Blogs on Middle (6-8)

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Mark PhillipsMarch 13, 2013

Three tragic shootings: Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012; Century's Cinemark 16 Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 20, 2012; Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado, April 20, 1999. These traumatic events generated highly emotional responses all across our country. In each case, the mass media provided significant misinformation that both fueled the emotionality and interfered with an effective analysis of the causes.

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Andrew MillerMarch 12, 2013

Financial Literacy Month is April -- just around the corner -- and it's never too early to prepare. Personally, I believe this is a great opportunity to use games in an intentional way to teach students financial literacy skills. Games can be used as a "hook" or anchor activity, as well an instructional activity that is revisited throughout a unit of instruction. A game can help scaffold the learning of important content as well as providing context for application of content. If you really trust the design of the game, it can also be an excellent assessment tool!

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Karen LeaMarch 7, 2013

As a new teacher, you are probably being asked how your learning objectives are linked to standards. You might even be asked to display your objectives and/or standards for each lesson. On top of taking attendance, learning student names, classroom management . . . are you wondering how you will accomplish that? Don't despair, this is not as daunting as it seems!

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Robert IngramMarch 6, 2013

I was born with a cleft palate and lip. Due to the scars and constant surgeries, school was very difficult. Children seemed to really enjoy hurting me. Whether it was verbal, physical or emotional didn't seem to matter as long as they each got a turn at picking on the "flat nose."

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Shawn CornallyMarch 5, 2013

The frustrations teenagers experience with school are more a case of statistics and lack of experience than that of work ethic or "attitude" problems. These statistics are not tied to socioeconomic status, weight or time spent in a seat; they're genetic and experiential. We have a bell curve of abstraction and experience, and we're only beginning to think about how to honor that.

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Heather Wolpert-GawronMarch 1, 2013

So I hear you've been mulling over building a virtual classroom to weave in some online strategies with your face-to-face traditional classroom. Bravo. You rock. You won't regret it.

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You may have read Mark Phillips' blog post about the ongoing documentary project A Year at Mission Hill. A month after the launch of the video series, the buzz has only grown. With a fantastic and artful Prezi about the series, new videos released every two weeks, and resources tailored to each episode from orgs around the world including Ashoka's Start Empathy project, What Kids Can Do, Responsive Classroom, Learning Matters, and more, this is shaping up to be a new kind of Web resource for those interested in education reform on a grassroots level. I'm excited to share episodes two and three here.

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Andrew MarcinekFebruary 26, 2013

Ever since I was a kid, I loathed back to school commercials. They always showed parents gleefully skipping through aisles of pencils and notebooks as the kids, sullen and dejected, sluggishly followed along. It's a scene we are all too familiar with, and one that creates a negative stigma around school. But what if that scene were flipped? What if the kids were happy and eager to get to school? Is that possible after roughly 90 days of sun and fun? It is, and at Burlington Public Schools, we have seen it over the past two years during our iPad launches at the high school and middle school.

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Bill BassFebruary 22, 2013

In honor of the Oscars, here is the first of two excerpts from From Inspiration to Red Carpet: Host Your Own Student Film Festival by William L. Bass, Christian Goodrich and Kim Lindskog. The project below is for a video book trailer.

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Andrew MillerFebruary 21, 2013

More and more, we're hearing the term "Digital Citizenship." I think we should simply call it "Citizenship."

In our increasingly connected world, what it means to be a citizen is contextualized by more than just our countries and communities; we are global citizens. Part of being a citizen these days is manifested in what we do digitally, and because of that, I will adhere to the term "Digital Citizenship" -- for now. I hear parents, teachers and community members talking about their concerns over their children's online behavior, and rightfully so. I believe it is our job as educators to teach and assess Digital Citizenship, and I also believe PBL is a great way to target this objective in an engaging and authentic way.

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