As a member of the AMLE Teacher Leaders Committee, I recently had the opportunity to contribute to an article that became the foundation for a larger conversation about one of the most important parts of starting a new school year: building a strong middle school culture. Our Teacher Leaders group began by exploring the question: How do we establish expectations that build culture rather than simply manage student behavior? That conversation led to our AMLE article, Strategies for Building Culture through Expectations in Middle Schools. I was fortunate to contribute alongside fellow Teacher Leaders Megan Balduf, Marri Bayour, Corey Cohen, Ralph Covino, Beth Fabijanic, Laurie Rigg, Cheryl Robertson, and Kate Strein. But what I really appreciated about this process was the article was the beginning of the conversation and launched our first ever AMLE Teacher Talk round table focused on Setting Expectations and Norms in the New School Year. Expectations are more than just rules! Middle sc...