Guided Math in Action: Building Proficiency with Small-Group Instruction
In an inviting style, Nicki Newton fully explains how to effectively engage grades 4-5 students in small-group math workshops, says reviewer Alex Valencic.
Tagged: teaching strategies
Not for Control Freaks: Increasing Student Autonomy
Reviewer Joy Kirr says Mark Barnes’ Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom can help willing teachers increase student ownership of learning.
The Common Core in Action
Reviewer Laura Von Staden says Teaching Students to Dig Deeper: The Common Core in Action by Ben Johnson is valuable for its ideas about rethinking the school enterprise in the era of the Common Core.
Mentoring Across the Hall
In Mentoring and Coaching Tips: How Educators Can Help Each Other, reviewer Jenni Miller reports that Sheryn Waterman writes in helpful ways about how educators can support new teachers and others through effective mentoring and coaching.
Strategic Writing Mini-Lessons
SpEd teacher Danielle McIntosh recommends these 22 mini-lessons with adaptations for struggling and advanced writers and English language learners found in Strategic Writing Mini-Lessons for All Students, Grades 4-8.
Crazy Good Teaching Stuff
The Collected Writings (So Far) of Rick Wormeli: Crazy Good Stuff I’ve Learned About Teaching Along the Way is a major collection of the author’s columns and articles on middle grades teaching practice and is indeed “crazy good stuff,” says reviewer Elizabeth Stein.
The Educator’s Bible
High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching by Jim Knight “spectacularly delivers on its promise” to present a comprehensive framework for great teaching, says Julie Dermody. “It’s a career investment.”
Take a Classroom U-Turn
Reviewer Chelsea Leann Collins finds the turn-around strategies in U-Turn Teaching: Strategies to Accelerate Learning and Transform Middle School Achievement work in her seventh grade classroom.
Teacher-Led PD Circles
Don’t let the Process Learning Circles in “Strengthening and Enriching Your Professional Learning Community: The Art of Learning Together” scare you: no hand-holding & singing, says reviewer Becky Osterfeld. These circles can put relevant, practical PD back in teachers’ hands.
A Festival of Book Reviews
Our Fall Book Review Festival features 15 brand-new reviews of professional books – each one written by and for middle grades educators – on teaching strategies, visual & media literacy, test preparation, the Common Core, academic icebreakers, RTI & special education, social studies, mathematics, teacher research, ESL students, and student motivation.
