Middle School Today: Current Best Practices for Adolescent Learners

This is a collaborative effort of professionals working in the field of middle level education who bring expertise directly from the middle school classroom as well as preservice preparation programs to encompass a comprehensive set of topics related to middle level education that could be used as a core text in middle grades pedagogy classes and as a support for novice teachers.

Holly Henderson Pinter, Ph.D. is an associate professor of middle grades education at Western Carolina University. Holly completed a PhD in 2013 at the University of Virginia. Her teaching and research center on the implementation of standards based mathematical teaching practices, pre-service teacher education policy and practice, and developmentally responsive teaching at the middle level. Holly teaches methods and pedagogy courses in the elementary and middle grades department as well as serving as the Math 1 teacher and instructional liaison at the university’s laboratory school, The Catamount School, and serves as program coordinator for the middle grades education.

Kim K. Winter, Ph.D., is the Dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions at Western Carolina University. She is a former Associate Dean at Western Carolina. Kim has also had roles as Associate Professor, Associate Chair and Middle Level Program Director at the University of Texas at Arlington. At the university level, Kim has taught a variety of courses: middle level curriculum, instruction, and assessment, language arts and literacy methods, young adolescent development, ELL methods, and young adult literature. She has taught Language Arts and Writing to both elementary and middle school students in Texas and Indiana. During 2007-2008, Kim took faculty leave and returned to the classroom to teach seventh and eighth grade English/Language Arts. Recent research projects include digital video analysis of and reflection on teaching among pre-service teachers; alignment of state and national English standards; the study of deficit thinking among teacher candidates; and the induction and retention of teachers.

Kayleigh Kassel, MAEd serves as the English Language Arts Teacher Leader at The Catamount School (TCS), a lab school, in Western North Carolina. In addition to teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, she also is an adjunct professor for the College of Education at Western Carolina University (WCU). Kayleigh has earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WCU in Middle Grades Education with a concentration in literacy. Her research focus is studying trauma-informed practices and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) on students’ needs and success.