The MiddleWeb listserv is a free service available to middle school educators and anyone else who's interested in boosting middle grades teaching and learning and grappling with knotty school and classroom issues.
The MiddleWeb listserv operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our average daily mail volume is 25 messages.
Discussion Listservs (or "lists") are easy to use. Anyone who is "subscribed" to our listserv can send a message to a special listserv address which we will give to you. All messages sent to this address go through a central computer and are sent out to everyone on the subscriber list. If you reply to a message, it goes back through the central computer and everyone receives your reply.
What we're doing is different from "instant messaging," where everyone is online at the same time. We know you're busy, and we want you to be able to participate at times that suit you best. So our discussion listserv works just like any other email you get from friends or colleagues. The messages arrive in your mailbox, and you answer them as you have time.You can read some of our past conversations here.
If you'd like to subscribe, please send an email with "Discussion List" in the subject line to our moderator. Please include your name, some background information (location, teaching or work assignment, etc.), and a few sentences about why you believe a virtual professional community will be of benefit to you. We will only consider requests from folks who provide this information.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
This comment from a list member describes the sense of community we've developed among MiddleWeb listserv members:
It is fascinating to me, that as a 25 year veteran of the classroom, I feel...this listserve has filled a very empty space in my professional and personal life. Everyone has chosen education as a profession for a variety of reasons. There are those who are truly passionate about what they do. They are willing to share, are willing to put their opinions "out there" for all to see. They are people who are willing to take what they do and turn it upside down to make it better for kids and parents and their fellow teachers. Those are the people who join this list. And thanks to this list, I look at myself and my profession in a different way.
If you're
a principal and and wonder if this list is for you, read these comments
by a principal member:
A summary of the year would be incomplete without a mention of a new understanding of the power of professional community. My involvement with Middle Web and related list serves and discussion groups and news clippings has been a transforming experience. My conversation is littered (I mean that in a good way) with references to my readings from it. Moments captured from the MiddleWeb discussion listserv every day have built up into a new level of professional currency and familiarity with best practice deriving from the sound thinking of those who participate. I know that no matter how knotty the problem, I can count on quality, well reasoned advice. It's like have a planning period with the smartest teachers on earth.
Read other comments from listserv members here.
The Spring 2004 issue of Meridian, the middle school technologies journal, included an article about the MiddleWeb listserv, written by some of our members. It's our best effort to describe our community! Read it here.
OUR COMMUNITY FOCUS This list is devoted to friendly, civil conversation about matters of importance to teachers and other educators -- and most especially, to kids. When we first proposed this list, we heard from many members of other listservs who were eager to join an on-line community where folks conducted themselves in much the same way they would in professional gatherings, face to face. Here's what one correspondent wrote: "I have always felt that I would like to contribute regularly to discussions, but I usually decide not to. One reason is that I don't wish to be involved in the personal and demeaning insult-trading that some of the hotter issues tend to provoke." None of us want to "muzzle" our fellow listserv members. For that reason, we ask each individual who joins this list to agree to a few basic principles about giving and receiving feedback. We ask you to make a personal commitment to focus on the ideas and not the individual who happens to post them. As we observe and discuss the work and the questions of other educators, we ask you to steer clear of personal criticism and resist the urge to 'fix' other peoples' work. Civil conversation is the key to this listserv's success, and part of our moderator's job is to assure that we maintain this tradition. Finally, we ask you to keep the listserv conversation focused, as much as possible, on the professional work of middle grades educators. Share your stories, your successes and disappointments, your good and bad news. But always ask yourself, "how can I relate this in a way that promotes thoughtful discussion about teaching, learning, and middle school kids?" THAT'S IT! If you'd like to give the MiddleWeb Listserv a try, simply follow the sign-up directions above.
The MiddleWeb Listserv Archives
