Middle School Matters http://middleschoolmatters.com Middle School News for Middle School Educators who care! Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:36:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 © middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com () middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com() 1440 Middle School News for Middle School Educators who care! middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com No no http://middleschoolmatters.com/MSMLogo2_144.jpg Middle School Matters http://middleschoolmatters.com 144 144 Back to school http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=523 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=523#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:36:43 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=523 In Michigan, school does not begin until after Labor Day by state law. Thus, our students return to school tomorrow morning. The idea behind the law is that Michigan would lose like a bajillion dollars in tourism money if we started before Labor Day. People who teach in other states can’t believe that restate after Labor Day. When does your state open school?

]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=523 0 MSM 132 Advisory Snowballs http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=521 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=521#comments Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:21:59 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=521

Jokes:

Customer Service
“I’m not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad, but when I went in the other day and asked the clerk to check my balance … she leaned over and pushed me.”

Job Application
Employer: “In this job we need someone who is responsible.” Applicant: “I’m the one you want. On my last job, every time anything went wrong, they said I was responsible.”

The Blame Game
This is the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. Consequently, it wound up that Nobody told Anybody, so Everybody blamed Somebody.

Laughing
The boss returned from lunch in a good mood and called the whole staff in to listen to a couple of jokes he had picked up. Everybody, but one girl laughed uproariously. “What’s the matter?” grumbled the boss. “Haven’t you got a sense of humor?” “I don’t have to laugh,” she replied. “I’m leaving Friday.”

On Our Mind:

iWork ‘09 Update- ePub creation is now possible.

Listeners:

Hi,
I’ve been a fan of your blog for awhile, after stumbling upon it a few months ago. Thanks for the great content! We here at oedb.org take good content seriously, and we recently published an article “100 Ways Google Can Make You a Better Educator” that you may be interested in sharing with your readers. For your convenience, here’s the link: (http://oedb.org/library/features/100_ways_google_make_you_better_educator ) if you’d like, you can also find the story on our blog home page.
I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for your time and take care!
Julia Watson

Like the show, but you should also put info on the podcast for the kids that also like the show. Please give me a shoutout.
infamous40000

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

My kids like the ‘snowball fight’. Everyone writes something about themselves on a piece of white paper but they don’t name it. Then they scrunch the paper into a ball and on the teacher’s signal a snowball fight ensues. After everyone’s had the chance to throw a lot of paper around ( a few minutes) another signal announces the end of the ‘fight’. Each student picks up the snowball closest to them and takes turns to read out the info and maybe guess who it belongs to.

Anne De Manser ( http://twitter.com/Aaannne )

Tech Tools:

RubiStar

Want to make exemplary rubrics in a short amount of time? Try RubiStar out! Registered users can save and edit rubrics online. You can access them from home, school, or on the road. Registration and use of this tool is free, so click the Register link in the login area to the right to get started now.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Webspotlight:

Science YouTube Videos from Mashable

Do you ever stare off into the cosmos, wondering about all the matter and particles swirling about in the universe? Or gaze into the spiraling petals of a rose and contemplate the Golden Ratio and all it connotes?
No? Well, take some time out from your weekend of quietly quaffing to think, really think, about why, oh why the forces of nature chose to forge us within this mighty smithy we call life. Strain your mind, dear reader, and test the mettle of your brain fibers ruminating on the fact that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy…
Or, you could just watch this week’s YouTube ( roundup, the theme of which is science!
Take a look down below and get yourselves some education, you desk set daredevils.
http://mashable.com/2010/08/27/youtube-roundup-science/

News:

Reshirting the Little Ones

By PAMELA PAUL
Sitting out Kindergarten to gain an advantage. “Redshirting” of kindergartners — the term comes from the practice of postponing the participation of college athletes in competitive games — became increasingly widespread in the 1990s, and shows no signs of waning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/fashion/22Cultural.html?_r=2

Common Core Standards

By Stephen Sawchuk
More than two-thirds of the states—including Massachusetts, a state long famed for excellent academic-content standards—have adopted common grade-level expectations, as the movement to align nationwide what students are learning continues to gain steam.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/08/06/37standards.h29.html?tkn=LYQFx%2FKcK6NQoGyVPUaQ1jxL%2BVGTKhbLgyMt&cmp=clp-edweek

Class Size. Does it Matter?

By Tamara Henry
Conventional wisdom says the smaller the classes, the better the education, because teachers can pay more attention to each child. But while smaller classes are popular, decades of research has found that the relationship between class size and student outcomes is murky.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-26-classsize26_ST_N.htm

ISTE 2010

Mindy Johnson, Dr. Boris Goldowsky, and Ge Vue.
Overview
What is the problem?
Why smart content?
What does it look like?
Reframing Literacy
Learners are diverse.
Sustain desired difficulties.
Reduce undesired difficulties.
Universal Design for Learning
What?
Provide multiple means of representation.
How?
Provide multiple means of action and expression.
Why?
Provide multiple means of engagement.
http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines
(See the video on the index page.)  
Smart Content
Is accessible
Contains learning supports
Has opportunities
The world is moving in a different direction from books.
UDL Editions:  Free on the Web.
Integrated with Google Maps
How can teachers build it?
Standard Open formats
Smart Content is time intensive and repurposable
HTML
ePub
aim.cast.org
DAISY
This is the CAST format of choice.
www.daisy.org
NIMAS format is the government standard.
Presentation will be on the ISTE website.
You can save a document as DAISY format in Word and Open Office.
www.openlibrary.org
Xmlmind XML editor
Daisy players
Gives the reader control over content.
nimbus2html
National Educational Technology Plan:  It’s a Smart Document
http://cast.org
UDL Inquiry Science Project
University of Michigan’s iQuest project for middle schools.
Kids can upload “other literacy” type of responses.
Ultimately we will be able to do this.
What is the impact?
Being able to read text at grade level.
Unlocking student understanding.
The teacher becomes the innovator.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

