Welcome to Our
"Of Particular Interest" Archives!

STUDENTS: "WHAT HELPS US LEARN"
Here's the last in a series of articles from the What Kids Can Do organization drawn from their new book Fires in the Middle School Bathroom. In this segment, middle schoolers talk about what teachers and schools can do to help them grow into confident learners. You will likely nod your head and say, "Yes, schools should be doing these things." Earlier book excerpts cover topics from "what makes us tick" to fair grading practices and school lunch. The book would be a good addition to your professional library. You can find out more about it here (it's about $16.50 at Amazon).

GRANT WIGGINS' BIG IDEAS
Now here's a treat -- a site that features articles by Grant Wiggins (Understanding by Design) and his associates on effective teaching and learning strategies. It's called "Big Ideas," and there's lots of interesting stuff on grading, curriculum design, report cards, effective feedback, and other topics familiar to those who follow Wiggins' work. Also (and maybe this should be our headline) there's a link to another Wiggins website, THE FACULTY ROOM, which features a dozen bloggers selected by Wiggins and his staff. Every couple of weeks, Wiggins poses a big-tent question and the diverse crew of bloggers post their thoughts on the issue. Readers can add their two cents by commenting on the blog entries -- and many do. The result is lots of high-quality content. Recent topics explore whether teachers should assign homework and why, whether teaching is overrated as a profession, whether should we be grouping students, and much, much more. What a great idea!

NANCY YI FAN — A WRITING INSPIRATION
There's much that might interest and inspire young writers at the Nancy Yi Fan website. Last year, at age 14, HarperCollins published Fan's first fantasy novel Swordbird, which reached the New York Times childrens' bestseller list. Her new book Sword Quest is a prequel, as she explains in an interesting podcast that students will enjoy. You'll find a link to the podcast on Fan's website, along with lots of other interesting material, from video interviews (Martha Stewart, Today Show) to Fan's tips for middle school writers. There's even a Halloween story she wrote in fifth grade. In the Young Writers' Chatroom, kids can post reviews of Fan's books, talk about their own writing ideas, and jump to a blog she kept during her recent US book tour. Also see this story about Fan on Jackie Chan's website. Nancy arrived in America in 2000 speaking no English. "Who could imagine that only six years later she would become a published author — in her second language!"

INCLUSION: A MARRIAGE MADE IN MATH CLASS
The daily ASCD SmartBrief newsletter featured this essay from Teacher Magazine last week, with the headline: "Teacher Collaboration Makes Inclusion Work." It's a wonderful article by longtime MiddleWeb contributor Laurie Wasserman. Laurie, a special education teacher, and her colleague Craig who teaches 'regular' students, decided to experiment and co-teach an inclusionary Connected Math class. The results were good, test scores went up, and they'll be doing it again next year (along with the rest of their school!). The essay includes lots of info about their collaboration and why they think it worked. Laurie teaches sixth graders in Medford, MA on the outskirts of Boston.

KIDS MAKING HISTORY WITH PHOTOSTORY (ETC)
This new article at Edutopia describes how students are using Microsoft's free PhotoStory and other digital software like Google Maps and CommunityWalk to create reports in history, geography and other content classes. "The collaborative environment of the Web is especially conducive to creating place-based digital-storytelling projects," the article says. "These projects can teach kids about such subjects as social studies or literature using digital tools -- maps and timelines, for instance -- that will develop a relationship between narrative and history, time and place." And the software tools are easy to use. Really! The Edutopia story includes comments from talented teacher Brenda Dyck, who is an editor at MidLink magazine and tech integration columnist for NMSA's Middle Ground. You can visit some of her projects, if you're looking for a bit of inspiration.

