Being a STEM teacher in 2022 will likely be a new experience every day, even for veterans, writes curriculum designer Anne Jolly. To help out, she suggests ways STEM teachers can care for themselves and ways to sustain kids’ STEM skills, sharing many resources that can help.
Pull-Out Models / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 01/17/2022 · Last modified 01/24/2022
Co-teaching is the preferred way to serve multilinguals, but it’s not the only way to collaborate with colleagues. Language specialist Tan Huynh shows how we can make pull-out services more impactful with co-planning that emphasizes both grade-level content and language skills.
Close Reading the Media / New Vocabulary
by Frank Baker · Published 01/09/2022 · Last modified 01/10/2022
Metaverse? Prebunking? Zombie claims? The rapid evolution of digital technology and methods of persuasion has unleashed a flood of words and phrases that need to be in students’ vocabularies. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers examples from across current culture.
Frank Buck revisits the Wild West movie days in his quest to help educators defy the daily deluge of unsolicited or redundant email that steals their time. Get the details on how to circle the wagons, energize the pony express, and deny those emails entry to your inbox.
Bradley Witzel and Barbara Blackburn share research-supported strategies proven effective for students with special needs and mathematics challenges. They model the concrete-visual-abstract sequence of instruction (CVA) and schema-based instruction (SBI) for word problems.
When co-teachers implement Honigsfeld and Dove’s collaborative instructional cycle – co-planning, co-assessing and co-reflecting – multilingual students and their fellow students benefit from the robust, dynamic instruction, writes language specialist Tan Huynh.
Close Reading the Media / The Emmy Awards
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/08/2021 · Last modified 09/12/2021
The Emmy Awards continue to be a rich source of teaching ideas for educators who have an interest in media, television and film literacy. Expert Frank Baker’s latest edition of his annual Emmys column offers background perspective, teaching ideas and additional resources.
In “The Middle Grades Mindset: A Lesson Plan from A–Z,” Dru Tomlin draws on his success as a principal and teacher leader to share an insightful, easy-to-read reference guide to adolescent learning. Middle level master teacher Cheryl Mizerny feels renewed after reading it.
Using Historical Hypotheses, teachers never tell students what to think but instead “how to better think for themselves.” When students evaluate their own initial hypothesis and closely consider multiple viewpoints, they begin to develop a growth mindset, writes Jennifer Ingold.
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.
