Jokes:

Business Man
A young businessman had just started his own firm. He’d rented a beautiful office and had it furnished with antiques. Sitting there, he saw a man come into the outer office. Wishing to appear busy, the businessman picked up the phone and started to pretend he had a big deal working. He threw huge figures around and made giant commitments. Finally, he hung up and asked the visitor, “Can I help you?” The man said, “Sure. I’ve come to install the phone!”

On Our Mind:

You can now sign up to receive updates via email.

From the Twitterverse:

• stevefarber  Friend: “Someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you’ve forgotten the words.” -Jim Warner
• mjsamberg  Resources from “Linux in the Classroom”: http://www.tinyurl.com/nctieslinux #ncties
• zeitz  Who’s pushing Emerging Technologies in higher education? students . . . http://is.gd/9Niwi
• DanielPink  Fascinating NPR interview with NCLB supporter-turned-critic Diane Ravitch….http://bit.ly/c8Lfvi
• russeltarr  Using Edmodo in the classroom: http://tinyurl.com/l2nvsb
• Lilylauren Oh the irony- my predictive text doesn’t know how to spell Nostradamus
• DeronDurflinger RT @NMHS_Principal: Worst thing to do when moving towards change/successful implementation is to “mandate” #GTAdmin Agreed!
• drmmtatom Jeopardy Labs: Make Your Own Online Jeopardy Game http://tinyurl.com/yaeha54
• rmbyrne It’s Not All Flowers and Sausages: Why The Superintendent Firing All the Teachers in One School Should Be Ashamed… http://ff.im/-gEkyv

Twitter MAMSE Special:

• Griffbuddy #MAMSE http://www.strengtheningfamiliesprogram.org/ Parents train parents. #mamse10
  
• Frideswidel #mamse making rainsticks and using the design as a prompt for writing.
• Griffbuddy #MAMSE One out of every three middle school students are obsese or in danger of being obese! #MAMSE10
• Smhearty School worked with a court system. Saved the court $64,000 a year. #mamse
• Griffbuddy #MAMSE majority of parents are not PITAS (pain in the a**es). We want them involved. #MAMSE10
• Frideswidel #mamse Candy Writing Assignment: Using the senses to create an advertisement for the candy (then they can eat it).
• Frideswidel RT @Griffbuddy: #MAMSE Dr. Santo Pino, NMSA, and Dean Hook, presentation: Securing Parent Involvement In Your School.
• Frideswidel #mamse Art teacher talking about incorporating Art with writing (6+1 Traits). www.marymillerart.com
• Frideswidel #mamse demo of Stratalogica.
• dexgeek Technology is only one of the tools that teachers use to engage students. I’m glad I can arm them with the tools and skills. #MAMSE
• Smhearty We train kids not to think but how to get an A. #mamse
• Smhearty Got a great compliment today – “Aren’t you guys presenting today? We have other teachers here today.” #mamse
• Griffbuddy #MAMSE Be there. Choose your attitude. Make their day. Play. Fish philosophy in schools (choose your attitude when you come to work).
• Griffbuddy #MAMSE Advisory is necessary because strong relationships help teachers become adept @ diagnosing student needs. #MAMSE10
• tanyaov #mamse Wow. MAMSE conference is excellent. I LOVE learning new things.

Finger Wag:

The State of Michigan put out a memo with a bitly link.

Advisory:

Blame Darwin:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081613327728110.html#articleTabs%3Dinteractive

MAMSE:

Dr. Debbie Silver:  www.debbiesilver.com
Keynotes:  http://www.debbiesilver.com/keynotes/

New Favorite Conference Software:  Skim

Webspotlight:

Google Docs for Administrators:
Sarah Rolle, Director of Technology for Elisabeth Morrow School, shared tips on GoogleDocs Tips for Administrators.
http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/03/googledocs-tips-for-administrators.html

Stratalogica:  http://www.stratalogica.com/NystromDigital/home/login.html;jsessionid=501B5A5D36B68C44263525336DA8C718.StrataLogica1

Mary Miller:  Artist, Teacher, Integrator of Curriculum
http://www.marymillerart.com/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

• NMSA is looking for both an Executive Director and an Assistant Executive Director.  You can apply here.  Good luck!

Other News:

• The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 17-18, 2011 in Coopersville, MI.

• The Michigan Joint Education Conference will be in Redford, Michigan (Thurston High School) this summer June 23, 2010.  Keep tabs on the website for more details coming soon.
• Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

• • Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

• Second Life:
  • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
  • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life

MAMSE 2010 Notes. Now available. The MAMSE 2010 Conference was held at Mill Creek, Dexter, MI on March 4th-5th. Debbie Silver was the Keynote speaker. The Conference was wonderful.

