King Middle School
Public, Suburban
Grades 6-8
Portland, ME
Assessment
Giving students time to explore ideas with no immediate grade pressure helps motivate them to be creative and take intellectual risks.
Literacy
Letting students choose books to read helps them develop a sense of autonomy and ownership over their learning.
Teaching Strategies
A quick assessment strategy replaces raised hands, encouraging more students to contribute by accommodating their different processing needs.
Formative Assessment
When students make “I notice” and “I wonder” comments on course content, teachers can see what they know—and what they need to learn.
Teacher Collaboration
By regularly reviewing students’ behavior and learning as a team, teachers can ensure that every student is seen, supported, and celebrated.
Brain-Based Learning
Explicitly modeling the process of prioritizing tasks builds students’ ability to organize and manage their time.
Classroom Management
When students help create their classrooms' rules and culture, they’re more engaged and invested in learning.
Assessment
Art, history, engineering, language arts, and technology, both old and new, come together for eighth grade students in this rich project learning expedition at King Middle School in Portland, Maine.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Middle school principal Mike McCarthy shares 30 years of wisdom on how to run a school well.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Project learning combined with 1-to-1 laptops creates a rich and rigorous environment for learning at a middle school and a high school in Portland, Maine.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Project Learning Assignment: Seventh graders work with community experts to advance their understanding of bacteria in the environment -- and then share their findings with the community at large.
Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Use these guiding principles to pull together projects with the time and resources you have.