We can spark student interest in STEM studies and careers with stories of middle school-aged inventors who gained the world’s attention by solving a real problem. STEM author and curriculum expert Anne Jolly tells the story of eight such kids. Editable student handout included!
In her 3rd article offering questions to help grow critical readers, Marilyn Pryle says we must help students examine what a text is HIDING. “To navigate the information that bombards them outside of school, students must have the skills to detect the bias, lie, or hidden intention.”
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.
Comprehension is a concern in every content area. If a student cannot comprehend the material, whether it’s words or images, they cannot meet learning goals. Teaching coach Barbara R. Blackburn offers some simple strategies that can help you scaffold comprehension for your students.
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.
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.
While questions about literature can focus on identifying elements, Jason DeHart wants to expand his students’ thinking beyond matching words and examples. He begins with two questions designed to move students deeper into a text: “What’s that?” and “What’s that doing there?”
Ruth Miller finds Lessons That Last an indispensable guide to enriching teaching practice and fostering an impactful learning environment. The book’s lessons, drawn from interviews with former students, affirm the significance of teachers’ work and the lasting influence we have.
Many teachers are feeling some apprehension about introducing artificial intelligence into their teaching, writes teacher educator Curtis Chandler. Yet “the truth remains that AI is an essential topic for our classrooms this year.” Here are his tips for how and what to teach.
