MiddleWeb

Teachers' Word Choice Matters

"PERHAPS THE MOST POWERFUL AND TEACHER-FRIENDLY BOOK EVER PUBLISHED."
--Richard Allington

The things that teachers say (and don't say) have important consequences for the literate lives of their students. CHOICE WORDS uses dozens of examples of words and phrases to show how "instructional talk" shapes intellectual development. $12. Order here.

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

YA Novels Renew Excitement about Learning

Middle grades instructional coach Elena Aguilar suggests that shared novels and storytelling can help reignite excitement about learning and build community among students returning to school.

As a teacher, on the first day of school, I wanted my students to know that in my class we would read a lot and we'd read great literature, literature that would help us understand our world better, and ourselves. In the first weeks of school, I also needed to build community in my classroom, define routines and procedures, and particularly in middle school, get kids re-anchored in the purpose and pleasure of learning. I used stories to accomplish all of these objectives...

In her Edutopia blog, Aguilar recommends three favorite books that work well at the beginning of the year. See her suggestions and other story ideas from her readers.

How to Achieve Lively Student Writing

Help your students play with language like skilled writers! Pyrotechnics on the Page shows how to weave various "tools" of play--puns and double meanings, invented words, allusions, hyperbole, and more--into everyday teaching. Includes 24 craft lessons and an extensive bibliography of relevant mentor texts. Preview the entire book online!

Thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for their support of MiddleWeb and middle grades educators.

VisuWords

If you're familiar with Visual Thesaurus, you'll have some idea of how the VisuWords online graphical dictionary displays information about a word or phrase you enter into the database. VisuWords uses color-coded connections to indicate relationships such as "is a part of" or "opposes" and parts of speech, such as "nouns", "verbs", or "adverbs". Mouse over synonyms to see pop-up definitions and an example of the word in a sentence. The no-membership-required website uses Princeton's WordNet dictionary and provides simple tips on how to get the most out of the display.

Teaching Secrets: Cultural Competency

What is the most effective path for working with students who come from backgrounds different than your own? Middle grades instructional coach Elena Aguilar offers her ideas in this recent Teacher Magazine article titled "When the Kids Don't Share Your Culture." Aguilar's 13 tips will be of interest not only to new teachers but to all who work with children in multi-cultural classrooms.

English Language Learners: What Principals Need to Know

"When schools are set up with teams, professional learning communities, and block scheduling, a great deal can be done to ensure the success of ELLs," says this article from a recent issue of NASSP's Middle Level Leader. Providing ELLs and their teachers with an effective program, writes teacher and clinician Courtney George, "requires that school leaders understand some of the basics about second language acquisition theory as well as how structural changes at the school level can provide teachers and kids with the support they need and deserve." George summarizes the current research and program approaches and offers two student scenarios to frame her message.

Free-Reading Middle Schoolers

Donalyn Miller, known for her book and blog titled The Book Whisperer, was chosen a Smart Blogger by the ASCD SmartBrief e-newsletter last week. In the highlighted post, Miller reflected on the favorite books read by her middle schoolers over the past school year. "Miller's free-choice reading environment," the editors wrote, "helped propel students' reading growth as they selected longer, more complex titles and found themselves exploring and preferring new and more diverse books." Student favorites included two by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series), an author who not too many years ago was (like Miller) a Texas middle school teacher. Other favorites among the sixth graders (who read an average of 57 books each) were The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

PBS Picks Teacher Innovators

In this press release, read details (and see video) about the top 10 teachers recently honored by the Public Broadcasting System for their innovative teaching. The group includes three teachers in the middle grades, but you'll find easily adaptable innovations from other grade levels, including Robert Schechter's "An Author You Can't Refuse," a writing strategy he employs with ELL and mainstream students. PBS has featured nearly 200 middle level teachers over the course of this awards program, so be sure to explore the Gr. 6-8 dropdown menu at the innovation gallery. See, for example, this video of history teacher Joe Huber sharing animation work of his 8th graders.

PD Sourcebook: Response to Intervention

The Spring 2010 issue of Professional Development Sourcebook is devoted to stories and resources about the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, which integrates assessment and intervention to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems. Among our favorite resources in this info-packed issue is the interview with middle grades teacher Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer, and her Texas principal, describing how their school has implemented RTI. A good reference for general and special ed teachers alike.

History: The Struggle for Justice

Teachers will find resources and inspiration at this online companion to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery exhibition "The Struggle for Justice." Included are six video clips narrated by CNN's Soledad O'Brien highlighting six areas in which Americans have struggled for rights over the last century -- and a gallery section featuring portraits of many individuals who were instrumental in fighting for justice and equal opportunity in the United States. There's also a lesson plan with a list of useful outside materials.