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 ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life
]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=521 0 00:01:01 Jokes: Customer Service "I'm not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad, but when I went in the other day and asked ... Jokes: Customer Service "I'm not saying that the customer service in my bank is bad, but when I went in the other day and asked the clerk to check my balance ... she leaned over and pushed me." Job Application Employer: "In this job we need someone who is responsible." Applicant: "I'm the one you want. On my last job, every time anything went wrong, they said I was responsible." The Blame Game This is the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. Consequently, it wound up that Nobody told Anybody, so Everybody blamed Somebody. Laughing The boss returned from lunch in a good mood and called the whole staff in to listen to a couple of jokes he had picked up. Everybody, but one girl laughed uproariously. "What's the matter?" grumbled the boss. "Haven't you got a sense of humor?" "I don't have to laugh," she replied. "I'm leaving Friday." On Our Mind: iWork lsquo;09 Update- ePub creation is now possible. Listeners: Hi, I've been a fan of your blog for awhile, after stumbling upon it a few months ago. Thanks for the great content! We here at oedb.org take good content seriously, and we recently published an article ldquo;100 Ways Google Can Make You a Better Educatorrdquo; that you may be interested in sharing with your readers. For your convenience, here's the link: (http://oedb.org/library/features/100_ways_google_make_you_better_educator ) if you'd like, you can also find the story on our blog home page. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for your time and take care! Julia Watson Like the show, but you should also put info on the podcast for the kids that also like the show. Please give me a shoutout. infamous40000 From the Twitterverse: bhsprincipal nbsp;RT @4thGrdTeach: RT @Thanks2Teachers: Why teach in a system that rewards test scores rather than passion? http://bit.ly/cMpYp5 #cpchat tomshepp nbsp;RT @kylepace: iPad 4 Edu - a place to ask questions about using the iPad in education. http://ipad4edu.com/ #edtech web20classroom nbsp;RT @plugusin: Here's a great list of online video sources for educators: http://bit.ly/aJOmiy Teaching With Infographics - Many Good Resources http://is.gd/eIfh0 jonbecker nbsp;A report that's an indictment of Sec. Duncan's "work" in Chicago. Also a lovely report design, BTW. http://is.gd/eIhvS (h/t @DianeRavitch) rmbyrne nbsp;Welcome CNN Viewers! via Free Technology for Teachers - Welcome to those arriving after hearing about Free ... http://tinyurl.com/2do5ozx ChristianLong nbsp;History teachers: Oh, my! http://origin-www.fastcompany.com/1685237/new-yahoo-search-tool-keeps-track-of-the-future-proves-predictions-wrong msstewart nbsp;Love post-it note lesson plans RT @johntspencer: my best lesson plans aren't written in a bk, but on scraps of paper/post-it notes/napkins ipadeducators Promising apps lists for iPods and iPads in ed: http://digitalroberto.haikulearning.com/digitalroberto/digitalroberto/cms_page/view/141515 Content management for iPods in the classroom: http://digitalroberto.haikulearning.com/digitalroberto/digitalroberto/cms_page/view/147384 Control everything in your classroom using Doceri - a promising ed. tool: http://doceri.com/ Great collection of iPad in education sites: http://www.diigo.com/list/trubol/i_padin_edDanielBeylerian nbsp;Podcast Production #124; Engaging Boys: Powerful Possibilities for All Learners http://bit.ly/aLoqOi via www.diigo.com/~danielbeylerian Advisory: My kids like the 'snowball fight'. Everyone writes something about themselves on a piece of white paper but they don't name it. Then they scrunch the paper into a ball and on the ... Podcast,,Tech,,advisory middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com no No MSM- 131 Strategies for your Classroom! http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=518 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=518#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:23:31 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=518 Jokes:

Learn from your elders…

A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easy. So the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game.

The senior is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks.  The lawyer persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun.  I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5.  Then you ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500, he says.

This catches the senior’s attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.  The lawyer asks the first question. ‘What’s the distance from the Earth to the Moon?’  The senior doesn’t say a word, but reaches into his pocket, pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.

Now it’s the senior’s turn.  He asks the lawyer, ‘What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?’  The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net.  He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows; all to no avail.  After an hour of searching, he finally gives up.  He wakes the senior and hands him $500.  The senior pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep.

The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer.  He wakes the senior up and asks, ‘Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?’  The senior reaches into his pocket, hands the lawyer $5 and goes back to sleep.

On Our Mind:

More iTunes Ratings.  (Thanks Eric!)

