School closings resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have forced teachers across the world to scramble to shift their face-to-face classes online. This rapid transition to what we call "quaranteaching" has left teachers little time to prepare for virtual teaching and learning. Acknowledging this challenge, in this article we share steps, strategies, tips, and resources to support and empower middle grades educators to successfully continue the online instruction (more accurately called "crisis teaching") they have begun. We offer approaches to implementing collaboration, differentiation, and personalized learning, as well as approaches for authentically assessing student learning in a virtual learning environment. Issues such as access and equity are discussed, and unit ideas are shared. The skills and tools middle level educators are sharpening will likely also be used in subsequent years even when a health crisis is not in effect. An organized chart with multiple curated technology tools for young adolescents is also included.

Based on different language systems and educational practices of their respective countries, hypotheses were made regarding how 15-year-old students from ShanghaiChina and the US might differ in the 5 reading subskills designated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) when they have the same overall reading ability (i.e., when their overall reading ability is controlled for). A multilevel analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses using the PISA 2009 reading dataset. When we controlled for students' overall reading ability, individual socioeconomic status (SES), and school mean SES, Shanghai-Chinese students performed significantly better in integrating and interpreting than US students. Further, when we controlled for students' overall reading ability and school mean SES, US students showed significantly higher performance in reading non-continuous texts than Shanghai-Chinese students, whereas US students showed significantly lower performance in reading continuous texts. The results of this study can inform reading instruction and learning in the 2 countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic dropped educators across the world straight into remote learning with little time to prepare. As some have inevitably struggled, other middle grades educators have overcome beginning hurdles to not only survive but thrive amidst this new challenge. One teacher in particular, despite being in her first year, has found innovative ways to connect and motivate her middle grades students in a virtual environment. This article extends the steps, tips, and resources article (Pace, Pettit, & Barker, also in this issue) to provide a personal example of the successes (and yet still challenges) that exist when "quaranteaching" is done well. From TikTok videos, to Kahoot games played over Zoom, to contests to encourage attendance and increase motivation, Amanda Woods, winner of the National Association of Professors of Middle Level Education (NAPOMLE) Teacher Candidate of the Year in 2019, shares how she continues to meet the developmental needs of her young middle grades students even when she cannot see them physically each day.

This article features a discussion about the significance of global perspectives in shaping critical literacy through a web seminar project, Global Conversations in Literacy Research (GCLR). Ubiquitous media and worldwide communication via Internet change the perceptions about literacy and language, urging critical discussions around literacy among educators with global and local connections. In this column, we demonstrate how chat discussions at GCLR web seminars initiate critical questions and thoughts among teachers, scholars and researchers from diverse background. Finally, we offer how these critical topics such as curriculum and issues of assessment inform the transformative agenda of educational policy.

Digital technologies make possible new avenues for sharing and accessing literacy research and practices worldwide. Among the myriad of options available, web seminars have become popular online learning venues. The current investigation is part of Global Conversations in Literacy Research (GCLR), a longitudinal and qualitative study now in its fifth year. As a critical literacy project, GCLR investigates how a web seminar project uses developing technologies to disseminate innovative literacy research and present professional development that critically shapes literacy practices. With this in mind, the current study seeks to understand the following: (a) What kinds of knowledge sharing interactions (KSIs) occurred in GCLR web seminars focused on critical literacy? and (b) What types of community and social practices occur in web seminars? Data included synchronous chat transcripts from across seven web seminars, interviews with participants and speakers, and website analytics. Data analysis followed the constant comparative method and R, an open-access software that analyzes both qualitative and quantitative data. The study resulted in two findings: Three types of KSIs emerged: whole group, between individual, and smaller, nested affinity groups; and GCLR emerged as a distinct online community with unique social practices. KSIs generated and supported collaborative opportunities to exchange ideas, co-construct knowledge, offer practical classroom applications, and gain insight about important critical literacy issues. As an online networked space that brings together participants interested in critical literacy issues,