Strong leadership is essential to a successful middle school. This statement may seem obvious, but a leader who possesses the unique skillset to lead from the middle can be easy to take for granted. In fact, decades of research tell us that middle grades leadership is so essential that it’s included as the third pillar
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“Bless your heart.” “I’m so sorry!” “Why?” If you’re a middle grades educator, it’s likely you’ve heard one of these reactions when you tell someone your profession. It’s not uncommon for people to recount negative memories from their own time as a middle schooler or bemoan, “kids these days.” Even though 10–15-year-olds are experiencing the
Read More… from Middle School Gets a Bad Rap. It’s Time to Flip the Script.
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Creating Belonging in the Middle Grades, No Matter the School Setting When Laurie Barron became Superintendent of Evergreen School District in Montana, she knew it’d be different than the previous two decades she’d spent as a teacher and school leader in the suburbs of Atlanta. “We do not ride horses and buggies to school,” Barron
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The middle school library is an evolving space. What was once consistently a quiet space for reading has changed into a versatile space with a variety of functions, depending on the school. The Library Learning Commons at Scotts Ridge Middle School demonstrates how this evolution can create a library that serves as a hub of
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The holiday season is upon us and that can mean madness in our classrooms. Why is that? The truth is, we are often the primary culprit of the chaos. We spend months tirelessly pre-teaching routines and procedures and establishing behavior expectations, only to ease up on them or even abandon them during the holiday season.
Read More… from It’s The Holiday Season, So Whoop-De-Do: Managing the Holiday Madness
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Post-pandemic, students are yearning for connection. This has made the shared purpose that school mission statements and core values provide for a school community critical. And, I argue, one of the best ways to realize this collective “why” is through advisory. Done well, successful advisory programs are designed around the needs of students, giving them
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