Back to School / Wide Open Learning
by Megan Kelly · Published 07/28/2019 · Last modified 11/28/2019
By being more intentional about our student interactions at the beginning of the year, teachers can model how they want relationships with their students to grow in the months to come. Seventh grade teacher Megan Kelly shares some of her best ideas and wants to hear yours.
If you value student discussion, Not Light, But Fire is for you. If you value students working through big issues, this book is for you, too. Teacher Andrea Clark finds something usable and important for teachers of all grades in Matthew Kay’s thoughtful, engaging book.
In a few weeks, new middle schoolers will encounter challenges unlike any they’ve seen before: a half-dozen teachers making daily assignments, new afterschool choices, more homework. How’s a kid to keep track of it all? Always-organized Frank Buck suggests consolidation.
With the start of a new school year approaching, how can we make sure our middle school students are getting the support they need for an academically and personally successful school year? School leader Rhonda Neal Waltman offers three effective strategies.
Browse our top 10 posts since January 1. Topics include fair grading, dyslexia, teaching ELLs academic vocabulary, connecting with students, teacher buy-in, and SEL for MS’ers. Plus, practical tips on quick-writes, class starters, and “helping students remember stuff.”
While the leaders of Algonquin Middle School do not claim to be “on the cutting edge of utilizing data in every aspect of our school’s program,” AMS teachers and staff are making headway with seven action steps that are benefiting students, says principal Rob Messia.
NBCT and new principal Rita Platt shares the five beliefs that make up her teaching philosophy and serve as the framework of her new book Working Hard, Working Happy. Learn what she “knows to be true about teaching and learning” and why you might want a credo of your own.
Teaching and instructional coaching weren’t all the prep DeAnna Miller needed when she signed on as a new middle school assistant principal last fall. A year later she looks back at the challenges she faced and the solutions she discovered as she preps for another year.
Teacher leader Laura Von Staden recommends all school administrators, district personnel and school board members read Abe Hege and Adam Dovico’s The Limitless School and use it as a guide to building a strong school culture for learning and growth.
Raised in rural Alberta, Canada, Brent Gilson set out to broaden his understanding of racial and cultural diversity, both to improve his teaching and to raise awareness among his mostly white middle grades students. Taking part in the #31DaysIBPOC Twitter project has been a revelation.
