MiddleWeb is all about middle school & the middle grades — with a sharp focus on teaching and learning in grades 4-8. Click to learn about our work and what we have to offer, and find out how to get involved.
Mona Iehl provides a practical framework to ignite math learning for elementary students, says fifth grade teacher Kathie Palmieri. Iehl’s book offers a structured, daily routine that makes word problems less scary and builds confidence, connections, and wonder in each session.
What AI has done in its teacher assistant role this year has been transformative for teacher leader Katie Durkin. It’s helped her save time by generating ideas for formative assessments, giving her more time to provide students personal feedback – “a feat for any English teacher.”
Thanks to her “joyful” journey from traditional to competency-based grading, teacher and instructional coach Stephanie Farley has seen not only more growth of skill among her students but also increased competence, “which increases confidence, which increases resilience.”
The AI Assist by Nathan Lang-Raad offers a solid starting point for using artificial intelligence in the classroom, writes teacher Ralph Covino. Raad emphasizes the need to keep the human teacher at the center of instruction and includes a framework and useful guiding questions.
In a world saturated with misinformation, teaching students how to research isn’t just about completing an assignment. It’s about helping them become independent investigators who “pursue truth even when we aren’t there to guide them,” says Curtis Chandler. AI adds to the urgency.
A new plant by the window or desks rearranged throughout your classroom? Or both? Teacher Dina Strasser suggests these along with scribbling spaces, non-fluorescent lights, and diffusers to create an atmosphere where your students can settle into learning. A Spring Break tweak?
In our math classrooms, writes Mona Iehl, we’ve often trained students to look for what to do instead of making sense of what the problem is actually saying. When they see fractions, they search for a rule. But what if the goal is not to decode but to understand the situation?
In a new edition of Well Spoken, Erik Palmer stresses the subtle shift from public speaking to “all speaking” – introducing activities to practice skills needed not just in speeches but in digital environments and “any time a speaker gives thought to what they are going to say.”
“We are all lacking community, despite our illusion of connectedness,” writes teacher Amber Chandler. In her new book, she explores key issues by writing letters to five stakeholder groups she believes can help reclaim connection. Read what she says about school attendance.
Well-planned schoolwide reads, paired with author visits, have the power to strengthen community, support belonging, and create shared experiences that extend beyond a single event. Kasey Short describes her school’s process and offers some tips for others who want to try it.
More
