Math Facts

How do you work with kids who still do not have their math facts memorized? Are there different strategies for our three grade levels and corresponding ages? What works? What does not.

Spelling

What does the research say about teaching spelling? What works? How do you teach spelling?

Comprehension

How can I tell the level of comprehension a child has without going through the formal process of testing? Are there "quick and dirty" ways of determining where children are in terms of comprehension? What is the correlation between a quick one-minute timed reading and comprehension? How do you find time to work on comprehension?

Reading Fluency

What ideas do you have for increasing reading fluency for selected reluctant readers? Are there additional ideas to use on a classroom level? What works? How can the CAT members help?

Proximity: Close to You

How has moving next to a student who is disrupting and teaching from that position served as an intervention? Do you always teach from behind your desk? What would happen if you did not? What works?

Music: The Sound of Music

How can music be used in the classroom? How can it be used in math? In P.E.? How have you used it and what do we need to watch out for?

Voice: Volume Control

Is your voice hurting at the end of the day? Do the kids match your own volume? What are your experiences with speaking softly? Is this an effective intervention? What is the power of a whisper?

Bloom's Taxonomy: Room to "Bloom"

How can teachers use Bloom's Taxonomy to improve teaching? How do you know if your are teaching toward the upper levels? How do you effectively grade work done at the higher levels? What works?

Divorce: Divided and Conquered

You notice that one of your students has suddenly begun to fail in his/her studies. You discover that the parents of the child are getting divorced. What is your strategy? What works? What does not?

Hungry Kids: Food for Thought

Salley tells you that Lisa does not have money for lunch. You ask Lisa if she is hungry and she tells you she is not. She will be in your classroom following the lunch hour. What is your strategy? What works, what does not?

Fairness: It isn't fair!

Heard this one before? Our student population has a definite opinion on what is or is not fair. What is your strategy for dealing with students who consistently complain about fairness? A deeper question would be, "Why are they complaining about fairness in the first place?" Is there something we need to learn? What works, what does not, and what should we watch out for?

Covering Content: Speed Zone Ahead

What considerations should be made in terms of how quickly information is covered in class? What is your particular pace in relation to other members of your team or other teachers in your field? What is the difference (if any) between covering the material and conveying knowledge? Are you ahead or behind your peers? What is your justification? What are the perceptions of your customers (parents and students)?

Worksheet Strategies

What strategies make worksheets come alive and have more meaning? What are the characteristics of an effective worksheet? What works?

Drinks: Thirst for Knowledge

What is the correlation between proper hydration and learning? How do teachers at MMS deal with getting drinks? When does it become a problem? What should teachers be aware of and how does it translate into effective classroom management?

Late to class: Dawdler Dilemma

Bobby is always late for class. He blames it on his locker combination lock, at other times he has no excuse at all. What works? What does not?

Children With Disabilities

How can teachers become more aware of the disabilities students in their classroom have? What are their legal responsibilities? How does knowing what is written on an IEP really help the teacher? How are teachers using the IEP in terms of classroom intervention?

ADD: Attention, Please!

What do we need to know about kids with Attention Deficit Disorder? What strategies work best? What should we watch out for? This could be an entire blog by itself.

Bullying: Second Step

How are you using "Second Step?" When do you find time? How do you incorporate it into your instruction? How is it helping? What do we need to watch out for?

Punishing the entire class: Sharing the Pain

What are the pros and cons of punishing the entire class for the acts of a few? What interventions work? What does not? Why?

Nagging or Teaching: Nixing the Nag

How do you remind students about classroom rules without coming across as a nag? How often do you go over the rules? If you are going over the rules too often, what does that tell you? What works? What does not?

Classroom Walk Through Explanation

You have probably noticed one of us from administration coming into your classroom and conducting a short classroom walk through. This are not designed as an evaluative tool, rather to give feedback on effective classroom teaching strategies. We indicate what we saw at that particular time, so do not get excited if we just happened to miss the part where you did what we wanted you to see, but we came in when it was over. Also, we understand that seatwork is also a part of what we do.

We will be looking for the teaching objective and whether or not it is evident. We will also indicate whether or not it is on target for the grade level. We will make a quick judgement on where the teaching is on Bloom's taxonomy (high, middle, low).

We will look to see if the engagement of students is authentic (genuine engagement), Ritual (kids know that at this particular time they do certain things), Passive (not interacting), Retreatism (withdrawing from the teacher), or Rebellion (classroom chaos).

Is the classroom learning environment aligned with instruction?

We will check the top instructional strategies as we see them. We may see more than one:
1. Identifying Similarities and Differences (top instructional strategy, with most bang for the buck).
2. Summarizing and note taking.
3. Reingorcing effort and providing recognition.
4. Homework and practice.
5. Nonlinguistic representation (using metaphores, music, teaching objects, etc.).
6. Cooperative learning.
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback.
8. Generating and testing hypotheses.
9. Questions, cues, and advanced organizers.

Again, these are designed to help all of us reflect on elements of effective teaching.

SS

Restroom Retreat: Genuine Bathroom Breaks

How do you handle the restroom frequent flyers? What considerations need to be made? What works? What does not?

Tardiness: Tardy Smarties

What do you do to get children to class on time?

Interruptions: Students who talk while I'm teaching.

What do you do when excited children are talking out and commenting while you are trying to teach?

Welcome Middle School Teachers

Please feel free to submit questions for consideration as well as comment on what you are using or have used in the past that works for you. This site will be as useful as you make it. Please use this toolbox regularly and make contributions. It may be that you have just what another may need. Please do not use student names, rather describe situations in general. Let's help each other increase the number of our personal intervention strategies.

Thanks so much,

Scott Shirley
Assistant Principal