PODCAST: LEADING AN URBAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
What does it take to lead an inner-city middle school? James Dierke, NASSP's new Middle Level Principal of the Year, talks about his work at Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco CA in this podcast. Dierke is interviewed by Patti Kinney, another national principal of the year who now leads NASSP's Center for Middle Level Leadership. The interview, recorded in March 2008, is about 20 minutes long and can be heard online by simply clicking the link above. To download to iTunes, visit this page. While you're there, check out other interviews in the series, including a chat with famed "What Works" author Robert Marzano, who talks about the research on effective instructional support.

SCHOOL TUBE
Okay, we're loving the new website SchoolTube! You know about YouTube (the better and the worse), and you may have visited TeacherTube, where teachers share multimedia materials with colleagues. SchoolTube has some similarities but puts a special emphasis on student-made products. As the promo material states: "SchoolTube is for educators who want to share approved videos nationwide; empower students and encourage creativity; join recognized leaders in video broadcasting; access lesson plans and helpful classroom information, and encourage students to compete in moderated competitions." Click on the Help button in the top navigation bar to learn more about the hows and whys — including why it's safe. There are tips on unblocking SchoolTube on your school's network and instructions on how to share videos from your own school.

TUNE INTO WEATHER CHANNEL RESOURCES
The Weather Channel Kids website has plenty to interest young students of meteorology. Start here at the teacher resources page to reach standards-based lesson plans for Gr. 6-10 in several categories, including Forecast Earth, Weather Classroom and Weather Ready (safety). The educator resources are "by teachers for teachers" and are prepared with environmental and earth science curriculum objectives in mind.

TIERED MATH & SCIENCE ASSESSMENTS
Geoffrey Smith, the middle level principal at Jakarta (Indonesia) International School, is a long-time subscriber who enjoys our resources and wants to give something back. Did he ever! At the website Challenge by Choice in Middle School, JIS teacher Dave Suarez shares a tiered approach to teaching "extremely diverse" student groups. Suarez hopes other MS teachers will contribute their own ideas. At the page titled "Tiered Instruction and Assessment," you'll find Suarez's rationale for (and results of) differentiating for diverse readiness levels. In his model, students are given the responsibility for determining their own readiness for assignments at various challenge levels. A series of videos demonstrates how this works in actual classrooms. You'll also find examples of math and science units and assessments "tiered by challenge."   

QUICK RESOURCE: PERSUASIVE WRITING
A recent issue of Classroom Tools and Tips (from EduHound) pulls together a nice collection of web resources about persuasive writing. You'll find basic principles, lesson plans and activities, and several strategies to involve students in writing editorials and other opinion pieces.

MOTIVATING STUDENTS IN THE MIDDLE YEARS
This in-depth feature story in Education Week (March 18) reports on the progress of middle school improvement in the decade since the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform organized to "infuse higher academic standards into what critics deemed the touchy-feely world of middle schools." Ten years later, Kathleen Kennedy Manzo writes, "many teachers are still grappling with ways to motivate students to excel intellectually while helping them adapt to the dramatic physical and emotional changes that come with puberty." Manzo visits high poverty Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham NC (chosen by the Forum as a "school to watch") to see how one school is meeting the challenge to provide a "mix of rigor, relevance, and responsiveness." Non-subscribers can read this story after going through a quick no-cost registration process. 

LISTEN AND LEARN -- BULLYING AND MORE
The National Middle School Association's new podcast feature continues to produce interesting interviews, which you can hear online or download to your MP3 device. (For that matter, you can burn a CD!) The latest audio offering features a 15-minute chat titled "The War Against Bullying," featuring Charlene Giannetti and Margaret Sagarese, who share their expertise about young adolescent behavior and discuss the new NMSA publication Keep Cliques and Bullies from Invading Your School. Another recent podcast explores relationship-building with parents and families. And there's an interview with second-year teacher Nick Toombs, who reflects on some of his experiences as a new middle grades educator. Listen while you drive to school.