Jokes:

A Fisherman’s Tale
Two guys are fishing in a boat under a bridge. One looks up and sees a funeral procession starting across the bridge. He stands up, takes off his cap, and bows his head. The procession crosses the bridge and the man puts on his cap, picks up his rod and reel, and continues fishing. The other guy says, “That was touching. I didn’t know you had it in you.” The first guy responds, “Well, I guess it was the thing to do – after all, I was married to her for 40 years.”

Animal Talk
A mother is reading a book to her 3 year old daughter. Mother: “What does the cow say?” Child: “Moo!” Mother: “Great! What does the cat say?” Child: “Meow.” Mother: “Oh, you’re so smart! What does the frog say?” The wide-eyed little 3 year-old looks up at her mother and in her deepest voice replies, “Bud.”

On Our Mind:

Code Organ:
http://www.codeorgan.com/

From our Listeners:

Thanks for all of your efforts to try to keep me up to speed. At my age (23) … I need all the help I can get!

My middle school uses Dropbox to track student discipline and parent contacts by team using Excel. We have found this to be an excellent way to keep track.

Thanks!
Linda

---

Hi guys,
Here are a couple more middle school science items you might like to use.  On a side note, I did a recent podcast on a one day science institute I went to and did a summation of each of the sessions I went to, similar to what you do with the NMSA sessions you attend.  I like the idea of summarizing things we attend–good idea, thanks!  It is the “Power of Technology” and can be heard at:
http://k12science.net
Keep up the good work,
Dave

11a. US Dept of Energy Grant Program for Middle School Teachers
Fermilab is offering a limited number of positions in its DOE ACTS cohort starting in the summer of 2010. Priority
for this cohort will be given to mid-level teachers (grades 5-9). Participants will meet at Fermilab for four weeks
each summer for three years. During the academic year following each summer, as participants implement their
summer work in their schools and work on small projects, they will be supported by program staff and by each
other, primarily through online meetings, with one or two face-to-face meetings as well.
The program combines three strands of professional development: scientific research, teaching & learning, and
educational leadership. Each year teachers will participate in a research project which will be woven together with
the other two strands to strengthen and reinforce one another. Participants will receive an $800/week stipend for
their summer work. Non-local participants will also receive housing and travel. All participants will be eligible for
grants to support classroom equipment purchases and travel to professional development conferences.
Go to:
http://www.scied.science.doe.gov
and click on DOE ACTS under “Programs for Teachers.” The deadline to apply is March 7, 2010. Please visit:
http://ed.fnal.gov/acts/
—————————————————————–
11b. Young Scientist Challenge
The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge is the premier national science competition for students in
grades 5 through 8. The Young Scientist Challenge is designed to encourage the exploration of science and
innovation among America’s youth and to promote the importance of science communication. In 1999, Discovery
Communications launched the competition to nurture the next generation of American scientists at a critical age
when interest in science begins to decline. In 2008 3M joined forces with Discovery Education in a quest to nurture
the next generation of American scientists with an innovative and interactive science program open to every middle
school student in America. Over the last ten years, more than 600,000 middle school students have been nominated
to participate in the competition, and winners have gone on to speak in front of members of Congress, work with the
nation’s top scientists, and pursue academic careers in the sciences. For more information, please visit:
http://www.youngscientistchallenge.com/
—————————————————————–

From the Twitterverse:

• wfryer old school, new school is one of the best video clips I’ve seen yet from PBS digital_nation http://bit.ly/bsVI2z
  (Old School, New School:Chatham High School students, like many nationwide, are increasingly surrounded by screens. Their teachers debate how to handle their split focus.)
• hshawjr RT @irasocol: You have PowerTalk for spoken PowerPoints, right? http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/
• irasocol All your school computers have Firefox with Click-Speak, right? http://clickspeak.clcworld.net/
• irasocol You do have a bunch of Flash Drives in your school loaded with Free AccessApps, right? http://is.gd/9jKdz
• Curriki Dear Middle School Science Teachers, Stop, Drop and Click! Fab resources to follow: http://ow.ly/1bduO
• NMSAnews RT @Scholastic and @gatesfoundation announce the largest-ever survey of America’s public school teachers: http://bit.ly/9VOBh3
• WebGalPat What does a 3 yr old digital native want from her library?: http://bit.ly/clycvt
  
• principalspage Questions About Google? I’ve Got Answers. http://post.ly/Po35
• drmmtatom Big, Huge, Free US Presidents Timeline Poster http://tinyurl.com/ykv5z2w #fhuedu508
• eduinnovation “Creativity is not an escape from disciplined thinking. It is an escape with disciplined thinking.” Jerry Hirschberg #creativity
• jonbecker All public employees should pay attention to this case. The 1st Amendment is tricky: http://is.gd/9i12p

Advisory:

You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School
http://www.walkthetalk.com/pages/inspirational-movies.htm

Webspotlight:

