In today's middle school classroom, grouping is an essential learning tool that enhances students' ability to collaborate with others and deepen their own thinking. Implementing group work effectively, though, can be a challenge, especially since groups tend to end their work at "ragged" or staggered times. Creating "anchor activities"--respectful…

When asked to discuss their middle school language arts classes, talented eighth graders identified concerns and made suggestions for their teachers. Students voiced desire for choices in selecting reading materials, writing topics and genre. They preferred having extended periods of time to engage in reading and writing activities, rather than…

The authors address the need to teach students to become more word aware by focusing on metasemantic awareness, alongside morphological and syntactic awareness, as a basis for developing metacognition about words. They extend the concept of a definition map to other forms of vocabulary learning and provide several helpful graphic organizers.…

Long an advocate of literature circles, Daniels recaps the history of literature circles and cautions against the "terminology drift" that labels practices as literature circles when, in fact, they are not. He offers resources that anchor best practice in this area, and discusses how the concept is evolving and expanding. He also introduces us to…

Pacey, a likable and literate eighth-grader, saw school as "a place that kills your reading." With this alarming condemnation in mind, the author uses literacy narrative--a short, concise, digital video in which students meld still images, motion, print text, and soundtrack (both narration and music) in communicating ideas/insights/discoveries…

Describes how a middle school language arts teacher makes analyzing and creating visual art a partner to reading and writing in her classroom. Describes a project on art and Vietnam which shows how background information can add to and influence interpretation. Describes a unit on Greek mythology and Greek vases which leads to a related visual…

Describes how one eighth-grade teacher, disturbed by students' ignorance of the variety of poetry available to them, developed a poetry anthology assignment, in which students immersed themselves in poetry for three weeks, each one choosing and creating a poetry anthology comprised of 20 poems. Notes students' enthusiasm for the project and pride…

Describes a six-week poetry writing workshop for an eighth-grade class. Discusses getting started, two weeks of immersion in reading poetry, students writing their own poetry, creating a community of poets in the classroom, evaluation, students' poetry, and what the teacher learned. Notes that students gained a much richer understanding of poetry.…

Argues that children are as deep as the ocean, with secret places inside of them waiting to be opened. Notes that it is powerful for students to learn they can make sense of the world through words, and describes inviting them into poetry as they read poetry, create poetry packets, and write and revise poems. (SR)

Describes the crisis that young women face--a kind of suffocation--at adolescence, calling it both developmental and cultural. Argues that responsive teaching, and regular, fast, expressive writing without evaluation about whatever is in their minds will help girls define what is most important to them and examine what is going on in their lives.…

Describes the use of social justice notebooks by a seventh/eighth-grade social studies teacher. Discusses the process of notebook writing and how these notebooks have improved students' thinking skills as well as class discussion as students engage with moral dilemmas. (SR)

Describes a successful oral history project in a United States history class with eighth-grade students from all over the world. Discusses four reasons why using oral history in the classroom is so effective. Describes a 12-step process for using oral history in the classroom. (SR)

Describes a range of responses by elementary and middle school students to educational attempts to provide culturally diverse perspectives, and examines possible reasons. Notes that drama is an effective way to introduce new cultures and ideas. Discusses dilemmas educators face in this endeavor, such as finding and selecting materials. (SR)

Describes an end-of-year project in which students research an interesting figure from American history and have a "dinner party" in which they become the historical figure they have researched. Gives examples of ways to modify the number of assessed activities based on the class and time factors. (SG)

Presents an activity to connect language arts, social studies, and technology in a meaningful way while encouraging students not only to read for details but to "read between the lines" and draw conclusions about a historical figure's inner thoughts and personality. Notes that the biopoem is a simple 10-line poem with a specific, easy-to-follow…