Middle grades kids are returning to school from many different developmental places. Distance learning this fall will demand skills students will need to learn effectively but mostly don’t have yet. School leader Jody Passanisi shares strategies to build 7 essential skills.
Get kids engaged in narrative writing using Story in a Bag. ELA consultant Lynne Dorfman shows how this hands-on activity enlivens in-class and distance learning as it helps students build their writing fluency and encourages them to learn problem solving on the spot.
Reading teachers work hard to meet the needs of individual students in small groups. Yet many students struggle while reading self-selected books. Meghan Duermit and Sunday Cummins offer ways to build stronger bridges of support from guided instruction to joyful independent reading.
Rita Platt peruses lots of professional texts, but the books she reads each year to meet her personal Goodreads goal cross many genres. Some are funny. Some are scary. Some examine America’s urgent problems. Not your typical PD books, but they have plenty to say to educators.
Add dimension to student book talks with Lynne Dorfman’s version of the Book-in-a-Bag project. And it works online, as students introduce their books by sharing a paper bag covered in images they recreate from fiction or nonfiction and by pulling out representative objects.
What can we do to encourage kids to choose nonfiction more frequently for personal enjoyment? Cate Gerard and Sunday Cummins share what Cate discovered when interviewing middle graders about their reading habits and recommend class and virtual strategies and resources.
Help middle graders connect past and present using the easy-to-understand lessons in Hands-On Archaeology. Teacher educator Linda Biondi says the authors show us how giving kids opportunities to ‘dig’ in and out of class can build team skills and cross-curricular learning.
Effective teaching means engaging kids intellectually, socially AND physically. Educators who work strategically to include elements of kinesthetic activity will have students who are attentive, making connections, and able to recall later on. Curtis Chandler shows how.
Healthy Teaching / Heart of the School
by Rita Platt · Published 11/03/2019 · Last modified 12/15/2019
Nobody should have to get used to sitting all day, least of all students in the middle grades. These kids are bundles of energy; we’ve got to keep them moving! Principal and NBCT Rita Platt shares five flexible strategies to boost retention while spreading enthusiasm.
Differentiating Instruction with Menus is great for encouraging middle level students’ voice and choice and allows teachers without a strong science background to feel more comfortable with the content (especially chemistry), writes science teacher-coach Emily Lane.
