You’re entering the final stretch of teaching your 2017-18 students. The school year is more than halfway through, winter vacation breaks are over, and you might be feeling a tinge of burnout. Jenny Grant Rankin shares strategies to help you thrive before summer arrives.
Relating to Students / The Flexible Classroom
by Amber Chandler · Published 02/26/2018 · Last modified 11/16/2019
Every school has a Giver – a keeper of collective memories. ELA teacher Amber Chandler can’t believe she’s waited so long to call upon Frontier Middle’s own Giver, guidance counselor Matt Schoeffield. He’ll soon retire, after 40 years, but first he has a story to tell.
It’s difficult to learn from someone we don’t trust, writes literacy consultant Regie Routman. Bonding with individual students and their families builds that trust. Routman offers 10 ways to make sure that none of our students ever become “mostly silent and unseen.”
It’s Oscar season and media literacy consultant Frank W. Baker has ideas about leveraging student interest in movies to teach visual literacy skills and learn about cool careers. Lots of resources, including teacher tools at the Oscars website.
Messaging Matters provides practical notions and step-by-step models to strengthen communication and build a positive culture with your students, parents, and community. And you can implement them almost immediately, writes school counselor Wendy Adams.
Book Reviews / Passion Based Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/15/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
In “The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching and Learning” Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold provide an inspiring and practical resource for educators who embrace or want to explore the student-centered focus of passion-based learning, says Jacie Maslyk.
Close Reading the Media / Media Literacy & History
by Frank Baker · Published 02/13/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
The tumultuous and difficult year of 1968 is getting lots of media attention during 2018 because it marks the 50th anniversary of so many newsworthy events in America. Media literacy expert Frank Baker says the anniversary focus offers many teaching opportunities.
For many students, grammar is mostly about memorizing rules and having teachers correct their mistakes. Author Sean Ruday’s Bachelor Grammar activity helps them see how authors use grammatical concepts purposefully to make a piece of writing as strong as possible.
It's Not Easy Being Tween / Student Stress
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 01/28/2018 · Last modified 12/03/2019
When Cheryl Mizerny polled her students about their stress levels, she found both social and school related concerns: noise, homework, time management, grades and testing. She shares actions teachers and schools can take to mitigate stress and promote student growth.
Mary Tedrow makes a strong case for daily student writing that generates ideas and wonderings not only in English but all content areas. Sarah Cooper finds Tedrow’s detailed guide to using Daybooks and her recommendations on grading and indexing particularly helpful.
