Each chapter of Cultural Literacy for the Common Core includes ELA connections, practical advice, research support, and classroom examples. Teachers can modify the ideas for students across grades and content areas, says reviewer Ashley Walther.
Faced with students struggling to learn complex science ideas in traditional ways, middle school teacher John Coveyou turned to classroom gaming as a solution. His colorful card games teach core concepts like ion-bonding, DNA principles and protein building.
Lots of lessons you find on the Internet don’t meet the minimum criteria for a good STEM learning experience. In her latest STEM By Design post, expert Anne Jolly explains how to take a potential STEM lesson and boost its power. Lesson sources included!
When Cheryl Mizerny invited her 6th graders to pursue a “passion project” of their own choosing, she included the option to help someone in need. The results surprised her. “I greatly underestimated my students’ capacity for wanting to make a difference.”
Book Reviews / Teaching for the Future
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/12/2015 · Last modified 11/13/2019
David N. Perkins’ Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World is profoundly unsettling in the best way, simply because it gives so many expansive possibilities for making every minute of a student’s day relevant, says reviewer Sarah Cooper.
With the winter “read by the fire” season in full force, we offer a selection of 20 MiddleWeb posts that have garnered thousands of views apiece. They represent the wisdom & expertise of middle grades educators with a wide range of teaching experiences.
Professional community / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 12/17/2014 · Last modified 11/16/2019
When Kevin Hodgson shared a heartfelt reflection with the Slice of Life teacher writing community, the supportive and encouraging comments he received from online colleagues “were like lifelines to me.” He highly recommends the Tuesday writing activity.
STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly sees considerable potential for connecting sports to a variety of engineering challenges and attracting otherwise disengaged students to STEM programs. She shares a range of good resource sites, from NASA’s STEM Mania to the SF 49er STEM Zone.
With the fall marathon of parent-teacher conferences finally done, Mary Tarashuk logs onto the district portal to input student grades for the first marking period. And then she finds herself pausing to wonder what authentic assessment truly means – when we’re talking to the people who care most.
This Halloween, don’t miss 4th grade teacher Mary Tarashuk’s self-assessment of how she managed learning on a delightfully creepy day. First presented a year ago, still just as funny. “It’s not all about sugar, but sugar anticipation is in the air.”
