U-Turn Teaching: Strategies to Accelerate Learning and Transform Middle School Achievement
By Rich Allen and Jenn Currie
(Corwin,  2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Chelsea Leann Collins

U-Turn Teaching is an insightful book that digs deep into the middle school stage of life and learning. Throughout my college education, I have poured over professional books that mostly focus on elementary and high school students, with an obligatory chapter or so about the middle grades. Finally, in U-Turn Teaching, middle school children get to be the center of attention.

This book is written in an easy-to-read style. I did not have to force myself to finish it or ever feel the urge to skim and skip the boring parts. This book pulled me in with its quirky personality, wonderful strategies, and direct examples.

As a seventh grade teacher, I’ve always found it hard to apply the strategies suggested for elementary or high school classrooms. Even tweaking them seemed impractical or impossible! However, in U-Turn Teaching, I was shown ways to build up my classroom, myself, and my students. This book focuses on classroom community, trust, and the educational needs of middle school kids. Its guiding principle is the realization that the social environment rules middle school children more than any other grade level.

Teachers & students U-Turning together

The book starts by explaining what the term “U-turn” means and why it is vital that middle school children need to do this. It also focuses on why the teacher needs to make a U-turn in his or her teaching methods.

This book is called U-Turn Teaching because by the time they reach middle school, many students have started down a negative path on their educational journey. Most kids start off in a very positive direc­tion in terms of their early attitudes toward school, learning, their fellow classmates, and teachers….(but) by the time students reach the middle years, the process of learning is changing from curi­osity, engagement, and hands on exploration to one of sitting still, listening, and writing.

 

As this change happens, a student’s enthusi­asm for school and learning drops off rapidly… And when it does, many students start to head down a negative path from which we, as teachers, must help them make a U-turn.

The book is split into six sections: Introduction, Trust, Collaborative Communities, Teams, Positive Environments, and U-Turn in Action. Through these steps, any teacher can turn his or her classroom around and inspire students to do more than just show up in class.

One of my favorite strategies in the book was the S.O.S. strategy which allows the student to call on another classmate during class discussion. It’s up to the student to make the decision to hand the reigns over to someone else and still feel successful (instead of the teacher just saying “maybe next time” and going to the next person).

I’ve also begun using the greeting strategy, which includes a handshake or password that students have to know to get into the classroom. The next day’s password is revealed sometime during each class. The strategy keeps my students paying attention all the way through. And it has them looking forward to your class the next day. In fact, it makes participation felt like a privilege instead of a chore.

This book has turned my classroom into a fun place to learn

I have used other strategies in the book as well, and my classroom is already running on a much more positive note. People who pass by now tend to hear laughter, chants, and clapping coming through the door. While some teachers may disapprove of students being out of their seats, I have now come to realize that for middle school children, talking and interacting leads to understanding.

U-Turn Teaching is true to its name. It shows in so many ways how we need to rethink “old-school” ideas. A teacher has to be brave to teach middle school, and this book helps lay a foundation for survival (for the teachers and their students!). Before I began to follow the advice of Rich Allen and Jenn Currie, I was tired, my students were bored, and motivation was at an all-time low. Now, the energy is up, noise is commonplace, and everyone is involved. U-Turn Teaching helped me get re-motivated, make learning fun for my students, and turn my year around.

If someone told me at the beginning of the year that my students would be clapping and chanting, I’d have thought they were crazy.

If someone told me at the beginning of the year that my students would be clapping and chanting, I’d have thought they were crazy. Now coming to Ms. Collins’ classroom is boredom-free — a fun moment in the day where students can be themselves, learn a lot, and grow in confidence. Any middle school teacher, whether first year or 50th year, should read this book, try out the ideas, and stand in awe at the results.

Chelsea Leann Collins is in her second year of teaching 7^th grade Language Arts and Reading at Ackerman High School. She graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and is currently obtaining a Master’s in Secondary Education, focusing on Social Studies. She loves to read books, play guitar, ride motorcycles, and make people laugh.

Everyone’s Invited! Interactive Strategies That Engage Young Adolescents
by Jill Spencer
(Association for Middle Level Education, 2008 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Sandy Wisneski

This my kind of middle school party, where everyone is invited. Author Jill Spencer crafts an invitation through research, variety and just plain fun in her book, Everyone’s Invited! Interactive Strategies That Engage Young Adolescents.

