When Curtis Chandler began ‘longboarding’ to work, he endured a newbie’s trial-by-fire. After many bruises he took a friend’s words to heart and opened to the learning experience. The tips he shares here can help beginning teachers “embrace the challenging reality of our profession.”
MiddleWeb is filled to the brim with resources and helpful ideas that new middle grades teachers will find valuable. We’ve selected 26+ articles that might be especially useful to newbies before (and after) they greet their students at the classroom door for the first time.
Did the sheer exhaustion of teaching in 2021-22 cause you to take a pass on some good but long MiddleWeb articles? Here are 18 insightful posts covering a wide range of topics that you might want to look over, in the calm before the next storm.
One area of Matt Smith’s teaching “that has improved tremendously since my novice days” is facilitating productive discussions. Students need to engage in active talk to process complex ideas. This won’t happen until teachers master “wait time” and stop affirming too much.
Articles / New Teacher Advice / Teacher Self-care
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/12/2018 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Successful, career-minded teachers must learn how to juggle the demands of being in a classroom all day long and also maintaining a satisfactory personal life. Julia Thompson, author of a bestselling survival guide for first-year teachers, tells how to achieve that balance.
Teaching experts Annette Breaux & Todd Whitaker are back with more teaching ideas from the 2nd edition of Seven Simple Secrets. This time it’s advice on keeping instruction real for today’s students. Read the classroom tales of Teacher A & Teacher B.
Teaching experts Annette Breaux & Todd Whitaker contrast the typical characteristics of effective and ineffective classrooms using two simple but compelling bullet lists. Excerpted from the 2nd edition of their bestselling book Seven Simple Secrets with new teachers especially in mind.
Amid all the exciting teaching plans for a new year, Heather Wolpert-Gawron (TweenTeacher) shares her list of must-do-firsts to establish a solid classroom culture.
Book Review Festival / Book Reviews / MiddleWeb
by John Norton · Published 10/04/2012 · Last modified 04/20/2022
Our Fall Book Review Festival features 15 brand-new reviews of professional books – each one written by and for middle grades educators – on teaching strategies, visual & media literacy, test preparation, the Common Core, academic icebreakers, RTI & special education, social studies, mathematics, teacher research, ESL students, and student motivation.
Cindi Rigsbee & Laurie Wasserman each reviewed Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers, a middle school teaching guide. The two teachers drew the same conclusion: funny & full of great ideas.
