The last United States Census reported that young adolescents spend the majority of their waking hours in the care of someone other than their parents. Couple this with adolescents' growing need for independence, and...

In the middle of the night, I encountered an armed intruder in my home, and while the whole ordeal only lasted 45 seconds until local police arrived and apprehended the suspect, aspects of it are indelibly impressed...

How will you make the world better? This question challenges every member of the Preston Middle School community and serves as the foundation for everything we do. Preston Middle School is a school of science,...

Research has shown that, particularly in high-poverty environments, students' middle grades experiences are critical in launching them toward achievement and attainment or placing them on a path of frustration,...

We live in a world where you can’t understand science without technology, which couches most of if its research and development in engineering, which you can’t create without an understanding of the...

Carl Sagan once said, "We can do science, and with it we can improve our lives." Yes, science is an action—something we can do—and it is apparent that we in education have forgotten that fact. As a...

In her Click Here column, Brenda Dyck does a beautiful job of helping us incorporate and navigate technology, but I want to add my voice to hers in support of a particularly powerful tool: Twitter. To be honest,...

Can you imagine teaching middle grades students for more than four decades? As a middle school principal, I had the opportunity to work with just such a teacher. Barry Krizan taught three generations of our...

Many of us have unwaveringly embraced the philosophy of differentiation. We differentiate instruction according to student readiness, interest, and preference. But what about the other parts of a young...

A caring classroom environment is a key factor in students' success in school (Kohn, 2005; Noddings, 1995). Young adolescents, in particular, need the support and encouragement of an adult advocate who cares and...