It's easy to stereotype "kids these days." Always on their phones, always taking selfies, tethered to a virtual world but disconnected from the real one. If you don't work with kids, or know what is happening in...

Middle schools devote attention to good beginnings such as orientation programs, building tours, and icebreakers meant to ease the transition. But what is the fitting end? Before middle schoolers pack up their...

Examining the Evidence For centuries, traditional American schooling has taken place in isolated silos of math, language arts, science, and social studies. However, once entering the workforce, students find that the...

We value our young adolescents. Our mission is to provide an exceptional education to students in grades 6–8 and, in particular, "build on our nation's promise of opportunity by exemplifying the role social...

Is great teaching rocket science? No. It's actually far more complicated. Maslow & Bloom The middle school years can be some of the most exciting, yet nerve-racking phases in life. Recent studies have...

Tying shoes. A simple activity that's typically performed one or more times daily. Once people learn how to tie shoes, they can do so almost without thinking. One of my favorite activities to do with teachers and...

Collaborative, individualized, and competitive learning are instructional methods that can be used with the project-based learning approach in middle school, with collaborative learning (sometimes known as cooperative...

In working with teachers on integration and differentiation, there are a few obstacles that are prevalent in almost every group. Logistics in implementing this approach in a system that is currently used is a common...

As with most things in education, context can be everything. A skill taught in isolation from meaningful context, for example, is rarely learned, and often becomes grist for blaming the student for his lack of...

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...