The task of providing all students an engaging education is a particularly difficult challenge in the middle grades as young adolescents are on the cusp of intellectual thought. Because they are forming their identities as students who will or will not go on to successfully complete high school or postsecondary education, their experiences with…

This article describes the middle grades teacher preparation program at Augusta State University in Georgia. It describes the negotiation between the middle school concept and the standardized testing culture of the local schools as the faculty redesigned the undergraduate middle grades program to adequately address both. Ways in which new…

Wayside teaching focuses on building and maintaining positive relationships with students. Teachers can implement certain wayside teaching practices to end the year in a positive way and begin preparing for the next school year.

This article examines instruction at a school in California for expelled middle school students and illustrates the practices of its most and least effective teachers. Findings show that teachers' implementation of instructional practices, classroom management, and rapport building mutually reinforced each other to either facilitate or hinder…

Mr. Smith and Ms. D'Amico are two veteran science teachers in a well-performing school district. Both teachers use weekly lab exercises and experiments as formative assessments. In their middle school classrooms, children are engaged and eager to learn. As students walk into Mr. Smith's classroom, a prescribed, step-by-step procedure of the day's…

Global positioning systems (GPS) receivers and other geospatial tools can help teachers create engaging, hands-on activities in all content areas. This article provides a rationale for using geospatial technologies in the middle grades and describes classroom-tested activities in English language arts, science, mathematics, and social studies.…

This article shares thoughts about motivating young adolescents from the perspective of middle level students. The most compelling thread to emerge from the interviews with students was the fact that teachers matter. Teachers have a direct and significant impact on students' motivation to achieve. This article identifies three ways in which…

Developing and implementing curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory is central to successful middle grades education (Erb, 2005; Jackson & Davis, 2000; National Middle School Association [NMSA], 2003, 2010). However, as one language arts teacher suggests, it can be difficult to create curricula that meet these…

Wayside teaching is all about building and sustaining positive relationships with students. John Lounsbury defined wayside teaching as "the teaching that is done between classes, when walking in the halls, after school, and in dozens of one-on-one encounters, however brief" (1991, p. 29). Wayside teaching helps students feel safe and valued.…

Teachers in middle level schools face overwhelming demands and challenges in their classrooms. They are expected to know content and pedagogy, develop engaging lessons that meet the needs of diverse learners, and use a variety of instructional strategies that will boost student achievement while they simultaneously develop positive relationships…

The authors, Angiline and Al, are university teacher educators who share similar experiences building community in middle grades mathematics classroom. As eighth grade mathematics teachers, they began the year building relationships with their students and encouraging communication to establish a caring ethic. In their mathematics classes, a…

Fostering engaged learning for middle grades students is a significant challenge for teachers everywhere, and in some jurisdictions, it has even become a government priority. As one might expect, this policy has raised broader questions about what teachers' actually mean when they talk about engagement and whether or not these criteria are, in…

Teachers are well aware that their primary challenge is motivating students. Through teacher research, the authors have found that reframing curricular topics as inquiry promotes engagement, literacy, and deep learning for all students, especially reluctant ones, and invites them into the classroom project as full and necessary participants.…

Student engagement drives students toward success or, if absent, a lack of engagement leaves students idling or even going in reverse. All good teachers know that more learning takes place when students are actually engaged in the curriculum. Yet, teachers often get so caught up in preparing students to pass the state's standardized tests that…

The social world of young adolescents comes into the classroom with them. It can cause kids to sit with blank or glum faces while teachers present their most fascinating assignments. It can drive them to make inappropriate comments at moments that should elicit serious thought. Although teachers tend to think of middle schoolers as risk-takers,…