Design principles for learning provide a framework for creating a collaborative culture, structures, and dispositions as part of an effective professional learning system to continuously inform and improve teaching and learning. Design principles engage teachers in continuous, accelerated, and sustained learning about instructional practices in…

To one degree or another, inclusion is the word of the day in public schools across the country, and as a result many general education teachers find themselves face-to-face in their classrooms with students who have been diagnosed with behavior disorders (BD). While the behavior of these students is frequently (and euphemistically) referred to as…

Remixing traditional and new teaching techniques via literacy centers can restructure middle grades language arts classrooms to promote student movement, autonomy, and creativity. Literacy centers provide a set of individual, developmentally appropriate learning activities that can be updated daily to match current objectives, but do not need to…

The middle school years are a critical time in the physical, intellectual, and moral growth of young adolescents. This article examines how film can be used to engage students in moral-dilemma discussions to promote critical thinking and character development. The authors argue that the use of film in the classroom can challenge students to expand…

Social media are at the heart of the daily communications of adolescents. In many cases, however, adolescents are unaware of the consequences of the long-term availability of their online personal information. Given the rising prevalence of online background checks on potential partners, college applicants, and job candidates, online search…

Because of the Common Core State Standards there is a renewed emphasis on the importance of visual literacies in today's classrooms. Students need prior knowledge before approaching these types of texts. This article describes the results of one 6th-grade language arts class's engagement in pre-reading prior to viewing a theatrical…

This article provides pre- and new in-service teachers, cooperating teachers, mentors, and student teacher supervisors with some suggestions to make beginning teaching easier and more productive. It also helps teachers feel less overwhelmed by the demands of a new career.

This article offers a variety of culturally responsive approaches and activities so as to better know and understand our students' diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. These methods will not only help to make more equitable classrooms where we make meaningful connections with our students--but also yield useful data so as to inform our…

Establishing a communication-rich classroom can be difficult. This article describes the process and findings of a practitioner action research study addressing the question of how teachers can interact with their students while they are working in groups to encourage and enhance student-to-student communication. Recommended research-based teacher…

Too often, teachers encountering difficulties with classroom management focus only on the students rather than critically examining the influence of their own approaches on student behavior. Given the particular challenges that middle school students present, certain practices and expectations exacerbate management issues, and a lack of awareness…

Teachers' classroom management practices are rooted in assumptions based on their experiences and perceptions. At times, these assumptions are only partially informed, and serve to limit action and perceived responsibility. In this article, five common "half-truths" that guide classroom management are discussed. For each, the basic premise is…

Once hired, beginning teachers face the daunting and demanding task of setting up a classroom and becoming a teacher that influences student achievement in positive ways. This article addresses some of these challenges and provides meaningful suggestions for principals and administrators hoping to support, sustain, and retain their novice teachers.

This article presents guiding principles governing the design, implementation, and management of a point system to promote discipline and academic rigor in a secondary classroom. Four considerations are discussed: (1) assigning appropriate point values to integral classroom behaviors and tasks; (2) determining the relationship among consequences,…

This article examines the merits of WebQuests in facilitating students' in-depth understanding of science concepts using the four principles of learning gathered from the National Research Council reports "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" (1999) and the "How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom" (2005) as an analytic…

Adolescence is a challenging time for most young people, but for those with or at-risk of developing emotional or mental health conditions, it can be particularly harrowing. Studies indicate that 1 in 5 adolescents have some sort of serious emotional, behavioral, or mental health problem. Early identification and treatment can make a substantial…