Middle school voices are not always what their teachers want to hear. Those voices can be high-pitched and rowdy, full of criticism and negativity, whining with complaint, or bent on distracting others, destroying...

Why is it that on the news every day, they start by saying "good evening" and then proceed to tell us exactly why it isn't? Some of the most powerful statements and questions I've ever heard—like the one...

The effects of the warm sun on my skin are starting to fade and my internal clock is ticking down the moments, which means one thing: a new school year is approaching. That realization may bring feelings of...

As we begin to draw the curtain on another school year, many of us take time to rest, to reflect, and to read—books we didn’t have time to check out all year, novels that we heard about but couldn’t...

With only a few days left with my students, I’m thinking how far they have come in their reading and writing skills this year. Their final writing assessment has actually been a pleasure to grade. But now, I...

There’s a great story about General Westmoreland that reminds us what can happen if we are brave with each other. The general was reviewing a line of paratroopers and decided to talk to three of them. "Son,"...

The beginning of any new year makes me stop and assess where I’ve been, where I am, where I’m going, and why. It also makes me think about how we help create new paths for ourselves as educators and for...

The sessions... The speakers... The tweets... The conversations... The strategies... The ideas... The attendees! All of these ingredients (and more) made for a thrilling and informative recipe in Nashville at...

I'll never forget the time a seventh grader gave me the bird. When I caught him and the gesture, it changed me as a middle school teacher. And somehow it reminded me of the middle school characteristic that states,...

When I was a young adolescent, my parents took me and my two sisters, Sally and Betsy, to the shores of Lake Erie. While certainly not a breathtaking ocean with crystal clear waters, Lake Erie was beautiful...