It's easy to become jaded about assessment, but I'm going to offer a different view that will hopefully make assessment a tool for learning instead of just an after-the-fact event. We can't always control all of the...

Aiden, an eighth grader, wanted to vent about his latest group project. He had to work with classmates to design an environmentally sustainable home in Vietnam. This involved sourcing local palm thatching and bamboo,...

Reader response compels readers to interact with the text and makes visible for readers and their teachers the depth of text comprehension. This is the fifth in a series on scaffolding writing-to-learn by teaching a...

"Student-centered" is just one set of new buzzwords in the education world. I remember sitting in a professional development session watching a video of students conducting the class with very little input from the...

At last year's AMLE Annual Conference for Middle Level Education, I was surrounded by passionate, knowledgeable preservice and inservice teachers, veteran and new administrators, and early career and retired...

Homework, like taking a daily vitamin, is supposed to be good for us. So why all the angst over a seemingly benign antidote? For teachers, homework is frequently just another piece of paper to grade; for parents,...

Where did I put those notes again? Umm … I think I threw those notes away Ms. H. I don't know how to study for this quiz! Ugh, I hate taking notes! When did we learn this? Wait … did we even learn...

As a robotics teacher at Pickerington Ridgeview STEM Junior High, one of the major skills I focus on building in my students is collaboration. Being able to work well with others to accomplish a shared goal is not...

As anyone who has taught middle school knows, seventh grade can be an interesting time for students and teachers alike. Some students arrive almost ready to move on to high school and start conquering the world, while...

Social studies instruction requires students to understand complex concepts, read dense primary source documents, and critically consider various perspectives. As a social studies and English language arts teacher, I...