Category: Articles

Sarah Tweaks Her Socratic Seminar Recipe

Sarah Tantillo’s MiddleWeb post, Socratic Seminars in the Middle, has racked up tens of thousands of visits. Now Sarah, author of The Literacy Cookbook, is back with a tweak to her recipe, suggested by colleague Jamison Fort. See his students in action.

Use Number Talks to Boost Math Reasoning

Many students don’t expect math to make sense and learn to disengage their reasoning and even distrust it. Teacher-experts Cathy Humphreys & Ruth Parker highlight an 8-step “Number Talks” process that can promote deeper discussions about how numbers work.

Take Charge of Your Own PL This Summer!

Herding educators together for one-size-fits-all professional development often misses the mark of teachers’ real work, says Emily Vickery. Teachers now have tools to tailor their own professional learning “to maximize our growth.” Helpful resources included!

Three Questions New Teachers Always Ask

We asked teaching consultant Annette Breaux to write about three of the most pressing questions new teachers have in the weeks (and months) before they open their classroom doors to students for the first time. Here’s her advice on discipline, classroom management, and daily procedures.

7 Tech Tools for Fast Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is good practice, as every teacher knows, says tech consultant Curtis Chandler, but finding time to measure individual student understanding is challenging. Chandler offers seven apps that can make the practice both routine and engaging.

Leaders: Avoid the May “Overwhelm” Next Year

As the year comes to a close, wouldn’t you actually like to be able to savor it? Frank Buck has 3 suggestions that can help leaders overcome May stress through organization. Try them now; implement for years to come. You and your school will be glad you did.

The Glories of Year Round Schooling

Since his fast-growing district shifted to a year round schedule, teacher and PD consultant Bill Ferriter finds himself “more focused and productive as a practitioner,” more rested, and more able to pursue professional opportunities beyond the classroom.

Don’t Let Class Tech Be Just a Garnish

Teacher Cheryl Mizerny is not anti-tech, just anti-bad pedagogy – the kind that crops up when the garnish of tech overshadows the deep learning that can happen when teaching is “brain based, not screen-based.” Make the app fit the lesson, she says, not the other way around.

4 Ways to Motivate Kids to Tackle Complex Text

Seventh grade teacher Kami Spampinato uses four kid-savvy strategies to get her students to “buy in” to reading complex texts. In this post, former MS educator Anne Vilen of Expeditionary Learning summarizes each technique and shares supporting EL videos.