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We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

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School Transformation Through Arts Integration at Bates Middle School

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Five Keys to Successful Social and Emotional Learning

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Blogs on Middle (6-8)

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Don't Forget Professional Development for Students

Nicholas ProvenzanoSeptember 18, 2012

Tags Digital Divide, Media Literacy, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

Teachers spend countless hours learning new tools to use in class, but do they set aside any time for students to learn these new tools as well? Too often, we assume that students know all about this stuff because they are young and hip to the whole technology thing. That's one of the worst assumptions a teacher can make about a student. Assuming student skills can be a fast track to student failure.

Girls Launch Their Own High-Interest STEM Project -- into Space

Suzie BossSeptember 14, 2012

Tags Project-Based Learning, Middle (6-8), High (9-12), Science

When six middle-school girls from Bowling Green, Kentucky, got the wild idea to launch a camera into space, they knew there would be big challenges ahead. They would have to learn about everything from weather balloons to high-definition cameras, raise thousands of dollars to buy the gear they needed, and work together (with help from a few trusty adults) to address a host of technical challenges.

Getting to Know Your Students Through Poetry

Elena AguilarSeptember 12, 2012

Tags Lesson Plans, Literacy, Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

I knew I wanted to get to know my students. I wanted to hear about their lives, look through their eyes, experience the sounds of their world, and survey their emotional landscapes. I also knew I needed to do this in order to be a more effective teacher: I could tailor instruction to draw on what they already knew and bridge curriculum.

Engage Future Voters with Election Projects

Suzie BossSeptember 4, 2012

Tags Curriculum, Teacher Development, Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

With the presidential election dominating the news between now and November, there's no shortage of timely material to bring into classroom discussions. If used as the starting point for project-based learning, the 2012 election can engage students in thinking critically about everything from media messages to voter rights to public opinion polls.

The Social and Emotional Benefits of Being Weirdly Creative

David MarkusAugust 29, 2012

Tags Arts Education, Integrated Studies, , Student Engagement, Middle (6-8), Maryland

The boy is small in stature, bespectacled, and unnaturally articulate for a sixth grader. I have heard from his teachers and principal at Annapolis, Maryland's Wiley H. Bates Middle School about the academic benefits of arts integration, how various forms of artistic expression (PDF) are employed to learn math and science as well as language arts. I have also learned about the virtues of a critical-thinking technique known as Artful Thinking, developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, that deepens students' intellectual understanding generally by deepening their understanding of the multiple layers of artistic expression.

Tips for Augmenting Whole-Class Discussions with Collaborize

Todd FinleyAugust 29, 2012

Tags Classroom Technology, Middle (6-8), High (9-12), English Language Arts

Technology can enhance academic conversations, says Anna Des Roches, a community development officer for Collaborize Classroom. The American Association of School Librarians (AALS) agrees, naming Collaborize one of the "Top 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning in 2012."

Blake Wiggs, a history and language arts teacher in North Carolina, often uses Collaborize to efficiently "organize classroom participants and sort their contribution to the discussion." He likes that he can integrate audio or video clips and widgets into the discussion pages. Nico Saldana, a high school world history teacher, uses Collaborize to increase student participation: "Nobody can check out of a conversation because everyone is writing."

Middle School's Role in Dropout Prevention

Anne OBrienAugust 21, 2012

Tags Dropout Prevention, Teacher Development, Middle (6-8)

Our nation is on the right track when it comes to high school graduation. The graduation rate is the highest it has ever been (75.5% for the class of 2009), and between 1990 and 2010, the percentage of dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds declined from 12.1% to 7.4%. While there are still racial and socioeconomic gaps in these areas, improvement is happening across the board.

How to Roll Out a 1:1 iPad Program

Jac de HaanAugust 15, 2012

Tags 1:1 Implementation, Classroom Technology, Mobile Learning, Project-Based Learning, Technology Integration, Middle (6-8)

When The Westside School decided to grow its established primary school into a leading middle school program, parents, teachers, students and administrators mapped out an integrated project-based learning environment designed to engage and challenge all participants. The planning team made a list of skills and tools that would support learning, and decided on a 1:1 iPad program to support their vision. I was brought on as technology coordinator to plan and support the curricular and technical deployment for the start of the 2011-12 school year.

Plan a "Digital Family Summit" to Engage Students and Parents

Joe MazzaAugust 9, 2012

Tags Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Parental Involvement, Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

I recently had an opportunity to attend the first Digital Family Summit (DFS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Presenters and summit attendees were both parents and students. The "summit" included families from as far away as Canada, Utah, California, and of course those from local states and cities that could make the trip.

Object(ive) Writing: A Creative Exercise for the Composition Classroom

Kerri FlinchbaughAugust 1, 2012

Tags Middle (6-8), High (9-12), English Language Arts

At the 2012 Conference on College Composition and Communication, three well-known writing scholars led a discussion on a writing exercise they'd assigned themselves. For 30 days, each wrote for an hour about a different everyday object. After CCCC, three of us -- all friends, teachers and writers -- were energized by the idea of this activity and decided to try it out.