Author: MiddleWeb

Help Students Set Goals in All Subject Areas

Setting goals across all subject areas is an important practice that helps students at every grade level excel academically and nurtures essential life skills. Incorporating mindfulness into this process strengthens student focus and resilience, writes Kathleen Palmieri.

Expanding Our Teacher “Zone of Tolerance”

When you operate within your zone of tolerance, you are better able to manage the complex interplay of student needs, teaching demands, and life beyond the classroom. By staying in and expanding your zone, you can grow stronger and keep making an impact, writes Julie Hasson.

The Critical Partnership of Rigor and Scaffolding

Students will rise to the level of high expectations, but they may need support and scaffolding to achieve the goal. Teaching coach Barbara Blackburn explains the essentials of effective scaffolding, its critical relationship to rigor, and how both can be achieved in your classroom.

Math Projects to Engage Gifted Middle Graders

In his collection of six real-world math projects, Mark Hess provides supporting materials and decreases prep time for otherwise complex undertakings, making the book a win for Gr. 4-5 students and teachers. Included: detailed images, student examples, handouts and teacher guides.

How Mentor Texts Help Kids Learn Grammar

By introducing students to grammatical concepts using mentor texts, we can help our classes see those concepts as tools for meaningful and effective writing that they can use for the rest of their lives. Educator Sean Ruday shares his own process.

Keeping Your Teacher Battery Charged Daily

Effectively managing resilience has never been more important for educators. In the first of her five-part series, teacher educator Julie Schmidt Hasson shares what she has learned about the need to manage our educator batteries and sets the stage for a battery management plan.

Why My 7th Graders Memorized the 50 States

When U.S. history teacher Lauren Brown realized how little her 7th graders knew about the 50 states, she resorted to memorization. “Knowing more about our country’s geography will help students as they go on to learn its history and politics.” Elementary teachers need to help.

Have Fun Developing Creative Writing Skills

Creative writing exercises offer low stakes, high engagement opportunities for students to build writing skills while also having fun. Kasey Short shares a rich collection of character, plot and setting activities to help kids develop their voices as writers through the year.