A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

It is here where I try my best to look at the world through the eyes of my two children who are both in middle school. Then there is my parent lens. As I reflect more and more on this, I am always drawn to an image created by MMI independent educational consultancy. We call this Quad D learning based on the Rigor Relevance Framework.

Pedagogy 411

Pedagogy Middle School Leadership Cultures 411

ED Surge

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

As a math educator at the high school and middle school levels, I lived for the moments when students’ furrowed brows ever-so-slightly began to unfold and smiles emerged. Many of those luminations surfaced because the lessons my students engaged with were designed to promote student inquiry and prioritize cultural relevance.

Cultures 133

Cultures Civic Engagement Civics Pedagogy 133

Digital Promise

MAY 25, 2017

The Digital Promise maker learning team spent some time in Greer, South Carolina this winter observing and filming the Riverside Middle School Library Club students as they worked to design solutions to problems they identified in their community. If that doesn’t sum up middle school, I don’t know what does.

Library 108

Library Middle School Tradition Lesson Plan 108

The Hechinger Report

JULY 14, 2019

I first was assigned to an elementary school in a middle-class suburb of Philadelphia. Then I got to a middle school in the same district in a neighborhood with kids who were less economically advantaged. Here’s what is missing in music education: cultural and social relevance.

Cultures 111

Cultures Education Middle School Tradition 111

Anthropology News

DECEMBER 18, 2024

In American public schools, disabled youth with significant support and academic needs are often educated in separate programs. The cafeteria was a wild place: large, chaotic, echoing with shouting and friendly and not-so-friendly mockery that makes up middle school sociality. Neither Laura nor Jamal was comfortable there.

Middle School 52

Middle School Anthropology Public School Education 52

TeachThought

APRIL 4, 2024

They prefer either someone they previously deemed accurate or someone who shares their cultural background (Corriveau & Kurkul, 2016). Their study involved 14,049 students across fifty-one middle schools. Background research on children’s learning showed that preschoolers have two qualifiers when choosing an informer.

Research 324

Research Sociology Middle School High School 324

Digital Promise

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

After just one year, research suggests the DLP is changing school culture, as teachers are more collaborative and more open to trying new things in their classrooms. The DLP seems to have taken hold and has been embraced by everyone,” said Teresa Engler, technology coach at McGuffey Middle School in Pennsylvania.

Cultures 81

Cultures Middle School Critical Thinking Teaching 81

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 14, 2013

Based on the summary below it looks like our commitment to creating and supporting such a culture is paying off. A young middle school student was very upset because she felt as if none of her friends would recognize her and offer her a Valentine’s card. I hope you all enjoy this guest post by Doreen as much as I did.

High School 219

High School Middle School Cultures Teaching 219

Digital Promise

MAY 24, 2016

Undertaking this transformation is a challenge, and requires buy-in and commitment from district leadership, school administrators, and teachers in order to be successful. Over the past two years, we’ve witnessed how building a strong school community and culture of support is critical to success.

Cultures 83

Cultures Middle School Leadership Education 83

Future of History

OCTOBER 6, 2024

Teaching about Judaism, Christianity and Islam needs to be a staple in middle school world history and culture classes. On the anniversary of October 7, Lauren Brown points out misconceptions and offers resource ideas to help counter students' frequent confusion.

Teaching 119

Teaching World History Middle School History 119

Active History Teacher

DECEMBER 22, 2022

I often use class competition games in my US History classroom – you could say it is part of my classroom culture. It’s important as a teacher to build that classroom culture before you add the competition. It helps create a tight classroom culture when students are all competing for success.

Primary Sources 195

Primary Sources American History History Cultures 195

Active History Teacher

MARCH 16, 2023

Students begin their research on the following topics for their decade: fashion, innovations, music, fads, key events, literature, popular culture, kids/toys. High School Middle School STARR/EOC review JOIN Thank you for subscribing! For each topic, students would include 4 images. You could require more or less.

History 195

History Oral History Middle School Cultures 195

A Principal's Reflections

MARCH 27, 2014

Speaking of journeys, today I traveled to New Jersey with my middle school principal, Luis Pena (@principalpena) and high school principal, Glen Zakian. Under Eric''s stewardship, there are organizational conditions to support a culture of emergent leadership and at the heart of this is a significant level of autonomy.