Voices of Latino Middle Schoolers

In this collection of writing and media from middle school Latino/a students in Austin, Los Angeles, and Oakland, the concepts of "place, identity, and culture rule." Brought together by What Kids Can Do and the National Council of La Raza as part of a service-learning project, the young authors fight stereotypes, share what makes them who they are, explore their communities, and imagine some facets of the world they want to help create. "From start to finish," says WKCD director Barbara Cervone, "students talked about the key concerns they want to address as leaders. Safe families in caring communities. Respect and equity for their ethnic groups. High expectations. Healthy food options. A passionate desire to contribute in positive ways." An excellent launching pad for your own school or classroom projects.

Reversing Readicide

"Schools have become unwitting coconspirators in the decline of reading." That's the argument made by teacher Kelly Gallagher is his widely discussed 2009 book Readicide. In a 2010 article published in Educational Leadership, Gallagher defines four barriers that must be overcome to repair the damage he believes has been caused by the pressure to improve scores on high-stakes reading tests. Public education, he says, is in a "reading recession" - but "I believe that the critical thinkers we so desperately need will emerge from classrooms where teachers have eschewed the coverage approach in favor of fostering deeper thinking." Also see this Sustained Silent Reading chat.

Help ELL Students Become Co-Creators

California teacher Larry Ferlazzo's popular teaching resources blog began with a strong focus on teaching English Language Learners -- then exploded into one of the best general resources for teachers across the K-12 spectrum. An ELL teacher himself, Larry distills his key ideas for helping non-native English speakers succeed in school in this recent article for Teacher Magazine, on the eve of the publication of his new book, English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work. He proposes that the best way to empower ELL students as they master English is to abandon the "deficit model" common in many schools and develop their self-efficacy and leadership skills.

High Stakes: Addressing Vocabulary Gaps

Blogger Ariel Sacks has come up with "a nice trick for teaching vocabulary and critical thinking" to the eighth graders in her Brooklyn NY classroom. "We've been gearing up for the NY state middle school ELA exam, and I realized my students' vocabulary gaps were hurting them on the multiple choice part.  Sometimes, for example, they comprehended the text--and know how to use context clues to guess meanings of words they don't know--but didn't know the meaning of a key word in one of the multiple choice answers. Those answers have no context, so they ended up choosing the wrong one. I felt the need to do some explicit vocabulary work to try to improve their chances." Read on for Sacks' strategy.

Reading: Grouped with the Dinosaurs

When Cris Tovani – author of Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? – was assigned to the less-proficient group for her school's annual technology training, she faced up to some challenges her struggling readers also face. Through leveling, she wondered, do teachers inadvertently send a message that limits effort and therefore the potential for success? Tovani came away with four insights and a plan to make grouping work better. You'll find them all in this March 2010 article from Educational Leadership.

Quick Resource: Vocabulary University

This popular free service, used in many schools, recently changed domains, so it's a good time for us to mention it again. Also known as "My Vocabulary," the site offers thematic puzzles (across many content areas), vocabulary lesson plans, specialized word lists, and the all-important test prep for SAT/ACT. A basic tool for any vocabulary-minded teacher's kit.

Teaching Math to ELL and Special Students

The Mathematics Improvement Toolkit offers resources and professional development materials designed to support teachers as they help ELL and special education students master high-level mathematics. Teachers can use the Toolkit (developed with a USDOE grant) to both deepen conceptual understanding of middle grades math and identify the most effective practices to teach concepts to students. Teachers may want to begin exploring by clicking on the "Tools" menu on the far right of the top navigation bar.

NYT Learning Network: Found Poems

This recent lesson plan at the New York Times Learning Network blog caught the eye of the “Accomplished Teacher” SmartBrief e-newsletter. In celebration of National Poetry Month (and no doubt to encourage youthful interest in the nation’s “newspaper of record”) the Times is not only providing tips for writing “found poems” but offering to publish the best of them in the NYTLN blog. As the AT-SB relates: “The words can be mixed up and combined to form poems and can cover any topic, but there are a few rules that the blog writer says teachers should stick to when assigning the project. The poems can be submitted to the newspaper, and the best will be featured on the blog.” Deadline for the contest is April 19, 2010 – but the tips are good anytime!

The Case for Literature

Nancie Atwell's powerful statement on the contribution book reading makes to student achievement is a must-read not only for teachers of English but for all educators who know from experience that sustained independent reading builds "fluency, stamina, vocabulary, confidence, critical abilities, habits, tastes and comprehension." Atwell worries that the Common Core State Standards Initiative, "dominated by test-makers and politicians," will devalue the young adult literature that helps teens understand more about themselves and young people "unlike themselves" — literature that often serves as a bridge to the best adult fiction. (Education Week)

A Fresh Perspective on Schools and International Competition

In this Edutopia video clip, teaching scholar Linda Darling Hammond sorts though all the international student assessment data and makes the case that education policymakers in the U.S. need to shift their focus to actions that support the teaching of higher order thinking and problem-solving, if we expect to compete in the global economy. In her new book The Flat World and Education, Darling Hammond describes a system of respectful teacher development and support that recognizes the central role of the highly trained teacher in success for all students. "This is very eye-opening," wrote one teacher commenter. "She is very clear and is not presenting some new trendy reform for improvement but excellent observations, relying on the foundation of data." (9 minutes)