Summarizes several creative strategies to increase students' awareness of, and commitment to, constructive values in a classroom setting. These simple exercises include brainstorming and reverse brainstorming, imagining consequences, analogical thinking, empathy, questioning and discussion, and problem-solving approaches. (MLH)

Movement experience at the middle school level can fulfill selected physical, emotional, and psychological needs of students. This article discusses a curriculum design stressing indepth skill instruction, physical fitness development, and participation in risk taking and novel skill experiences. Students must have the chance to learn, practice…

Narrative texts create a more relevant, personal, and individualized learning context than content textbooks while uniting adolescents' concerns with the school curriculum and the world. Narrative texts build on prior knowledge, helping students identify and assimilate different world views and more complex knowledge. This article presents a model…

Reading comprehension involves more than efficient information acquisition. Literature instruction that is student centered and focuses on students' active construction of meaning and personal engagement emphasizes the aesthetic stance. This article offers tips for designing instruction that supports aesthetic reading and helps ensure students'…

Presents the T-H-E-M-E-S system for designing interdisciplinary learning activities for middle school students. Participating teachers are urged to think up a monstrous list of themes, hone the list and group themes into three manageable lots, extrapolate selection criteria, manipulate and process themes, expand into activities triggered by…

Describes use of portfolios with middle school students, highlighting assessment purpose, structure, evidence, implementation, grading, validity, and cost considerations. Portfolios have the potential to revise schools' roles in preparing students for the future. Convincing parents and the public that portfolio completion is a demanding task will…

Administrative support, faculty cooperation, and student teamwork have combined to achieve a computer literate middle school where computer lessons are coordinated with the regular mathematics curriculum. Available from National Middle School Association, P.O. Box 14882, Columbus, OH 43214. (MLF)

Theme studies are worth doing if they support the study of universal ideas, broaden students' understanding of their world and human experience, are interdisciplinary, reflect students' genuine interests, and lead to student inquiry. Themes can be developed from students' common interests, adolescent literature, textbook topics, current events,…

Through a review of the transition literature and a survey of 225 students about to enter middle school, the most significant anxieties identified were the following: (1) space concerns about a new and larger building, especially getting lost and being late to class; (2) contact with older and possibly rougher students; and (3) heavy homework…

Forming teams is the logical first step in the transition to middle school from junior high school. Offers 10 questions that middle-level educators should ask as they embark upon this new venture of interdisciplinary teaming. (13 references) (MLF)

Recounts the experience of four instructors in a middle-level teacher education program who are attempting to integrate the curriculum as a model for their students. They explain the context of their work, describe the curriculum and their integration efforts, and report what they believe students have learned and what teachers have learned from…

As girls move into adolescence, they become vulnerable to certain psychological losses: those of clarity, self-confidence, and voice. Cooperative-learning research shows that female students (from middle-school to college) interact and perform better when participating in same-gender groups. To use single-gender groups effectively, teachers must…

It is vital to young adolescents' well-being that immediate attention be given to recognizing the psychosocial importance of counselors and counseling services; reclaiming at-risk youngsters through vigilant, effective counseling services; redefining counselor roles to meet young adolescents' needs; and rededicating counselors to serving students.…

Many young adolescent students are frustrated, reluctant learners that seem resigned to helplessness and other self-defeating behaviors. Telling students to try harder is not particularly effective. This article offers a goal-setting strategy to help youngsters become failure-avoiding, instead of failure-accepting, students. Teachers help students…

Summarizes 10 major difficulties associated with ability grouping, including unfair and inaccurate student placements; the "locked-in" nature of ability grouping; undue emphasis on ability over effort; erosion of self-esteem; racial, ethnic, and income isolation; unequally distributed learning resources; illegal practices; and the need for a…