Teacher educators surveyed and interviewed program alumni working in middle schools to address the question, what literacy practices have you found to be most supportive of English language learners in your classrooms? This article describes the three most common practices identified by the middle school teachers, practices that are affiliated…

This article describes the development of an innovative clinically rich STEM middle school residency program, one with emphasis in middle grades mathematics program and another in middle grades science aimed to cultivate responsive middle School STEM teachers who are prepared to teach and reach the next generation of young adolescent learners. In…

This article describes how preservice teachers (and one inservice teacher) gained content knowledge and pedagogical skills through reading a documentary novel, a genre that combines fictional storytelling with historical primary sources. Preservice teachers read the novel as a required text in a site-based undergraduate course focused on…

Perceptions of middle level learners vary, and unfortunately, some are deficit-oriented, labeling young adolescents as "hormonal" and "erratic" without a deep understanding of their emotional and physical development or the knowledge and skills that they bring to a classroom. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence for…

The dual pandemics of social unrest and COVID-19 during the summer of 2020 in the United States has produced a renewed sense of urgency and agency for the interrogation of curriculum in K-12 education and the development of culturally sustaining practices. This urgency has encouraged more teacher preparation programs and middle school leaders to…

This article discusses how a place-based approach to middle-level science teacher education prepares middle grades teacher candidates to leverage local culture and community to create interdisciplinary and relevant curriculum for all middle grades students. The article describes evidence-based strategies that capitalize on local place and…

As middle grades teacher educators, we carry a responsibility to prepare pre-service teachers for the realities of practice ahead in their real-world classrooms. Similarly, middle school instructional coaches and specialists support in-service practitioners within the authentic context of their real world, real time experiences as teachers. In the…

It is important to prepare middle level teacher candidates with the dispositions, content knowledge, and pedagogy needed to implement justice-oriented practices in middle level curriculum. This article explores using "Hateful Things," a traveling exhibit curated by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, to integrate issues of…

Multimodal texts (composing and reading) deserve specific attention in our language arts curriculum. This article aims to share a collaborative effort between 7th grade students and preservice teachers engaged in a digital writing unit centered on "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories. In particular, we emphasize how digital writing offers…

Providing authentic college experiences for students in the middle grades through a partnership with a local college can improve college readiness skills and leave students with a positive view of post-secondary possibilities and opportunities. This article describes a college immersion program--a weeklong college experience provided to all…

The United States, in less than 50 years, has gone from legal segregation and exclusion of students with disabilities in schools to an emphasis on inclusion in the least restrictive environments based on individual student needs. The United States has made great strides in the physical inclusion of students with disabilities, but work is still…

This article focuses on four university teacher educators across three mid-western institutions working together to collaborate and develop a shared understanding of practice in middle level teacher education while modeling a team approach to teaching and learning. Three institutions, University of Louisville (UL), University of Kentucky (UK), and…

The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly impacted both the academic and social and emotional development of middle school students. This article describes the benefits of implementing an interdisciplinary, project-based summer school program to support middle school students as they adapted to in-person learning after school closures due to the…

The university's teacher preparation program has implemented and continually refined a professional development school program, with extended university-school relationships in its middle-level certification program. This program offers dialogue, targeted learning activities, and intensive field-based experiences to help ease preservice teachers…

The traditional model of teacher preparation, which focuses on content and methods courses in a college or university, can create a gap between university faculty and school practitioners. This article describes a series of clinical practice workshops as a viable means to bridge the gap between a university and its partner middle schools in the…