Attempting discussions about social justice issues in a junior high classroom can be a daunting but critical task. Uncertainty about how to get conversations started, along with fear about where such talk might lead, can make the task easy to dismiss. In this paper, one teacher tells her story of inviting rich discussion about a variety of…

This article discusses a three-tiered, differentiated curriculum in a response to intervention (RTI) framework that has successfully raised achievement at all levels, but is particularly successful with ninth-grade students. Walla Walla (Washington) School District implemented the three-tiered intervention program as a series of differentiated…

Reading is an essential part of science literacy, yet teachers often face challenges in incorporating reading in science classrooms. In this article, the authors share how they brought reading back into their science classrooms. They designed four quarterly reading projects with yearlong literacy routines that they used successfully with their…