Middle School Bloghop & Interactive

     For Throwback Thursday today I wanted to link back to my post about the Middle Grades Bloglovin Hop I created a while back.  There have been several new entries to the blog hop that you may want to follow! If you are a 5th-8th grade teacher that hasn't yet linked your blog up, now is a great time!  I love seeing new middle grades blogs added.

Link your middle grades blog up! Make sure you are linking to your Bloglovin page so we can easily follow you.

1.	Middle School Stories	25.	The Babbling Box	49.	Middle School Teacher to Literacy Coach
2.	Middle School Math Moments (and more!)	26.	Teaching Isn't Scripted	50.	My Shoe String Life
3.	Geaux Teach Math	27.	Addie Education - Teacher Talk	51.	{6th} Grade Allstars
4.	Life in 6th Grade with Ms. V	28.	Life in Middle School	52.	Mrs. Ocean's Classroom
5.	Sixth Grade Tales	29.	Maris Hawkins: MS Spanish	53.	Math, Science, Social Studies....Oh, my!
6.	Life With Middle Schoolers	30.	Mrs. Orman's Classroom	54.	Desktop Learning Adventures
7.	Miss Lifesaver	31.	Hunger Games Lessons	55.	Lil Bit Country In The Classroom (7th Grade)
8.	Teachingisagift	32.	Middle School Math Rules!	56.	Teaching FSL (French)
9.	Hodges Herald	33.	Whole Brain Teaching in Middle School	57.	Middle School Minions
10.	Mentoring in the Middle	34.	The Middle School Mouth	58.	Teacher in the City
11.	A Little Bit of Everything	35.	The Absolutely True Blog of an Almost Teacher	59.	Starting in 6th Grade
12.	Mind Sparks	36.	Math Madness	60.	Middle School Shenanigans
13.	Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans	37.	Finding JOY in Sixth Grade	61.	Happy Island Teacher
14.	Surviving Sixth Grade	38.	Wild About Fifth Grade	62.	Roland With iPads
15.	The Teacher's Desk 6	39.	Life as a Multi-Grade Teacher	63.	Math-N-Spire
16.	Creating Lifelong Learners	40.	Fifth in the Middle	64.	Dava Smith English Teacher
17.	A Special Kind of Place	41.	Math Central	65.	Anchored in the Middle
18.	Miss, Hey Miss!	42.	Write in the Middle	66.	To Engage Them All
19.	I'm Lovin Lit	43.	Quinnessential Lessons: a 5th grade blog	67.	The Bookish Advantage
20.	Creative in Middle School	44.	A Lesson Plan for Teachers	68.	Jackson in the Middle
21.	Meatballs in the Middle by Darlene	45.	Ramblings of a fifth and sixth grade teacher...	69.	The Math Nerdette
22.	Joy in the Journey	46.	Caffeine and Lesson Plans	70.	Texas Middle School Teacher Connection
23.	2peasandadog Teaching Blog	47.	Middle School OCD	71.	Funds of Knowledge (6th Grade)
24.	Shenanigans in 6th Math	48.	The E-Z Class	72.	Happy in the Middle

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

I also wanted to participate in Throwdown Thursday where we talk about how to make learning interactive.  I am very excited this year to be trying out Whole Brain Teaching.  This system makes learning more interactive by having your students using gestures and teach each other your lesson constantly while you are instructing.  You can order the book on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. I highly suggest this book if you are a new teacher or looking for a new way to get students engaged while following directions.

   

     Last year one way I made discussions more interactive was by having students use discussion posters.  I took bulletin board paper and gave each group a short passage from the novel that I wanted them to discuss.  Each group member had to comment on the passage on their paper.   After each person had responded to the passage then they had to respond to what another group member said.  They really enjoyed this but it takes some modeling to get them to be able to respond to each other how you would want them to.  To make sure everyone is participating you can have them write their name by the comment or give each group member a different color marker.

Finally don't forget about my upcoming giveaway! I'm still looking for more people to donate something from their TPT store in return for referrals to their blog or store.  If you are interested leave a comment or use the contact form in the right side bar.