At the request of a fifth-grade teacher and former student teacher, Vivian Gussin Paley spends two mornings in her classroom to help address a problem, a seemingly garden-variety scene where a boy is excluded from a playground ball game. As discussion unfolds, deeper issues of friendship and unfairness for the individuals (the one who did the…

An experienced principal transfers schools to rebuild trust in the school culture and community after a recent scandal and declining student achievement scores. A district level supervisor opens a way for Mr. Davie, the incoming principal, to offer middle students advanced classes. The principal believes this is an initiative that will boost…

Teachers do much more than instruct children in the classroom. They also play an important role in supporting learning across settings: at school, home, and throughout the community. The Families Learning Across Boundaries (FamLAB) Project surveyed 407 library professionals, 1,550 parents, and 600 pre-K through grade 8 teachers in the United…

In this paper, I explore the transitional spaces of teaching and writing by restorying an anomalous event in my teaching of Canadian literature in a grade seven classroom and my efforts to decolonise that teaching. Thinking with Elizabeth Ellsworth's concept of pedagogy as it relates to knowledge in the making and the learning self, I take…

Students at a K-8 magnet school drastically lacked opportunities for physical activity throughout their school day. The authors (physical education teacher and graduate advisors) describe how the physical education teacher advocated and made positive change in her school. The physical education teacher conducted a physical activity needs…

In this article, we describe a year-long superhero storytelling project we facilitated with youth in a midwestern middle school. In this project, students read "Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spiderman," designed superhero stories set in their community, and presented artistic representations of their stories to their families and peers. We…

The transition from middle school to high school can be a particularly challenging time for music program retention. However, when music teachers view this process through the lens of marketing, it may be possible to develop a more holistic and comprehensive approach toward student enrollment. Marketing strategies related to perception, targeting,…

This article gives meaning to innovating promising practices in high poverty rural contexts, as experienced by the Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP). The project sought to develop a model of shared school-family-community responsibility to support student success in foundational math courses as preparation for science, technology, engineering,…

The increasing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life has led to the emergence of numerous skill sets associated with AI. AI literacy, which is becoming an important citizenship competence, has become a skill that has gained importance in recent years. It is thought that the aim of social studies to prepare students as active citizens…

In this article, the authors discuss the Baltimore Secondary Literacy Improvement Community, a teacher fellowship with two goals: (1) to develop pedagogy that supports the reading and writing skills of middle and high school students; and (2) to develop teachers' skills and habits in continuous improvement--behaviors that empower them to drive…

Family engagement in middle school is essential to ensure optimal learning. Middle-level educators (typically Grades 5 or 6 through Grade 8 in the U.S.) play a pivotal role in helping to guide parents' understanding of their evolving roles in supporting their adolescents' academic success. Students particularly benefit from (a) parental support…

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…

A group of adults, dressed in authentic medieval costumes, organize and stage a full-scale battle at a local park; weapons (made from foam), roles, and medieval speech are all part of the event. This is known as "Live Action Role Play" -- more commonly referred to as "LARP." Although many settings and scenarios have been used…

Read-aloud is a reading activity that is occurs most often in the early years classroom. Research suggests that read-aloud continues to be of value in the upper grades. Read-aloud provides opportunity for middle grade students to engage and connect to a range of literature. It increases motivation and improves accessibility for the range of…

The concept of a learner's identity in mathematics is complex and multifaceted. Based on a review of the relevant research, the authors believe most factors that influence one's mathematical identity fall within these four categories: (1) past mathematics experiences; (2) personal beliefs and efficacy; (3) future self-representation and belonging;…