Obama Pitches Education Proposal to Governors

By PETER BAKER and SAM DILLON

Published: February 22, 2010

The president’s proposal, part of the administration’s recommendations for a Congressional overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education program initiated by President George W. Bush, would require states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” in reading and math to qualify for federal money from a $14 billion program that concentrates on impoverished students.
The president praised efforts by 48 states — all but Alaska and Texas — to develop common standards in math and reading, coordinated by the National Governors Association. The collaboration was a bipartisan project at variance with the highly polarized political mood in Washington that has frustrated many of Mr. Obama’s top priorities in Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23educ.html

What Your Master Teacher Knows

Marge Scherer

“Teaching is the most difficult profession of them all,” educator Lee Shulman recently told a group of teachers and psychologists. The only time a physician comes close to doing what a teacher does is when the doctor faces an emergency room of multiple patients with multiple conditions, all of whom need immediate attention.
Shulman described a few of the basics required of the expert teacher: cognitive understanding of how students learn; emotional preparation to relate to many students whose varied needs are not always evident; content knowledge from which to draw different ways to present a concept; and, finally, the ability to make teaching decisions quickly and act on them.
Willingham goes on to say that ignoring research-based principles of learning—for example, that “factual knowledge precedes skills” or that “proficiency requires practice”—can have negative effects on student learning. He also critiques many familiar principles that he regards as lacking a research base, for example, learning styles theory. “Knowledge of students’ learning style is not necessary,” he says. “Think of lesson content driving decisions about how to teach, not student differences.”
In “One Kid at a Time,” Carol Ann Tomlinson (p. 12) recalls the students who challenged her “certainties” about teaching and started her thinking about the principles that underlie differentiated instruction. Scott taught her how to connect with a student’s interests. Golden taught her how important it is to allow a student to enter the curriculum at a place that makes sense for him. Geoff taught her how to give students permission to pursue their passions and work at their own pace. Figuring out how to make learning work for one student left her better prepared to address the needs of all.
Includes audio
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb10/vol67/num05/What_Your_Master_Teacher_Knows.aspx

The Title I program would be rebranded “College and Career Ready Students” and financed at $14.5 billion in fiscal 2011, not including money provided under the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus program.

Kentucky has become the first state to adopt common academic standards that were drafted as part of a nationwide initiative to establish a widely shared and ambitious vision of student learning.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/02/11/22kentucky_ep.h29.html?tkn=Q[QFS3g6%2B4Lphrh9bFmf3dIJegR8pxdCt7lG&cmp=clp-edweek

http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_elizabeth_helfant/art_contemporary_learning

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

• NMSA is looking for both an Executive Director and an Assistant Executive Director.  You can apply here.  Good luck!

Other News:

• The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI. MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
  • MAMSE Exhibitor Form
  • MAMSE Registration Form
    

• The Michigan Joint Education Conference will be in Redford, Michigan (Thurston High School) this summer June 23, 2010.  Keep tabs on the website for more details coming soon.
• Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

• • Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

• Second Life:
  • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
  • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life

The Michigan Joint Education Conference (MiJEC) has posted some of the information for this year’s conference on their web page. Much of the important stuff is behind the front page. Even though it might say 2009 on it, drill down a little and you’ll see the 2010 information. Applications to present are now open. http://www.mijec.org/speakers/

Jokes:

Wedding Woes
At a friend’s wedding, everything went smoothly until it was time for the flower girl and her young escort to come down the aisle. The boy stopped at every pew, growling at the guests. When asked afterward why he behaved so badly, he explained, “I was just trying to be a good ring bear.”

Sacrifice
Eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter, ten men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one has to drop off, otherwise they are all going to fall. They were not able to choose that person, but then the woman made a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because as a woman she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids, and for men in general, without ever getting anything in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping their hands.

On Our Mind:

Retirement plans change for State of Michigan employees and teachers.  (Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals)
New retirement rules for Michigan

• Retirement years cap at 30 years of earned time.  Purchased years do not count.
  • If you continue beyond 30 years, your employer will contribute 4% to a defined contribution account and the employee will contribute 3% and may contribute up to an additional 3% for a total of 10% cap.
• If this goes through there will be an incentive for districts to retain teachers with 30 or more years.  Retirement contributions will go from 19% to about 10%.

Thanks to Dave Bydlowski for the feedback:
Check out his podcast here: http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Podcast.html

MathCounts
MathCounts is seeing a drop off in participation in our area.  Check it out.  It might be a neat enrichment class idea or an Advisiory component to your middle school.

MATHCOUNTS is a national enrichment, club and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory.

Currently in our 27th year, MATHCOUNTS is one of the country’s largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. President Barack Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald W. Reagan have all recognized MATHCOUNTS in White House ceremonies. The MATHCOUNTS program has also received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative. Particularly exciting for our Mathletes® were the hour-long ESPN programs on each of the National Competitions from 2003-2005.

