George Lucas Educational Foundation

6-8 Middle School

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

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  • Finding and Utilizing Culturally Relevant Texts

    Classroom texts should represent all children in positive ways, and teachers may have to look for outside resources to make this happen.
    Rann Miller
    2
    195
  • Assigning More Meaningful Math Homework

    A small set of problems or even one substantial problem can be enough to supplement classroom instruction.
    1
  • Using AI to Encourage Productive Struggle in Math

    Students ‘don’t need an answer, they need help with the process,’ and combining ChatGPT with Wolfram Alpha is one way to guide them through it.
  • 6 Foundational Ways to Scaffold Student Learning

    A collection of evidence-backed tips to help students cross the bridge from confusion to clarity.
  • Helping Teens Navigate the Tricky World of Too Much Tech

    In a world where their lives are heavily “shared and compared,” author Devorah Heitner offers insights on how to support teens in finding balance in their tech-heavy lives.
    119
  • 17 Brain Breaks Tailored for High Schoolers

    As high school students navigate more rigorous academic tasks and denser curricular material, the occasional 3-to-5-minute break delivers a wide range of benefits.
    7.2k
  • How to Get Students Talking About Their Learning

    These simple strategies can help motivate middle and high school students to have engaging and productive classroom discussions.
    4
    1.1k
  • Deepening Academic Understanding With Tangible Experiences

    By providing middle school students a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes, teachers can help them develop empathy—and a stronger connection to content.
    781
  • Making Space for Native Languages in Newcomer Classrooms

    When English language learners are given consistent opportunities to practice their home languages in class, their English proficiency flourishes—along with their sense of belonging and identity.
    8.2k
  • 9 Brain Breaks That Teens Will Love

    Students are still learning, even during brief breaks, which serve to help them decompress, refocus, and process new information.
    926
  • Illustration concept showing reading comprehension

    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.’
    54.8k
  • Making In-Class Reading More Engaging in Middle and High School

    Deep thinking and active collaboration aren’t mutually exclusive. These strategies extend silent reading by centering student engagement.
    15
    2.2k
  • Using ChatGPT to Support Student-Led Inquiry

    Positioning AI as a mentor or simulator of real-world scenarios can promote student inquiry and aid project-based learning.
    7
    1.6k
  • Illustration concept for deemphasizing F grades

    The Case Against Zeros in Grading

    Teachers can rethink their grading practices to make them more mathematically fair for students and allow for redemption for a missed assignment.
    33.9k
  • Adapting Chalk Talks to Promote Student Engagement

    A teacher describes how he modifies a thinking routine developed by Harvard’s Project Zero to keep it from becoming too routine.
    8
    954

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George Lucas Educational Foundation

Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
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