Over the course of three articles, I have talked about doing Literature Circles with my 8th-grade students. For a list of the novels we used, check here. To read about the procedures I put in place for my students, check here. And for an explanation of how I used mini-lessons both as a full class […]
middle school
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Relearning and Unlearning Writing in Grades 6-12
To relearn is to “learn something again, as after having forgotten or neglected it,” and after the five-seven weeks of summer break, students may have a fair amount of forgetting. That means teachers will begin each school year focused on student relearning. The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was a pioneer in the study of memory and learning which led to his discovery […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Have You Used Play-Doh In Your Middle School Classroom?
One of the huge challenges of teaching middle school is creating an environment where students know that their teachers care about them first. My teaching mantra over the last 26 years has always been “Kids first, curriculum second.” Middle school kids need to know that they are being listened to, they are important, and that […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Math Standards in Middle School
I taught middle school math for 30 years. During my career I used many different types of math standards. These standards included school district standards, NCTM standards, a new set of district standards, textbook “programs,” and finally the Pennsylvania state standards. The PA standards very closely resemble the current Common Core standards with one exception. […]
Posted inBack to School
10 Terrific Team-Building Activities for Secondary Students
Once students reach Middle School and beyond, teachers often believe that students must know each other already. As a result, team-building often gets skipped. Last year, I realized that some of my students didn’t know each other after all. This moment came two-thirds of the way through the year, when I asked a student to get “Charlie” […]
Posted inBack to School
First, We Must Educate The Heart
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” – Aristotle Teachers, have you thought about this challenge? How will you educate the heart this year? Childhood – especially the middle school years – can seem like a crazy-making manic time for kids. One minute they’re sweet young and innocent, most interested […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
The Middle School Mind: How To Find Out What They’re Thinking
Summer is finally over. Parents are secretly smiling as they shoo their kids out the door, snap a few first day of school photos and sigh. Yes, some of them might shed a few tears over the passage of time and the impending high school graduation – even if it’s still five years away. And some […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Literature Circles in Middle School: Mini-Lessons
Rather than teach a full-class book at the end of the 2015-16 school year, I opted to have my 8th graders read in literature circles. They had the choice between six historical YA lit novels. Each day students met in their literature circles they had certain procedures they were expected to follow. Even though each […]