MATHCOUNTS offers two unique programs to middle school teachers and students:  The MATHCOUNTS Competition Program and the FREE MATHCOUNTS Club Program.

From the Twitterverse:

• drmmtatom RT @ShellTerrell: @Larryferlazzo: The Best Tools For Making Screencasts http://tinyurl.com/yd78vf9 #fhuedu508 #fhuedu320
• WDBJ7 Superintendent says Pulaski Co. cuts to be worst since the Great Depression: The Pulaski County School syste… http://bit.ly/dcRK3k
• russeltarr The seven secrets behind great teaching: http://tinyurl.com/ycr3pg5
• gardenglen – Excellent Cell Biology Animations http://www.johnkyrk.com/ via @summersj
• wfryer old school, new school is one of the best video clips I’ve seen yet from PBS digital_nation http://bit.ly/bsVI2z
• phsprincipal RT @bjnichols: 50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative & Interactive Classroom http://bit.ly/4rNlt3 #PCHS
• gsiemens “I have not found a SINGLE school that shows ANY evidence of using technology to transform teaching and learning” http://bit.ly/8ZkHuI
• russgoerend Are You Hindering The Development of Digital Natives? – Synthesizing Education Blog /via @aaron_eyler http://post.ly/Nq7c
• polldaddy RT @brasst If equally supported and prof dev provided, which would be better for middle school students? http://poll.fm/1mjs9
• AnthonyCody At Teachers’ Letters to Obama we are posting our messages to the House Committee on how to fix NCLB: http://bit.ly/TeacherLetters
• dlaufenberg well this is terrible news. http://linkyy.com/ws (via @writingproject and @budtheteacher)  (National Writing Project may lose funding.)
• rrmurry Interesting conversation starter. A BOE has right approach. RT @newschannelnine: What Can Teachers Say On Internet? http://bit.ly/dpp8iQ
• drmmtatom How to Make Stopmotion Movies http://tinyurl.com/yc84n9c #fhuedu508 #fhuedu320
• rrmurry AGREED! RT @blairteach: Admins have GOT to build a culture of learning & lighten the pressure on testing for the test. #onecom
• GOOD Finish 10th grade, graduate high school? http://su.pr/2Tks7R
• FocusLeadership “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” Max De Pree,

Advisory:

Be Lucky (Richard Wiseman):

• After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.
• The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.
• Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
• Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people’s ability to notice the unexpected.
• unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else.
• My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
• In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:
  • Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell – a reason to consider a decision carefully.
  • Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.
  • Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn.html

Webspotlight:

‘Algebra-for-All’ Push Found to Yield Poor Results

By Debra Viadero
Quite a bit of disagreement over the value of teaching algebra to 8th graders. Apparently the results are mixed (feign surprise here).

Among the newer findings:

• An analysis using longitudinal statewide data on students in Arkansas and Texas found that, for the lowest-scoring 8th graders, even making it one course past Algebra 2 might not be enough to help them become “college and career ready” by the end of high school.

• An evaluation of the Chicago public schools’ efforts to boost algebra coursetaking found that, although more students completed the course by 9th grade as a result of the policy, failure rates increased, grades dropped slightly, test scores did not improve, and students were no more likely to attend college when they left the system.

• A 2008 paper by the Brookings Institution suggested that as many as 120,000 students nationwide were “misplaced” in algebra programs, meaning they had test scores on national exams that put them about seven grades below their peers in algebra classes. Further, it said, states with a high proportion of students taking algebra in 8th grade didn’t necessarily outperform other states on national math assessments.

Just putting students in Algebra doesn’t seem to work. Students who are adequately prepared for it seem to do well. However, those students who are far behind struggle. 8th grade is considered the pivotal year. Some opine that the low level courses are absolutely worthless. Chicago tried “double dosing” those students who were prepared. There seems to some finger pointing in terms of research technique, data analysis and data collection. There’s also discussion about whether or not what is taught in Algebra class is really Algebra.

An as of yet unpublished study from Michigan State University shows students who were enrolled in Algebra did better than those who weren’t.

Some are wondering about the difference between causal and correlative data. Does Algebra really help prepare kids for college or is it that kids who were taking Algebra were going to college anyway. The point is made that one size doesn’t fit all. There is also that issue of students who are doing well in math. Those students have benefited from tracked classes. More students entering into Algebra may have a derogatory effect on their achievement.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/02/10/21algebra_ep.h29.html?r=327944615

Blue Ribbon Middle School

A team of researchers hired by the U.S. Department of Education is spending much of this week at Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School in Baton Rouge trying to learn what makes that school tick.

The federal agency has in the past issued “best practice” reports drawn from a selection of Blue Ribbon schools, but this year the plan is try a multimedia approach.

