To help in assessing students’ digital stories, Katie Caprino and Alyssa Marzili share tips on ways to engage middle graders in thinking about their stories’ purpose, genre, tone and audience, how to structure peer feedback, and how to use digital tools for ongoing evaluation.
The Columns strategy developed by Jill Brown and Jana Schmidt offers the organizing tool teachers need to provide students in grades 2-5 targeted and well-paced reading intervention, making all of the data we collect both relevant and meaningful, writes AP Ginny Hornberger.
Digital storytelling lets student writers share their own characters who come to life, engage in dialogue, and move around the setting. Best of all, it helps middle grades teachers reach all types of learners. Sam Weigle and Katie Caprino offer examples and suggested tools.
When we are passionate and persistent advocates for middle graders and get them aboard the invisible elevator of agency, we can help them reach levels they once thought unachievable – and show the world what young adolescents can achieve, says middle school principal Dru Tomlin.
New YA books by Amanda Gorman, Lois Lowry and Margarita Engle are all written in verse, says Katie Caprino, yet each tells a story in a different way. One is a poem to America. Another is memoir. And the third is historical fiction, set in 1990s Cuba, with a singing dog.
Students choose books with different purposes in mind and learning how to make good choices is an important life skill. But what about making the choice to abandon a book? Lynne Dorfman has teaching tips to share with readers when a book just doesn’t spark their interest.
2020 has been traumatic for students. A global pandemic, social unrest, and economic hardship have all impacted their well-being. For adolescents, writes school counselor Stephanie Filio, there is also no reprieve from the emotional clutter of growing up. Here’s her advice.
As you work with your students on grammar instruction, Sean Ruday recommends emphasizing that grammatical concepts are key parts of writer’s craft toolkit. An understanding of the precise purpose of each tool will help them become thoughtful and artful communicators.
Kathryn Caprino and Sean Ruday encourage you to include inquiry in your teaching this fall, whether it’s face to face, in remote settings, or a blend. The literacy educators share 5 tips with cross-curricular application to engage kids in the pursuit of essential questions.
Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 11/14/2019 · Last modified 01/17/2020
Not only is Mindfulness in the PreK-5 Classroom packed with research-based activities and anecdotes any educator will relate to, it will leave you inspired to bring mindfulness into your own life and your students’ lives, writes a calmer and more focused Linda Biondi.
