MWSubstack 001: Serious Fun; Whole Novels.
Let's kick things off with some classroom fun, the case for whole novels (and choice reading), and a YouTube message for teachers from middle schoolers.
Welcome to our first Substack newsletter. Twice each month we’ll tap into our archives and feature two timely topics our MiddleWeb contributors have explored, with links to their posts. We’ll also highlight a recent PD book review and another book we’re eager to have reviewed. Our ELSEWHERE entry will point to a resource (including middle grades school and class projects) we’ve discovered that might spark ideas of your own. And we’ll close with a teaser for our next issue’s themes. That’s it. A free five-minute read, sent to your inbox. Read Issue #1 below!
►THE TEACHING LIFE
Finding the Fun in Teaching and Learning
Recounting her visit from a grandfatherly apparition grabbed the attention of Stephanie Farley’s students and launched a study of storytelling. Putting “stunt teaching” into action – sometimes with colleagues – builds engagement and opens the door to choice, challenge and play.
“Stunt teaching can be adapted for any subject! Wouldn’t it be enlightening to have a disagreement between Newton and Einstein prior to a physics lesson? Or to have students walk into a room with a giant tape triangle on the floor so they can lie down and be the hypotenuse? Play isn’t just for elementary recess: it helps students learn and thrive at all ages.”
Whether your goal is to gain attention, increase interest, set up a lesson, or light up adolescent brains, research says that humor and play are wise investments of class time. Learn more about that in these MiddleWeb articles:
Humor in Our Schools Heals and Engages Us (Debbie Silver)
Sustainable Self-Care for Funny Educator People (Rita Platt)
How We Can Foster Fun and Playfulness in Class (Curtis Chandler)
The Power of Humor in the Classroom (Heather Wolpert-Gawron)
►THE ELA CLASSROOM
Choice Reading or Whole Novel Study?
If you’re not an ELA teacher, it might surprise you that one of MiddleWeb’s most influential articles (82,000 reads) has the title “10 Techniques to Teach Whole Class Novels.” Master teacher Cheryl Mizerny wrote this how-to piece back in the summer of 2016 when the debate over choice reading was HOT. She paired it with her April post of the same year, “Balancing Whole Novels and Choice Reading,” which asked: Why not both?
“Through my reading and in conference sessions, I’ve found that one curricular tradition that has taken a huge beating in the last several years is the teaching of the whole-class novel…. I don’t believe it has to be either-or. Personally, I find that a combination of whole-class novels, free voluntary reading, and read-alouds produces the trifecta of a winning reading curriculum.”
If the idea of teaching whole novels intrigues or excites, check out Cheryl’s two posts and perhaps browse some of these popular MiddleWeb articles:
Let Them Read Whole Novels! (Ariel Sacks)
6 Ways to Take the Joy Out of Reading (Cheryl Mizerny)
What Kids Gain When We Don’t ‘Teach’ Books (Stephanie Farley)
Build a Joyful Bridge to Independent Reading (Duermit and Cummins)
►BOOK REVIEW:
Unearthing Joy by Gholdy Muhammad.
“One of the most beautiful, inspiring, actionable books about pedagogy I’ve ever read,” writes our reviewer Sarah Cooper, a middle school history and English teacher and curriculum leader. “This book made me want to connect with my students by finding out more about their identities, backgrounds and passions. It made me feel once again that there is no nobler profession than teaching.” (Read the review.)
►REVIEW THIS BOOK FOR US:
Clearing the Path for Developing Learners: Essential Literacy Skills to Support Achievement in Every Content Area by Peg Grafwallner. Use the author’s skill-building strategies and reproducibles to embed reading comprehension into any academic subject. (Here’s how to review.)
►ELSEWHERE:
What Students Want Us to Know
We’re impressed by the 100% student-led “I Wish My Teacher Knew” project at Sparkman Middle School in Alabama. Members of the Cougar Council read and summarized 245 (!) student responses to their prompt and distilled their findings as slide quotes that reflect the thoughts and concerns of adolescents everywhere. A great concept, well done. (Watch at YouTube.)
Send your ideas for our ELSEWHERE feature to: ask.middleweb@gmail.com
►NEXT TIME:
We’ll share some favorite activities for the lead-up to winter break. And inquire into one of teaching’s greatest dilemmas: prior knowledge. How do we measure it? What do we do about it?
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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.