Listeners:

“I recently compiled a list of the Top 40 podcasts for teachers, and I just wanted to let you know that you made the list! It is published online at http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-40-podcasts-for-teachers/“

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Ice Breakers

http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2010/08/breaking-ice.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AGeekymommasBlog+%28A+GeekyMomma%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Tech Tools:

UDL Book Builder

Welcome to Book Builder! Use this site to create, share, publish, and read digital books that engage and support diverse learners according to their individual needs, interests, and skills.
http://bookbuilder.cast.org/

Webspotlight:

Strategies Gallore:

A bunch of different categories. Many, many different strategies for each category.
http://franklincountyschools.k12tn.net/Show%20Me%20the%20Strategies.htm

Earth Calendar

The Earth Calendar is a daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world.For the purpose of this web site a “holiday” is any day that recognizes a cultural event.
http://www.earthcalendar.net//index.php

News:

Putting Teachers to the Test:

By Carl Bialik
“My print column this week examines the debate over so-called value-added measures for teachers, which evaluate their performance based on how much they improve their students’ standardized test scores.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/putting-teachers-to-the-test-982/

ISTE 2010
Next week folks.  :-)

MiJEC 2010

Rogers City Schools
What they did:
Created a template on Word
Basic tech is needed.
http://mijec.org/attendees/2010program/wozinak/
Directions for the Fakebook Project
BE CREATIVE
You must choose a “REAL” historical figure that lived …
The project is modifiable.
Sample:  FAKEBOOK.US
Have their characters dialoguing with other people’s characters and there’s another type of lesson.
Template is on the website.
Fakebook It!
Author:  Melissa Wozniak
missywozniak@hotmail.com
Presenter (in absentia)
Katy Xanakis-Makowski
kmakowski@rcas.k12.mi.us
Rogers City Area Schools
Links and Documents:
Directions for Fakebook project. – BE CREATIVE

You must choose a “REAL” historical figure that lived in or influenced the United States between the years of 1960 – 1978.  They may be, anyone that you would like to know more about.

Follow the Template that is saved.  You must scour the internet/books in order to find out the Historical information, anything that you can not find out, feel free to embellish as long as it could be historically accurate and APPROPRIATE.

The “general information”, “education” and “favorites” – find the info that you can.  For the “favorites” section, see what you can come up with as you learn about the person. – these can be humorous or serious – which ever you choose.

The “status update” – should have a historical fact of which the person was involved – be it a “fun” update.

The “groups” section – think about what the person you chose would be into – and create 2 groups that they would have been a part of.  (1 must be serious, and 1 can be humorous)

For the “friends” section – as you do your research, find 6 individuals that they would have been “friends” with.   They could be co-workers, other people that did what they did etc. You must put their photo with their name.

For the “about me section – again research your person and place accurate information in the section
.
The “Wall” posts.  Find 6 events that your person was involved in or a part of, and then find 6 individuals that would have talked with them about those events, and make them your wall posts.  Each post must be in a separate text box and have a photo of the person making the statement and the “date” of the statement.

For the “we’re related” section – you must have 3 photos of people they are related to and how they are related.

**This is meant to be both a fun and learning project.  These will be printed off and put into a binder so that they can be shared with other students.  You have three days to finish these, which is why I want them to be “ACCURATE” and FUN!!!.***

Fakebook Example

Template:  http://www.mijec.org/downloads/mijec_2010/facebook_template.doc

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

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 ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life
]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=518 0 00:01:01 Jokes: Learn from your elders... A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is ... Jokes: Learn from your elders... A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easy. So the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game. The senior is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. nbsp;The lawyer persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun. nbsp;I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me only $5. nbsp;Then you ask me one, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500, he says. This catches the senior's attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game. nbsp;The lawyer asks the first question. 'What's the distance from the Earth to the Moon?' nbsp;The senior doesn't say a word, but reaches into his pocket, pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer. Now it's the senior's turn. nbsp;He asks the lawyer, 'What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?' nbsp;The lawyer uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net. nbsp;He sends e-mails to all the smart friends he knows; all to no avail. nbsp;After an hour of searching, he finally gives up. nbsp;He wakes the senior and hands him $500. nbsp;The senior pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep. The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. nbsp;He wakes the senior up and asks, 'Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?' nbsp;The senior reaches into his pocket, hands the lawyer $5 and goes back to sleep. On Our Mind: More iTunes Ratings. nbsp;(Thanks Eric!) Listeners: ldquo;I recently compiled a list of the Top 40 podcasts for teachers, and I just wanted to let you know that you made the list! It is published online at http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-40-podcasts-for-teachers/ldquo; From the Twitterverse: Fourteen Interesting Ways* to Get to Know Your Class- https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_650dvtj3dgk thx dougpete russeltarr nbsp;Ten words you need to stop misspelling (great poster for the classroom): http://tinyurl.com/ykxv38b russeltarr nbsp;Diigo History Teachers' Resource Sharing Group #historyteacher: http://tinyurl.com/yds7d57 mbteach nbsp;This AUP looks well crafted at first glance http://bit.ly/diFD0s School AUP 2.0 looks like a great resource for developing an AUP http://bit.ly/bj3ml isteconnects nbsp;New Post: A Brief Review of Course Management Tools for Educators http://bit.ly/9R1pE0 #iste #edchat sarahhanawald nbsp;Great questions to ask students at beginning: RT @msstewart: Death by Lecture http://bit.ly/9f9AMW Quick post based on student responses theteachershub nbsp;A great example of crowdsourcing good quality classroom ideas - http://bit.ly/9yEXn3 drmmtatom nbsp;Welcome Back Teachers http://tinyurl.com/3yvhgk2 #fhuedu610 DanielPink nbsp;Big day, folks. Sharpie just announced a new product: the liquid pencil ... http://bit.ly/b5N4Gm elemenous nbsp;Turning Children into Data http://ow.ly/2tFPP topedutweets nbsp;Midnight classes allow students to work and get a degree http://ow.ly/2tFGE maggiecary nbsp;I'm going to stop voting for any politician that calls me on the phone with a recording. It's been 24/7. Call me u lost me. #election carlaarena nbsp;A list of Quiz generators for techie #teachers http://ow.ly/2slCa kellyhines nbsp;RT @tgianno: Free Technology for Teachers: 140 New Things Being Tried In Classrooms This Fall freetech4teachers.com/2010/08/140-nehellip; via Advisory: Ice Breakers http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2010/08/breaking-ice.html?utm_source=feedburner#38;utm_medium=feed#38;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AGeekymommasBlog+%28A+GeekyMomma%27s+Blog%29#38;utm_content=Google+Reader Tech Tools: UDL Book Builder Welcome to Book Builder! Use this site to create, share, publish, and read digital books that engage and suppo... Podcast,,Tech,,advisory middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com no No iPad for Autistic Child is a revelation http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=515 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=515#comments Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:20:39 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=515 I came across this blog post regarding the use of an iPad for an autistic child. It is interesting that a common theme of the iPad is “until I used one”…

