In The Successful Middle School: This We Believe, we learn that interdisciplinary teaming is “a signature component” of a middle school (p. 51). The benefits of these smaller groups of students within a larger school include easing the transition from elementary to middle school and helping students feel a sense of belonging. However, creating a
What if you were told that a weekly spiraled assessment was a vital part of preparing your students for the end-of-year summative assessment? When we, an eighth-grade math co-teaching team, started working together in 2017, we were not convinced. Now, six years later, we not only believe in weekly spiraled assessments (WSAs) and use them
Read More… from A New Mindset: Assessment Strategies that Work
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[Note: This article is a significantly (about 75% so) revised version of a column I did in the February 2013 issue of AMLE’s Middle Ground magazine. It has been updated numerous times since, including through our time here in the 2021-2022 school year. RCW] Many schools aren’t designed for teaching. Most are designed to protect
Read More… from Where Do We Find the Time to Do All This Stuff?
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Conversations with students are a highlight of many administrators’ day. Often, the conversation turns towards the child’s academic progress. During the first quarter of my first year at the middle school, I met with a child who had been given a homework assignment described as “progress report signed” for which he had received a grade
Read More… from Defining Grades: A Middle School’s Approach to Grading Reform
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