To gain a deeper understanding of young adolescent motivation and developmental needs as the nation plunges ahead with the national Common Core Standards and their implications for writing instruction, the authors of this article pondered five questions as they studied their own middle school writing team: (1) What intrinsic motivators drive these…

Acknowledging the changes that poor and homeless students have experienced, this curriculum guide uses change to focus on the challenges found in transitioning into a new environment. The premise underlying the curriculum is that the forces that shape human life are constantly changing, and in order to give meaning to these changes, students must…