Anyway, while I certainly have lots of questions to answer before bringing in iPads on a large scale and this is only one story, it is still interesting. The jist of the story is that a mother wins an iPad in a raffle. It turns out that her autistic son loves the device and uses it to better communicate.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/08/13/ipad-hailed-as-a-near-miracle-for-autistic-boy/

]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=515 0 iPad Happiness http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=513 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=513#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 02:56:43 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=513 I took the iPad to a conference today. I left the MacBook Pro at home. Total happiness. I picked up a wireless keyboard to go with the iPad. I was able to carry the iPad and keyboard in a portfolio case. The case is not iPad specific. In fact, I received the case before the iPad came out. It was really nice to not have to carry a large, heavy bag. However, the biggest key was that I didn’t have to look for a spot to sit next to a power outlet. So, I got to sit down front between the screen and the presenters. The portfolio was inconspicuous. So far, so good. The conference finally started. It was really convenient to pull out the keyboard and leave the iPad sitting on top of the portfolio. I tried a couple of programs. First I went with PaperDesk. I like PaperDesk as it syncs to a web site and has VGA out. However, I had no Wifi connection (urgg, another conference with no internet) and no need for VGA output. PaperDesk is really limited in terms of formatting. On to Pages for iPad. I did a select all in PaperDesk, copy, and paste into Pages. (At this point, the person next to me said, “I like the lines better”. PaperDesk looks like a sheet of legal paper.) I was happily typing along. There was a lull in the presentation (there were several of those), and I went back to PaperDesk. At some point, I decided to try one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts | Option | 8. I learned this long ago in ClarisWorks (it might have been AppleWorks- the first iteration). This shortcut creates a bullet. Somewhat to my surprise, it worked. Although there are no options to create a bullet in PaperDesk, a quick keyboard shortcut, and there was my bullet point. Even better, the same shortcut works in Pages and actually creates a bullet – ie. hitting return automatically creates a bullet on the next line.

I finished taking my notes in Pages. Note that the normal keyboard shortcuts (Apple | X, Apple | C and Apple | V) all work nicely. One more tip: pressing the Eject key toggles the virtual keyboard. Even better, you can type on both keyboards at the same time.

Anyway, I finished the notes and came home. Once home, I emailed the notes to my boss.

I’m really happy with the iPad and external keyboard experience at the conference. I was able to take notes all day without worrying about the battery dying. (That alone is huge!). I also didn’t feel like I was toting around 50 pounds of gear. No extra battery. No shoulder bag. Just a small portfolio. Happiness.

]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=513 0 MSM-130 Super Sized, Open Textbooks and the iPad! http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=510 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=510#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:49:07 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=510 Jokes:

Business Plans
Two women were comparing notes on the difficulties of running a small business. “I started a new practice last year,” the first one said. “I insist that each of my employees take at least a week off every three months.” “Why in the world would you do that?” the other asked. She responded, “It’s the best way I can learn which ones I can do without.”

Friends
Pete and Larry had not seen each other in many years. They had a long talk trying to fill in the gap of those years by talking about their lives. Finally, Pete invited Larry to visit him in his new apartment. “I got a wife and three kids and I’d love to have you visit us.” “Great. Where do you live?” “Here’s the address. And there’s plenty of parking behind the apartment. Park and come around to the front door, kick it open with your foot, go to the elevator and press the button with your left elbow, then enter! When you reach the sixth floor, go down the hall until you see my name on the door. Then press the doorbell with your right elbow and I’ll let you in.” “Good. But tell me, what is all this business of kicking the front door open, then pressing elevator buttons with my right, then my left elbow?” “Surely, you’re not coming empty-handed.”

