7th

Beginning with the End in Mind: Planning Ahead for Closing Activities

Choice Literacy readers share their favorite end-of-year activities that circle back to events from the start of the school year.

Pencil Plans

The care and use of the lowly pencil in classrooms says a lot about what we value and our relationships with students.

Read Alouds for the First Day of School

Choice Literacy readers share their favorite read alouds for the start of the year.

Seedfolks: Connecting Community and Literature

There's so much to do during the first weeks of school, but it's important not to skip the most important thing – building a sense of community with your students.

Linking Reading, Writing, and Getting to Know You Activities During the First Week of Middle School

Want to get your middle school students’ attention on the first day of school? Read a book about how to ruin it for them.

Persuasive Pamphlets

Erin Ocon and her middle-school students observe some political activists passing out pamphlets outside the building for a few moments. Voila – the pamphlet project is born.  Pamphlets are the perfect genre for teaching persuasion and summary, two key skills highlighted in the Common Core.

Pamphlets on Books (Part 2 of the Persuasive Pamphlets Series)

Erin Ocon finds pamphlets are a terrific format for teaching her middle-school students persuasive writing and summary skills.  In this essay she explains how to use pamphlets for book recommendations.  This is the second installment in a two-part series.

Vocabrity: Fun with Words for Middle School Students

Are your students getting bored with vocabulary routines?  Katie Doherty invents a quick and fun game, Vocabrity, to help her middle school students learn words.

Sarcasm Is a Useful Teaching Tool — NOT

How does sarcasm hurt students? Heather Rader counts the ways.

Getting and Giving Student Feedback

How can we help students be more reflective in our classrooms, giving us the feedback we need to make them better places for learning? Heather Rader has suggestions.

Letters in the Middle School Classroom

First-year teacher Erin Ocon finds an old-fashioned way to build rapport with some of her struggling middle school students – she writes letters to them. This brief article would be a good reading for a middle school team meeting or new teacher group.

Fairy Tales for Middle Grade Readers (BOOKLIST)

This booklist is on fairytales, and there are a range of reading levels and styles to support readers of different ability levels.

Helping Aaron Find His Voice as a Writer…and Mine as a Teacher

Erin Ocon tries a new strategy for dealing with a resistant student in her middle school classroom.

Middle School Readers at Mid-Year (SURVEY TEMPLATE)

Katie Doherty finds surveys of student reading habits and preferences are really useful in the winter, after she knows her students and they’ve settled into a routine.

Middle School Classroom Makeover Part I

In this first of a three-part video series, “The Sisters” (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help 7th grade teacher Erin declutter and rearrange her classroom.

Quick Take: Advice from Katie Doherty on Starting a Middle School Reading Workshop

In this one-minute quick take video, Katie Doherty has advice for middle school teachers who are thinking of launching a reading workshop in their classrooms.

Middle School Library Makeover Part I

In this first of a two-part video series, “The Sisters” (Joan Moser and Gail Boushey) work with students, a librarian, and a principal to makeover a middle-school library. This first installment features the creation of a “cozy area” and new book browsing displays.

Middle School Library Makeover Part II: Stacks and Recap

The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) collaborate with a middle school librarian, principal, and team of students to makeover the school library. In this final segment of the series, they redo the stacks and meeting area, and then talk with students about the transformation of the entire library.

Middle School Classroom Makeover Part III

In this third installment of a three-part video series, “The Sisters” (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help 7th grade teacher Erin declutter and rearrange her classroom. This installment focuses on the challenges of classrooms with very little storage space.

Middle School Classroom Makeover Part II

In this second of a three-part video series, “The Sisters” (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) help seventh-grade teacher Erin declutter and rearrange the media area of the classroom, creating a cozy library space.

Designing Comprehension Constructors: Helping Adolescent Learners Develop Reading Strategies (E-GUIDE)

Comprehension constructors are a terrific tool for helping teens record their understanding.

The Read-Around: Raising Writers

If there was a centerpiece to teaching writing that also brought students closer together, wouldn't you want to know about it? Read on about the Read-Around.

Let’s Get Some Attitude

Shirl McPhillips recalls a junior high experience that promoted serious "attitude" and an uproar among her peers.

Common Core Conversations: Increasing Argumentative Writing

Teachers continue to puzzle over and sort through the terminology in the Common Core related to opinion and persuasive writing. Amanda Adrian and Heather Rader consider terms and teaching strategies.

Choosing Books in Verse

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills offer tips and a booklist to position students to read novels in verse.

Setting Middle School Readers Up for Success

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share ways to set up middle school readers for a successful independent reading life. Download two reading reflections to help students pause and consider where they are and where they want to go as readers.

Criteria for Success

Jen Vincent shares how to create a Criteria of Success to clearly define expectations for assignments and give students independence in self-assessment.

Using Fiction Writing to Change Attitudes About Writing

Katherine Sokolowski encourages teachers to take time for students to individualize the writing process and enjoy fiction writing by engaging in National Novel Writing Month. Download the story bible as a place for students to plan their stories.

Using 9/11 Research to Build Community and Writing Process

Katherine Sokolowski gives space for students to research and share their learning about 9/11 in order to build a community of writers, as well as nourish the research and writing process.

Field Experience: Book Talks to Empower Independent Reading