CommonLit.Org is a nonprofit organization building a growing collection of supplemental texts, curated by teachers, for teachers, writes founder Michelle Brown. The free and open resource is cross-curricular, organized around themes and essential questions.
Career & Technical Education / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 02/15/2015 · Last modified 12/12/2019
Anne Jolly takes a closer look at the relationship between STEM and Career and Technical Education. She’s impressed by the spread of middle school CTE programs and highlights the academic, technological and social goals and methods that STEM and CTE share.
For years Amber Chandler has marched her middle school students through Grammar Bootcamp, believing that grammatically correct language is essential to be college and career ready. Now this year’s 7th graders have convinced her there might be a better way.
Future of History / History & Current Events
by Sarah Cooper · Published 02/08/2015 · Last modified 11/24/2019
Like many history teachers, Sarah Cooper begins her classes with a current events discussion. Sometimes it can be harrowing, “especially when acts of terror occupy the stage.” She reflects on ways teachers can help students cope through positive action.
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.”
Florida teacher David Finkle chronicles middle school life in a daily comic strip for the Daytona Beach News. Here he shares the 15-year story of “Mr. Fitz,” including four sample strips guaranteed to draw chuckles and knowing nods from teachers everywhere.
Quality feedback – written and oral – is crucial for students to continuously improve their work. Author-consultant Barbara Blackburn summarizes eight characteristics of good feedback that she believes “are essential practices for effective teaching.”
Students can learn difficult vocabulary when they are immersed in a rich array of words, says reading expert Janet Allen. In this excerpt from her new book of vocabulary teaching tools, Allen describes ways to create a word-rich environment. Includes reproducibles.
What happened to classroom play and activities like dramatic storytelling? How do we bring it back? Kevin Hodgson finds answers in Kevin Cordi’s lively book Playing with Stories, which suggests ways to use storytelling as literacy and speaking practice.
Summarizing may seem simple to adults, says teacher/author Heather Wolpert-Gawron, but it’s a cross content skill that many adolescents struggle with. TweenTeacher shares techniques from her classroom, including asking students to create ‘executive summaries’ of information & research.
