In September, my seventh grade students gave me a quick social snapshot of their class. As their new school counselor, I had asked them to submit their thoughts anonymously in a box, and they didn’t hold back. Their comments and questions ranged from the philosophical to the practical: “Why do people spread lies? If someone’s
Read More… from Beyond Power Tools: How Maker Learning Can Improve Social Dynamics
Walk the Walk about Talking the Talk! Conversation is something that we often take for granted—like air. It swirls around us. We breathe it in. We listen to it as it bends and curves. Our ears hear it. However, even though it is as critical as the air we breathe, we often aren’t really listening. By
Read More… from Conversation: Why Talking with Young Adolescents is Vital!
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Exploring vocabulary terms in social studies with primary sources. The C3 Framework by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has changed the dynamics of social studies instruction. The emphasis of standards in this document is for teachers to build students’ content-area literacy skills through inquiry-based activities (NCSS, 2013). For social studies, this means
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Teacher and students benefit from an integrated curriculum. Even though teachers work in different rooms and on different hallways, our individual subject areas should not be viewed as existing within rigid instructional walls. Middle level educators need to engage in collegial conversations and co-create learning experiences with team members to help develop more cohesive, integrated
Read More… from Removing Imaginary Boundaries Around Content
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Students share valuable insights when we take time to listen. Middle level educators engage in a variety of professional development experiences in order to continue to learn about effective ways to work with young adolescents as they develop their identities, ideas, and “voices.” We listen to and talk with colleagues and other professionals in our
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T-shirt literacy and social justice education for diverse adolescent learners. Graphic T-shirts have always had a special place in my life. One of my favorite pieces of clothing in my closet is an old “Schoolhouse Rock!” T-shirt. The shirt features the old PBS television show’s classic logo along with some of the show’s memorable characters,
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