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...

Teacher quality is an important school-level factor in student achievement (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005) and the focus of ongoing effort by policy makers and practitioners to ensure that all students have...

Creating a unique climate and culture in which all students feel welcome, safe, and secure is the responsibility of the school community. This is especially important in a middle school where students are trying to...

Why do we have to read this? Does that lament sound familiar? It's a common question and one that teachers should be able to answer if they want students to be motivated to read. Catherine Snow, in Learning to Read...

The move from middle to high school stirs up many emotions for young adolescents, ranging from excitement and anticipation to fear and anxiety. It is natural for students to have numerous concerns related to the...

Whenever I tell people I'm a teacher, their response is respectful but often tempered with some comment that indicates that perhaps I was not intelligent enough to get a real job. When I add that I teach seventh...

High Expectations In accord with the Association for Middle Level Education's (AMLE) This We Believe tenets (National Middle School Association, 2010), teachers of middle level grades should implement curriculum that...

What is authentic assessment? Authentic assessment is a method for measuring student learning by providing developmentally appropriate, student-centered, active learning strategies that help students develop lifelong...