Facing the ‘December Dilemma’ of how to include winter holidays in the instructional day? This MiddleWeb resource offers a multi-faceted look at religious and non-religious aspects of the season, legal issues, and some ideas for seasonal lesson planning.
Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn advocate for a three-step teacher evaluation process that emphasizes pre- and post-observation conferences designed to promote full teacher ownership and collaboration, with an emphasis on recognizing strengths and planning for growth.
Future of History / Understanding Religions
by MiddleWeb · Published 10/06/2024 · Last modified 01/25/2025
Social studies teacher Lauren Brown makes the case that learning about the history and culture of Judaism, Christianity & Islam is critical for today’s middle school students and offers a useful guide that she believes can help with curriculum development and lesson planning.
This fall with some tweaks and fresh online tools and resources, Halloween can be fun and packed with learning. Check out MiddleWeb’s updated resource collection for ideas across the content areas.
Delving into commonly held beliefs about learning math and discussing productive struggle and growth mindset are central to Lidia Gonzalez’s Bad at Math?, a thoughtful look into what can be done to make math accessible to all students, writes math teacher Kathleen Palmieri.
“Not every management situation involves an innocent mistake from a student,” writes teacher Dina Strasser, “but in middle school, I will venture to say that most of them do. Making curiosity a management habit of mind allows both student and teacher to reap the rewards.”
American Indian Heritage Month / Resources
by Susan Curtis · Published 09/09/2024 · Last modified 10/15/2024
Native Americans’ thousands of years of history are filled with achievements and challenges. In recent years the United States has commemorated their history in November. MiddleWeb’s resource collection can help students understand this rich and complex heritage.
Free Reading Friday has transformed Laurie Miller Hornik’s 7th grade class into a reading community, without having to cut back on whole-class text studies. Students arrive on Fridays ready to talk and write about the free reading they’ve done outside of school during the week.
Michelle Russell knows the back-to-school rush. So this year she’s found first weeks activities that are low on preparation and high on introducing math, sharing fun, setting the tone for the year, and helping students feel comfortable. Best of all: she shares her favorite finds!
So much to do! As teachers in grades 4-6 enter their first classrooms, Kathleen Palmieri offers keys to getting started. She includes accessing mentors, keeping track of planning, Google tools, engaging students, finding sources for class libraries and décor, and self-care.
