6-8 Middle School
Explore and share tips, strategies, and resources for helping students develop in grades 6-8.
What Does Good Listening Look Like?
Sitting completely still with eyes on the teacher doesn’t work for all students, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention.383
The Enduring (and Underappreciated) Importance of Extracurriculars
It will be tempting to put after-school activities on the back burner this fall, but experts say that’s a missed opportunity—especially for teenagers.
Helping Students Cope With a Difficult Year
These tips on supporting emotion regulation and building strong relationships will help students next year and beyond.
8 Strategies to Improve Participation in Your Virtual Classroom
Educators share their best synchronous and asynchronous strategies to boost student participation during online learning.41.7k
Is Class Participation Too Arbitrary to Grade Fairly?
How one teacher quit “hanging a grade-based incentive over my students’ heads” and offered different, more inclusive ways for students to participate.1.4k
Is it Time to Drop ‘Finding the Main Idea’ and Teach Reading in a New Way?
Some schools are changing the way they teach reading—based on research that shows background knowledge is more critical to comprehension than general skills like ‘finding the main idea.’38k
8 Ways to Bolster Executive Function in Teens and Tweens
Middle and high school students suddenly face more complex schedules, tougher academic work, and an expanding network of friends. How can we help them manage it all?8.6k
Strategies to Encourage Students to Turn Their Cameras On
Incorporating SEL approaches, playing games, and giving students options can inspire them to show their faces.22.2k
Games Can Have a Powerful Impact on Learning
A conversation between the writers of two new books on using games across the curriculum to promote social and emotional learning and civics skills.504
Even Older Kids Should Have Time to Read in Class
If the goal is to develop lifelong readers, students need time in class to practice—and learn to enjoy—reading.8.9k
The Benefits of Reading for Fun
There’s a powerful academic impact, new research reveals, when students are voracious, voluntary readers.3.9k
How Student-Led Conferences Center the Learning Journey
When students lead the conversation in their parent-teacher conferences, they take ownership of their learning and growth.2.8k
How to Introduce Lessons on Disability
Disability should have a place in schools’ anti-bias work along with race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion.
How—and Why—to Introduce Visual Note-Taking to Your Students
Visual note-taking allows information to be processed by the brain in three different ways.4.7k
A Daily Ritual That Builds Trust and Community Among Students
An activity that encourages students to open up about a person close to them can bring a whole class together in profound ways.11.2k