A Teacher’s Guide to Mentor Texts offers a winning combination – a structured lesson approach, a range of suggested mentor texts, and an overall message adaptable to specific students. Teachers at multiple levels of experience will find it invaluable, writes Sara Pennington.
Pull-Out Models / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 01/17/2022 · Last modified 01/24/2022
Co-teaching is the preferred way to serve multilinguals, but it’s not the only way to collaborate with colleagues. Language specialist Tan Huynh shows how we can make pull-out services more impactful with co-planning that emphasizes both grade-level content and language skills.
Close Reading the Media / New Vocabulary
by Frank Baker · Published 01/09/2022 · Last modified 01/10/2022
Metaverse? Prebunking? Zombie claims? The rapid evolution of digital technology and methods of persuasion has unleashed a flood of words and phrases that need to be in students’ vocabularies. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers examples from across current culture.
Kasey Short shows how your middle grades school can create a Wellness Fair to highlight that stress is normal, showcase that mental health is a priority, and provide students an opportunity to learn and practice a variety of coping skills. And kids will have fun doing it!
Shifting our STEM teaching approach to align with current workforce needs means broadening our thinking about the design process, writes Anne Jolly. That includes helping students work together to build the skills of empathy and creativity that lead to innovative solutions.
Anna M. Quinzio-Zafran and Elizabeth A. Wilkins bring together up-to-the-minute advice from award-winning educators to guide new and veteran teachers alike as they navigate the school system, form relationships with colleagues, and connect with students and families.
Students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) benefit when teachers consider how SLIFEs have learned previously – most often informally in their family culture. Tan Huynh shares ways educators can blend a formal literacy focus with the relational learning they’re used to.
How should we teach US History? Is it mostly about caring? Or critical thinking? What about historical knowledge? Teacher Lauren Brown stands firm for content. “If we’ve learned anything from the culture wars this year it’s that too many Americans do not know their history.”
Close Reading the Media / The Emmy Awards
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/08/2021 · Last modified 09/12/2021
The Emmy Awards continue to be a rich source of teaching ideas for educators who have an interest in media, television and film literacy. Expert Frank Baker’s latest edition of his annual Emmys column offers background perspective, teaching ideas and additional resources.
Twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, it’s essential to teach students about the lives lost, the heroes who helped, and the Islamophobia that followed. To examine 9/11’s legacy and impact, middle grades teacher Kasey Short recommends key online resources and four YA novels.
