Novels about school are rare and often feature a lone heroic teacher defying the odds. Instead, NBCT Roxanna Elden’s fictional account of life at a struggling urban Texas school – “Adequate Yearly Progress” – is funny, often moving, and always authentic. Read Chapter 2.
Preparing for Next Year / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 04/23/2019 · Last modified 11/18/2019
Take time now to do some preliminary thinking about next year’s STEM lessons. Gather feedback from your students before they sign out for summer, suggests STEM expert Anne Jolly, and also consider four key areas that often get short shrift during STEM curriculum planning.
Create Compose Connect / Media Literacy
by Jeremy Hyler · Published 04/21/2019 · Last modified 12/03/2019
Our students are native digital readers, but they aren’t necessarily logged into their Kindle accounts. Helping middle schoolers become lifelong readers of credible news and information requires proactive strategies. Teacher Jeremy Hyler describes three of his favorites.
Close Reading the Media / Political Optics
by Frank Baker · Published 04/10/2019 · Last modified 04/16/2019
As the presidential race heats up, stagecraft and poli-optics will be an important part of everything we see and hear, writes media literacy expert Frank Baker. Here’s how we can help students pull back the curtain on techniques used by professional image manipulators.
Future of History / Teaching Insights
by Lauren S. Brown · Published 04/08/2019 · Last modified 11/14/2019
That day you left your notes at home. Or taught a stupendous lesson that left kids bored. Or found a student’s super essay was all plagiarized. Or arranged a special speaker only to learn about a conflicting event. Middle school teacher Lauren Brown offers solace and a mood lifting idea.
Students who love to read: that’s our goal! Rita Platt’s school makes open library access a top priority, with impressive results. She spent eight years as librarian before becoming principal and shares proven ideas to create an efficient and flexible kid-led operation.
Building on case studies of 11 gifted students in special populations, the authors provide resources to help all educators understand how to best serve gifted students who also have other special needs. Reviewer Pamela Shaw is a parent of two twice-exceptional kids.
Reshma Saujani offers insights about what it means for girls to be brave but not perfect. Teachers can pass her ideas on to their students, writes educator Bill Ivey, whether by internalizing them and sharing when needed or by actually studying Saujani’s book in class or in clubs.
Chris Weber’s useful book, Behavior: The Forgotten Curriculum, An RTI Approach for Nurturing Essential Life Skills, seeks to help schools implement MTSS for behavior in a systematic, practical way, with or without formal adoption of PBIS, writes principal Rita Platt.
Create Compose Connect / Motivating Readers
by Jeremy Hyler · Published 03/27/2019 · Last modified 11/28/2019
After many discussions and short student surveys, Jeremy Hyler has drawn some conclusions about ways to encourage middle school readers. His three top strategies: offer them choices, have them conduct authentic conversations, and give them regular reading time in class.
