Erik M. Francis, M.Ed., M.S. is an author, educator, and speaker who specializes in teaching and learning that promotes cognitive rigor and postsecondary (college and career) readiness. He is the author of Now THAT’S a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning (ASCD). He is also the owner of Maverik Education LLC, providing academic
Differentiated Instruction
Moving Beyond Tech-Rich Classrooms Imagine being tasked with teaching a class of restless adolescents, all of whom have different learning styles, strengths, interests, and needs. Or perhaps this daunting scenario is not so farfetched at all. A team of innovative teachers at Middletown Middle School (MMS) in Frederick County, Maryland, decided to try something vastly
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Committing to the challenge of addressing the needs of gifted learners That Was Then Middle schools and their guiding philosophies were created in reaction to junior and senior high schools’ lack of attention to developmental and academic needs of young adolescents. This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents and other writings of the last 60 years
Read More… from That Was Then, This Is Now: Gifted in the Middle
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Teaching and learning in diverse ways. As middle school teachers, we are well aware of the many ways in which our student populations vary. From physical appearances and stages of development to prior experiences and ethnicities, students’ compositions highlight the importance of getting to know our students in order to create learning experiences that reflect
Read More… from Differentiation: Closing the Gap between Frustration and Success
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Changing the classroom structure can be as effective as differentiating content. Konawaena Middle School was created as a school within a high school to meet the unique needs of the early adolescents. One of the outstanding features of this school is its commitment to the heterogeneous grouping of students. When I began teaching at Konawaena
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More reasons you should consider flipping your classroom. What’s so great about flipped classrooms? Flipped teaching is a great way to create an active, vibrant classroom and enhance student learning. It requires students to complete lower levels of cognitive work outside the classroom and focus on the application, analysis, evaluation, and creation in class. The
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