At Maneuvering the Middle, we are all reading Project Based Teaching by Suzie Boss and John Larmers. Throughout the next few months, we will be discussing what we are learning as we read the book. There are 7 best practices for Project Best Teaching, and today we are covering building a strong classroom culture. If you are interested in incorporating more projects in your classroom, ...
Volume Activities and 7 Teaching Tips
Volume is one of my favorite middle school math skills to teach. The skill is visual and concrete, requires sketching pictures (which is always fun to tease what a great artist I am), and the operations required for solving allow for spiraled practice. A real winner from this teacher’s point of view! Here are my 7 tips/ideas for teaching volume in a way that students will get the most ...
How to Teach Solving for Y
Solving for y is necessary for 8th grade math and Algebra 1. It is often a pain point for students and teachers. Let’s talk about how solving for y is important and tips for teaching it. Why Students Need to Solve for Y While “solving for y” is not mentioned in any specific standard, it is necessary for so many other standards: A.2(B) write linear equations in two ...
Teacher Appreciation Ideas
Teacher appreciation week is hands down my favorite school season! In fact, one year I was on maternity leave during teacher appreciation week, I actually considered driving up to school to get in on some of the fun goodies that were being shared. Check out some of the best teacher appreciation gifts I have received and some ideas for doing it on a budget. Who is Teacher Appreciation ...
Teaching Multiplication Facts in Middle School
Teaching multiplication facts is not often practiced in middle school. Do middle school students need to have their multiplication facts memorized? Regardless of your answer, I think most math teachers would agree that multiplication fluency helps students see patterns, relationships, and supports more complex mathematical processes. If you are covering middle school standards, you ...
Teaching Math Vocabulary that Sticks
For math to be accessible to students, math vocabulary must be taught! Let's talk about teaching math vocabulary in a way that sticks! Let’s see how important math vocabulary is to understanding and solving this problem. Could you solve this problem? I covered up a vital piece of information needed to solve this problem to emulate what a student might experience without knowing ...
5 Statistics Activities for Middle School
Data and statistics is such a fun topic to teach in middle school math! The relevance and hands-on nature of analyzing and displaying data made it engaging for my students and myself! Data and statistics usually fell to the very last unit in my scope and sequence which meant I was tired, and the amount of creative energy I had to put into my lessons was waning. Just me? So I thought I ...
How to Prioritize Your To Do List
Prioritizing your to do list can be a challenge when your to-do list is never ending. Just when you feel like you are ahead, something goes wrong. Teaching has so many variables that Murphy’s Law will inevitably come into play. With that said, there are some things that we can do to manage and prioritize our to-do list, so that we get what we need done, done. Have a Weekly Meeting ...
Time Management for Teachers: Productivity Tips
This month has been all about time management for teachers and organization for your planning period and your email inbox. Today we will tackle a macro system - the 5 things I do each week to keep things running smoothly. Tip #1 - Start with a Clean Slate We all know how impossible it is to start a task or be productive when you are working on top of a mess. For me, I can’t start ...
Email Organization for Teachers
Does your email inbox make you feel overwhelmed? Every year around the new year, I attempt to get my inbox under control. Here are some email organization tips that I found to be practical and doable. This month we are tackling everything organization and time management! If you didn't read last week's post, check it out: Time Saving Tips for Your Planning Period and be sure to check ...