All students can learn how to pick up the pieces after they face adversity, disappointment, loss, or trauma and go on. They need our guidance to find healthy ways to move forward. Debbie Silver offers six strategies educators can use to create classrooms that foster resiliency.
Resources / Summer Reading & Learning
by Susan Curtis · Published 03/31/2024 · Last modified 05/07/2024
How can teachers help students enjoy reading and learning during summer following another challenging year? Visit MiddleWeb’s expanded resource for Summer 2023, where you’ll find teacher ideas and heaps of book and online suggestions.
Dina Strasser has noticed a tangible impact when her classroom door is closed on a regular basis, as security suggests. “I am isolated, physically and socially.” Students are less likely to wander in. Teachers to wave or stop by. So she’s leaving it locked but open. Defiantly.
Whether read individually or as a group study, Melissa Collins’ book will help educators understand the growth cycle of a teacher leader and to reflect on their own experiences. Collins includes teacher leader roles beyond the classroom, notes reviewer Stacy Haynes-Moore.
Students need to know what to expect when they enter our classrooms, writes teacher Kelly Owens. Consistency on the front end paves the way for more student autonomy and engagement throughout the lesson. Three tips can help teachers achieve “the loyalty to learning we want!”
There’s an immense difference between rote memorization and giving students tools that allow them to work flexibly and thoughtfully with numbers, writes Kathie Palmieri. When kids learn number sense and can use multiple strategies, they have choice in how they solve problems.
Making Questions Count / Self-Assessment
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/27/2024 · Last modified 09/16/2024
Not all students arrive in our classrooms, regardless of grade level, with the ability to self-question. We can support the development of this capacity with two strategies: providing prompts and stems, and including self-questioning in daily learning targets. See examples!
Teachers become more effective when they embrace learning for all kinds of kids, including those who are both profoundly gifted and neurodiverse. Teaching coach Stephanie Farley shares ways to use choice, positive emotion, and novelty to engage and challenge every learner.
Women’s history is no longer in hiding, thanks to scholars who are documenting women’s impact on society. Middle grades teachers can help their students trace that history with these resources, just updated and expanded, for Women’s History Month and beyond.
In his fourth post in a series exploring ways that digital literacy impacts teaching and learning in the middle grades, Jason DeHart considers a wide range of digital texts (including music, visuals, film, video) and notes changing trends in engagement among his students.
