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Teaching Today’s Students to Be the Leaders of Tomorrow

A rigorous social and emotional learning program helps students tackle community challenges As national conversations about immigration, cybersecurity, under-employment, artificial intelligence, and the rapid transformation of our workplace are debated, a daunting question looms: how are we going to prepare the next generation to tackle these critical challenges and incredible opportunities? Ensuring students excel academically

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Awkward.

Want to know awkward? Sitting in a circle of teenagers, asking them to pass a “talking piece” around while they share their thoughts upon completing their first full week of school. I went first to model what one might say in this loud silence. “Well, I’m new to the building too, so I’m feeling pretty nervous

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Don’t Give Up the Ghost

We owe it to our middle school students to be caring, to be present, and to be their advocates I like to read. Fiction and nonfiction. Mystery. Crime. Middle grades. Biography. Memoir. Political. Children’s. Academic articles. Newspapers. Satire. All over the board. I read a lot because inspiration comes from everything. One of my current

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It’s Different Now

Four experiences for educators to consider about today’s young adolescents It’s not our imagination, kids really are different. Today’s youth face four constructs that adults either did not experience at all or did not experience in the same way as youth today. Athletics As a parent of athletes, I see the benefits of athletics, including

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Who Am I

Using young adult literature to explore adolescent identity Everybody has a story. These stories comprise the events in our lives that intersect in complicated and uniquely beautiful ways to shape our perceptions and general outlook of the world. They demonstrate our strengths and vulnerabilities, they humanize our experiences, and allow us to empathize with others.

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Consider Connections

Integrating social responsibility across the content areas During middle school, students begin to strengthen their ideas and beliefs about themselves and the world around them. To become socially responsible citizens, students need the skills to explore controversial issues through various lenses, respect the ideas of others, better understand themselves, and determine how they can impact

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AMLE Celebrates Inaugural Schools of Distinction

AMLE recognized its inaugural class of Schools of Distinction earlier this month, in conjunction with the organization’s 49th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. The twelve schools were selected for their fervent commitment to implementing the essential attributes and characteristics of successful middle grades schools. In addition to being celebrated during a special awards ceremony, each

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Reimagining School – What should it look like and who is it for?

Cornelius Minor and Kass Minor help #AMLE22 attendees find their bottom lines as educators Cornelius and Kass Minor believe that kids don’t just learn in school. They become. It’s an attitude reflective of what we know about middle grades best practice, making them the perfect keynoters for #AMLE22 and our return to in-person conference. We

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Kindness is harder than it looks.

Houston Kraft reminds #AMLE22 attendees that connection doesn’t happen by accident. Houston Kraft, author and co-founder of CharacterStrong, took the main stage at #AMLE22 yesterday for his keynote address on Deep Kindness. From the outset, he made clear that he had a mission for those in attendance. “If we want more kindness on our campus,

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