George Lucas Educational Foundation
Edutopia

6-8 Middle School

Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for helping students develop in grades 6-8.

  • Vaping is Looking More Like Cigarettes Every Day

    The number of middle and high school kids who are vaping has risen dramatically in the last year—and the addictive habit has now claimed its first lives. We’ve seen this all before.
    Stephen Merrill

  • Building a School Like a Tight-Knit Family

    At Springfield Renaissance School in Massachusetts, strong bonds between teachers and students drive academic success.
    Chelsea Sheasley

  • Optimizing Station Rotations in Blended Learning

    Using three stations effectively—teacher-led, online, and offline—should provide your students with plenty of ways to collaborate.
    Laura Lee

  • The Power of Short Writing Assignments

    Brief writing prompts and responses help students in any discipline.
    Benjamin Barbour

  • Reading Aloud to Middle School Students

    Hearing books read aloud benefits older students, enhancing language arts instruction and building a community of readers.
    Kasey Short

  • A Simple Practice Yields Big Results in Middle School for Less Than $2

    A new study shows how a low-cost writing exercise improves the sense of belonging for incoming middle school students.
    Laura Lee

  • A Student-Driven Approach to Experiential Learning

    See how a Reggio Emilia–inspired elementary school in Australia fosters student interests to spark curiosity and joy in learning.

  • When Middle School Students Think Like Historians

    Students can learn about implicit bias by investigating the cultural assumptions underlying their history textbooks.
    Carl Cooper

  • There’s a Cell Phone in Your Student’s Head

    A 2017 study found that cell phones that were turned off and stashed away silently reasserted themselves—distracting working students anyway.

  • Inviting Participation With Thumbs-Up Responses

    A quick assessment strategy replaces raised hands, encouraging more students to contribute by accommodating their different processing needs.

  • Promoting Active Reading Skills

    Placing prompts throughout a text challenges students to analyze and interpret what they read—improving reading comprehension.  
    Lauren Gehr

  • Using Learning Stations to Kick Off the Year

    An engaging way for students to get to know each other, review the syllabus, and decide on classroom agreements.
    Angelina Murphy

  • Developing Executive Function With Priority Lists

    Explicitly modeling the process of prioritizing tasks builds students’ ability to organize and manage their time.

  • Dragons and Fairy Tales in Science Class

    Using stories as a hook to grab students’ attention leads them to deep engagement with scientific concepts.
    Amy Schwartzbach-Kang, Edward Kang

  • 60-Second Strategy: TUMS at the Door

    A simple greeting at the door forges a strong teacher-student bond.