Behavior Choices One of the most pressing concerns reported by teachers, middle grade students, and parents is the escalation of conflict and violence among middle level students in schools. There are many ideas about why this may be happening such as isolation and lack of social interaction caused by the pandemic, increased models of conflict
Read More… from Student Behavior: A plan not a power struggle
Teaching active listening in an age of information overload When Taryn Kralik moved from teaching fifth and sixth grade in a self-contained elementary school classroom to eighth grade ELA after ten years, she knew she needed a different approach. She had a class of reluctant readers, English learners, and just reluctant learners in general. Frequently
Read More… from Using Podcast Circles to Engage Reluctant ELA Learners
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Do you ever dread when it’s time to review for an assessment? More importantly, do your students? Tara Maynard, a middle grades math teacher and 24-year veteran of the classroom, has been crafting review activities for decades designed to provide meaningful practice without totally boring students. We sat down with her to ask what makes
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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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Author of The Flexible SEL Classroom comes to terms with how she’s changed during the pandemic, and how to use that to her students’ advantage in the classroom. You can now preorder the second edition of The Flexible SEL Classroom, shipping in March, 2022. My mother-in-law, Chris Chandler, was a bit of . . .
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In a recent tweet, a popular author argued that their book would never be adapted into graphic novel form, calling the process of reading such a visual story merely “flipping pages.” The author drew a range of attention for this Tweet, and has since recanted and apologized. Contained within this Tweet, as well as in
Read More… from In Defense of the Graphic Novel: Fighting the Forces of Anti-Graphica
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