Teaching and learning in grades 4-8

Find Out Where Your Learners Are Now

Using the case of Grade 7 teacher ‘Mr. Thomas,’ teacher educator Curtis Chandler walks us through a 3-point strategy that can help teachers detect what kids know, what they missed last spring, and what’s most urgent to learn now. Written with new and veteran teachers in mind!

7 Skills Students Need for Distance Learning

Middle grades kids are returning to school from many different developmental places. Distance learning this fall will demand skills students will need to learn effectively but mostly don’t have yet. School leader Jody Passanisi shares strategies to build 7 essential skills.

Providing Our Writers with Genre Choices

Matt Glover shows teachers how they can marry genre units with craft and process studies to give students choice and agency throughout the school year. ELA teacher Rebecca Crockett thanks Glover for revealing ways to teach state standards and give writers more autonomy.

The Art and Science of Teaching Art and Music

Robert Marzano and two colleagues have developed what will surely become the go-to resource for planning, designing, implementing, and assessing teaching art and music, using Marzano’s New Art and Science of Teaching framework, writes curriculum coordinator Alex Valencic.

Bring Geography to Life by Tracking Hurricanes

Nearly 20 years ago Jennifer Smith began having her fifth grade social studies students track hurricanes as part of their geography unit. Middle grades kids are excited to learn material that impacts their daily lives and spurs a sense of service and empathy for victims.

Launching a School Year in Uncertain Times

Amid the uncertainty facing teachers and principals this fall, Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn offer strategies to keep the safety of students and staff uppermost, to communicate often with your school community, and to sustain your school’s culture.

Our Vulnerable Learners Need Our Best Supports

Every child wants to be successful, but school can be a tough place for vulnerable students. To pull them into the success loop requires both an understanding of their plight and a willingness to fully support them with targeted strategies, writes Suzy Pepper Rollins.