It's Not Easy Being Tween / Poetry
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 04/09/2017 · Last modified 03/30/2024
Over the years Cheryl Mizerny has crafted poetry experiences that her students really enjoy. Her reading and writing ideas enable kids to understand poems without dreading the annual “poetry unit” she herself disliked as a tween. She shares 10 of her favorites.
end-of-year learning / Spring Fever / The Flexible Classroom
by Amber Chandler · Published 04/03/2017 · Last modified 05/01/2024
As spring temperatures rise (and testing begins), students and teachers start to get antsy. What can we do to make end-of-year more productive and enjoyable while also saving our sanity? After 17 springs in the classroom, Amber Chandler has three ideas that may help relieve the jitters.
If bibliotherapy is an effective way to ease the growing pains of adolescents, writes 7th grade teacher Laurie Lichtenstein, The Outsiders is “the gold standard of therapy in middle grades literature.” It’s the only whole class novel she teaches each year.
Rosalind Wiseman’s Owning Up takes on the ambitious task of talking to middle schoolers about some of the complex social situations adolescents encounter. Maeghan Warburton recommends the 17 flexible lessons addressing bullying, social cruelty, and injustice.
What’s one of the best things a school day can offer? Exposure to newly learned words – provided that exposure is in context, well-timed, multisensory, and question-based. Literacy expert Amy Benjamin suggests five ways to achieve these “durable learning” goals.
Frank Buck remembers the joy of playing the Tonette with 4th grade classmates. Today, any teacher with access to a set of iPads and a free app can introduce all students to elements of music, enjoy the kids’ hands-on sound experiments, and build engagement and a more vibrant classroom culture.
Kevin Hodgson’s sixth graders experience systems thinking when they explain Rube Goldberg contraptions, design interactive stories, and diagram sports plays. Hodgson offers many examples of student work and shows how the approach addresses Common Core objectives.
Class Apps / Emotional Learning
by Curtis Chandler · Published 03/14/2017 · Last modified 11/15/2019
How students feel about what is being taught and what they’re being asked to do works either as a catalyst or a deterrent to learning. Curtis Chandler shares activities and digital resources to help boost engagement and achievement by ’emotionalizing’ learning.
Close Reading the Media / Covering the Presidency
by Frank Baker · Published 03/13/2017 · Last modified 11/26/2019
How the news media functions and how it covers the White House are important for today’s students to understand, says media literacy expert Frank Baker. He reviews current controversies growing out of President Trump’s “war on the media” and offers teaching ideas.
In Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning, James Rickbaugh supports school leaders as they share the how-to’s and the why’s with staff. Instructional coach Debbie Parker thinks teachers can also benefit by gaining more understanding about implementation.