“This is the first time we’re trying to do this with audio and video,” said Carol Keirstead, a senior research associate with RMC.

Keirstead said the team is looking at six aspects of Sherwood: teacher leadership; the rigor of the curriculum; the quality of professional development; transition help for incoming sixth-graders; use of classroom technology; and the school’s culture.

Sherwood is a magnet school in which students need a 2.5 GPA to enroll. Even so, teachers there say some of the students enter well behind their peers and the school has to work hard to catch them up.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/84098087.html?index=1&c=y

Math comes to YouTube at Palmyra Area Middle School

By BARBARA MILLER, The Patriot-News

It’s the first such use of YouTube in the district, said Collene Van Noord, assistant superintendent, although there are other sites, such as TeacherTube, a similar service for teachers. Since YouTube is blocked at school, students have to view Binkley’s videos at home.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/02/math_comes_to_youtube_at_palmy.html

Q-Matrix

Get your kids to generate questions with a Q-Matrix.
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/assessment/files/pages/strategies/Question_Matrix.pdf

Marble

Marble is a Virtual Globe and World Atlas that you can use to learn more about Earth: You can pan and zoom around and you can look up places and roads. A mouse click on a place label will provide the respective Wikipedia article.

Of course it’s also possible to measure distances between locations or watch the current cloud cover. Marble offers different thematic maps: A classroom-style topographic map, a satellite view, street map, earth at night and temperature and precipitation maps. All maps include a custom map key, so it can also be used as an educational tool for use in class-rooms. For educational purposes you can also change date and time and watch how the starry sky and the twilight zone on the map change.

In opposite to other virtual globes Marble also features multiple projections: Choose between a Flat Map (“Plate carré”), Mercator or the Globe.

The best of all: Marble is Free Software / Open Source Software and promotes the usage of free maps. And it’s available for all major operating systems (Linux/Unix, MS Windows and Mac OS X).
http://edu.kde.org/marble/

FCC Expands Broadband Access at Schools

http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CTECH/ntechnologyNews_uUSTRE61H6ZR20100219

Essentially, the bandwidth not being used by schools during school hours will be open to the community.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

• NMSA is looking for both an Executive Director and an Assistant Executive Director.

Other News:

• ISTE Eduverse Talks are the recorded sessions held on ISTE Island every week. Join ISTE in their Second Life conference location for their weekly talks on education.
• The Ohio Middle Level Association Annual Conference February 2011, Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, OH.

• The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI. MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
  • MAMSE Exhibitor Form
  • MAMSE Registration Form
    

• The Michigan Joint Education Conference will be in Redford, Michigan (Thurston High School) this summer June 23, 2010.  Keep tabs on the website for more details coming soon.
• Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

• • Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

• Second Life:
  • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
  • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life

We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. M. Monte Tatom. Dr. Tatom is a university professor who teaches upcoming teachers and administrators. Dr. Tatom also presented at the NMSA annual conference this past November. He has a long history in education and is especially tuned to middle school kids. He has taught middle school, been an assistant principal and a principal as well as working at the central office level. We hope that you enjoy the interview.

• gardenglen RT @maggiev: How to Add Clipart to OpenOffice.org http://bit.ly/cyKPEc AND Free of charge
• gardenglen Can modify http://worditout.com & use w/ MATH! via @nharm
• gardenglen RT @NMHS_Principal Figure This! Math challenges for families http://bit.ly/6X3YV0
• sroseman …like Wordle with more options http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/02/word-it-out-like-wordle-with-more.html
• sroseman 16 WOW ways to use wallwisher http://docs.google.com/present
• ShellTerrell Presentation: Prezi for advanced users http://bit.ly/bFpYy4
• butwait RT @Larryferlazzo The Best Tools To Make Simple Graphs Online http://tinyurl.com/pbp39v (I am grateful to Larry on an almost daily basis.)
• sleveo 15 Must-Have Web-Apps for Students: http://ow.ly/127OL #edchat #edtech #highered #learning via @jsuzcampos
• tomshepp 5 Characteristics Innovative Educators Should Mirror: http://bit.ly/bVHC0W
• russeltarr Top 10 Ironic Ads From History: http://tinyurl.com/nn9hnv
• jimwenz Michigan Educators don’t miss this opportunity with Tech Smith. $2 million in software for MI. Educators http://bit.ly/ajgU1N Go TechSmith.
• NCMSA Cool science resource. RT @Bill_Romanos: The @Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal website http://ocean.si.edu/ via @laurelatoreilly
• DanielPink A Story About Motivation: http://bit.ly/boBbhw (via HBR.org)
• web20classroom Working with groups of students? Need random teams? Try this! http://goo.gl/BgxT (or go directly to Team Maker).

Shout Out:

Thanks Alex for the feedback!

Advisory:

Project Implicit
Discover the bias within.

