As science teachers pursue Next Generation Science Standards, many wonder how STEM and NGSS match up. Can a good NGSS-aligned science lesson be a good STEM lesson too? Anne Jolly and guest Marsha Ratzel offer insights via the Matchstick Rocket Challenge.
Mindful Co-teaching / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 04/12/2015 · Last modified 01/22/2020
Teaching responsibilities pile high this time of year, writes teacher-coach Elizabeth Stein, and it’s important to keep our professional and personal lives “in the moment.” Stein shares ideas and resources to help fellow educators accomplish both goals.
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.
The tagline for “Reading with Pictures” says it all (with maybe a bit of genre hyperbole): “Comics that make kids smarter!” Teacher Kevin Hodgson recommends the cross curricular graphic story collection curated by Josh Elder and its free 146-pp study guide.
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.
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.
Kids on the Cusp / Standardized Testing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 02/11/2015 · Last modified 11/13/2019
New Jersey teacher Mary Tarashuk finds herself in a traffic-snarled “PARCCing lot” waiting for March testing madness to begin. In a new Kids on the Cusp post, she lists her concerns –including a PARCC 4th grade reading test sample that levels at Grade 9.
Articles / Teaching the Whole Adolescent
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/08/2015 · Last modified 07/15/2024
In her valentine “to those volatile adolescents and the educators who cherish them,” veteran middle level teacher Beth Morrow highlights six good reasons to spend your days with “the wonderfully rough and resilient gems that are middle school students.”
Family Reading Night gives schools everything they need to present enjoyable monthly reading and literacy activities for young students and their families. Reviewer Mara Southorn notes this 2nd edition includes Spanish translations of activities. Middle schools may need to adapt.
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.
