MiddleWeb’s June Articles
Summer's here and there's some time for optional reading. Our June articles explored digital speaking skills, leadership self-coaching, MS attention spans, AI & vocab; teacher as novelist, and more.
Who can keep up with anything these days?! Once a month we’re making it easy for MiddleWeb Substack subscribers by sending you brief descriptions of last month’s new MiddleWeb.com articles and reviews – written (as always) by educators who are doing the work. Just click on a title to check it out!
Articles
Helping Students Become Skilled Digital Speakers
In a digital world where oral communication is showcased and being well-spoken increases chances for professional and social success, take the time to give all your students an effective voice. Erik Palmer has tips to help students understand content, audience and presentation.
Self-Coaching Is Key to a Principal’s Success
Rather than let challenging job demands take precedence over principals’ mental health and their professional and personal growth, Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn lay out keys to developing self-coaching strategies that benefit principals and their communities.
Writing a Novel Helped My Career Make Sense
This year Jay Wamsted fulfilled a dream shared by many teachers – he finished and published a YA dystopian novel. “My career isn’t all that unique,” he says. “The lessons I’ve learned, the stories that inform my book – they’re of the same stuff that makes up every teacher’s classroom.”
Your 7th Grader Can Focus for 12 Minutes
When direct instruction runs past a seventh grader’s brief attention span, more explanation rarely produces more learning. Gail Boushey and Allison Behne, authors of Prepared Classroom, offer five research-based strategies to hold the attention of middle schoolers, even with a scripted curriculum.
The Predictable Rhythms of School Teacher Life
Every year, as summer passes, teachers look toward fall with an increasingly nervous anticipation, writes teacher leader Bill Ivey. You devote more and more time to planning and wonder what the kids you have this year are going to be like. And then a summer comes when you don’t.
Sharpen AI Skills While Kids Learn New Words
How might teachers use artificial intelligence to help students expand their vocabulary? Teacher-author Brett Vogelsinger shares strategies he has used to encourage learners to explore new words while also examining the bias and limitations found in AI creations and feedback.
Posterity’s Watching and Character Still Counts
As the 250th anniversary of America arrives, retired teacher and former MiddleWeb columnist Mary Kane Tarashuk reflects on her nearly quarter-century of teaching civics to fourth graders. The children are listening, she reminds educators, and character still counts.
The Teacher Mentality: Five Essential Mindsets
To counter the heightened stress teachers face, veteran principal and coach Timothy Allen recommends developing the “teacher mentality” – five mindsets that equip educators to navigate school challenges and enjoy teaching. He includes specific actions to help grow each mindset.
Reflecting on Teaching in High Gear, Then & Now
Marsha Ratzel never intended her book Teaching in High Gear to be a blueprint. It was a record of a teacher thinking her way through practice at a time “when there still seemed to be room for professional judgment to breathe and think and do.” Read her reflections 14 years later.
Reviews
Strategies to Help Kids with Productive Struggle
Barbara Blackburn’s Productive Struggle in the 6-12 Classroom details cross-curricular strategies that can provide the support students need while they struggle productively through challenging learning experiences. As a result, writes Melinda Stewart, they develop deeper understanding, resilience, and independence.
The Tools You Need to Reach STEM’s Potential
STEM by Design maintains a sharp focus on developing a genuine STEM program. Topics include diverse recruitment, developing STEM challenges, engineering design, life skills, tech integration and more. For all grades 4-8 STEM educators, says teacher educator Michelle Schwartze.
Strategies to Nurture Kids’ Creative Thinking
Creativity for Learning is a book that teachers at any level of experience, in any subject, can use to build engaging, thought-provoking activities that advance student learning. Teacher Chris Wagner found its tools for teaching and assessing creative thinking especially helpful.