thompson recommends the book for teachers who can’t keep themselves from writing.
When reading strategies include a series of actionable steps, students can follow them as they learn to master skills. Using the teaching of tying shoes as an analogy, literacy expert Jennifer Serravallo offers examples of the kinds of supports teachers can offer learners as they travel the path to automaticity.
For co-authors Todd Whitaker, Jeff Zoul and Jimmy Casas, a “connected educator” is a teacher or school leader who not only brings what they know to the conversation but encourages and values the sharing of everyone’s expertise through online learning networks.
New principals can fall prey to “task overload.” What’s more, the transition from working with teachers as peers to working as a supervisor can be disorienting. Experts Ron Williamson & Barbara Blackburn share advice in six critical areas of the new job.
After years of trying to cope with the flow of struggling readers coming into their school, teachers at Ericsson Middle banded together to create a academic coaching program that provides reading and writing support for students across the literacy spectrum.
Articles / Teaching the Whole Adolescent
by MiddleWeb · Published 07/07/2015 · Last modified 07/14/2024
Young adolescents need classrooms designed to meet their unique physical, intellectual and social-emotional needs, says middle school veteran Cheryl Mizerny. Her spot-on advice can help educators develop a teaching style that maximizes tween achievement.
Jennifer Serravallo’s new book on reading strategies was worth the wait, says Linda Biondi. It offers “adaptable, research based lessons targeting student’s skills, adaptable to different levels of students and texts, as well as different reading programs.”
Future of History / Project Based Learning
by Aaron Brock · Published 06/21/2015 · Last modified 11/21/2019
Inner-city history teacher Aaron Brock has developed a childrens’ book project for eighth graders, many of whom struggle with academic literacy. He details how his step-by-step approach addresses important skills and serves as a synthesis and assessment tool.
Homa Sabet Tavangar and Becky Mladic-Morales have created the ideal global education toolkit for any teacher, K-12, to bring the world into their classroom. The resource packed book is well written and easy to navigate, says 5th grade teacher Jennifer Druffel.
