Future of History / Professional Development
by Sarah Cooper · Published 03/08/2015 · Last modified 11/16/2019
Sarah Cooper leaves her MS classroom behind for a few hours to experience life as a history student again. Her online course proves calming and stimulating, challenging and refreshing. She sees how content area PD can strengthen her classroom practice.
Teaching versus Testing / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 02/15/2015 · Last modified 11/14/2019
“There is this race to absorb content just in time for the tests,” writes teaching coach Elizabeth Stein. But where is the time inside our secondary schools that students need to really connect to the learning process? Simple answer: there isn’t any.
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.
Articles / Teaching the Whole Adolescent
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/08/2015 · Last modified 07/15/2024
In her valentine “to those volatile adolescents and the educators who cherish them,” veteran middle level teacher Beth Morrow highlights six good reasons to spend your days with “the wonderfully rough and resilient gems that are middle school students.”
Altering Perspective / Future of History
by Jody & Shara · Published 01/25/2015 · Last modified 12/06/2019
When student teams create skits to gain perspective on different aspects of the same historical event, they may begin to grasp complexity of history. Sometimes they leap to fresh insights, as they did during a Revolutionary battle in Jody Passanisi’s classroom.
STEM and the Future / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 01/20/2015 · Last modified 11/26/2019
Will 2015 be the year when we decide what STEM programs should and shouldn’t be? STEM consultant Anne Jolly peruses the field of current middle school programs and compares the many permutations to STEM criteria defined by the initiative’s originators.
Articles / Teaching the Whole Adolescent
by MiddleWeb · Published 12/28/2014 · Last modified 07/14/2024
Middle school students are a unique breed, says educator and consultant Jennifer Gonzalez, and they need teachers who are tuned in to the intense dichotomies of adolescent life and learning. She offers teachers new to the middle level eight helpful tips.
The curriculum tug of war between proponents of STEM programs and those who advocate for STEAM is in full force. Whichever side you may be pulling for, Anne Jolly has some facts, insights and questions that can help determine which way we should go.
Student disengagement is a major challenge for middle school teachers, says NSF-funded researcher Jennifer A. Fredricks, who offers strategies to build community and craft learning opportunities that encourage students to actively participate and succeed.
Co-teaching Success / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 11/23/2014 · Last modified 12/10/2019
Educators need to move beyond the dream of an idealized co-teaching experience, says instructional coach Elizabeth Stein. We need to make co-teaching work inside the reality of today’s schools. Stein believes the answer lies in Specially Designed Instruction.
