Asking three basic questions can help middle grades readers connect with informational texts and make sense of their meaning. Literacy consultant Sunday Cummins describes several classroom-tested steps that can aid students in identifying and analyzing new information in nonfiction material.
To cope with the next iteration of our world, students will have to master the art of continual learning. Fresh from a lengthy stint writing workplace-savvy STEM curriculum, Anne Jolly has insights educators can use to reboot teaching and help students better create their future.
As educators reflect on the past year, NBCT Elizabeth Stein shares insights from co-teachers in her coaching circle who are grateful for the support they received from one another. She encourages all of us to rest, relax, and find ways to carry forward our own silver linings.
Middle school educators at Brooklyn’s Ditmar IS 62 chose to overcome “learning loss” by engaging their sixth, seventh and eighth graders in a long-range project documenting the tragic story of 9/11 through research, oral family and community history and literacy activities.
Amid all the other challenges of pandemic education, principal Rita Platt has noticed an uptick in communication breakdowns between teachers and parents this year. Platt relates several stories that prompted her to share some parent/teacher do’s and don’ts with staff.
What if a STEM project became a product kids make for actual use? Anne Jolly shows how industry’s Product Design Process (PDP) expands upon the familiar engineering design popular in STEM classes, giving students new skills as they move from prototypes to the marketplace.
Coteaching / Learning Styles / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 04/20/2021 · Last modified 08/02/2023
When it comes to learning preferences, NBCT Elizabeth Stein recommends finding a flexible balance. Encourage students to let teachers know how they feel they can best learn in a given situation, while also challenging them to strengthen their ability to learn in other ways.
Principal and NBCT Rita Platt shares advice for a paradigm shift away from obsessive coverage of content and toward deep and differentiated learning for students who have lived through the months of pandemic schooling. Three questions help us understand what’s essential.
“Let’s face it, adolescence isn’t plump full of safety and confidence. It’s a developmental stage in which students want and need to be connected and valued.” No wonder middle schoolers dread the “correction” approach to grammar. Jeff Anderson and Travis Leech have found a better way.
Student discipline is high on the job description of most assistant principals. After three years as an AP, here’s what DeAnna Miller has learned about this essential aspect of working with kids: (1) use it as a teachable moment, (2) make it fair, and (3) love them anyway.
