Kevin Hodgson begins his 6th grade poetry unit “with a listening field trip across the United States, powered by our imaginations.” Before young writers can compose poetry, they need to listen closely to its rhythms and “make the shift away from prose.” The anthology My America provides mentor texts.
Teaching consultant Barbara Blackburn offers 3 simple, effective tools to support English Language Learners as they work with nonfiction text. The strategies, easily adapted to any classroom, include use of visuals, use of language, and layering meaning.
Urban ELA teacher Mackenzie Grate found mock trials to be the perfect vehicle to encourage reading, teach speaking & listening, and prepare her 6th graders for their first argumentative writing essay. How-to tips, downloads and lessons learned included.
Culture building is a powerful method for shaping the behavior of those who work in a school because it helps establish important values and underlying assumptions about learning. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer 3 tips for middle grades leaders.
Kids on the Cusp / Standardized Testing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 02/26/2015 · Last modified 11/15/2019
Teacher Mary Tarashuk has reasserted her “Irish Zen” following the full frontal assault on PARCC testing in her last post. She describes how her fourth graders had fun learning about Chinese New Year while also practicing for the high stakes test in prescribed ways.
Reading Nathan Barber’s book, educators can apply a sports coach’s perspective to communicating effectively, harnessing the power of teamwork, making work meaningful, embracing technology, building a winning tradition, and more, says reviewer Joanne Fuchs.
CommonLit.Org is a nonprofit organization building a growing collection of supplemental texts, curated by teachers, for teachers, writes founder Michelle Brown. The free and open resource is cross-curricular, organized around themes and essential questions.
Career & Technical Education / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 02/15/2015 · Last modified 12/12/2019
Anne Jolly takes a closer look at the relationship between STEM and Career and Technical Education. She’s impressed by the spread of middle school CTE programs and highlights the academic, technological and social goals and methods that STEM and CTE share.
Quality feedback – written and oral – is crucial for students to continuously improve their work. Author-consultant Barbara Blackburn summarizes eight characteristics of good feedback that she believes “are essential practices for effective teaching.”
As Mary Tarashuk’s fourth graders took part in the Hour of Code this past December – assuming then switching roles as drivers and navigators in a code writing exercise – she considered how she might play the navigator more often in her own classroom.
