An empowering guide for parents and teachers seeking a positive, practical alternative to the confusion and struggles of middle school. "A must-read for anyone who has a tween or works with tweens." - Madeline Levine, New York Times bestselling author of The Price of Privilege and Ready or Not How can parents stay close with their children through middle school? How do we help middle schoolers discover who they are, enjoy friendships, and manage their growing emotions? What kinds of learning experiences will keep them curious and motivated? These and more questions are answered in this highly engaging and informed guide to the middle school years. Chris Balme draws on his experience as a middle school founder, principal, and teacher, together with the latest adolescent neuroscience. He shows what is going on in the brains of middle schoolers, and how that affects everything from their friendships to the way they relate to parents or show up in a classroom. Parents will gain insight into how to transform their parenting to help middle schoolers find greater independence, connect well with peers, and have the deepest learning possible in and out of school. Educators will learn about the developmental keys to making middle school a place of belonging, with deep social and emotional learning and academics that draw out students' full motivation and potential. Praise for Finding the Magic in Middle School "I love Finding the Magic in Middle School - as a parent of tweens, an educator, and a school design innovator. Chris's love for young people and the awkward but powerful path of self-discovery they travel in the middle school years is obvious, and its clarity inspires us to see and want to enable the magic. Weaving together brain research, storytelling, and design insights, Chris breaks us free from the old narrative of adolescence." - Kim Smith, Co-Founder of NewSchools Venture Fund and Pahara Institute "What Chris Balme calls the "Ultimate Underdogs"-middle schoolers-are in for a better time of it now that he's written this book. After 20 years of working with this underestimated, under-trusted, under-stimulated swath of humanity, Balme has distilled what they need most, and how to give it to them. Hint: It doesn't look like your old social studies class." - Lenore Skenazy, author of Free Range Kids

A counselor and popular Washington Post contributor offers a new take on grades 6-8 as a distinct developmental phase--and the perfect time to set up kids to thrive. Middle school is its own important, distinct territory, and yet it's either written off as an uncomfortable rite of passage or lumped in with other developmental phases. Based on her many years working in schools, professional counselor Phyllis Fagell sees these years instead as a critical stage that parents can't afford to ignore (and though "middle school" includes different grades in various regions, Fagell maintains that the ages make more of a difference than the setting). Though the transition from childhood to adolescence can be tough for kids, this time of rapid physical, intellectual, moral, social, and emotional change is a unique opportunity to proactively build character and confidence. Fagell helps parents use the middle school years as a low-stakes training ground to teach kids the key skills they'll need to thrive now and in the future, including making good friend choices, negotiating conflict, regulating their own emotions, be their own advocates, and more. To answer parents' most common questions and struggles with middle school-aged children, Fagell combines her professional and personal expertise with stories and advice from prominent psychologists, doctors, parents, educators, school professionals, and middle schoolers themselves.

Fulton and Urbanski explore the intersections between critical literacy and science through maker spaces alongside their middle school students. Making Middle School is the story of eighth-grade English teacher Steve Fulton and science teacher Tiffany Green's explorations of the intersections between critical literacy and science through maker spaces alongside their students. Steve and Tiffany, with thinking partner Cindy Urbanski, use the idea of make to center student learning in their classrooms as well as to democratize learning, back-loading English and science standards while front-loading the current focus on STEAM. Making--following one's own desire to create--is based on principles of connected learning, where students work in community to challenge themselves, to be creative, and to wonder about their world. Making represents a pathway directed by the learner and allowed to unfold organically, without a scripted route or destination. By looking up close at the real work of teachers and students, Fulton and Urbanski illustrate the rich and real applications of a make-based approach in today's middle school classrooms.

Working on a musical is exciting for students, teachers, and the entire middle school community! As the first musical theater book especially for middle school productions, The Magic of Middle School Musicals provides a step-by-step guide for success. Bobetsky approaches planning and producing musicals in the context of a curricular unit of study and includes strategies for assessing student learning. Dr. Victor V. Bobetsky, a former New York City middle school music teacher, begins with advice on how to select a musical, obtain copyright permission, and arrange the music for middle school voices. He discusses strategies for teaching the music in the choral classroom, auditioning, casting, and rehearsal procedures. Practical suggestions show directors how to work with student actors, create choreography, and manage scenery, set design, costumes, lighting, and more. The Magic of Middle School Musicals gives music teachers the information and confidence they need to artistically adapt musicals from the American repertoire to the middle school level so that teachers, students, and audiences can experience and enjoy this unique, familiar, and musically expressive genre!

In this hilarious guide full of honest, real-life experiences, veteran teacher Luke Reynolds skillfully and humorously shows kids how to not only survive, but thrive and even enjoy the wild adventure that is middle school. Middle grade series like The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries bring an authentic voice and vision to fiction about middle schoolers. Now, for the first time a nonfiction guide to middle school offers that same funny and relatable voice, while skillfully teaching life lessons to not just help kids find their footing during the tough years between elementary and high school, but to find the joy in their new adventures and challenges. Author and teacher Luke Reynolds uses irreverent humor, genuine affection for middle schoolers, and authenticity that bubbles over as he ties real-life experiences from his own time in middle school to the experiences he has from his many years as a teacher. Covering topics like bullying, peer pressure, grades, dealing with difficult parents, and love and romance, this rare book reaches kids at a deeper level during an age when they are often considered too young to appreciate it. Readers will learn to find their own voice, begin to explore their genuine identity, and definitely laugh out loud along the way.

It’s never too early to start achieving your goals! Get started on the road to success with this unique guide to middle school and beyond—brought to you by FranklinCovey, the company behind the 7 Habits series and The Leader in Me. Middle school is full of changes—maybe it’s a new, bigger school, maybe it’s friendships starting to get more complicated, or maybe it’s a combination of a lot of things. But these changes don’t have to be bad, in fact they could be the best thing for us—because when things start to change we have the opportunity to grow. That’s why even though middle schoolers have a ton of other things going on, middle school is the perfect time for them to start altering their habits and goals for their future success. Sure it might sound a little scary, but with a little help it can also be exciting! Framed as twelve conversations to start having, rather than checklists or rules, this unique guide helps students start thinking about what they want their futures to look like and readying themselves to achieve those goals. In The Middle School Student’s Guide to Academic Success, portions of which were previously published as Beat the Middle, authors Blake and Bo Nemelka offer tried and true advice, opportunities for reflection and action that middle schoolers can tailor to their individual goals and interests, and ways for parents and guardians to help them along the way. Beginning with topics students can get started on now—like setting goals, improving your GPA, working on time management skills, and balancing extracurricular activities—and moving forward to future subjects including college applications, scholarships, and money management—this book is the ultimate guide to helping readers become not only successful middle schoolers, but successful people.