Teaching

Grading Students Identified as Special Education, ELL, RTI, MTSS, or, Otherwise in General Education Classes

Civics is taught in eighth grade. No, that’s fifth grade in our school, actually, and sixth grade is ancient cultures with seventh grade focusing on the mid-1800’s through the modern era. And what’s 8th grade, you ask? We decided to turn that into a personal finance and college/career prep course. And what about math? Well,

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Is It Just a Game? Debunking 10 Common Myths about Game-Based Learning

You’ve heard it before, “I have no time to teach this fluffy stuff.” Is game time in class wasted time? Students will tell you they learn best when instruction is “fun,” but many educators still feel that games take up too much valuable instructional time and require too much planning and effort. Research in possibilities

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Middle School Students Performing Soccer Drills

Athletics in the Middle School Classroom: Coaching Components and Their Connection to the Middle School Classroom

My past year has been spent watching my daughter on the soccer field. As I sat on the sidelines observing their coach work with them on drills and game plays, I was impressed by their patience, the positive feedback they provided, and their ability to pick out what each player’s as well as the overall

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Supporting EL Newcomer Students

This past year, the team at Lincoln Middle School faced a new, unexpected challenge. “We’re a district that never really had a big newcomer population,” said Ivona Wypych, the EL teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Park Ridge, Illinois. That changed when an influx of students, mostly from Ukraine, moved into their community. Their arrival

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