Katie Caprino offers three ideas for using Zillah Bethell’s YA novel The Shark Caller to engage your middle grades ELA students in social emotional learning. Caprino’s activities build on how the young characters interact as they face the impact of deaths in their families.
Literacy champions Lynne Dorfman and Aileen Hower join children’s author Frank Murphy in a frank, well-informed review of the book banning controversy. Students need books that help them see themselves and understand others. “The opposite of censorship is intellectual freedom.”
Articles / Civics and Current Events / Media Literacy
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/25/2022 · Last modified 07/31/2023
As disinformation proliferates, schools need a better solution than perfunctory media literacy education, say these digital citizenship advocates. When students achieve full “media fluency,” they will not only understand disinformation exists but have the tools to outflank it, write McCusker, Irvan and Driscoll.
In The Power of Teaching Vulnerably David Rockower explains how personal, relational, and dialogic vulnerability can help educators build healthy classroom dialogue. Amy Estersohn would have liked more guidance for teachers facing job loss if they discuss sensitive topics.
Many school problems are social at their core. When teachers and counselors give students a leadership role in normalizing the problems – making them accessible and resolvable – the community culture improves for everyone, says national counseling leader Jean Peterson.
With the goal of having new middle school students feel seen as individuals while also feeling like a part of something bigger, Megan Kelly offers activities her sixth graders enjoy while getting to know one another. The games can be expanded or contracted to fit your time.
Grandin & Moore’s Navigating Autism invites readers into that perfect space for learning between familiar territory and new information, writes middle school dean Bill Ivey. The nine mindsets explored can benefit kids on the spectrum as well as the whole spectrum of kids.
When Stephanie Farley coaxes her students into a good frame of mind – happy, relaxed, confident – they learn more, just as positivity research predicts. Join her as she shares 10 joy-inducing methods – including dogs – and suggests ways to reach across content.
Lisa Eickholdt and Patty Vitale-Reilly’s favorite student collaboration is the Writing Club – an opportunity for kids to write in authentic, engaging, and creative ways. They prepare a foundation for this work with read-alouds, feedback structures, partnering activities, and more.
Literacy consultant Anne Anderson recommends fellow literacy teachers and coaches keep Dan Feigelson’s Radical Listening near at hand. Implementing the book’s detailed guidelines for active listening during reading and writing conferences will benefit all of your learners.