Stupid Inventions:
http://students.ou.edu/R/Basil.G.Rayan-1/

Webspotlight:

Word Clouds, Student Writing and Ownership

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/02/word-clouds-student-writing-and.html

Doodle for Google

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/doodle-4-google-tell-us-what-you-would.html
Example:  http://www.google.com/doodle4google/2009/images/us_doodle4google2009.gif
Competition
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/index.html

World Maths Day

This year features an exciting new format with multi-levels for all age groups. Teachers, parents and media are invited to participate for the first time. Can we beat last year’s world record of 2 million students from 204 countries correctly answering 452,681,681 questions?
http://www.worldmathsday.com/2010/Default.aspx?

Interview Of The Month: Marvin Marshall On Positive Classroom Management

from Larry Felazzo:

Marvin Marshall, author of the influential education book “Discipline Without Stress, Punishment or Rewards” and the newer book “Parenting Without Stress.”
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/02/02/interview-of-the-month-marvin-marshall-on-positive-classroom-management/
See also:  Responsible Thinking Process by Ed Ford.

16 Ways to Use WallWisher
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_436f8kscmdc

Events & Happenings:

Jokes:

Most problems can be
Ignored. The more difficult
Ones can be slept through.

I don’t mind being
Teased, any more than you mind
A skin graft or two.

My brain: walnut-sized.
Yours: largest among primates.
Yet, who leaves for work?

Your mouth is moving;
Up and down, emitting noise.
I’ve lost interest.

There’s no dignity
In being sick – which is why
I don’t tell you where.

On Our Mind:

Dropbox:

1. Free
2. Backup no matter where you are
3. Constant access (Computer always has a copy, Access from anywhere with web connection)
4. Sync
5. No Flashdrives
6. Sharing
7. Cross Platform

Apple’s iPad

Net Safety
http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx

From the Twitterverse:

• shareski most schools have a few interested and able to post content. Classroom teachers struggle to find time to post
• ChristianLong @shareski Tell ‘great stories’ – period. Anything else is trendy (at best). Tell stories. Tell stories. And then tell stories.
• cookp prezi is offering some pretty sweet (and free) educator accounts. http://prezi.com/profile/signup/edu/
  
• shareski Multiple video for Skype users. http://bit.ly/58nzQr
  
• drmmtatom RT @FocusLeadership: “The boss depends on authority – the Leader depends on good will.” Anonymous #fhuedu610
  
• drmmtatom RT @lclandfield: Six things we always say as teachers – new blog post up at http://bit.ly/a5qeXo
• bhsprincipal RT @tomwhitby: It has never been a question of Teaching in the 21st Cent. It is more about Accepting the 21st Cent. Attitudes. #educon
• Aaron_Eyler “Flipping” Curriculum and how it can revitalize our schools: http://bit.ly/8X5zDC #education #teacher #edchat
• skipz Why don’t more teachers integrate technology more effectively?- http://snipurl.com/u64ku
• bhsprincipal RT @ShellTerrell: Transform the instructors first? http://bit.ly/5zGoM3 via @mcleod
• jimconn Wow. RT @msprincipal62: “Our schools are not failing. They are obsolete–even the ones that score best on standardized tests.” Tony Wagner
• gardenglen Interesting Blog read “Motivating the Unmotivated” http://bit.ly/99GCJS via @educationweek
  

Advisory:

Tongue Twister:

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See’s saw
Before See sawed Soar’s seesaw,
See’s saw would not have sawed
Soar’s seesaw.
So See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See’s saw sawed
Soar’s seesaw!

Webspotlight:

Multiple Intelligences Survey
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm

Scribble Maps:
http://scribblemaps.com/#

Origins
http://www.originsonline.org/dd_classroom.php?resource_type=148

Seven Places to find Free e-books:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/01/seven-places-to-find-free-ebooks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29

Dance Rules:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0126102dance1.html

Graph paper:
http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Jokes:

What is CoSketch.com?

Do you have an idea, a problem or just a cool picture that you quickly want to show a friend?

CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images.
Simple sharing
• Anything you paint will show up for all other users in the room in real time.
• One click to save a sketch as an image for embedding on forums, blogs, etc.
Zero hassle
• Runs in all common browsers without plugins or installation.
• No registration
Now with Google Maps support!
• Use google maps as the background for your sketches to show directions or share trips.
Read more or just create a sketch and try for yourself.

Google Resources for Education

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/29YqS3/www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/10/25/100-google-tricks-that-will-save-you-time-in-school/

Revolution in the Classroom

by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn

President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s flagship idea for reforming education—a competition among states over a total pot of $4.35 billion known as the “Race to the Top Fund”—is a bold move to use scarce resources to coerce states into adopting big, potentially controversial strategies for education reform. It aims to achieve four stated goals:

- Develop common, internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments

- Improve the effectiveness of teachers and principals

- Use data to inform decisions

- Turn around the lowest-performing schools.

