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"In education we are very comfortable using the term "middle leaders", rather than "middle managers", to talk about heads of department and heads of faculty. But are they really leaders? What distinguishes middle leaders from middle managers?  Middle managers - and senior managers for that matter - work to the specification of their leaders. Managers only become leaders when they inject something of themselves into their work. Managers sing the hymn sheets of others. Leaders do much more, they add verses, create harmonies and the best compose new scores. "

"When Zoë's book came up for review I put my hand up to read it straight away. I currently work as a Primary Middle Leader (Literacy Lead and EYFSCoordinator) in a larger than average primary school in the North of England. In the last two years, we have undergone a lot of changes, both internal due to staffing and curriculum and changes and external as we have become part of the largest MAT in the city. This has meant an increase in responsibility and accountability, not only for myself but other middle leaders who I have had the chance to meet with."

The course planning wiki for the digiteen action project from my ninth graders for the middle school. They've done a nice job of planning and sharing the materials. I like their google presentation which has evolved significantly over the last three weeks.

The digital citizenship course planning wiki made by my ninth graders to teach the middle school about digital citizenship.

Great great article with resoruce links about educational blogging

This is an amazing description of what is happening at Suffern Middle School, one of the leaders in the digital revolution.

Kevin Jarrett talks about his week at one of the leaders in innovative technology, suffern Middle School. An excellent read to see what this digital revolution is all about. Wow!

This middle school 1:1 learning program in Maine has been named one of the best. here is some information on best practices and a video about it that I'll be reading and learning from as we discuss this at our school over the next year.

Overview of 1:1 best practices from Skowhegan Area Middle School in Maine

MathMovesU is an innovative program sponsored by Raytheon designed to engage middle-school students with math. MathMovesU.com features content that appeals to things they are most passionate about, such as sports, music, and fashion, while delivering math subject matter in engaging ways, like games, polls, and fun math facts. Play math games, win prizes, and more!

Resources for the middle school teacher

High School Middle School Elementary Kindergarten maths Welcome to Mathebook.net an online Free Learning website full of fun. This website is fully interactive and will allow kids to practice and learn math with ease. Our website is designed to help students of different grades, starts from Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School and High School Math. The goal of this website is to provide new education tools to teachers, parents and off course students who can benefit from it.

A middle school teacher known only as "Seldy" shares his interactive language arts notebook in this blog post. The notebook is truly something special but even more astounding, he acknowledges that many of the pages he found on Pinterest. Pinterest is ideal for teachers and makes it super easy to share. (I have a Pinterest for beginners post for those who want an invite.) if you teach upper elementary into high school language arts, take time to peruse this notebook. Nice work!

Are you a middle or high school math or science teacher? If so, check out these new and innovative online professional development courses from the University of Illinois and the Illinois Math and Science Academy. Courses are available free of charge for Fall 2009.

Are you a middle or high school math or science teacher? If so, check out these new and innovative online professional development courses from the University of Illinois and the Illinois Math and Science Academy. Courses are available free of charge for Fall 2009.

This is a site built by Jackie Gerstein from Arizona. She told me "I began developing a website to showcase different Web 2.0 tools that students can use. I provided some examples but plan to have my upper elementary students add to it as we explore and use other tools." She built this using synthasite and it is a great thing to show elementary teachers to showcase some of the best tools out there. Great job, Jackie!

Site built to showcase elementary tools from Jackie Gerstein from Arizona.

A showcase of the Web 2.0 projects created by the upper elementary and middle school students - a interactive sight for this same age group.

Middle-school students across the United States are invited to submit their solutions to environmental problems in their communities. Teams of two to three students from sixth through eighth grade working with a teacher will identify an environmental issue in their community, research the issue using scientific investigation, and create a replicable green solution using Web-based curriculum tools.

New contest for middle school science! Love the website!

more and more middle schools are finding that this social experience is just, if not more, important in upper grades. Navigating the stormy seas of adolescence, kids in middle school crave the community and camaraderie that the morning meeting provides.

What a fun way to get middle school kids psyched about reading. I love watching the looks of sheer joy on the students as they participated in this flashmob take-off from the Oprah Black/Eyed Peas show.

At first, it may look like they're taking part in a graduation ceremony, but the students who march across the stage at Maine's Falmouth Audubon Society to shake hands with their principal and teachers aren't walking away with diplomas. They're walking away with tangible results of their learning. In this particular case, the eighty-five seventh graders from King Middle School in Portland each received a copy of "Fading Footprints," a CD-ROM they produced about Maine's endangered species. During the ceremony, which included thank-yous to teachers and experts who had helped on the project, some students explained the process. "I made sure all the links worked." Others talked a little about what they learned. "You can ask me anything about the harlequin duck." Then they all repaired to a courtyard for cake and punch.

Interesting site dedicated to helping teachers teach about the Middle East

Moog India is a focal point for servo motors production, solutions and services for industrial products, in addition to defense applications in India, SAARC and Middle-East. Moog Manufacturing plant, design center and sales and support facilities are located in Bangalore.

Take time to read this PEW research about teachers and how they are using technology in their classrooms. It is shocking that 73% say they or their students use cell phones to complete assignments. I wish they had separated out this number to know exactly how many let their STUDENTS use their cell phones. To me, this number shows the tide has turned.  Some of the highlights of the research: "Mobile technology has become central to the learning process, with 73% of AP and NWP teachers saying that they and/or their students use their cell phones in the classroom or to complete assignments More than four in ten teachers report the use of e-readers (45%) and tablet computers (43%) in their classrooms or to complete assignments 62% say their school does a "good job" supporting teachers' efforts to bring digital tools into the learning process, and 68% say their school provides formal training in this area Teachers of low income students, however, are much less likely than teachers of the highest income students to use tablet computers (37% v. 56%) or e-readers (41% v. 55%) in their classrooms and assignments Similarly, just over half (52%) of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phones to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students"

This is a tough one and I've had two or three this year who will call out - in a disruptive way. Sometimes it is when I'm speaking. I have one great class that causes me to struggle because of several who have a bit of a problem with knowing the appropriate time to engage (not in the middle of a question or when someone else is talking.) I encourage kids to have a pencil and paper or a tablet in  hand to jot down notes of what they want to say - sometimes they are afraid they'll forget. Other times, when it is class discussion, I use poker chips. Each student gets two. When they want to interject, they spend their chip. Every student must participate twice before anyone can have a third input. It is a daily grade and so easy to assess b/c everyone must give up their chips.  This article takes it much further and is a good one if you're struggling with this. "Namely, how do you deal with a student who, despite receiving consequence after consequence, continues to call out in class? Before we get to the solution, it's important to note that there are times during a normal school day when you may want to allow your students to respond to you or their fellow classmates without raising their hand"