Using Middle School Journal for Professional Development

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Finding the time and strategies to help facilitate faculty discussions, reflective thinking, and plans for action is challenging in the "never-enough-time to do all I need to do" environment we often find ourselves in today. To help address that challenge National Middle School Association offers staff development ideas and strategies for use in conjunction with articles from issues of Middle School Journal. We encourage you to try these out during faculty meetings, team council, or individual team meetings, or with planning teams brought together to focus on school improvement. Articles in the Using MSJ for Professional Development series are offered as a Web exclusive feature for NMSA members. Not a member? View a sample article.

Contact Editor Tom Erb at thomaserb@ku.edu to share your ideas with Middle School Journal readers through this electronic column. If your suggestion is selected for use we'll give you credit on the Web site and send you a free copy of a recent NMSA publication as a special thank you!

Member Access May 2008, Volume 39, Number 5, pp. 4-12
Successful Teachers Develop Academic Momentum with Reluctant Students

Member Access March 2008, Volume 39, Number 4, pp. 4-11
Video Games in the Middle School Classroom

Member Access January 2008, Volume 39, Number 3, pp. 4-12
The Under-Appreciated Role of Humiliation in the Middle School

Member Access November 2007, Volume 39, Number 2, pp. 12-18
Effective Teaching Strategies for Middle School Learners in Multicultural, Multilingual Classrooms

Member Access September 2007, Volume 39, Number 1, pp. 4-8
Professional Learning Communities: A Bandwagon, an Idea Worth Considering, or Our Best Hope for High Levels of Learning?

Member Access May 2007, Volume 38, Number 5, pp. 4-13
The Instructional Use of Argument Across the Curriculum

Member Access March 2007, Volume 38, Number 4, pp. 4-13
Cooperative Learning is a Brain Turn-On

Member Access January 2007, Volume 38, Number 3, pp. 4-5
Using Real Middle School Dilemmas for Case-Based Professional Development

Member Access November 2006, Volume 38, Number 2, pp. 22-28
Young Adult Literature as the Centerpiece of an Anti-Bullying Program in Middle School

Member Access September 2006, Volume 38, Number 1, pp. 4-12
Using Curricular Cultures to Engage Middle School Thinkers

Member Access May 2006, Volume 37, Number 5, pp. 4-15
Using Relationships, Responsibility, and Respect to Get from "Good to Great" in Memphis Middle Schools

Member Access March 2006, Volume 37, Number 4, pp. 44-49
Using Formative Assessments to Individualize Instruction and Promote Learning

Member Access November 2005, Volume 37, Number 2, pp. 4-9, pp. 10-14
Key Issues for Teaching English Language Learners in Academic Classrooms
Making Instruction Relevant to Language Minority Students at the Middle Level

September 2005, Volume 37, Number 1, pp. 38-44
Middle School Students Are Co-Researchers of Their Media Environment: An Integrated Project

Member Access March 2005, Volume 36, Number 4, pp. 4-12
Student Perceptions of Action, Relevance, and Pace

Member Access January 2005, Volume 36, Number 3, pp. 33-40
Teachers' Responsibilities When Adolescent Abuse and Neglect Are Suspected

Member Access November 2004, Volume 36, Number 2, pp. 13-20
A Framework for Scaffolding Content Area Reading Strategies

Member Access September 2004, Volume 36, Number 1, pp. 4-11
Middle School Concept Helps High-Poverty Schools Become High-Performing Schools

Member Access May 2004, Volume 35, Number 5, pp. 7-11
Teaching High Ability Learners in an Authentic Middle School

Member Access March 2004, Volume 35, Number 4, pp. 5-12
What Can We Learn About Retaining Teachers from PDS Teachers' Voices?

Member Access January 2004, Volume 35, Number 3, pp. 5-12
Actively Engaging Middle School Readers: One Teacher's Story

Member Access November 2003, Volume 35, Number 2, pp. 48-54, pp. 55-59
Perspectives on Three Decades of the Middle Level Principalship
Lessons Learned from More Than a Decade of Middle Grades Research

Member Access September 2003, Volume 35, Number 1, pp. 6-13, pp. 14-23
Student Achievement in New Literacies for the 21st Century
A New Vision of Authentic Assessment to Overcome the Flaws in High Stakes Testing

Member Access May 2003, Volume 34, Number 5
Joining Theory and Best Practice to Drive Classroom Instruction

Member Access March 2003, Volume 34, Number 4
Theme issue: Standards, Yes; Standardization, No!

January 2003, Volume 34, Number 3
The Middle School Achievement Project: Involving Parents and Community in School Improvement

Member Access November 2002, Volume 34, Number 2
Taking Away the Struggle to Read in the Middle Grades

Member Access September 2002, Volume 34, Number 1
Promoting Faculty Discussions and Reflective Thinking Opportunities