As details of the competition emerge, states vying for funds could simply opt to check off the boxes, suggest some novel-sounding strategies, and implement a few tweaks to the way things are already being done. But doing so would miss a genuine opportunity. In order to transform our factory-era schools into a truly student-centric system fit for the 21st-century, the funds should be used to innovate disruptively. And the best way to do that is by implementing online learning – an approach that’s constantly improving in its ability to deliver personalized, high-quality learning experiences to students from all walks of life, regardless of geography, special needs, or socioeconomic background.

Putting New Standards Into Practice a Tough Job

Challenges Loom on Curricular and Teaching Fronts

Todd Clark remembers his “aha” moment when Florida began rolling out the next generation of state academic-content standards to its teachers in 2007.
“I had a 5th grade teacher come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Clark, I can cover all of these objectives by December,’ ” he recalls. “The way she saw it was that there was only enough material for her to cover half a year.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17practical.h29.html?tkn=QLUFv6tltIiniJxnW3ZjCGFnpX0FvCKmEj6T

Events & Happenings:

Jokes:

Buddaist Monk walks into a restaurant. What can I get you?
Make me one with everything.
Thanks Steven

On Our Mind:

Thanks to you, we’re a Top 20 podcast in K-12 education. Please help us by voting on iTunes.

From the Twitterverse:

• drmmtatom PDFmyURL turns any site into a PDF #fhuedu642 #macademy http://flne.ws/22816321 on Fluent News
• rmbyrne Free Technology for Teachers: Week in Review – Most Popular Items http://ff.im/-eonJh
• drmmtatom RT @memphisnews: TN Senate passes teacher eval bill: The state Senate this afternoon approved on a 29-3 vote Gov… http://bit.ly/6HzsFe
  
• pcmike RT @macmikenews A clever graphic of The Apple App Store Economy http://ow.ly/X30E
  
• slytheringrl96 FINALLY understands the questions from the Algebra test. Thank you, Virtual Nerds! http://www.virtualnerd.com
  
• stevebarkley tools supporting teaching math with rigor http://shodor.org/interactivate/activities/
  
• drmmtatom RT @NMHS_Principal: @WeAreTeachers: V touching videos on student engagement projects! Get ideas & inspired! http://bit.ly/6zy2TL #fhuedu610

Advisory:

Masters of Disaster:

http://www.redcross.org/preparedness/educatorsmodule/ed-cd-6-8-main-menu-1.html

Try this with your Advisory:
tremellino Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swedish switched witch watch which Swiss Swatch watch switch?

Webspotlight:

A National Yardstick for Gauging Math Progress

States Show Uneven Performance; Even Top Achievers Fall Short

Geography matters. Where a student lives affects his or her chances of benefiting from known correlates of achievement and attainment. Those would include exposure to a middle school curriculum that places students on track for advanced coursetaking during high school, as well as the opportunity to learn from experienced and well-qualified math teachers.
For example, only one out of five students nationally attends a school where taking algebra by the 8th grade is the norm. However, the index shows tremendous cross-state variability in this opportunity indicator, with virtually no 8th graders attending such schools in some states, compared with more than half in California.
A closer investigation of Math Progress Index data reveals that states where poor students have more-equal access to experienced math teachers also tend to post significantly smaller math-achievement gaps. This is, just to be clear, correlation and not causation.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17math.h29.html?tkn=R[MF4Qzo6orsW67cZxBzNGAHZdia9LvSag4Z
http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2010/17overview.h29.math.pdf

Debunking the Case for National Standards

I keep thinking it can’t get much worse, and then it does.
A decade ago, many of us thought we had hit bottom—until the floor gave way and we found ourselves in a basement we didn’t know existed. Now every state had to test every student every year in grades 3-8, judging them (and their schools) almost exclusively by test scores and hurting the schools that needed the most help. Ludicrously unrealistic proficiency targets suggested that the federal law responsible was intended to sabotage rather than improve public education.

• Let’s be clear about this latest initiative, which is being spearheaded by politicians, corporate CEOs, and companies that produce standardized tests. First, what they’re trying to sell us are national standards. They carefully point out that the effort isn’t driven by the federal government. But if all, or nearly all, states end up adopting identical mandates, that distinction doesn’t amount to much.
• Second, these standards will inevitably be accompanied by a national standardized test.
• Third, a relatively small group of experts—far from classrooms—will be designing standards, test questions, and curricula for the rest of us.

Advocates of national standards say they want all (American) students to attain excellence, no matter where they happen to live. The problem is that excellence is being confused with entirely different attributes, such as uniformity, rigor, specificity, and victory.

