The Collected Writings (So Far) of Rick Wormeli: Crazy Good Stuff I’ve Learned About Teaching Along the Way
by Rick Wormeli
(Association for Middle Level Education, 2013 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Stein

Keeping our creative side front and center during these times of high stakes testing, common core standards, teacher evaluations, and data-based accountability can be quite a challenging task. Some teachers may feel like they’re losing their grip on the passion that brought them into education in the first place.

Well, fear not! The Collected Writings (so far) of Rick Wormeli can easily be the answer for the teacher who is striving to stay true to his or her innovative self. This compilation of columns, articles and essays — drawn from more than a decade of Wormeli’s writing about best classroom practice — is the perfect source for periodic infusions of positive teaching energy and wise teaching counsel.

Rick is always at my fingertips

I had the good fortune to review two of Rick’s books several years ago when I transitioned from upper elementary to middle school teaching. One of the things that makes Rick’s books so valuable is that he fills the pages with realistic answers to questions that everyday teachers wonder about. Teachers horde good resources and stack our favorite books on nearby shelves that keep them at our fingertips. That’s where Rick’s earlier books now live in my learning space, bristling with sticky notes, and this 340-page collection of “crazy good stuff” will definitely be joining them!

So listen up, teacher friends in the middle grades: With the publication of Rick’s latest book, our life just got easier. Some of the best Wormeli commentaries from Middle Ground, Educational Leadership, and online sites and discussions — once printed out or photocopied and stuck in our folders and file cabinets — are now well-organized, bound together, and ready to be reached for on that favorite book shelf.

What’s in the book

The Collected Writings (so far) of Rick Wormeli reveals a road map for what effective teachers need to think about. It’s an empowering experience that validates and extends our professional thinking. This book is ideal for classroom novices who are just beginning to hear their “inner teacher.” It is perfect for the veteran teacher who is ready for a reality check, supporting us as we sort through past experiences and beliefs in order to stay on an effective track. And this book is an invaluable tool for administrators who need to speak the language that teachers need to hear.

The book is organized into nine sections, around various topics of concern to effective teachers. Scattered throughout are great teaching ideas you’ll be excited to implement in your classroom right away, so keep your Post-it notes handy.

• The Professional Side
• Motivating and Connecting to Students
• Providing Effective Learning Experiences
• Differentiation
• Literacy in Every Subject
• Additional Teaching Techniques
• Assessment
• Grading
• Conclusion

Three big Wormeli themes

Three key ideas — each a hallmark of Rick Wormeli’s vision of teaching and learning — weave through the more than 50 selections in this book: the need for teachers to be courageous; to need to build relationships and motivate; and the need to keep our minds open and shake things up.

It Takes Courage: I just love this. Being a teacher is about being courageous. It makes sense. As Rick explains it, courage is about deciding what is most important and then using that as a driving force to get ourselves to take the next steps.

One example is the teacher who confronts a colleague who is doing something that takes up a lot of instructional time and school resources, but results in limited student learning. Courage is demonstrated by our willingness to put the importance of high-level student learning ahead of our fear that we will embarrass a colleague or violate the teacher code of silence.

Sometimes we just may need to ruffle a few feathers. Sometimes we may face rejection. And sometimes we may need to break a few rules. The bottom line: we share ownership of all student learning, and because we do, we must act with personal and professional integrity.

Rick acknowledges that stepping out and speaking up is not always easy, but we should “dedicate ourselves to the courageous acts of teaching and collegiality, even when we don’t feel like we’re up to the task.” He adds that if a teacher is not ready to be courageous, he can support others to be courageous and grow from the experience.

We need to build relationships and motivate students to step it up - At the middle level, the foundation of teaching is the relationships that teachers build with students. Wormeli states that students and their welfare are our top priority, and our classrooms serve as a platform to form relationships that make it possible to serve them effectively. “If we find ourselves tolerating rather than looking forward to our students, something is amiss,” he writes.

When our lessons go the way we planned, and our students are engaged and cooperative, we celebrate. And when other lessons fall flat due to students’ moods of the moment, we should not look at those times as interruptions in our march to cover all the content, but as another dimension of our responsibility and an opportunity to teach and care about our students as we fulfill the social-emotional part of our job description. Teaching our students is a privilege, Wormeli says, and “We can’t leave our relationships with students to chance.”

Wormeli also states a case for genuinely motivating students in the middle grades, and he shares 18 motivation strategies that teachers can easily incorporate in their daily plans. “It’s time to vanquish the notion that our students aren’t motivated or that we don’t know how to motivate them. We know exactly how to motivate students, but there’s a gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.”

And then Wormeli says something very important: “Motivation is not something we do to students; it’s how we help them reveal themselves.”

