STEM & the Makers Movement / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 06/23/2013 · Last modified 11/23/2019
The authors of “Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom” share an exciting guest post at Anne Jolly’s STEM Imagineering blog. The tools and ethos of the maker revolution offer insight and hope for middle schools and for science and math studies, they say. “The breadth of options and the ‘can-do’ attitude is exactly what students need.”
Book Reviews / Professional Development
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/20/2013 · Last modified 12/14/2019
Reviewer Laura Von Staden finds the sessions in The Ten-Minute Inservice: 40 Quick Training Sessions that Build Teacher Effectiveness succinct & informative, useful to teachers as well as administrators.
Media literacy consultant Frank Baker makes the case that students should be writing scripts and screenplays as part of their schoolwork.
In Mentoring and Coaching Tips: How Educators Can Help Each Other, reviewer Jenni Miller reports that Sheryn Waterman writes in helpful ways about how educators can support new teachers and others through effective mentoring and coaching.
Cemeteries: Alive with Learning, Barbara Kissling’s short book describing a PBL experience focused on old cemeteries, is a unique idea sure to engage middle schoolers, says reviewer Carolyn Baker.
Research reports a strong link between trust in schools & student achievement. The Trust Factor: Strategies for School Leaders can help leaders boost the trust factor, says reviewer James Jordan.
Book Reviews / Common Core State Standards / ELA & Literacy
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/02/2013 · Last modified 12/03/2019
Reviewer Anne Anderson recommends 20 Literacy Strategies to Meet the Common Core for its research-based strategies designed to grow readers & thinkers within a CCSS framework. The payoff will justify the necessary time investment, she says.
Jeff Charbonneau, science educator & 2013 National Teacher of the Year, talks about STEM education & his relationships-first teaching philosophy.
Teachers will find creative alternatives to the traditional book report that tap into student interests and creative writing in Ban the Book Report: Promoting Frequent and Enthusiastic Reading, says reviewer Nicole Warchol.
Reading Without Limits: Teaching Strategies to Build Independent Reading for Life, a practical guide to developing and sustaining lifelong readers, “almost brought me out of retirement,” says veteran middle grades teacher Beverly Maddox.