...common-core-standards Web site, don’t bother looking for words like “exploration,” “intrinsic motivation,” “developmentally appropriate,” or “democracy.” Instead, the very first sentence contains the phrase “success in the global economy,” followed immediately by “America’s competitive edge.”

Yes, we want excellent teaching and learning for all—although our emphasis should be less on achievement (read: test scores) than on students’ achievements. Offered a list of standards, we should scrutinize each one, but also ask who came up with them and for what purpose. Is there room for discussion and disagreement—and not just by experts—regarding what, and how, we’re teaching and how authentic our criteria are for judging success? Or is this a matter of “obey or else,” with tests to enforce compliance?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17kohn-comm.h29.html?tkn=WXUFzMageZQH55f62llSx04pEy9h1dTAV7g0

Walnut school adds iPod touch to three Rs

With their headphones and iPod Touch machines on, Beatrice Azanza's 20 third grade students were geared up for an afternoon of reading and math.
After a lesson on addition and subtraction, Azanza's students can get on the iPod Touch, launch the Basic Math application, and test how quickly they can solve a set of problems. The fun, Azanza said, is endless.
In September, Azanza's class was chosen for a pilot program to gauge if students' English comprehension and fluency improved with daily use of the iPod Touch. Oswalt Academy is already using technology in the classrooms, having implemented a One to One Laptop Learning Program two years ago. Currently, fifth through seventh grade students use computers with pre-loaded textbooks and other applications, said Astrid Ramirez, Oswalt's principal. Oswalt was recently named one of eight schools in California as an Apple Distinguished School.

Azanza said to help students improve their reading and comprehension skills, she will have to listen to a book on iPod Touch so they can hear the different intonations and where the pauses are. After that, the students will record themselves reading the same story.

The idea is to have an audio archive so students can hear how they have improved over the weeks.

"It's also for the parents, too. I'm going to play them during parents conferences so they hear their child's progress," she said.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_14161816

Epson has new "short throw" data projectors.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/11/04/epson-introduces-two-ultra-short-throw-projectors-designed-with-k-12-education-in-mind/

NMSA09:

Teaching in 4-D:  Rick Wormeli Closing Keynote
Expertise
What elements of This We Believe have we really integrated into our teaching?
We teach in ways they best learn, not we best learn.
Teachers have their own secret code so the kids don't know what's going on:  Cursive.
We don't settle for this reality in exchange of a potential reality.
"I don't know" gets the response of "If you did know, what would you say?"
Fine arts gives dimension and meaning!
Kids need to eat every 90 mins. or they lose cognition.
Irritability is the first sign of dehydration.
Creativity
Mantra of the middle school teacher is "Let me get out of the way."  Open up all the possibilities for our students to express what they have learned.
(example:  juggling illustration of ethos, pathos, and logos.)
We need to teach our kids how to ask good questions.  Really GOOD questions.
Thems that ask the questions are doin' the learning!
Teach in different ways.
How would you teach if you couldn't give homework?
How would you teach if there wasn't long term memory?
Failure
Concerned with the demonization of failure.
Differentiate the assessment if the assessment is not the product.
The person who never makes mistakes takes his orders from one who does.
Go beyond the "Gotcha/Caughtcha" mentality.
Rim Waver:  the child digs a pit and the teacher stands at the rim and waves . . .
Your job is to jump into the pit and tell the kid, "I've been here before.  I know the way out."
Our commission:  I teach so that you can learn.
Redos
Let them redo.  Every real world test does!
Make them do a letter about what they learned if they do a redo
Make it a learning experience (a small hassle) to redo, but let them redo.
Get them to get permission from their parent to do a redo.
Charge $5.00 to do a redo and finance the budget.
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the judgement that something else is more important than that fear.  (Horace Redmoon?)
Collaboration
There is a democratization of knowledge.
Kids can check your facts.
We do all this stuff together.
We become a bright, shining community ...
Full use of personal technology!
Narcissism
Facebook, MySpace:  We're creating an online culture where people only visit sites that are familiar.
We need to expose our students to multiple sources of information.
Join a listserv (MiddleTalk Rules!)
Write a letter to yourself about all you learned here at the conference and then seal it in an envelope and give it to a friend to mail to you in six months as a
way to re-ignite the fire from the conference.
... that can become the echo (slide changes before I can finish ...)
Doubt is the compass rose to an educator.
Who's voice is not being heard?
How do our metaphors limit us?
Core classes (What are the others then?)
LD  (Learn Differently or Learning Disabled?)
What is the role of homework?
Does it matter WHEN he learns it?
The General Westmoreland paratrooper story.
We need to hang out with the folks who inspire us to be better teachers.
Fight the good fight more than 50% of the time.
Go out and ask the important questions and inspire the next generation.
This, we believe . . .
Video:  The Perfect Teacher, an Instructional Lesson in ...  Instruction!
Sound of Music clip.

Events & Happenings: