Healthy Teaching / It's Not Easy Being Tween
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 08/26/2018 · Last modified 11/24/2019
In a post that’s jam-packed with teaching ideas, veteran middle grades educator Cheryl Mizerny declares her intention to keep her classes “on the move” more often this fall, using a variety of strategies for individual, group, whole class and whole room activities.
Being the Change is a book about enhancing professional knowledge, but it’s also one with heart, inspiring educators to think about ways their teaching can impact the future of our world so it’s a more compassionate place. Practical and insightful, writes Lisa Maucione.
The power of Genius Hour comes from sparking wonder, encouraging deep learning, and facilitating sharing so students can make public their new knowledge, creation, or innovation, locally and world wide. GH champions Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi describe good ways to share.
Most students are excited to get back to school, but anticipate lots of rules and mundane tasks to begin the year. Why not hit the ground running? Teacher educator Curtis Chandler has ideas to create a good first impression with plenty of fun, challenge, and learning.
A new school year brings excitement and organizational challenges. Expert Frank Buck suggests ways to streamline online communications, simplify classroom policies through teacher collaboration, and help kids develop as responsible members of a purposeful community.
In Super Spellers, Mark Weakland offers a “transformative path” to move away from memorizing 20 words weekly toward a developmental approach that provides students with strategies to become more proficient spellers, readers and writers, says Kathleen Palmieri.
What STEM lessons will you try with students this year? There’s no one, die-cut STEM curriculum that every classroom should be using, says Anne Jolly. But as teachers search for, adapt, or design projects, it helps to consider what an “ideal” STEM lesson might look like.
Adolescents need ongoing opportunities to think deeply about what honesty and integrity mean to them and to help them align their choices with their beliefs. Debbie Silver shares ways to counter cultural and classroom messages that might make kids feel it’s okay to cheat.
Every summer educators ask these questions: (1) How can we lessen summer learning loss? and (2) How can we help build students’ SEL skills? Sarah Tantillo and Meredith Murray share the story of a Summer Bridge program and some useful resources to address both questions.
Writing interesting nonfiction is a valuable student skill. So why is most of it so boring? A focus on content and conventions isn’t sufficient, says teacher Angie Miller. See her strategies to help kids read like writers and engage audiences with writing that fascinates.
