How we start lessons makes a huge difference in learning during the remainder of our class instruction time. Teaching consultant and author Barbara Blackburn shares strategies to employ three keys to beginning lessons with a bang: focus, activation, and excitement.
Teacher Rebecca Crockett writes author Jessica Shumway has given her all the tools she needs to really commit to using number sense routines with her fifth graders, including explaining routine types, building community, and engaging all students in the discussion.
Collaboration doesn’t always come naturally (or calmly) for middle level students. Teacher Michael McClenaghan shares his success with three edtech tools (Soundtrap, WeVideo and the free G Suite) in facilitating meaningful teamwork and higher levels of student engagement.
STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly shares her enthusiasm for the free teaching resources available through the PBS platform Design Squad Global. Jolly highlights the engineering-oriented lessons and DSG’s new Global Clubs that involve kids in Inventing for a Sustainable Future.
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 09/23/2018 · Last modified 11/13/2019
Current events add immediacy to history class, but with crowded curricula and the challenges of the political climate, Sarah Cooper is fine-tuning the news discussions in her 8th grade classes. She shares several stories and explains what makes them right for fall 2018.
In their newly updated book Michael J. Graham and Jason Borgen have a lot to offer, not just about using Google Tools, but also about integrating technology into the classroom in innovative and thoughtful ways, says teacher and middle school coordinator Jeny Randall.
Close Reading the Media / Literacy and Film
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/19/2018 · Last modified 09/02/2020
Media literacy expert Frank Baker participated in an August conference to introduce educators to a major new curriculum from Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation – “Portraits of America: Democracy on Film” – which will be available free to educators. Here’s his report.
Grading student writing in the traditional manner takes too much time and yields too little learning. Literacy consultant Sarah Tantillo offers three better ways to give students effective feedback – with all the tips and how-to teachers need to make the switch. Act now. Save your weekends.
Museum educator Christa Flores shares a summer STEM partnership that introduced middle schoolers to programmable microprocessors that can perform a variety of lab-oriented tasks. Flores, a former MS teacher, says it’s time to include computer skills in science classrooms.
With commitment and hard work, school librarians can become indispensable to school success, writes Judi Moreillon. Through their support for community building, PD, inquiry learning, digital resources and more, librarians can be a vital part of leadership teams.
