Author: Derek Neal

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Posts by Derek Neal

Riding the Waves of Change and Challenge in Middle School Leadership

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School Administrator Resilience is critically important as they strive to bring a sense of normalcy back into their buildings and support students and teachers. Principals can support teachers’ resiliency to improve teacher retention and build capacity. But how do leaders support teachers’ resilience and develop and grow in their own resilience? Elena Aguilar defines Resilience

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The Struggle is Real

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Creating Opportunities for Productive Struggle in Math, ELA, Social Studies, and Science While productive struggle has been the focus of much research for the past two decades (e.g., Ewing et al., 2019; Hiebert and Grouws, 2007; Townsend et al., 2018), much of that research centered on mathematics content. Here we posit that productive struggle can,

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An Advisory Program for the Whole Child and Whole School

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How one school’s daily advisory program became a cornerstone of their culture The evidence is clear that young adolescent students benefit from having their academic and personal development guided by an adult advocate. Many schools promote this goal through an advisory program, or regularly schedule times when students can interact with a small group of

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Use One Sentence

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How using fewer, more impactful words can help when navigating challenging situations with kids The following is an excerpt from AMLE’s newest publication, Help Us Begin: HUB mindsets and strategies for meaningful conversations with kids, especially when you are challenged by the topic. Order your copy to gain access to all of the strategies included

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Strategic Plan 2022-2026: A vision for the future of AMLE and middle level education

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“If we are to build the real middle level school, the school that is developmentally responsive and intellectually vigorous, it will take convictions and the courage to carry them out.” -Dr. John H. Lounsbury Have you ever asked, what is the purpose of an association (like AMLE)? There are associations for just about every profession,

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If U Liked It Then U Shoulda Put a Grade On It: Communicating Values Through Assessment

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A beloved activity in my 7th grade science class was the mitosis dance activity. The kids worked collaboratively to choreograph a complex performance set to music and complete with a human cell wall and spindle fibers pulling apart the sister chromatids (aka their fellow classmates). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the activity engaged

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