Our All Access Unit Overviews received a makeover this month! At Maneuvering the Middle, we strive to create AND update resources that teachers use for planning and teaching. Let’s talk about what is new, what has been removed, and some tips for implementing the unit overviews in instruction. FEATURES OF THE UNIT OVERVIEW The unit overviews serve as a comprehensive guide to each ...
Accommodations that Reach All Learners
Middle school math students come to your class with varying needs and abilities! Accommodations are adjustments made to the environment, curriculum, or assessment that make it possible for students to learn and succeed. How is this different from a modification? Years ago, the special education teacher on my campus, Ms. Mease, explained the difference between accommodations and ...
10+ Decimal Activities and Lessons
Decimal activities are crucial to the practice necessary to master decimal operations. There are so many real-world applications. Today I am listing all of the decimal lessons and activities I found after scouring the internet, and of course, Maneuvering the Middle! Adding and Subtracting Decimals Teaching Adding and Subtracting Decimals blog post - Before you start teaching ...
Questioning Strategies for 100% Engagement
With the new school year upon us, let’s discuss some ways to level-up our questioning strategies we are using in our instruction. What are questioning strategies? Effective questioning is a skill or practice that a teacher employs to gauge the understanding of material from students at any given time during her lesson. Simply put, teachers drive student understanding through ...
Lesson Planning Using Our New Platform
Our All Access subscription has moved to an incredible, new platform! With new technology comes adjustment, so I thought it would be pertinent to explain how the new platform was designed with teachers who are lesson planning (and very busy) in mind! The New Platform is Search-Friendly The new platform is much more user-friendly! Gone are the days of opening several tabs or ...
Teaching Adding and Subtracting Decimals
Are your students struggling with adding and subtracting decimals? It can seem so straightforward to us teachers, but it is a skill that has many misconceptions to combat. Let’s discuss common misconceptions and tips for teaching decimal addition and subtraction. CCSS and TEKS Let’s check out what the standards say about decimal addition and subtraction: The Common ...
School-Wide Policies to Agree On
Consistency is key when it comes to school-wide policies! Routines, procedures, and policies are much easier to remember and enforce if they are consistent across a grade level or even a school. Ambiguity between what’s allowed and not allowed in various classrooms can create problems down the road. I recommend deciding as a grade level how the following will be ...
Attention Getters for Middle School
Attention getters are a middle school classroom necessity! Getting students to turn off their voices, so you can provide direction or instruction, is a major component of classroom management. There is no limit to the creativity that can go into these visual and audio cues, so I thought I would provide a list of some of my favorites. Why use an attention getter? Effective ...
Easy First Week of School Activities for Middle School
The beginning of the school year is the perfect time for team-building activities that also teach and reinforce classroom expectations. The best thing about all of these first week of school activities is that you can use them to teach routines, build relationships, and develop class pride. Make sure to grab the activities mentioned below here! 1. How to work in groups ...
Tips for Transitioning to a 4 Day School Week
Since 4-day school weeks have been implemented all over the country, affected teachers have inquired how to use MTM’s All Access with fewer school days than what is typical. While I didn’t teach a 4-day week (I would have loved it!), I did teach a block schedule where I needed to fit 5 days of lessons into 4 days of school, so I do have some thoughts on how to go about teaching math ...