Mosquitoes
Two young men were camping out in the forest one night. But the mosquitoes were so fierce that the boys had to hide under their blankets to keep from getting bitten. Then one of the boys saw some lightning bugs. “We may as well give up,” he told his friend. “Now they are coming at us with flashlights.”

On Our Mind:

Gearing up for the school year.
iPads in the classroom.
Eric’s Shirt.

Listeners:

Guys,

I hope you are having a super fantastic summer.  Yes, during my 6 days in the States, I picked up an iPad. I was very skeptical at first, but WOW!  This thing is amazing.

My question is about the practical use of the iPad in the class. I see that Apple just upgraded iBooks to allow videos and audio within the epub format. This means that textbooks could have audio/video boxes that support the main text or apply material in a cross curricular presentation. My question is this – who is creating the open source etexts that we can use in class, and how can I help?

Robert

Sent from my iPad

Related links we sent Robert:
http://open-education.org/
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000027.html
http://www.opentextbook.org/about/
http://web.me.com/mcgirr/Summer_PD_Notes__ISTE__MiJEC____MSC_/pages/20.html

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Is “What you see, What you get?”
Here are 5 optical illusions that you could share with your students (or class). Good lead in to discussion about perception, point of view, etc.
http://mashable.com/2010/08/01/optical-illusions-videos/

Stats on Soft Drinks
http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/softdrinks/

TED Talk:  The Art of Choosing:  http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html

Tech Tools:

Teacher’s First

TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. We offer our own professional and classroom-ready content along with thousands of reviewed web resources, including practical ideas for classroom use and safe classroom use of Web 2.0. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using our subject/grade level search, keyword search, or extensive menus.
http://teachersfirst.com/index.cfm

Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is an open-source, standards-compliant, customizable, modern, community-building discussion forum.
http://vanillaforums.org/

KnoteBooks

http://knotebooks.com/

Webspotlight:

Firing the Wrong Teachers?

http://hechingered.org/content/firing-the-wrong-teachers_1801/

Teacher inspires students to work through adversity

By Donna Vickroy
Juanita Lopez understands adversity – and the rewards of overcoming it.
“Believe it or not, the kids seem to work harder, to have more respect when they see you as a real person, with real struggles,” she said. “I have fewer discipline problems in the classroom because of it, too.”

http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/vickroy/2551488,080110vickroy.article

Tiering Lessons
http://help4teachers.com/samples2.htm

News:

Minnesota rejects National Standards

The U.S. Education Department is offering about $350 million to help develop tests — but only for states that adopt the national standards by the end of 2011.
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_15655121?nclick_check=1

5 Developing Themes at ISTE ‘10

By Henry Thiele
I attended EduBloggerCon, the Constructivist Consortium, the opening events, and more at ISTE ’10, and through my interactions there, I have begun to see some themes developing in the conference:
1 It has been a rough year. Between budget cuts, leadership challenges, and the increasing responsibilities associated with technology in schools, everyone was mentally exhausted heading into the conference. Excitement about changing practices and adding resources to schools has been tempered by budget concerns.
2 We have some pretty big decisions looming about how we are going to handle an influx of personal mobile computing devices into our society. With the iPad, the new iPhone, Android devices, and the continued growth of netbooks, there are a lot more discussions of how we are going to respond to this trend as schools. These conversations center on network infrastructure, policy, instructional strategies, and preparing teachers for this change.
3 Digital divide. The changes described in number 2 are starting to show how ugly the digital divide is becoming. The gap between those able to have the world’s information in their hands and those unable to is a growing social problem. When connectivity is factored in along with access to hardware, the difficulty becomes greater and more complex.
4 Assessment: Many educators are struggling more with assessment and its design. It seems that most agree with attaching some form of accountability to assessment. But nobody has quite figured out how to do it. It is becoming apparent, however, that technology will have to be involved in whatever solution does present itself, if for efficiency if nothing else.
5 Personalizing education: More people are talking about making teaching and learning more personal, saying that education has to be tailored to each individual. There is a lot of frustration and confusion about how to make this happen when we are still working in an environment designed to “press out parts” rather than create individual masterpieces.
http://www.techlearning.com/article/31550

ISTE 2010

CEO’s presentation.
Panel discussion begins at 18:08
Three agendas
New global citizenship
Global citizenship first and national citizenship second.
New skills agenda
New learning teaching and education technology agenda.
- Jean Francois Rischard
21st Century Learning in the new global classroom.
This is an activist agenda.
Table
See pic
21st cent skills
Karen C.
We need to change the focus and flip the conversation in the classroom.
Shaun Koh
Standardized testing kills dreams.
Use technology to inspire the dream in each student.
The teacher is more of a shepherd. (paraklete principle).
He wishes he had been taught interdisciplinarily and how subjects interact.
Jennifer is a nut.
Look up Tony Wagner as an author.
Karen Cantor says outright that national assessments are worthless.
But we’re on the train and can’t stop to fix the wheels.
We’re asking schools to make three changes taw once and the curriculum doesn’t give much leeway.
“Dictatorship of the Curriculum”.
Why don’t schools do “FedEx” days?
How do we learn to learn?
Denmark lets seniors use Google on their Senior exams.
How to grow a global citizen?
Stop teaching US History.
Teach problem solving.
Think multiculturally.
“Raised in Singapore, grew up on the Internet”
Get your culture from TV and the Internet.
National technology plan.
Need to download.
Why are educational systems so slow to change?
The Charles TED Talk.
It’s not enough
Side Notes:
The hostess was perky and covering for JFR’s shortcomings.
Jennifer was way to much of an advocate for “one world government” as was the other Canadian and JFR.
The University of Michigan kid has learned his subject, but hasn’t learned how to live.  He’s rudderless and lacks a grounding philosophy.
Tony Wagner Books:
Global Achievement Gap:  Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Kids Need.
http://www.amazon.com/Global-Achievement-Gap-Survival-Need/dp/B003P2VC02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278627763&sr=8-1

