Have you ever assigned your Middle School students a research project and realized they didn’t have the knowledge or skills to find the information they needed? This happened to me a lot my first few years teaching, so I often just defaulted to lecturing about topics instead of having students do their own research. It can be easy to just tell your students what you want them to know. Doing this can fill your students’ brains with knowledge, but it doesn’t really teach them

One of the best ways to get students to buy-in to a new unit is to get them engaged right away with a “hook” activity. A hook activity is designed to get students curious about a topic and get them to want to learn more. Below, I’ve listed three of my favorite ways to get students interested in a new area of study and get them asking burning questions that they can’t wait to find out the answer to. Hook idea #1: The KQO Activity Gallery Walks are one of my favorite ways to