Keeping an open mind is the best way to shake up our teaching – This collection includes some or Rick’s best ideas about keeping your instruction both engaging and moving forward, while also taking into account the strengths and needs of individual students. It wouldn’t be a Rick Wormeli book without plenty of commentary on differentiated instruction. When you’re planning to differentiate, Wormeli recommends five strategies that can give you the focus you need for successful planning and implementation. And guess what? One major article about differentiation, found in the book (and originally published in ASCD’s Educational Leadership), is posted here at MiddleWeb as an excerpt.

Wormeli shares many more super teaching strategies that can’t help but energize teachers into the mindset of thinking, “Hey, I can easily do this!” or better yet, “I will do this!” Most importantly, taken as a whole the articles create the perfect blend of support and encouragement for a teacher who wants to close the personal achievement gap between thinking about what he or she would like to do in the classroom — and actually doing it! Attentive readers (and note takers) can leave these pages with an action plan in mind to implement in their classrooms.

Some other highlights

Some other popular Wormeli topics found in The Collected Works include the right way to assign and assess homework, and teaching the valuable skill of summarization (which eventually became a book.) I was particularly drawn to the section on “Sponges and Warm-ups.” As a special education teacher, I am in a few inclusion classes with another teacher. I need to be flexible to teach alongside so many varied teaching styles and philosophies. The activities shared in this section really validate and push my thinking about ways to create daily warm-up and transition activities that will help me align my style with the various teachers I work with.

Another strategy Rick shares that I hold particularly near and dear is to invite compelling questioning. He points to research showing that students learn the most when they generate and ask the questions themselves. It just makes sense. I apply varied questioning techniques every time I teach. I have come to see that if we develop students who can think analytically enough to pose meaningful questions, it should follow that they will be able to think critically and successfully when they are asked such questions.

Throughout this book — which represents more than 10 years of writing and thinking about effective teaching — Rick Wormeli includes stories from his personal experience meant not to only inspire us but to make us laugh and realize that teaching is about risk-taking and sometimes falling on our faces — and then getting up and doing it better the next time. As I read these columns and articles, I always have the sense that Rick is right there with me, encouraging and supporting my personal and professional growth — and ultimately the greater achievement of my students.

Buy and read this book. Then keep it close at hand on your top priority shelf. It’s crazy good teaching stuff.

Elizabeth Stein is a 20-year teaching veteran, specializing in literacy and special education, with experience in both upper elementary and middle school. She’s currently a middle grades teacher and new-teacher mentor in Long Island NY’s Smithtown Central School District. Elizabeth is National Board Certified in Literacy and a contributor to Education Week and other publications. Her first book, Comprehension Lessons for RTI (Grades 3-5), is published by Scholastic (June 2013).

Compare & Contrast: Teaching Comparative Thinking to Strengthen Student Learning
by Harvey F. Silver
(ASCD,  2010 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Joni Allison

Billed as “a new kind of professional development tool,” Harvey F. Silver’s series of Strategic Teacher PLC Guides provide teachers and administrators with his solution to the question How do we make our professional learning communities work? Through these guides, Silver provides a workbook for a group of 4 to 8 teachers to build what he calls a learning club.

Silver introduces and explains the guidelines to creating an effective learning club that will –

Concentrate on instructional techniques proven to make a difference
Learn new strategies interdependently
Use new strategies in their classrooms
Bring student work back to their learning clubs
Self-assess throughout the process

The rest of Compare and Contrast: Teaching Comparative Thinking to Strengthen Student Learning (which is divided into 4 sections) focuses on helping teachers integrate the compare and contrast strategy into their classroom practice. Silver encourages teachers to reflect on their own thinking, learning, and classroom practice throughout the book.

Section 1: Explains and Justifies the Use of the Compare and Contrast Strategy

Teachers begin by learning the rationale and expected outcomes of implementing comparing and contrasting into classroom lessons. Silver includes samples of students’ work that demonstrate comparative thinking. He concludes the section with his delineation of the compare and contrast strategy (description, comparison, conclusion, application) by offering a model lesson of the strategy in action in a high school classroom. This process is also artfully summarized on a poster included in the guide that teachers can use in their classrooms.

While I found the information in section 1 to be common knowledge for many teachers I work with, I do think a team of interdisciplinary teachers could use it to discuss how to implement a single strategy across their multiple disciplines.

Section 2: Coaches Teachers in Planning a Compare and Contrast Lesson

Teachers complete a jigsaw reading of four sample lesson plans. Then, working with a partner, teachers plan their own compare and contrast lesson plan. Again the lesson planning structure should not be novel to a veteran teacher. However, the new insight I took away from this section was incorporating the Habits of Mind, listed in Appendix B, into each lesson.

