MiddleWeb's April Articles

Who can keep up with anything these days?! Once a month we’re making it easy for MiddleWeb Substack subscribers by sending you brief descriptions of last month’s new MiddleWeb.com articles and reviews – written (as always) by educators who are doing the work. Just click on a title to check it out!

Have Fun and Celebrate as the School Year Ends
Teacher fatigue at the end of the year is real and well earned, writes middle grades veteran Megan Kelly. “Still, you and your students have spent a significant amount of time together and it merits celebration.” Kelly shares three favorite “final days” activities at her school.

What We Can Do When Today’s Students “Skim Read”
Across classrooms, it is increasingly common to see students skim instead of read, search instead of think, and move quickly through text without following how ideas connect. This is not simply a motivation issue. It’s a cognitive one. Veteran educator Holly Durham has a cure.

4 Ways to Encourage Productive Struggle
Productive struggle is part of classroom instruction, building a structured task into the flow of learning so that students can apply what they know in new and novel ways, writes consultant and author Barbara Blackburn, who explores myths, student dispositions and more.

Are You GPS-ing Your Students in Math Class?
When we over-guide our math students, we don’t build understanding, we replace it, writes veteran teacher, author and math coach Pamela Seda. “We want students who, after leaving our class, can find their way – not students who are dependent on a voice telling them where to turn.”

Middle Schoolers Love Writing Mystery Pen Pal Letters
A “snail mail” pen pal project may seem outmoded for middle schoolers, with their brains wired for the instant gratification of texting and social media. And yet, as Scott Bonito discovered, having a mystery pen pal can make eyes light up and adolescent brains go into overdrive.

Teaching Your Students to Annotate with Purpose
Whether they’re annotating for current engagement or as preparation for discussion and writing assignments, students benefit from knowing the purpose of their notes. Seventh grade teacher Laurie Miller Hornik shares steps to help students understand the power of annotation.

Engaging Math Students in a Thinking Classroom
After her close study of insights from three leading math educators, Kathleen Palmieri took “a deep dive into what I had been doing in my classroom and flipped the stage to create a Thinking Classroom for my students.” See examples of how she’s moved from theories to practice.

Build Your Resilience in Just Two Minutes a Day
Brief reflections every day can help you build your resilience skills, write Carol Moehrle and Gail Boushey. They suggest a practice concentrating on balance, calm, adaptability, happiness, and joy to quietly change how you experience everything teaching asks of you.

A Human-Centered Approach to Using AI
Artful AI in Writing Instruction models productive and reflective approaches to using AI where student voices are centered and human thinking trumps artificial intelligence. The book is a roadmap for teachers with examples, lessons, and moments of reflection, writes Michele Haiken.

An Insightful Guide to the Prepared Classroom
In Prepared Classroom Gail Boushey and Allison Behne illustrate why a well-planned classroom is a powerful tool for teachers to foster positive environments and support student learning. Stacy Haynes-Moore appreciated the detailed descriptions of routines and procedures.

Helping Students Build & Use Prior Knowledge
Using personal anecdotes, educational research, and practical strategies, Kelly Gallagher offers both a call to action and a guide for educators invested in students’ literacy development as his book To Read Stuff You Have to Know Stuff explores the connection between background knowledge and reading comprehension.

Amplify Student Voices & Inspire Social Change
Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities calls on educators to trust in the power of student narratives and to create learning environments where stories become a launching pad for critical reflection, social change, and community-building, writes Melinda Stewart.

Creating a Classroom of Young Problem Solvers
In Word Problem Workshop, Mona Iehl provides a practical framework to ignite math learning for elementary students, says fifth grade teacher Kathie Palmieri. Iehl’s book offers a structured, daily routine that makes word problems less scary and builds confidence, connections, and wonder in each session.

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