Reinventing Americas Schools

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Grade-Reinventing-Americas-Schools/dp/0415927625/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278627763&sr=8-4

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

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 ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life
]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=510 0 00:01:01 Jokes: Business Plans Two women were comparing notes on the difficulties of running a small business. "I started a new practice last year," the first ... Jokes: Business Plans Two women were comparing notes on the difficulties of running a small business. "I started a new practice last year," the first one said. "I insist that each of my employees take at least a week off every three months." "Why in the world would you do that?" the other asked. She responded, "It's the best way I can learn which ones I can do without." Friends Pete and Larry had not seen each other in many years. They had a long talk trying to fill in the gap of those years by talking about their lives. Finally, Pete invited Larry to visit him in his new apartment. "I got a wife and three kids and I'd love to have you visit us." "Great. Where do you live?" "Here's the address. And there's plenty of parking behind the apartment. Park and come around to the front door, kick it open with your foot, go to the elevator and press the button with your left elbow, then enter! When you reach the sixth floor, go down the hall until you see my name on the door. Then press the doorbell with your right elbow and I'll let you in." "Good. But tell me, what is all this business of kicking the front door open, then pressing elevator buttons with my right, then my left elbow?" "Surely, you're not coming empty-handed." Mosquitoes Two young men were camping out in the forest one night. But the mosquitoes were so fierce that the boys had to hide under their blankets to keep from getting bitten. Then one of the boys saw some lightning bugs. "We may as well give up," he told his friend. "Now they are coming at us with flashlights." On Our Mind: Gearing up for the school year. iPads in the classroom. Ericrsquo;s Shirt. Listeners: Guys, I hope you are having a super fantastic summer. nbsp;Yes, during my 6 days in the States, I picked up an iPad. I was very skeptical at first, but WOW! nbsp;This thing is amazing. My question is about the practical use of the iPad in the class. I see that Apple just upgraded iBooks to allow videos and audio within the epub format. This means that textbooks could have audio/video boxes that support the main text or apply material in a cross curricular presentation. My question is this - who is creating the open source etexts that we can use in class, and how can I help? Robert Sent from my iPad Related links we sent Robert: http://open-education.org/ http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000027.html http://www.opentextbook.org/about/ http://web.me.com/mcgirr/Summer_PD_Notes__ISTE__MiJEC____MSC_/pages/20.html From the Twitterverse: courosa OpenScholar looks like a useful (and free) tool for academics. http://is.gd/dZcsi drmmtatom Technology Tools for Learning http://tinyurl.com/2wv463s willrich45 Open source textbooks a viable option? Der. http://nyti.ms/97f6GB akipta Copyrights for Educators: Everything you wanted to know, but didnrsquo;t ask. http://goo.gl/fb/kiQyo marynabadenhors Very cool Numeracy teaching notes (downloadable) http://billsteachingnotes.wikispaces.com/Numeracy+Teaching+Notes #kedu #elemchat #vicpln NMHS_Principal Vodcasting: Education of the Future http://bit.ly/d9fxGj #edtech kellyhines RT @kcollazo: Several Google Form templates so I didn't have to figure out the formulas to auto grade! Yes! http://trunc.it/9zp6w kiwicarol 15 Mind Blowing Thins [sic] about the Internet via Jane Hart http://bit.ly/cr3qe0 samharrelson This is up there with "we didn't land on the moon" craziness for me. 8th grade is still "hard" folks. No worries :) http://bit.ly/cVMvml Larryferlazzo nbsp;US Dept. of Ed prepares to launch "2010 National Education Technology Plan 1.0" http://bit.ly/9V549g GuyKawasaki nbsp;The blurry rules of plagiarism for college students http://idek.net/2uW5 kusdiva nbsp;Beauty is in the eye of the beholder #38; it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid/misinformed beholder a black eye. ~Miss Piggy eduinnovation nbsp;Teacher- "Stop networking, searching, cr... MSM,,Podcast,,Tech,,advisory middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com no No MSM 129- “The Exquisite Corpse . . .” http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=502 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=502#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:08:38 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=502 Jokes:

Danger
One night a husband and his wife were sleeping and suddenly the wife woke up. “Dear, there’s a burglar eating the cake downstairs!” said the wife. “So should I call the police or the ambulance?” asked the husband.

Circles
During basic army training, a sergeant was telling his group how a submachine gun sprayed bullets. He drew a circle on a blackboard and announced that it had a 260 degree angle. “But, sergeant, all circles have 360 degrees,” called out a conscript. “Don’t be stupid,” the sergeant roared. “This is a small circle.”