Library 257

Library Leadership High School Middle School 257

The Hechinger Report

JUNE 16, 2021

. — By his own account, Oscar Tendilla was a horrible middle school student, unmotivated and indifferent. I did poorly in middle school because I didn’t care,” Tendilla told me. Related: What does career readiness look like in middle school? Last month he became his family’s first college graduate.

High School 145

High School Middle School Social Studies Teaching 145

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 1, 2021

Under a first-in-the-nation law that took full effect this year, students from across the state must take part in at least two “student-led, nonpartisan civics projects” — one in eighth grade, and another in high school. Peyton Amaral, an eighth grader at Morton Middle School in Fall River, Mass., Credit: Christopher Blanchette.

Civic Engagement 142

Civic Engagement Civics Teaching Middle School 142

Active History Teacher

MARCH 15, 2023

My tips implementing hexagonal thinking: Identify the key concepts that need reviewing: Consider the history, culture, economics, and politics of a unit. High School Middle School STARR/EOC review JOIN Thank you for subscribing! Don’t forget to include people, battles, documents, dates etc!

History 195

History Pedagogy Middle School Economics 195

Digital Promise

JULY 31, 2019

Since 2014, the Verizon Innovative Learning schools initiative has reached more than 86,000 students and nearly 6,000 teachers in 100 middle schools across the country. The post Growing the Culture of Learning with Verizon Innovative Learning schools appeared first on Digital Promise.

Cultures 56

Cultures Middle School Professional Development Teaching 56

The Hechinger Report

MAY 24, 2021

Black teachers have been in the awkward positions of having to create lessons around police violence and being asked to share their thoughts and feelings about race with colleagues from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. He says his goal is to “make people aware of the story of Black males in schools.” Credit: Terrance Lewis.

K-12 145

K-12 Middle School Cultures High School 145

Psych Learning Curve

JANUARY 31, 2020

Participate in a new survey on PhD mental health (Chronicle of Higher Education) Recently the Council of Graduate Schools announced a multiyear study to learn more about mental health and wellness in doctoral training, and to find workable solutions. Now, they’re expanding that work into schools.

Middle School 52

Middle School Psychology Critical Thinking Cultures 52

The Hechinger Report

MAY 25, 2023

The organization operates the program in five schools in the Boston area. Every eighth grader in those schools takes a two-hour workshop class once a week for six weeks, learning everything from how to succeed in an office culture, to developing their strengths and learning how to shake hands in a professional setting.

Middle School 136

Middle School Library Government Humanities 136

Digital Promise

MAY 23, 2019

Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, Kentucky (Cohort 5). The five Jefferson County Public Schools participating in the initiative—The Academy @ Shawnee Middle School, Frederick Law Olmsted Academy North, Lassiter Middle School, Newburg Middle School, and W.E.B.

Middle School 120

Middle School Leadership Public School Professional Development 120

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

The program trains educators at K-12 schools whose students include Native children on different ways they can introduce young people to programming, robotics and coding. But computer science lessons like the ones at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School are relatively rare.

K-12 130

K-12 Heritage Cultures Tradition 130

Digital Promise

AUGUST 4, 2015

In South Fayette, a suburban and rural district of 2,700 students near Pittsburgh, it’s woven into the district culture, as well as the core curriculum at every grade level. Students start with block-based code in early elementary, before transitioning to text-based code in middle school, where they can start to develop their own apps.

K-12 106

K-12 Middle School Elementary School Library 106

Digital Promise

JANUARY 13, 2021

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of these shifts in coaching and how they have contributed to cultures of continuous growth and changes in how the instructional technology coaching role is perceived: The shift to distance learning has removed many logistical and scheduling challenges coaches previously faced in a traditional school day.

Artifacts 124

Artifacts Middle School Advocacy Lesson Plan 124

The Hechinger Report

JUNE 12, 2023

So it makes sense that some teachers who answered the survey want to know how high-performing countries are teaching math, along with what cultural barriers might be in the way. “Are Are there schools that replicate best practices of countries like Japan and Finland and demonstrate better outcomes?” So did the issue of U.S.