The party begins with a “Velcro for the Mind” chapter and conga-lines its way through subsequent chapters with titles that include “Show and Tell,” “Building Bridges,” and “Getting Them Moving: Get Them Thinking.” Each chapter has a plethora of engaging and higher level thinking activities you can put to use right away in your classroom. The activity suggestions span across the subjects and bring them together like a good party punch bowl conversation.

For instance, the author suggests using a comic strip to help students learn how to approach specific writing assignments. The students and teachers create a list of descriptor words together about the comic strip characters. This opens dialogue to discuss synonyms, antonyms, and metaphors. The dialogue goes beyond teacher/ student when Spencer suggests having students pair up and have a little contest to see which pair can come up with the most descriptors or the most unique ones. Using pop culture is a way for students to relate to what they are learning, the author suggests.

Globbing and giggling

Another great idea was the Extended Think-Pair-Share. It’s like the game of Glob tag. This strategy will help each student in the class develop a common understanding of a concept, term or process. Students will write down a definition of a word in their own words. Then students will pair up and share ideas until they agree on a definition that is satisfactory. Each pair joins another pair to share, discuss, and collaborate on a definition they all support. Each foursome joins another foursome. The globbing continues until there is just one group and one definition.

Animal noises. Nothing quite stirs up the party, or the classroom, like partnering up people using this strategy. I think it’s my favorite because of the disclaimer after the name: “Use this idea only if you have a high tolerance for giggles.” Here’s how you do it:

Write animal names on index cards. Write names two times for partners, three or four for small groups. Shuffle and distribute. Students find their partners or group by walking around imitating the animal by the noise it makes. I am using this right away. And my colleagues will not be surprised. :^)

Engaged and happy

A good party has a host, or teacher, who mingles and makes sure all the guests are engaged and happy. I like the 4 Corners strategy as a way to gauge how much of the lesson students are confident about. Here’s how it works: Number the corners of your classroom 1-4 and give each a different description and a different task. Students choose a corner, go there, and follow instructions such as the following:

Go to corner #1 if you can clearly explain what a metamorphic rock is.

Go to corner #2 if you can clearly explain what a igneous rock is.

Go to corner #3 if you can clearly explain what a sedimentary rock is.

Go to corner #4 if you can explain all three types of rocks.

Finally, a good party needs games. Tinker Toys to be exact. Kinesthetic learners process ideas more easily if they can manipulate objects while thinking. Demonstrate building a Tinker Toy to model and coach students through the structure of a writing assignment. Have a large piece with multiple holes around the edge to represent the main idea. Use different size pieces to represent Ideas and connection sticks to show supporting details.

This book extends an invitation you will be glad you RSVP’ed. It is full of adaptable ideas and explanations that will inspire creativity and problem solving in your classroom. You’ll find that your guests may not want to leave, and that’s a sure sign of the best kind of celebration of learning.

Sandy Wisneski is lead teacher at Catalyst Charter Middle School in Ripon, WI which opened in the fall of 2012. She is the district webmaster, tech mentor and yearbook advisor, as well as the new teacher mentor. Over the past 37 years she has become certified as a Flat Classroom Teacher and obtained her masters in reading. She enjoys challenging students to “take ownership” for their learning and  to be effective digital citizens in the world.

Transformational Teaching in the Information Age: Making Why and How We Teach Relevant to Students
By Thomas R. Rosebrough and Ralph G. Leverett
(ASCD, 2011 -  Learn more)

Reviewed by Jenni Miller

One of the biggest challenges facing teachers today is to find ways to engage all of our students, especially those who seem to be more interested in being plugged in than in learning in traditional classroom settings. This book, Transformational Teaching in the Information Age, is an encouragement for teachers who are seeking to engage all of their students in this age of information overload.

As a middle school teacher of nearly 20 years, I found this book to be incredibly encouraging and helpful. I nodded frequently as I read, highlighting many passages that spoke to my own experience. All of us must acknowledge that education is changing; the authors say “the world we were educated to believe in does not exist. What we are teaching today may be obsolete in the immediate future.” It can be hard to admit as a teacher, but it’s an important point: the world our students are growing up in is wildly different than the world of our own youth.

Part of what I most appreciated about this book is that the authors maintain that the time we live in – the age of information overload – is not the enemy of good teaching. Our charge remains the same: to teach the whole student learner.  We want to find ways to work with the information that is readily available to them (and to us) and not against it.

