Contents
Helping Kids Define
Success
by Carol Ann Tomlinson
Creating a Culture of
Thinking: Supporting
Thought-Full Middle
School Explorers
by Mark Church
Finding Purpose in and Urgency for New
Technologies
by Sarah Woods
Mindsets: Unlocking
the brain and its
potential
by Bern Nicholls PhD and
Annelies Hoogland MEd
Who’s In Charge of
Gender?
by Elizabeth Schroeder
Learning to Write,
in Spanish.
Gabriela Jiménez and
Jon Nordmeyer
........... pg 1
........... pg 4
........... pg 8
........... pg 12
........... pg 16
........... pg 18
Welcome to this edition of Bridge in the
Middle. As we look forward to learning
more from our speakers at the Barcelona
Conference, this journal provides a
preview of their expertise and wisdom.
As we look over the entire journal, it is
clear to see that identity, mindsets and
higher-order thinking will be highlights
of the conference discussions.
Dr. Carol Ann Thomlinson tells the story of how her
student, Matt, was able to overcome the self perception
keeping him from success in a new class experience. While
Annelies Hoagland and Dr. Bern Nicholls fill in the details
of mindsets in the middle school. We welcome back Dr.
Elizabeth Schroeder who encourages all to better
undersigned the identity issues of all people but to also
help our students with similar issues as well as those who
might not understand.
Mark Church and Sarah Woods are joining us at ELMLE
for the first time as invited speakers. I was fortunate to
work with Mark in Amsterdam and fascinated by his
work with Project Zero and the methods he used to help
students visualise and explain their thinking and learning.
Sarah’s take on technology is so teacher friendly as she
helps us find comfort in the expectations that we have for
ourselves and our students with streamlined integration of
learning through technology. ELMLE Presenters,
Gabriela Jiménez and her colleague, Jon Nordmeyer,
discuss their own language journey as teachers and detail
their best practice.
We hope you enjoy this edition of Bridge in the Middle
and we look forward to welcoming you in Barcelona.
Derek Harwell
ELMLE President