MWSubstack 002: Winter Break; Prior Knowledge.
We spotlight pre-winter break activities, share quick ways to reveal prior knowledge, and learn of an 8th grade STEM class that healed a school.
Welcome to MiddleWeb Substack. It’s a two-topic, five-minute read for middle grades educators, featuring several of MiddleWeb’s most popular and influential articles, a book review, and a cool 4-8 project or resource we’ve spotted. That’s it!
►BEFORE THE BREAK
Keeping the Kids Engaged and Learning
As mid-December rolls around and dreams of winter break push their way into classrooms, you may find you have some rare extra time for fun and engaging classroom activities. (We hope so!) Back in 2018, one of our most creative contributors, Megan Kelly, wrote a piece titled What to Do with Fragments of Class Time.
“By reframing our thinking about class interruptions and the short attention span of kids before school breaks, we can create a memorable experience for students and add something new to our teaching practice.”
Megan’s activities may inspire some of your own! Below are some more pre-holiday teaching ideas from our archives. ALSO: We’ve added two (✻) links you might want to browse in those days just before the New Year, when you can hear that train a‘coming.
Sleigh Bells Ring…Is Anyone Listening? (Mary Tarashuk)
Teaching about Faith-Based Winter Holidays (Susan Curtis)
Five Ideas to Add Comfort and Joy to Math Class (Mona Iehl)
Engaging Ideas for Winter Calendar Celebrations (Anne Anderson)
✻ Make a Fresh Start After Winter Break (Libby Woodfin)
✻ Renew Your Class Community in January (Stacey Shubitz)
►PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
What Do They Know, Really?
Barbara Blackburn has been named a Global Guru in Education numerous times. She began writing for MiddleWeb a decade ago and is known for her concise, spot-on advice for new and continuing teachers. Her most popular post ever? 8 Strategies to Quickly Assess Prior Knowledge (102k reads). As you’ll see, Blackburn’s techniques are easily adapted to any content area.
“Assessing students’ prior knowledge allows you to customize your teaching to meet their needs. These simple and adaptable strategies can help you gain an understanding of what your students do and do not know in short order.”
Want more ideas about ways to determine prior/background knowledge? Check out these other popular MiddleWeb posts:
Background Knowledge: 12 Ways to Set the Stage (Cheryl Mizerny)
How We Can Fix Faulty Background Knowledge (Curtis Chandler)
Teach Kids to Build Their Own Prior Knowledge (Laura Robb)
Lifting My Students Out of the Math Fact Fog (Kathleen Palmieri)
►BOOK REVIEW
The Heart-Centered Teacher by Regie Routman
“Given her decades of experience in inspiring other teachers, when Routman writes that To be professionally knowledgeable is the hallmark of every conscientious and expert teacher, I sit up and listen,” says reviewer Sarah Cooper. This heart-centered book “from a voice prominent for decades in the literacy community, rings authentic.” (Read the review.)
►REVIEW THIS BOOK FOR US
Classroom Assessment Essentials, K-12 by Susan M. Brookhart. Organized into 21 essentials, this easy-to-use ASCD book by a leading expert in the field addresses everything from doing pre-assessment before starting new lessons to communicating with parents about their child’s academic growth. (How to review.)
►ELSEWHERE
A Capstone Science Class Helps Heal School Divisions
Markham Woods Middle School in Lake Mary, FL was searching for a program that would appeal to the “multitude of talents” among its students and help improve the climate and culture of a divided school. Biomechatronics achieved both objectives, says AP Dr. Eric Basilo. (Watch/read the TV news story.)
Send your ideas for our ELSEWHERE feature to: ask.middleweb@gmail.com
►NEXT TIME
We’ll share our best articles about helping anxious and traumatized students develop more confidence and resilience. And what about math hate? It seems to be epidemic. How can we bring some love to the most anxiety-producing part of the curriculum?
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To tempt you further, some of our upcoming topics include: managing behavior and improving class culture and community; STEM and STEAM project ideas; transforming reluctant readers; teaching current events; AI tips and tricks; engaging kids with nonfiction; lesson starters; class closers; adding ‘rigor’ by deepening thinking; mentoring new teachers; supporting multilingual students in academic subjects; designing your classroom for maximum learning; tiering math activities to be more inclusive; scaffolding quickly and effectively; and integrating formative assessment into everyday teaching.