I loved the purposeful and meaningful application that including the Habits of Mind brings to a lesson – teachers plan for how students will use the knowledge, the understanding, and the skills acquired during instruction, beyond the classroom. (For more information on the Habits of Mind, Silver encourages readers to visit www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com.)

Another strategy I enjoyed in section 2 is Q-SPACE  (like any good educator, I crave a new acronym) which sums up techniques teachers should use when leading a classroom discussion. Especially important is the S, silence or wait time for students to think. That’s something many of us struggle with in our high-stakes, high-pressure classrooms of the 21st century.

Section 3: Guides Teachers to Evaluate a Lesson

Before completing section 3, teachers invite a colleague into their classroom to observe the delivery of the lesson planned in section 2. The Strategic PLC Guide provides observation, discussion, and sharing guidelines to help teachers reflect and refine their implementation of the compare and contrast strategy.

I find myself comparing Silver’s idea — creating a “critical friend” to collaborate and reflect on your teaching practice — to superficial colleague walk-throughs or evaluative observations of administrators. I would welcome the opportunity to sharpen my craft through the informed, focused, and effective feedback from a fellow teacher that I trust and respect.

Section 4: Analyzes Student Work

The Compare and Contrast PLC Guide concludes with teachers designing a second Compare and Contrast lesson and collecting samples of student work to analyze with a rubric. I agree that this is an invaluable part of the reflecting process. However, I was disappointed that teachers are not encouraged earlier to create and share the rubric with their students. Or better yet, involve students in the creation of the rubrics.

A place to begin

When I finished reading the Compare and Contrast Strategic PLC Guide, I found myself disappointed in the lack of academic rigor in the classroom examples and the amount of professional engagement this PLC guide would provide. There simply isn’t enough material for more than eight or nine weeks of consideration. And then what? Do teachers continue the PLC by buying another Strategic Guide or do they apply what they learned about the PLC process to another topic or strategy? I also kept wondering: Would this PLC guide truly challenge my faculty, which has many National Board Certified teachers?

That being said, this approach is not without strengths. The book makes creating a PLC approachable and troubleshoots one of the greatest obstacles to educators who attempt to create a PLC: Time. The Strategic Teacher PLC Guide does it all for you. It provides clear delineation of the compare and contrast process, and I can see myself applying this same systematic approach to other higher-order thinking skills.

So much of the Strategic PLC process reminds me of my year completing my National Board Certification, where reflection is a constant. Silver’s process creates a way to align NBPTS’s reflective process with a collaborative learning community. I think that if you and your colleagues are looking for an easy first step in establishing a collaborative PLC, you might want to take a look at Silver’s Strategic Teacher PLC Guides and find a strategy that you would like to add to your teaching repertoire.

Joni Allison is a National-Board certified ESOL teacher in Henderson County, NC where she teaches a sheltered high school social studies course and co-teaches language arts and social studies classes in grades 6-8.  In the summer of 2012, she became a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar in studying the land, culture, and history of Appalachia.  She tweets @JoniAllison23.

Interactive Modeling: A Powerful Technique for Teaching Children
by Margaret Berry Wilson
(Responsive Classroom, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Linda Biondi

Sometimes I feel like I am a Responsive Classroom groupie. Each time a new book is released from the Northeast Foundation for Children, I want to be the first one in line to purchase it. My wallet becomes thinner and my bookcase overflows with great professional literature.

Margaret Berry Wilson’s new book, Interactive Modeling: A Powerful Technique for Teaching Children, is a case in point. I had the pleasure of reading this book during summer vacation and enjoyed the book so much that I immediately wanted to go into my classroom and begin to apply the strategies I had learned.

Wilson has written a powerful guide for teachers from PK to 8th grade that can help us improve our teaching of essential academic and social skills, as well as routines and behaviors. Wilson’s practical advice builds upon best practices that teachers may already apply in their classrooms, and introduces us to the highly useful Interactive Modeling concept. This research-based book includes sample lessons, scripts, a planning guide and links to video clips demonstrating Interactive Modeling in practice.

Comprehensive solutions to familiar problems

How many times have we taught a skill or routine and wondered why the students “just don’t get it?” Why can’t they remember how to walk in the hallway? Copy homework in their agendas? Know where to put homework when they come in? Answer textbook or test questions in complete sentences?

You know that you taught the skill or routine, reminded the students how to do it, and even created a poster or cute jingle to jog their memories. And then in November, they still ask you, “Where should I put my homework?” Or you look at their test papers and wonder where the complete sentences are, especially since the directions state to write in complete sentences.

Does it all sound familiar? It certainly was to me.

Wilson’s book is a true friend. It includes ways to address all these issues, and it’s there to help you when you need help, give you practical advice you can immediately use, and applaud your successes.

As I read the book, I felt as if I had a chance to observe a classroom in action while Ms. Wilson moderated the scenario for me. Her style of writing made the book easy to read and comprehend. She wove anecdotes and stories into each chapter, providing the reader with a sense of connection to other teachers and to the author.

The 7-Step Learning Process

When I read the scenario about teaching students how to paraphrase a research source, I began to  wonder if Wilson had peeked into my lesson plans. Her seven-step model takes no more than seven minutes, but is efficient and effective.

Even though research is taught beginning in elementary school, when students come into my fifth grade classroom, many still think that if you change a word or two, you are not plagiarizing. This model of instruction will help them understand the right way to share what they’ve learned from research. It provides students with a clear and guided process they follow each time as the teacher is initiating, modeling, explaining, thinking aloud and showing.

The seven-step format not only shows children exactly what to do, it guides them into noticing key elements of the modeling lesson, and gives them opportunities for practice while the teacher coaches.

1. 1. Describe a positive behavior you will model.
2. 2. Model the behavior.
3. 3. Ask students what they noticed.
4. 4. Ask student volunteers to model the same behavior.
5. 5. Ask students what they noticed.
6. 6. Have the class practice.
7. 7. Provide feedback.

We remember what we do ourselves

As I read the book, I thought of a maxim by my “dear old friend” Benjamin Franklin: Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. How often have we heard that people remember 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they hear and see, and 80 percent of what they hear, see, and do.

As Wilson explains, when the 7-step technique is used consistently in the classroom, children will quickly know what to do, they will remember better, and discipline problems will be at a minimum because students will be actively engaged independent learners. There will be more time on task and students will become responsible and active citizens of their classroom.

Ideas for all grade levels

Although many examples in the book are focused on an elementary classroom, Wilson provides the reader with guidelines to adapt the lessons for all levels and disciplines. Her book is not just a how-to book — a “warm and fuzzy book about teaching” — but a book that helps to build a caring, active, intellectually stimulating community of learners. It builds a classroom environment where the teacher wakes up in the morning and says, “I can’t wait to get to get to school today.”

Margaret Berry Wilson reminds us that the goal of the Interactive Modeling “isn’t compliance, but cooperation.” Her kind words of advice ring true: “Give Interactive Modeling a try, be patient, plan lessons carefully, reflect on how they went, and adjust as needed. …embrace your mistakes and the self-learning that results.”

I believe this is a book that should be in the hands of all teachers in the content areas, as well as teachers of English language learners, special area teachers, librarians, and administrators.

Linda Biondi is a fifth grade teacher at Pond Road Middle School in Robbinsville, New Jersey. She has written for Education World, the Responsive Classroom newsletter, and the ERIC Clearinghouse. She’s also the recipient of several grants that promote inquiry and a literacy enriched curriculum, and a consultant with the National Writing Project.

Teach Like a Champion Field Guide: A Practical Resource to Make the 49 Techniques Your Own
by Doug Lemov
(Jossey-Bass, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Susan Shaver

Who in the teaching profession doesn’t continually strive to improve teaching technique, classroom control, organization, student attention, increased learning, retention, and test scores? In this massive workbook, Doug Lemov has compiled a companion guide to the 49 techniques presented in his 2010 Teach Like a Champion. The goal: to help teachers, whether new or experienced, strengthen those areas already strong in your classroom, improve weaker areas, and “make the 49 techniques your own.”

The book is extensive, 457 pages in all, which may be intimidating at first glance. But the organization of the contents is logical and sequential, so the material is quite accessible.

Friendly and clear organization

From the very beginning, every step regarding utilization of the 49 techniques is explained in a friendly conversational style — from how to proceed through the book to polishing the techniques in the classroom. Everything about the presentation is interactive, with lots of space provided for group and personal responses. Even the table of contents includes checkboxes by each chapter/technique for users to track individual progress.

Divided into seven areas of emphasis, techniques fall into one of the following groups – academic expectations, planning for high academic achievement, structuring and delivering lessons, engaging students, classroom culture, setting and maintaining high behavioral expectations, building character and trust. This allows the user to find and focus on techniques unique to those sections.

The introduction

The introduction provides valuable recommendations for where and how to start with the guide, how to benefit from the video clips included on the enclosed DVD, recommendations for recording your classroom teaching, working with a group and/or partner, and the value of brainstorming during the process.

A brief background on the Uncommon Schools charter organization — the originator of many of the ideas and activities found in this book — supports the value and success of using the techniques in the classroom. A map that follows the intro conveys for users a valuable visual of how each technique interacts with the others, thus imparting a picture of the whole learning framework.

The chapters

At the beginning of each chapter, a brief overview explains the technique presented and identifies its role and value. The rubric that follows helps the user to determine where his/her levels of proficiency, confidence and comfort fall in using the technique in the classroom. This serves as a great starting point in self-analysis.

Video clips (included on the DVD) corresponding to the technique are listed, and a sidebar includes notes about other techniques that can be observed in the same clip. Each technique also includes questions for discussion and self-reflection, suggestions for practicing (with a group or study partner), occasional role-plays, and then advice on trying the technique in the classroom — all of which should lead to mastery.

Each chapter concludes with a final section designed to analyze and evaluate the classroom experience and help with troubleshooting any problems. Additional text boxes with supplementary challenges and solutions, as well as a chart to record individual progress, conclude every chapter.

The DVD

The accompanying DVD includes helpful video examples from Uncommon Schools classrooms, with teachers actively implementing one or more of the 49 Techniques. Most clips are just long enough to show the technique in action; display student attentiveness, cooperation, etc., and indicate how valuable utilization of the technique(s) is to the classroom. These videos are very interesting, easy to access, and a great accompaniment to the written material in the book.

The techniques

We all strive to improve our teaching, and I think that utilizing even a few of the 49 techniques can bring about improvement in student responsiveness and classroom participation. Many are easily adaptable for all grade levels and classroom subjects. We probably do lots of them without even realizing it; watching others do them may help us improve our own technique.

As recommended in the introduction, choosing to begin with Cold Call along with No Opt Out (techniques 1 and 22) will encourage students in your classroom to be actively involved, attentive, and on task. Other useful techniques help set the tone in the classroom.

Because the book is formatted as a guide or workbook, with a massive amount of information, it’s obviously not designed to be consumed in only a few readings. Instead, teachers can read, think, process, discuss, implement, and hone techniques over time. With that in mind, I think that attempting to master all 49 techniques during ongoing instruction would be difficult to manage, exhausting, and likely to take away the teacher’s focus on subject content and other teaching strategies. Balance is necessary — these techniques can certainly make a worthy contribution to teaching practice, but they are only a part of the whole classroom experience.

An excellent resource!

I love books, and especially books on teaching, working with students, and developing classroom materials. Any time I come across a resource that provides new and useful information to refresh my classroom teaching, it’s very satisfying. This field guide was just such a book.

Even though it’s unlikely that I will master every single technique, I found many useful ones to apply in my classroom this fall, from Tight Transitions-#30, Entry Routine-#28, Binder Control-#31, to of course, Vegas-#27, which creates fun in learning, and the Joy Factor-#46 where students celebrate the joy of gaining knowledge and skills. I’m glad the new school year has begun!

Susan Shaver is the K-12 Library Media Specialist with Hemingford Public Schools in Hemingford, Nebraska, where she also teaches a 7^th grade reading class and junior high general music. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, she holds a Bachelor’s in Music Education degree, endorsements in Library Media and English, and a Master of Science in Educational Technology degree from Chadron State College.

‘Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers
by Heather Wolpert-Gawron
(Eye on Education, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Cindi Rigsbee

As a middle school teacher, I have to admit I was tingly with excitement to receive my reviewer’s copy of ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers by Heather Wolpert-Gawron, the “Tweenteacher” herself. Having read Ms. Wolpert-Gawron’s blog for years, I have on numerous occasions whispered to myself, “She gets me. She really gets me.”

So having the opportunity to read about “the pride and enjoyment of working with this energetic and ever-changing group of students” (as described by Milton Chen, PhD in the foreword) put me right in my element, and ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews didn’t disappoint.

I was hooked from the beginning, the introduction actually, when Ms. Wolpert-Gawron opened by describing middle school kids. This is a definition that, in my experience, has defied words. All the clichés are out there – “hormones on wheels,” for example – but they don’t quite capture the Tween kid like these words: HOWLER MONKEY. Yes, in a beautiful analogy that involves caterpillars and butterflies, the Tweenteacher encapsulated that which is the middle school child.I had to read the rest.

The rest is an amazing journey of the middle school experience – it begins with a trip into a “’tween-centric” classroom. I read this chapter and nodded up and down continuously. Here is a teacher in California describing a middle school classroom that looks and feels like my classroom in North Carolina, right down to the reading area and the work display! I felt some definite affirmation! But truly it took me over 20 years to internalize the practice of setting up my classroom in a way that works for Tweens. I couldn’t help but think of how this book could empower beginning teachers early in their careers.

Not just for beginners

However, this book isn’t only for beginning teachers. There were many chapters that I soaked up, words on the page that made me feel like a new teacher, even though I’ve been at this for awhile. I loved the description of how to build a classroom based on community. That entire chapter is a bag of tools for establishing a culture in a classroom that works for everyone’s learning experience. I finished that chapter wishing that I could be a student in Ms. Wolpert-Gawron’s room. I bet every student feels valued and safe and important.

And the tips just kept coming. From ideas for ways to rev up the Tween brain for learning…to strategies for enabling kids to look at, and reflect on, data so they know “who they are as learners,” ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews is a teacher handbook for teaching middle school. It was somewhere around the brain chapter (“Tips for Teaching Tweens about Their Brains and How They Learn”) that I realized a teacher could surely pick up this book and open anywhere and begin reading. It’s a manual, a guide for teaching, and each page holds secrets to mastering the arts of teaching Tweens!

Much in the book is relevant to other student groups, too. The chapter on making time meaningful could surely relate to those distracted high schoolers as well. I enjoyed reading the “possible responses” to that age old question, “Why do we have to learn this?” Ms. Wolpert-Gawron has accepted the challenge of answering the question that every teacher hears repeatedly, and like every other topic she tackles in the book, she does so thoughtfully, using reason and wit: “Our brain is a muscle and like any muscle in your body, it needs to be worked out before you can do any heavy lifting….”

Favorites and a few faux pas

Some of my favorite parts of the book? A section entitled “Typical Argument Traps” (is there a Tween teacher who doesn’t need to understand those?). And I love the personal stories that enable the reader to connect with her (did she really have an emergency appendectomy while studying at Oxford University?). Then there are those handy instructional strategies that the reader can use immediately (thinking aloud, quick draw, rubrics, a book-begging letter…the list goes on and on).

I can honestly say that I loved this book. It’s my new “go-to” book for teacher gifts and for beginning teacher meeting door prizes. The only negative remark I can even muster is the fact that one of my favorite television shows, Dancing with the Stars, is referred to as Dances with the Stars in chapter three, and there were a couple of typos in other places as well (one chapter is entitled “Tips for Speaking Their Language Though the Use of Social Media” in the table of contents). I bet everything was typed correctly in the draft, but one of those darn HOWLER MONKEYS got hold of the manuscript before it went to print.

Still, I finished this book with a smile on my face. And looking back, I started that way, too, while reading Ms. Wolpert-Gawron’s description of herself as a Tween and answering the questionnaire “Who were you in middle school?” that she included in the introduction. I have to say those answers took me back a LONG way. And that journey, like the book, was a fun and educational trip.

Cindi Rigsbee began her career as a high school English and drama teacher but quickly found that her heart belonged to the Howler Monkeys; she has taught 1,000s of them in the past 25 years. A National Board Certified Teacher and proud member of the Teacher Leaders Network, Cindi is currently on loan from Gravelly Hill Middle School to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The North Carolina Teacher of the Year in 2009, Cindi was named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year. Her book Finding Mrs. Warnecke: The Difference Teachers Make tells the story of finding her first grade teacher 45 years after an exciting adventure in an elementary school basement. You can find Cindi at cindirigsbee.com.

Another review of. . .

‘Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers
by Heather Wolpert-Gawron
(Eye on Education, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Laurie Wasserman

As a fellow middle school educator (or ‘tween teacher as Heather Wolpert-Gawron nicknames herself), I am always eager for new ways to reach my middle school students. I often wonder what teaching strategies and classroom helpful hints are out there to provide help for me and make life in school more interesting for all of us.

My students, who are not only ‘tweens, but learning disabled, have attention challenges, reading and writing disabilities, health disabilities, are on the Autism Spectrum, and often don’t feel positive about themselves when it comes to learning. As a special education co-teacher working with 4 general education colleagues, I worry if these students are just plain frustrated because they aren’t grasping what my teammates and I are hoping for them to achieve: a successful middle school experience.

Heather has provided a practical guide for us: it’s full of tips and real-life stories from her classroom as well as some useful downloads and technology-oriented tools, crucial in this era of teaching digital learners. Her book is broken down into 15 chapters ranging from How to Develop A Tween-Centric Classroom Library for Any Subject, Keeping Their Time Meaningful, Speaking Their Language Through the Use of Social Media, and my favorite: Tips for Teaching Deeper Thinking.

Ideas for newbies and veterans alike

The beauty of this guide (because it’s more than a book) is that a teacher can skip around and pick topics that are most important as they develop a plan for the fall, or face an urgent situation during the school year. Although my 23rd First Day of Sixth Grade is approaching as I write this (24th if you count my own!), I am already looking forward to using Heather’s ideas from Chapter 6 on Tips for Teaching Deeper Thinking.

Heather Wolpert-Gawron

Here she shares the concept of Thinking Aloud, something so critical to us as teachers when we ask students what they learned the previous day — or if they have any questions — and we’re met with a wall of silence or a fence with Nothing scrawled on it. We know they have questions, but as Heather so eloquently states, “Their brains are always on, always working, always questioning, always relating. More often than not, these students just don’t know how to express or retrieve the fleeting thoughts they have.”

Many of us use the Think Aloud strategy when reading novels, but not so much in the situation she describes. Heather first shares the idea of metacognition, or “thinking about thinking,” with her students. Then she models it. First she responds to a writing prompt on her overhead, then she sketches thought bubbles to show what’s on her mind as she’s writing. Then she may put voice to her thinking. I will utilize this strategy in my academic support class to demonstrate how writers go about the writing process — something that all my students struggle with.

A small sample

Another favorite idea I look forward to using as I introduce myself to my students the first day is a variation of “Two Truths and  a Lie.” When Heather was in the California Summer Writing Project she observed Erick Gordon using an activity called “Find the Fib.” She writes a list of 10 facts about herself, and the kids have to guess which one is a fib. For each one they guess is true, she shares one minute of a story. She then finishes this as a segue into a memoir or narrative writing activity. What a great way to introduce yourself to your students AND guide them in the writing process. Plus it’s fun!

This is a small sample of what’s in store if you decide to stage your own scavenger hunt inside Heather Wolpert Gawron’s very useful and entertaining book. Need some new ideas for the upcoming school year? A tween-brain-friendly lesson? Some basic insight into what researchers say about the thinking, feeling and acting coming out of that brain? A few more ways to excite and motivate young adolescents in your middle grades classroom?

In every case, ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews is the book for you.

Laurie Wasserman is a Nationally Board Certified 6th-grade special needs teacher in a city just north of Boston, Massachusetts. She has been teaching for 32 years, has written articles for Education Week, Teacher Magazine and Education World, all about her love of working with kids who “learn differently.” She is also a co-author of the 2011 book Teaching 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Public Schools Now and in the Future. Laurie is a member of the Boston Writing Project, and Teacher Leaders Network, as well as a new teacher mentor. Later this fall she will co-author a new MiddleWeb blog about the co-teaching experience.

Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day
by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams
(ISTE/ASCD, 2012 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Marsha Ratzel

While I’m not sure if you’ll flip over this book, authored by two early proponents of a much-talked-about instructional strategy, you’ll likely appreciate its authenticity. Flip Your Classroom comes straight from the current practice of real classroom teachers.

Here’s brief explanation of “flipping” from the publisher’s publicity materials:

It started with a simple observation: Students need their teachers present to answer questions or to provide help if they get stuck on an assignment; they don’t need their teachers present to listen to a lecture or review content. From there, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams began the flipped classroom: Students watched recorded lectures for homework and completed their assignments, labs, and tests in class with their teacher available.

I think Flip Your Classroom would be an excellent book club study for a professional learning community. The chapters are well organized and clearly present the authors’ thinking about why a flipped instructional style worked for them and their students. At only 112 pages, It’s also a fast read. The chapter subheadings might be turned into great discussion questions so that your faculty can decide if this model of learning warrants further investigation. Chapter 3, “Why You Should Flip Your Classroom” walks through 15 potential benefits of flipping, paving the way for the reader and a study group to carefully consider if this is a good match for their students and curriculum.

Any individual teacher wondering where to start with flipping will also appreciate this book. Chapter 4 is titled “How to Implement the Flipped Classroom,” and it’s one of the best how-to chapters I’ve ever read on an education related topic. It was easy to hear Bergmann and Sams explaining ideas to me as I read, and I had a clear picture of the steps I needed to undertake if I wanted to start flipping in my own middle school classroom. I also think the chapter presented many alternative ways to get to the same ending point — not something you normally find in a how-to chapter.

A teacher-friendly book

I think you’ll like the tone of the writing. It was easy to read and easy to imagine how these teachers began to explore this instructional style and kept working at making improvements. There are tons of tips, including lists of things you should have on hand should you choose to implement. What I like most about the book is that it’s clear these author-teachers are using technology because they believe it will improve their instruction and help students learn more. They didn’t flip their classroom because it was the latest fad or just to use tech for tech’s sake.

It’s inspiring to read how practicing teachers found a way to create more “time” to spend with their students. Bergmann and Sams describe how much better they know their students and their students’ capabilities after adopting the flipped model. Instead of spending the bulk of their school time lecturing or explaining content to the whole class, they now use their classes as student-driven workshops or labs where they monitor, confer and teach tailored mini-lessons to smaller groups of students.

