MiddleWeb’s Back to School Resources
What’s waiting for you on the other side of the door? Lots of excitement, a few nervous moments, and faces filled with questions. Welcome back! We’ve rounded up lots of useful resources for your first days.
Back to School / Back to School / Resources
by Susan Curtis · Published 07/20/2023 · Last modified 08/17/2023
What’s waiting for you on the other side of the door? Lots of excitement, a few nervous moments, and faces filled with questions. Welcome back! We’ve rounded up lots of useful resources for your first days.
Beginning your first year as a middle level teacher? Our resource collection points to plenty of how-to advice – from our very own bloggers and guest writers as well as other outstanding sources – that will guide you through the first weeks of school and the semesters ahead.
Civics Education / Future of History / History Resources
by Sarah Cooper · Published 07/17/2022 · Last modified 07/18/2022
Sarah Cooper has discovered four education-related civics podcasts with particularly helpful dialogue and reporting. Use them to broaden your understanding of democracy and other urgent issues or to share with students. They are already sparking ideas for her fall classes.
Co-editors John Norton and Susan Curtis highlight 15 of MiddleWeb’s most popular posts for middle level educators during the past 12 months. You’ll find articles that were new in 2021 or rediscovered and shared widely in this second “weirdest year ever.”
MiddleWeb is filled to the brim with resources and helpful ideas that new middle grades teachers will find valuable. We’ve selected 26+ articles that might be especially useful to newbies before (and after) they greet their students at the classroom door for the first time.
In celebration of Pride Month, 8th grade ELA teacher Kasey Short highlights 12 YA books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters who represent diverse identities, sexualities, experiences and families – showing young teens experiences that may be similar to or different from their own.
For Megan Kelly’s Ancient Civilizations unit, Grade 7 gamers played her “Ancient” adaptation of Apples to Apples (see her tips), Galactic Mappers and Inhabitation. Along the way they created continents and civilizations, and learned systems thinking and plenty of content.
Beyond sharing titles, librarians Christina Dorr and Liz Deskins discuss justifications for circulating LGBTQAI+ literature to children and teens and share a brief history and approaches to “dealing with objections.” Sarah Cooper found ideas for her own classroom library.
Grading Practices / It's Not Easy Being Tween
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 06/17/2019 · Last modified 11/24/2019
Even if we don’t yet teach in a grade-less utopia, there are steps teachers can take to become more accurate and equitable in our grading policies. Cheryl Mizerny shares steps toward fairer grading: eliminate zeroes, avoid extra points, don’t grade homework, and more.
Assessment / It's Not Easy Being Tween
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 05/13/2019 · Last modified 11/24/2019
There’s lots to know about the art of assessment, writes master teacher Cheryl Mizerny, but the main goal is to provide opportunities for all kids to show their understanding to the best of their ability. Her before, during, and after assessment tips can make things fair.