Digital Annotation / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 01/07/2018 · Last modified 03/15/2024
Digital crowd annotation tools create the possibility that the margins of an online text or piece of media can be filled with insightful conversation by a classroom of students or a collaboration of teachers. Kevin Hodgson reveals how to get started with user friendly resources.
You might look at Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s table of contents in “Just Ask Us” and think that you’ve seen these topics before. You have – but you likely haven’t seen them all in one place, enhanced by the rich voices and wisdom of our students. says teacher Sarah Cooper.
Teachers will want to keep Pernille Ripp’s Passionate Readers as a “forever resource,” says former reading teacher Mary Langer Thompson. This practical book, full of bold ideas and ready-made resources, centers on helping students become life-long lovers of reading.
Assessing students’ prior knowledge allows you to customize your teaching by anticipating their needs. Consultant Barbara Blackburn provides 8 simple strategies to help you gain an understanding of what your students do and do not know before launching into a lesson.
Today’s students have to learn to shift their writing styles to meet different real-life purposes, says ELA teacher-author Jeremy Hyler. Teachers should understand the different contexts (school, work, and personal) and help students learn to “code switch” as needed.
Looking for books that might inspire or help you grow as an educator? Perhaps you’ll find one in this winter reading collection, chosen from among our 2017 MiddleWeb book reviews. We’ve included content area titles, teaching strategies, leadership tips, and more.
Character Building / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 12/20/2017 · Last modified 11/14/2019
Mary Tarashuk’s fourth graders are immersed in Wonder this semester. As they view the new film based on R.J. Palacio’s novel, they are also embracing Auggie Pullman’s story in class. Mary shares resources she is using to enrich their experience in understanding kindness.
This story by Ruth Ayres, from her new book Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers, is a holiday gift to novice educators everywhere and to any teachers still wondering whether their students can ever learn to love writing so much they stop turning in incomplete assignments.
It's Not Easy Being Tween / Reading
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 12/17/2017 · Last modified 12/11/2019
We know adolescents read far less than younger children. Classroom practices often don’t help, writes ELA teacher Cheryl Mizerny. By discarding strict regimes, she says, educators can increase the love of reading among tweens and teens and put the joy back into books.
Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome offer educators ways to rethink teaching, model risk taking for students, show students they are valued, push the boundaries that hold teachers back, take care of themselves, and develop leadership at a high level, writes Laura Von Staden.
