Teachers can successfully integrate student-centered, disciplined inquiry, and technology into their classroom using the three-part approach to monitoring instruction described in this article.

Middle level educators around the country aim to create a classroom environment and a way of teaching that is developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable for every student. One way to ensure this is to include instruction that promotes creativity. This article offers guiding principles and shares instructional lessons that…

In this article, the authors describe McNair Middle School's Independent Study process. Each year in late January the authors connect to look at the calendar to schedule time for the seventh-grade gifted and talented (GT) students to come to the school library to begin their annual Independent Study. "Independent study is a planned research…

This case study examined the experiences of two middle level teachers as they worked with a literacy coach and university partners in an instructional improvement initiative. Robert and Janice worked together as a two-teacher team. Across the three years of the study, they collaborated with Melissa, the literacy coach, to integrate reading and…

The "Guide to National Board Certification" introduces teachers to the assessment process and provides them with useful information as they apply for National Board Certification or order the "Take One![R]" professional development kit. By participating in the National Board Certification process, participants are joining tens of thousands of…

Career exploration continues to be the focus of the middle school program in career development and is part of North Carolina's Standard Course of Study. The national experience suggests that the sequential, comprehensive delivery of career development competencies can be easily and effectively accomplished through counselor-teacher collaboration.…

What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry-based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project-based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, [1990]; Crawford, [1999]; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks,…

Beginning in middle school, there is an increasing gap between school and the home. In linguistically and ethnically diverse communities, there is often an even greater separation between children's school lives and the home. This toolkit provides teachers, particularly new teachers and those in high-poverty urban and rural communities, with…

This book presents ideas for beginning secondary teachers who want to excel during their first year of teaching. The eight chapters focus on: (1) "Before the First Days of School" (e.g., classroom design, school policies, important people to know, dressing for success, special education students, school records, and emergency procedures); (2) "The…

This book provides teachers with practical information for managing their work both in and out of the classroom. Highlights include advice on more than 80 subjects, book suggestions and games for the classroom, suggestions to help veteran teachers stay motivated and avoid burnout, and tips for new teachers on the first day and first week of school…

This book provides teacher educators, administrators, practicing teachers who work with preservice teachers, policymakers, and researchers with information on the conceptual, research, and application areas of service-learning in preservice teacher education. The collection of papers offers teacher educators' thoughts about ways to enhance the…