DeAnna Miller’s participation in a national teacher educators’ conference after a long personal learning drought energized her and gave her hope for the future of public education. “I had an epiphany,” she writes. “I was starved for professional engagement and camaraderie.”
Ramp up poetry positivity with the Peel the Fruit activity from Project Zero. Throughout the year NBCT Kathie Palmieri helps her fifth graders uncover layers of poetry understanding and then invites them to write their own. Their current favorite: the Intimate Object Poem.
Many problems that emerge in the ‘wonder years’ might be alleviated with a high quality puberty education program, writes health educator Wendy Sellers. “You will benefit from cultivating a more productive classroom climate and knowing you are meeting your students’ needs.”
What would it be like to spend time together with colleagues on a regular basis to learn and improve our teaching skills? To investigate that question, Anne Jolly embarked on a year-long, onsite action research project to design and test a middle school teacher collaboration process.
The single point rubric – a minimalist, stripped-down version of the standard 4-point rubric – provides efficiency for teachers and is impactful for students because the simplified teacher feedback fosters growth, writes Stephanie Farley. She also shares three grading tips.
As the world becomes increasingly digital, teachers want their STEM students to be comfortable using technology and digital tools skillfully and with purpose. STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly identifies five specific STEM skill sets and relates them to dozens of current apps.
Despite misgivings about plagiarism, many educators are excited about the promise of ChatGPT to help students research content-area topics for papers and projects. MiddleWeb’s John Norton shares his “conversation” with the new ChatGPT-4 while researching some family history.
Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 03/16/2023 · Last modified 04/01/2023
Social-Emotional Learning Starts with Us by DiFazio and Roeser offers SEL stories from educators, experts, and students, along with grade-level activities. The authors not only share their knowledge and expertise, writes consultant Anne Anderson, they share their hearts.
If educators are serious about teaching critical skills and serving the whole child, they need to get serious about SEL education and “make it a core and central organizing principle for middle school programs,” writes teacher, principal and leadership mentor Jason Ablin.
I Will Screw This Up / Technology
by Dina Strasser · Published 03/12/2023 · Last modified 05/21/2023
If we teach writing right, we’ll be fine with our kids having access to ChatGPT, says ENL/ELA teacher Dina Strasser. ChatGPT is a machine, following a formula. “It is not a student in a learning community.” She shares several instructional strategies to AI-proof your classroom.