Insights into student engagement

The book is broken into two sections: Why We Teach: Relevant Concepts and How We Teach: Relevant Strategies. Each chapter also includes “take-away ideas” – well-marked sections that are thought provoking and include more explanations and ideas to reflect on. Transformational Teaching gives teachers a guide for realizing our main goal: not simply to transfer information from teacher to learner, but to ignite the fire of learning in our students. As teachers we want active, engaged students who are responsible for their own learning. We want our students to show the same kind of passion for their learning as they do for their iPods and cell phones. This book gives insight in how to accomplish this in our classrooms.

A practical guide by teachers who get it

As I was reading it, I felt like I was reading the words of educators who get it – who know what it’s like to be in the classroom. The authors are teachers and that comes through very clearly in their writing. This is not a theoretical or abstract book; it’s a practical guide for today’s teachers. These authors refer to some foundations of education – such as Piaget and Vygotsky – but also couch all of their work in the 21st century reality that we all face daily.

One of my favorite quotes from this book is this:

“…the best teachers practice a ‘controlled floundering’ where students are allowed to explore and discover but also to succeed and fail within a supportive, caring classroom environment. Without the experience of failing, students cannot know success.”

So much of today’s world involves instant access and instant knowing – if we don’t know the answer, we simply Google it (or ask Siri). But true learning isn’t just hearing “the right answer.” It’s asking and working and searching and striving and trying and yes, even failing. Those lessons that require deep participation on the part of our students are the ones that will stick as they move forward into a world of unlimited information and dizzying change.

For new teachers and veterans alike

I think this book should be required reading for teachers – both new and veteran. It affirms that while we are living in constantly changing times, the essence of what effective teachers do hasn’t changed. Teaching is still one of the world’s greatest – and most influential – professions. In our classrooms, we have the opportunity to educate students who will enter every possible walk of life. Having this book in my toolbox definitely gives me the extra push to be a teacher of intention in an often unintentional world.

Jenni Miller is a 6^th grade Language Arts teacher at Montevideo Middle School in Penn Laird, Virginia. She has been teaching there for 19 years and absolutely loves reading and writing with her middle school students every day.

Battling Boredom – 99 Strategies to Spark Student Engagement
by Bryan Harris
(Eye on Education, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Lorri Kingan

Battling Boredom – 99 Strategies to Spark Student Engagement is written by Bryan Harris, the professional development director for Casa Grande (Arizona) Elementary School District, and published by Eye on Education. The company’s website convincingly shares, “Our mission is to provide busy educators with practical information on professional development, educational leadership, school improvement, student assessment, data analysis, teaching skills, and other related topics.” After reading Harris’ 99 strategies, I am intrigued by what he has to say and what this company has to offer educators.

Ready-to-Use Strategies

It is obvious that Mr. Harris has had direct connection with students and teachers and understands the dynamic of a classroom. The strategies that he offers are hands-on and engaging. Some are basic (begin lesson with a story that correlates to the learning), but applicable to less experienced teachers needing ideas to get started. Other ideas are unique and engaging and will benefit teachers at all experience levels. I have 12 years of teaching experience, and found myself making notes and placing post-it notes throughout the book, intrigued by an idea like “The 2×10 Method” proposed for reluctant learners. The teacher is asked to spend 2 minutes a day, for 10 days, getting to know the student on a more personal level. The idea being that building a trusting, caring relationship with the child will assist in involving the student in participatory learning.

Technique for Use

How do you avoid this book becoming a dusty addition to your often-overlooked PD collection? My suggestion for using the plethora of ideas offered is simply to choose a few at a time to implement now. Select five of the strategies and plan lessons that include each of these new ideas, making them your own. I’m making a hard copy of the five I’ve selected to begin with and I’ll reference these ideas as I create my plans. As I gain mastery over the first set, additional strategies can be introduced in future lessons.

Easy Reference

The format of the book is conducive to quick reference: contents, strategies, suggested readings and resources. The majority of the book focuses on the ‘strategies’ with direct application in the classroom which are broken into specific categories: begin/end a lesson, independent/whole group/small group lessons, and two intriguing sections — strategies for student movement and strategies for working with reluctant learners. The resources section includes ready-to-use, printable materials that correlate with the featured strategies.

Recommendation

I would recommend Harris’ book to all teachers looking for ways to engage students. His 99 strategies are clever, simple to implement and in the hands of a good teacher will certainly help promote active learning.

Lorri Kingan is a Library Media Specialist for Green Local Schools in Green, Ohio. She teaches library media skills at Green Intermediate School which serves  1,000 fourth, fifth and sixth graders. She also oversees the library program at Green Primary School. Lorri previously taught Language Arts and Social Studies. In her free time, she enjoys being a wife, a mother to three teenage boys, an insatiable reader and an internet addict.