Education 142

Education Middle School High School Economics 142

Digital Promise

MAY 30, 2019

The Dynamic Learning Project (DLP) utilizes coaching for classroom teachers to increase impactful use of technology in select schools across the country. In our new video below, educators from San Ysidro Middle School in San Diego share how the DLP benefits both teachers and students in their school.

Middle School 132

Middle School Social Studies Cultures Education 132

The Hechinger Report

JUNE 13, 2024

As in Szoo’s case, the disparity begins in high school, where classes in subjects such as math, engineering and computer science “are still pretty gendered,” said Mynatt. And if you don’t know you want to be a computer scientist as a sophomore in high school, you’re going to have a hard time getting into that program.”

Middle School 139

Middle School Leadership Advocacy Cultures 139

Digital Promise

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Similarly, during the 2019-2020 school year, San Antonio Union School District (California) created the first-ever student board member position. Following interviews and selection, the board member—a middle school student—acts as the voice for the district’s student population.

Advocacy 167

Advocacy Leadership Public School Cultures 167

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Tonya Clarke, the coordinator of K-12 mathematics for Clayton County schools, and her colleagues shared the Cardi B lesson at a math convention earlier this fall as an example of a culturally relevant lesson that can lure students into thinking about math in a way that is engaging and exciting. The process is implementable.

K-12 133

K-12 Cultures Critical Thinking Middle School 133

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

TNTP researchers plunged into a giant pool of data housed at Stanford University that tracked hundreds of millions of students’ scores on state tests at more than half the elementary and middle schools in the nation from 2009 to 2018.

Charter School 137

Charter School K-12 Archiving Middle School 137

Achieve the Core

AUGUST 16, 2023

From the lens of an Instructional Math Coach, influencing the culture begins by impacting one student, one class, one teacher at a time. Discovering student assets helped me establish a culture and climate where each student’s thoughts are welcomed, appreciated, and respected. How do students feel when they enter your room?

Cultures 52

Cultures Pedagogy Middle School Elementary School 52

Zinn Education Project

OCTOBER 20, 2024

Zach Wilson Middle School Social Studies Teacher, San Antonio, Texas We have a responsibility to be more inclusive and truthful to our students — especially those whose cultures have been marginalized in history books for years.

History 98

History Teaching Civics Middle School 98

ED Surge

MARCH 22, 2022

School is not the problem. This statement was shared by a former middle school student of mine during his freshman year of high school. John* was getting all A’s and one B in stark contrast to the B’s, C’s, and D’s received in middle school. Students are the problem.”

Middle School 118

Middle School Tradition Critical Thinking High School 118

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 23, 2021

One widely used program called CHAMPS was recently tested in a study involving more than 100 teachers and almost 1,500 middle-school students in a randomized controlled trial — the kind of gold-standard experiment that is common in medicine but not in education. The experiment took place in two St. “As

Classroom Management 126

Classroom Management Middle School Charter School Psychology 126

Digital Promise

APRIL 21, 2021

Adolescents are ready to move beyond simply stating ideas in writing, and are learning to craft their writing for specific audiences and purposes: to tell stories, build arguments, and make meaningful connections to their own culture, values, and identities. ” – “Monica Castro, Principal, Puentes Middle School.

Middle School 125

Middle School High School Cultures Leadership 125

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 5, 2019

I remember another white parent, when she learned that my son was not going to the most selective, predominantly white middle school in our district, looking at me in disbelief and saying, “I thought he had high tests scores?”. In his middle school mind, being selective in and of itself did not make a school “good.”

Public School 111

Public School Sociology Middle School Cultures 111

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

“It’s so fun,” said Ayiana, who comes from the Iñupiaq culture and lives in Kotzebue, a coastal town just north of the Bering Strait. Sam, who is also from the Iñupiaq culture, loves math. Most of the 11 distinct Alaska Native cultures are represented among ANSEP’s students. Despite her academic success, she doesn’t love school.

Middle School 111

Middle School Cultures High School Economics 111