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.
Incorporating the odd and unusual into everyday instruction can capture students’ attention. And middle graders do enjoy knowing something bizarre! Anne Anderson shares calendar celebrations (Artichoke Day?) from March, April and May to surprise them. Teaching ideas included.
5th grade teacher Kathie Palmieri has been exploring ways to better infuse mathematics in other subject areas and help students gain a more positive attitude about math’s central place in their lives. She shares some ideas about SEL and two examples from her science lessons.
“In my classroom, sticky notes earn top honors for Best Multipurpose Teaching Tool,” writes literacy teacher Kelly Owens. She displays 15 ways to use the tacky squares to chunk large tasks into manageable clusters and empower students to contemplate, coordinate, and connect.
How might lessons connect local history and historical fiction? Katie Durkin and her 7th grade team are partnering with the Wilton CT historical society to engage students in a project that raises awareness about how fiction writers use history to tell authentic stories.
Intentionally introducing humor, curiosity, enthusiasm, and optimism into each class is a low-tech, high-impact method to build resilience and attention. Stephanie Farley shares ways she’s engaged middle schoolers with elements like (live!) rolling mice and kid-made symbols.
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.
Like much of the current K-12 universe, Sarah Cooper is both excited and concerned about the impact of ChatGPT’s disruptive technology. Recently she checked in with her 8th graders for insights into how they might use it and how they think AI may impact their lives in the future.
Instead of giving middle graders the right answer after they cling tenaciously to their misconceptions, devise processes that lead them to discover the fallacies on their own. Literacy interventionist Kelly Owens shares some cross-curricular tools and strategies that can help.
