Middle schools and their students are special. By design 6-8 grade schools are intended to be communities, organized in houses or teams as the kids are exploring themselves and their world. All this helps in the leap to online school, says teacher Laurie Lichtenstein.
Science teachers know that some students believe in often-ridiculous theories (the Earth is flat; climate change is a hoax) that are propagated on YouTube and social media. Frank Baker provides a wealth of resources to fight science ignorance with media literacy skills.
Recently Sarah Cooper did two lessons with her eighth grade history and civics students that afterward made her stand back and ask: Why did that work out so well? Here she analyzes the women’s suffrage lessons to uncover the key elements of success for future reflection.
I Will Screw This Up / Pandemic Response
by Dina Strasser · Published 03/23/2020 · Last modified 09/03/2020
At home with her teens, ELA teacher Dina Strasser discovers how to create a compromise between parents who need (and ought to be) “captains of the quarantine ship,” and teens who need to be respected and loved as individuals. Their much-discussed home schedule is a start.
Leading Learning for ELL Students is a helpful resource for all school and district leaders looking to evaluate and strengthen their EL services. ESOL educator Jordan Walker-Reyes explains how EL teachers can also use the book to improve their programs.
An English learner’s developing language skills can easily be misdiagnosed as a learning disorder. As a first step, make sure Els are receiving high-quality instruction. Tan Huynh suggests ways to detect EL processing issues and strategies to support dually-identified ELs.
Can Dr. Suess’ 70-year-old allegory The Sneetches still have an impact on children’s social and emotional learning? Surprisingly, some star-bellied creatures made a lasting impression in Mary Tarashuk’s fourth grade class during her NON-fiction research unit this winter.
It’s amazing to think – with all the digital tools we have at our disposal – that genuine communication is more difficult today than ever before. Yet that’s our reality, says middle grades teacher Jeremy Hyler, at school and at home, with students, parents and colleagues.
Math teacher Robert Kaplinsky wanted his students debating about the best way to solve a problem, using strategic thinking and not just the formula. He also wanted to know when students had misconceptions so he could reshape his lessons. His solution? Open Middle Math.
In Between the Commas 6th grade teacher Jeny Randall is delighted to have found a new mentor in writing instruction who emphasizes a sentence construction framework. She looks forward to growing even more as a writing teacher thanks to Martin Brandt’s “irreverent wisdom.”
