Middle School
A collection of lessons and activities from Inspired Teaching to foster authentically engaging learning with students and deepen teachers' understanding of their role in the classroom.
Whether you teach early childhood or calculus, these award-winning lessons and activities—informed by 30 years of work with thousands of educators—authentically engage, spark curiosity, build community, and support academic success in your classroom. The self-led teacher assessment tools challenge you to shift your role from deliverer of information to Instigator of Thought, providing small steps with big payoff for reinvigorating your practice and rediscovering your why.
Automatic Writing
One way to stimulate our imaginations is to relax and let our minds flow uninterrupted. Automatic writing gives our minds the space to do just that.
What would make you look forward to coming to school?
From a very young age, children know what interests them. This activity invited the possibility that this wisdom could drive our instruction.
10 Things You Can do With Soap
We’re all using soap to wash our hands more than usual, what else can you do with that slippery bubbly substance?
Sometimes
Sometimes one person can have lots and lots of feelings — different from each other. This activity encourages students to explore that experience.
Inside/Outside
In a moment where the world is especially fraught with change and uncertainty, we are all struggling to observe, name, and adjust to the flood of feelings around and within us. This activity was created in response to that reality.
Plan a Trip
In this activity, students plan a trip from start to finish including where they wish to go and what they wish to see when they go there.
Document History with First Person Accounts
Some of the most interesting and useful artifacts from history are the first-person accounts we find in journals and interviews.
Start a News Show
This activity puts learners in the role of journalist, capturing what’s happening in their day and offering a more local approach to news for friends and family.
(Part 3) Showing Kindness from a Distance: Documenting Our Shared Experience
We’re all experiencing a historic moment together and sharing stories of our experiences is a good way to make the isolation feel less lonely.
(Part 2) Showing Kindness from a Distance: Words of Encouragement
A positive word goes a long way in these trying times. These activities suggest ways your learners can use writing to offer encouragement to others.
(Part 1) Showing Kindness from a Distance: You’ve Got Mail
There are ways to keep practicing kindness and connection, even as we stay 6-feet apart. Mailing notes to those we care about is one of them.
25 MORE Math Explorations
The following activity is part of a series we’re creating to support students, teachers, and caregivers, during this unprecedented time. Read more about the project here. If you try this activity with your student(s), we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey...