Tee Time
Two men were talking about golf. One of them said, “I shoot in the 70′s.” The other replied, “That’s great!” The first one said, “Yeah, if it gets any cooler than that, I go to the clubhouse.”

On Our Mind:

PLNs enforced by administration.
http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/great-pln-backlash-of-2010/

Listeners:

To Eric:  Thanks for the email!
To reviewer #28 thanks for the stars on iTunes!

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Library of Congress:  The Exquisite Corpse . . .
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-library-congress-the-exquisite/id374009707

Tech Tools:

Gradebook:

LearnBoost’s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more.
Manage your gradebook, lesson plans, calendars, scheduling, and more from one place: LearnBoost.
Once you switch, you’ll wonder what life was like before LearnBoost.
Sign up for your free account!
Standards Supported
The majority of states have announced support for the Common Core Standards. We’re the first to fully support and integrate these leading standards across our gradebook and lesson plan software.
You’ll love how we let you “tag” standards to your lesson plans, gradebook, and more.
http://www.learnboost.com/

LearnPort

A National Online Library of Professional Development Resources Compiled to Help Bridge Research, Policy and Practice.
Across states, national organizations and technical assistance investments, an extensive amount of professional development material is available. This library provides local educators with easy access to an array of resources that can be used or customized to meet their needs.
http://www.learningport.us/

Survey Tools:

Free Tech 4 Teachers:
A wonderful write up of 9 tools that you can use to create surveys. Interesting. The list does NOT include Google Forms, which is most commonly used survey tool.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/07/nine-survey-tools-for-teachers-and.html

Webspotlight:

Schoolwide
Videos useful for Professional Development.
The Schoolwide Network was created in response to the lack of quality video (and print) resources available on the Internet today. With all of the rich media now available via the Internet and mobile technologies, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information being pushed toward us and our children every day.

Schoolwide believes, however, that it is quality—not quantity—that defines any successful educational practice or professional development enterprise. Since our inception, quality has always been at the core of our educational efforts, from the very first Student-Run Bookstore that got us started to the thousands of Fundamentals Units of Study we have sold to school districts across the country.

Schoolwide also believes that with so much information just a keystroke away, never before has the need for practical and useful professional development resources been more paramount. To this end, our primary objective is to provide educators with the tools and resources to help them be better teachers for their students—not only with the quality content we provide but also in the way we present, organize, and provide educators access to this information.
http://www.schoolwidenetwork.com/?search_type=grade_9

Tiering Lessons
http://help4teachers.com/samples2.htm

Shout out:

To Eric. It’s on the way.

ISTE 2010

ISTE 2010:  Virtual Schools

Virtual School Initiative:  21st Century Learning and Teaching
Dr. Kathy Hayden:  Assistant Professor of Educational Technology, California State University, San Marcos khayden@csusm.edu
Stacey Campo via Skype (teacher):  Poway Unified School District

  • Stacey is an Apple Professor at Cal. State.
  • Path to Growth
  • This developed out of a book they read.
    • Does your district offer online courses?
  • Articulating the Vision
    • “Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”
  • Articulating the vision:  Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …
  • Summit feedback:  The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:
    • On-going staff development in online pedagogy.
    • Teacher Union/Administrative Counseling suport.
    • Curriculum alignment with PUSD and CA standards.
    • Technical Support
    • Sufficient, sustainable technical resources.
    • Competition was a driving force.
  • Modeling and embedding principles of effective learning and teaching.
    • Tier 1:  Basic integration
    • Tier 2:  Integrated practices.
    • Tier 3:  Thought Leaders
  • Professional Development
    • 1.  Directly engage staff
    • 2.  Leverage technology
    • 3.  Create alternative evaluations
    • All of this comes with a pay raise.
  • TLC:  Teaching and Learning Cooperatives
  • Partnership:  Poway USD and California State University
    • Distinguished Professor in Residence Grant
    • 360 Hours of support
    • Professional expertise and experience
  • Polling question:  Should teachers be certified to teach online?
    • Audience answer:  25% yes.
  • Health is one of the first things that high schools take online.
  • “Learning Point Portal” on the screen now.
  • Teacher Pay
    • $2500 to develop the course.
    • If they teach the course, they get a fractional pay for it.
    • Additional pay if they are teaching outside their content area.
    • Site to check out:  http://floridaitunesu.org
  • Find interesting ways to have conversations in an on-line settng.
    • INACOL: Standards (not a perfect match)
    • Essential Elements:  Concord Consortium
    • PUSD Virtual School
    • Discussion Forums
      • It is important that these kids talk.
      • It led to kids reconnecting with kids they had been friends with at other schools.
    • Scaffolding for success
      • Constant communication in multiple mediums.
      • If they fell below the 70% line, parents were called by the grading software.
        • ConnectEd messages.
      • Real-world thinking
      • Decision-Making
      • Authentic Learning
      • Engaged the teachers and students in project based learning.

ISTE 2010:  10 Essential Technology Leadership Components (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/iste2010)
This session is filled with folks.  Standing room only.  10 mins. to go to presentation too!
“Very quick and inappropriate video”. Old lady sets off airbag. Very funny.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bBVJAFrN0U

Sponsor info:
www.skoodat.com
Chris O’Neal, University of Virginia Professor.