TOP GEOGRAPHY SITES — OH, IT'S A BLOG
Larry Ferlazzo, the California teacher who identifies and organizes ELL-friendly teaching resources, recently posted his top 12 "Best Websites For Learning & Teaching Geography." Most are middle-school friendly too. Larry decided not to include Google Earth. His rationale: "It requires a download and, two, I just haven't found it particularly useful." The resources are posted on Larry's blog, so you're free to disagree and share your favorites. If your school system is still blocking ALL blogs, this is one more example of why that's a dumb policy. Blogs are tools to transmit content across the Web and include a mechanism that makes it easy to keep up with new material. In terms of content, they are not inherently better or worse than websites. Yet many IT folks continue to impose a blanket ban on blogs. Smart systems are more discriminating and give teachers routes by which they can get to blog-based materials that improve teaching and learning. Which brings us to...

ARE WE TEACHING IN THE DARK?
Marc Prensky, a leading advocate for technology-infused learning, is making the rounds of education conferences and large-district PD days, pushing his message that NetGen students actually have greater learning opportunities outside of school than in the classroom. In this recent article for Educational Leadership (03/08), Prensky uses a "light/dark" analogy to make his case that educators are failing to capitalize on digital tools and the Internet. School systems, he says, have somehow decided that "all the light that surrounds kids — that is, their electronic connections to the world -- is somehow detrimental to their education. So systematically, as kids enter our school buildings, we make them shut off all their connections." He has some ideas about how to turn on the lights for reluctant learners.

MOSTLY MEDIEVAL
While we suspect that many teachers who enjoy the opportunity to enchant students with goings-on in the Middle Ages already know about this site, it's a big Web out there. The Internet Scout describes Mostly Medieval as "a rather fine potpourri," originally created by novelist Susan Wallace for her own research. Sections include "Ballads," "Beasties," "Book of Days," "God and War," and "Heraldry." In "Ballads," for example, visitors can read (and perhaps sing) through such Top 10 medieval hits as "Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne," "Gude Wallace," and (shiver) "The Unquiet Grave." Inside the "Book of Days," young researchers will learn more about holy days and celebrations throughout the year. And there's an A-Z index to look up specific topics of interest.

SIXTH GRADERS ANALYZING EMILY DICKINSON??
Could your sixth graders make sense of these lines from poet Emily Dickinson? "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant- / Success in Circuit lies / Too bright for our infirm Delight / The Truth's superb surprise / As Lightning to the Children eased / With explanation kind / The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind-." You might not think so, but Terry Roberts and Laura Billings of the National Paideia Center want to convince you otherwise in their recent article "Thinking is Literacy, Literacy Thinking." They describe how two middle school teachers in North Carolina overcame their own doubts as they learned to coach a class of heterogeneous 6th graders through an examination of the poem. Pretty awesome! And it's not just about English — they offer examples in MATH AND HISTORY, too.

FOLLOW-UP: ZEROES ARE IRRESPONSIBLE
After reading an item in our last newsletter, it seems a bunch of you visited teacher Bill Ferriter's blog where he describes his "no zero" policy. Bill enjoyed your company and has posted a second blog in response. He writes: ""Since Middleweb ran my piece, I've gotten a ton of questions from teachers who are curious about what I'm doing and wondering how to make it work in their own settings. Here are some of the more common questions and my replies." Take advantage of Bill's generous gift of time — and if you missed the first blog, there's a link, of course!

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOK CIRCLES
This delightful description of a sixth grade program at Blue Ridge Middle School in Virginia will interest language arts teachers (of course) and also anyone doing advisory, and perhaps readings in social studies and other subjects. With some prompting from teacher Alisa Gladstone, "Students meet in small groups based on themes and start talking." If the discussion veers off course, that's sort of the point: "Literature circles are designed to help students connect with the material." The circle strategy, if managed appropriately (teacher tips are included) works well with mixed ability groups, engages reluctant readers, and, Gladstone says, "teaches the art of conversation." Resources include other stories about reading circles and a video featuring a group of teachers who are practicing the process.

MIDDLE SCHOOL *VIRTUAL* BOOK CIRCLES (GRIN)
Like the book circle idea, but think it's a bit old-hat? How about holding your student discussion groups in the virtual world? Here's another article from Edutopia, describing just such an activity at Suffern (NY) Middle School - where students (after creating online avatars, complete with bios) are talking about books on the American Revolution, using the Teen Second Life web platform. Lots of tips and resources to help you get started. Here's a comment left by a teacher: "Thank you for a grounded article examining real life classroom applications of the metaverse."

MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH -- TEACHING STRATEGIES
Another great resource from the folks at Ohio State's Middle School Portal. Compiled by Dr. Terry Herrera, who taught math in both middle and high school, this online guide for teachers combines discussion, descriptions and weblinks "to provide resources that support your personal instructional style while, perhaps, introducing materials that encourage you to experiment with a wider range of teaching techniques." You'll find lesson ideas that reach out into the world beyond the classroom walls, and others than integrate technology and literature. You can add to your collection of "rich" problems and math games, and learn how to combine instruction and assessment in seamless ways. We'd bookmark this one!

NO ZEROES AND NO PLACE TO HIDE
Students at Glenpool (OK) Middle School can no longer take a zero and "opt out of an education," teachers say. This story from the Tulsa World describes the school's new "Zeroes Aren't Permitted" (ZAP) policy, created last fall to address a rising failure rate fed by students who did not earn passing grades because they did not complete assigned work. At lunchtime, students are sent to a special ZAP classroom "where their assignments await them." It's more work for teachers but most say the payoff is worth it. "We'll do it again next year without a doubt," says the principal. QUESTION: Would this strategy be embraced in your school? In a recent blog, middle school teacher Bill Ferriter reflected on his no-zero late-work policy and the criticism he receives from some teaching colleagues.

THE VIRTUAL BODY
Many biology teachers are likely familiar with this website, which offers interactive animated exhibits of the body. Others will be delighted to find it. The site includes four sections: Brain, Skeleton, Heart and Digestive Tract. There are narrated tours, information boxes that pop up when you mouse over them -- even a "Build a Skeleton" feature that will test students' knowledge of the human framework (and a similar "assembly challenge" for the digestive track/. Also available in Spanish. Requires Flash Player.

AUTISM: THE DIFFERENCE MODEL
If you don't regularly read Wired (a popular magazine about trends in technology, science and digitally infused life), you may not have seen this interesting article profiling Amanda Baggs, a 27-year-old autistic woman who created something of a sensation on the Web with her YouTube video in which she describes (using synthesized voice software) "what's going on inside her head as she carries out (the) seemingly bizarre actions" depicted in the film. Baggs' story is further evidence, some neuroscientists are saying, that the condition we call autism is not simply (or even) a disease, but a "difference."

GETTING TO COMPREHENSION
This Teacher Magazine essay by middle grades literacy coach Kathie Marshall came close to setting a record for "page views" (more than 12,000) during the first week it was posted on the magazine's website. Clearly, the need to build comprehension is on the minds of many educators. Marshall describes an action research project in which she teaches a four-week unit titled "Understanding Ourselves: The Conflict Between the Need to Belong and the Need to Be Ourselves." Marshall's goal -- along with integrating many of the best comprehension strategies from recent research -- was to increase engagement and deepen student thinking via "a strong emphasis on learning through writing, and especially on student discussion." She cites research showing that eighth graders spend an average of 50 seconds per class in sustained conversation, (which is defined as three or more people speaking). There's some useful how-to information and interesting comments from readers.

AWESOME SITE MAP FOR SOCIAL STUDIES
Awesome Stories, that terrific website (free to teachers) offering engaging stories from history (supported by primary documents and visuals), now as an site map that makes hunting for specific stories (e.g., Paul Revere) easier than ever. The alphabetized map supplements another indexing feature, Sample Topics. From the Topics page, you can jump to themed pages that collect the links to everything on subjects like "medieval history" or "space and aviation." Try both!