Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 11/04/2020 · Last modified 10/13/2024
Here’s how Sarah Cooper taught her 8th grade social studies class today, as the nation went about determining a presidential winner. Unlike the day after the 2016 election, “I’m feeling not so much shock as the need to shore up my teaching and once again dig into difficult topics.”
When Principal Rita Platt tested positive for COVID-19 and isolated at home, her staff put pandemic plans into action while she concentrated on self-care. Writing from Wisconsin, Rita shares her coping strategies and praises her staff’s response to going all-virtual again.
Articles / Questioning / remote learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 11/02/2020 · Last modified 11/29/2020
Effective questioning during remote learning doesn’t require new strategies. Consultant Barbara Blackburn suggests building questions with higher order thinking models; including questioning stems; adding cubing for student choice; and having students source their answers.
Writing workshop can be an exciting part of the day for students in the middle, writes author and workshop expert Lynne Dorfman. Even when middle level schedules aren’t a great fit for extended workshop writing, teachers can nurture “writerly” attitudes with daily quickwrites.
It took the pandemic to convince Lauren Brown to finally check out Edpuzzle as a teaching tool. She’s quickly become a fan. Whether you are teaching live, online or in a hybrid model, Edpuzzle can be a helpful way to engage students in video content that you select or create.
After learning virtually for some weeks, many of Michelle Russell’s math students got in the habit of writing down little or no evidence of how they reached their conclusions. Which got her thinking. “What does it really mean when you tell students to show their work?”
Are your students’ annotated texts hard to make sense of? Do they underline entire sections of a source and write very few comments? This can be a huge impediment to meaningful learning for some kids. Sunday Cummins offers 4 keys to sharpening their annotation skills.
When we find time in our busy school day to introduce a current event text, like a magazine cover, we’re actually helping students understand how images are used to communicate and even manipulate. Frank Baker shares a resource-rich pandemic media literacy lesson.
Focusing on the elements of the epic hero, this activity from author and 2019 PA TOY Marilyn Pryle helps students learn about literary elements while reflecting on their own lives, goals, and obstacles as they consider the hero’s backstory, good qualities, flaw, and quest.
For those with positive stories, social-emotional learning helps reinforce the skills they need to succeed. For those with stories of trauma, SEL can help balance negative experiences with positive ones. Author-educator Marilee Sprenger shows how brain research can help.