A little too much, too fast

Click to see infographic and read pro/con comments about flipping.

The last section of the book introduces the next iteration of the flipped classroom — something the authors call the Flipped-Mastery Model. WOW. I will readily admit that I was still reeling from all the basic decisions I needed to make just to get started: how it all fits with my teaching philosophy; the pragmatics of making videos (no small undertaking); the impact on lesson planning — all the instructional issues that will surely come to your mind as well.

Just when all this was churning away in my mind, along came Chapters 7 and 8, taking me on a fast walk through the advanced version of flipping before I was quite sure this was an instructional strategy I could accomplish. I understand why the authors didn’t want to chop the topics into two books, but I would have preferred that the last two chapters stick with basics.

Even with these reservations, in the last two chapters Bergmann and Sams continue to provide the reader with a clear, compelling tale of what they did and why and how they did it. So what is the Flipped-Mastery Model? It individualizes and differentiates instruction based on student needs and each student’s pace of learning. “Flipped mastery allows the direct instruction to be asynchronous, so differentiation for each student becomes possible,” they explain. If I were really ready for this level, I think I’d need more than these two chapters to help me achieve Flipped Mastery, but it’s a wonderful bird’s eye view of the possibilities of using this instructional strategy.

Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day is a definite keeper for my professional library. It’s one of a number of books I’ve seen lately that may be part of a new style: short, to-the-point, and written expressly to help teachers study new ideas.

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Marsha Harding Ratzel is a middle school math and science teacher. Marsha lives in Prairie Village, Kansas and has been actively involved investigating how to best utilize technology in the classroom for much of her teaching career. She earned her National Board Certification in science in 2001. She blogs at Reflections of a Techie and contributes to the Voices from the Learning Revolution blog.

Marsha wrote about her own teaching journey in this recent MiddleWeb guest article.

Get Graphic! Using Storyboards to Write and Draw Picture Books, Graphic Novels, or Comic Strips
by Mark Thurman and Emily Hearn
Pembroke, 2010 – Learn more

by Laura Reasoner Jones, NBCT

As a person who works with upper elementary students to both organize their written work and to use photography and video to create stories, I was eager to see this book, and I was not disappointed.

As most teachers and parents know, getting a child to sit down and plan before starting a project is usually more difficult than getting the project completed. This book, with its entertaining style and engaging graphics, can lead a student through the planning process easily and thoroughly. Each chapter opens with a short guide for adults, and then talks directly to the students.

Get Graphic! begins by encouraging the student to read and discover what she likes, so that her creation will be pleasing to the future reader. Most kids will skip over this, of course, but it is there for their perusal and for the adult working with them. Then the authors jump right into plot development and art, illustrating how to show emotion with stick figures and facial expressions. And then they recommend (shocker!) research, under the guise of making the characters and backgrounds more believable.

A great deal of time in spent on drawing—the part most kids want to do. And this book with its many clear explanatory drawings makes that part seem simple, which is great for our reluctant artists. Thurman and Hearn make drawing scenes from different points of view look easy, or at least easier, to this non-artist. I particularly like the manner in which they give the theory behind the different points of view for drawings. For example, close-up-views are the most emotional part of the story. They also help us understand how to portray action and perspective.

Slow Down and Organize

As they guide the student through the creation process, the authors emphasize organization and creating drafts, traits we all want to see in our kids. They provide storyboard examples and templates that made me want to get out some markers and start something—very tempting! In my experience, storyboarding is one of the hardest things for elementary students to do—they want to rush to the end and see the finished product, and they are invariably disappointed. This book can go a long way toward stemming those impulses as it encourages and rewards carefully planning and execution while keeping interest high.

Other chapters in the book include detailed instructions on how to assemble books, making and using collage illustrations, using collages of letters and finding and using patterned papers, styles of lettering and making covers. I also appreciated the vocabulary pages titled “The Way an Artist Speaks”—we always need this but seldom find it in books for both teachers and students.

Writing the story comes last, as it should in a well-planned student effort. By the time you and your students have worked your way to this point, writing is almost effortless—all the planning and preparation is done.

As a technology specialist and elementary teacher, I would highly recommend Get Graphic! for all K-12 students—in content areas, art, and in supplemental programs using technology to create visual products.

And most of all, who could resist a book that has as its very first chapter title “Read, Read, Read!”

Laura Reasoner Jones is a National Board Certified Teacher in early childhood education and also holds a master’s degree in library media. She is a technology specialist in a northern Virginia public elementary school and also supports STEM careers clubs for girls.