Mock trials can bring project-based learning alive in English and social studies classes. In Judging for Themselves, David Sherrin provides everything teachers will need to put Galileo, Tom Robinson and others on trial, says social studies teacher Joanne Bell.
Authentic Discovery / The Flexible Classroom
by Amber Chandler · Published 05/21/2017 · Last modified 11/24/2019
How much pre-teaching and context-building should teachers do when they teach novels from other cultural eras? How much is too much in a discovery-based classroom? Amber Chandler’s students helped her find the right balance as they experienced The Outsiders.
Relating to Students / The Flexible Classroom
by Amber Chandler · Published 04/23/2017 · Last modified 11/29/2019
Fresh from her middle school’s Falcon Pride Day, Amber Chandler celebrates the joy of a pre-Spring Break event that’s one part competition, one part team building, and one part controlled chaos, noting that kids’ SEL needs are at least as important as curriculum.
Anna Roseboro’s Teaching Writing in the Middle School can serve as a practical handbook to support the work of beginning English Language Arts teachers. Literacy coach Cynthia McKenzie says those new teachers will find many helpful ideas in the year-long guide.
Standardized Test Preparation / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 04/16/2017 · Last modified 11/18/2019
Without turning his classroom into “test prep central,” teacher Kevin Hodgson is working to anticipate what his state’s evolving standardized tests will contain and how best to help his sixth graders prepare themselves with plenty of reading and writing strategies.
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.
Ariel Sacks says teachers who read The Flexible ELA Classroom will get to know “an enthusiastic, skilled teacher” effectively applying “many of the best current teaching trends.” Amber Chandler’s practical, student centered ideas include flexible differentiation, PBL infusion, family involvement and more.
Team-wide Literacy / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 12/26/2016 · Last modified 11/15/2019
More and more, state and national standards call on all educators to become “teachers of literacy.” ELA teacher Kevin Hodgson shares how he and his 6th grade colleagues in science, social studies and math are figuring out what this will mean in their classrooms.
Gifted and advanced fifth graders will find the four units in this book – fiction and nonfiction – packed with graphic organizers, tech, and student discourse. Each unit focuses on a text exemplar. Instructional coach Donna Wall says the units provide suitable rigor.
As they compose non-fiction paragraphs or essays, students must frame selected quotes (evidence) with appropriate context and explanation, says literacy consultant Sarah Tantillo. But they often struggle to compile these “quote sandwiches.” Try some of her solutions.