Storm the stage. Alternate title.
Chris.wikispace.com
Ten Considerations for Technology Leadership
Equity of access. (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/equity)
This should include access at home.
We should have this between 8 & 3:30
We should not use tech as a reward but as a tool.
Our problem is not enough tech to use in the classroom.
Understanding and Using Data.   (http://pewinternet.org/)
Rigor and relevance.
Effective Professional Development.  (http://www.nsdc.org/)
Think individual schools and individual grades.
Walk the walk, talk the talk.  (http://www.edutopia.org/)
We have to model the tech we want people to use.
Vision: collaborative and authentic:  http://tinyurl.com/istelead
Using a google survey/form in a faculty meeting.
Establish a Common Vision  (http://profilerpro.com/)
Does everyone speak the same language and work toward the same ultimate goals?  Does everyone see where technology can take us?
Reward and encourage innovation.  (http://www.iste.org/)
Do we encourage, praise, reward those who move forward, innovate, show growth?  Are some of your non-techies at this conference?
Look for the ASCD survey on rewards
Genuine Reflection  (http://docs.google.com/)
NSD says that reflection is critical to integrating PD.
Student-driven technology  (http://genyes.com/)
Get student managers.  They are less likely to disengage if they’re able to offer expertise on issues.
PLN. (http://www.twitter.com/ #edchat)
Do you rely on only yourself or journals?
Your topic is …?
Why is that important?

Chris.wikispaces.com
Web 2.0 for Leaders
onealchris on Twitter.  onealchris@gmail.com  http://chris.wikispaces.com
Technology Leadership by Modeling
NETS-A Based
Google Apps for Education http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/index.html
Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Wordle  http://www.wordle.net/
Delicious  http://delicious.com/
Wikis  http://www.wikispaces.com/
Creative Commons  http://creativecommons.org/
Skype  http://www.skype.com/
Challenge to Leaders for Summer 2010:  Play around over the summer.  Build a few “back to school” faculty meetings:
Model a new, relevant technology (His suggestion:  Animoto)
Lead higher-order conversations about technology.  (http://tpck.org/)
Ensure classroom-level digital equity.  (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/equity)
Ten Web 2 Apps for Leaders
Google Apps:  Google Docs Education Version  (http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/)
Blogging:  21 Classes or Edublogs  (http://21classes.com/)
Wikis:  Wikispaces for Education  (http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers)
Social Bookmarking:  Delicious  (http://delicious.com/edleadersonline)
Copyright:  Creative Commons  (http://creativecommons.org/)
Social Presentations:  http://www.slideshare.net/)
Free audio & video chat:  Skype  (http://www.skype.com/)
Audio recording and Podcasting:  Audacity  (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Social Video – the Education Version:  SchoolTube  (http://www.schooltube.com/)
Microblogging:  Twitter  (http://www.twitter.com/onealchris)
Web 2.0 questions/issues to consider
Student engagement
Student safety
Curricular worthiness
Reliability of tool
Cost
Technical issues (storage, bandwidth)
Professional Development and/or Support needs.  (http://prodev.wikispaces.com/)
Other Web 2 Sites to Explore:
School 2.0: http://school2.wikispaces.com
Educator’s Social Network: http://classroom20.ning.com
Wikicommons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Librivox: http://www.librivox.org
Learn Out Loud: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video
Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com
Glogster: http://www.glogster.com/edu
Animoto: http://animoto.com/education
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/
Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com
Gliffy: http://www.gliffy.com/
Government/Policy:
ISTE’s Advocacy and Policy:  https://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Advocacy
United States Department of Education:  http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
State Departments of Education:  http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ccseas.asp
21st Century Skills
Edutopia:  http://www.edutopia.org
Partnership for 21st Century Skills:  http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
Organizations
ISTE:  http://www.iste.org
CoSN:  http://www.cosn.org
ASCD:  http://www.ascd.org
VASCD:  http://www.vaascd.org
VSTE:  http://www.vste.org
Multimedia Archives:
Internet Archive:  http://www.archive.org/
Teacher Tube:  http://www.teachertube.com/
Google Video:  http://video.google.com/
Zamzar:  http://www.zamzar.com/
Blogs/Podcasts:
Assorted Stuff:  http://www.assortedstuff.com/
21st Century Collaborative: http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/
Technology Times Live Podcast: http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/podcasts/TechnologyTimesLive.xml
The List at elearnspace.com: http://www.elearnspace.org/edutechblogs.htm
Principals/Administrative Blog: http://www.leadertalk.org/
Dangerously Irrelevant: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
Sharing/Utility:
Box.net: http://www.box.net
SendSpace: http://www.sendspace.com/
Backpackit: http://www.backpackit.com/
TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/
ThinkFree Online Office Suite: http://www.thinkfree.com
Furl: http://www.furl.net
Open Source Software:
Open Source Assistive Technology: http://www.oatsoft.org/
SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/
SchoolForge: http://www.schoolforge.net/
Online Professional Development:
Edutopia George Lucas Videos on iTunesU (link will launch iTunes): http://tinyurl.com/3wwkus
Virginia’s iTunes University (link will launch iTunes): http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/vdoe.brpbs.org
Get a Free Education Online: http://tinyurl.com/lkgsq
Microsoft’s Education Competencies: http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetencies.mspx
PT3 Now!: http://www.pt3now.org/
Netfiles: http://www.netfiles.org
Annenberg Media: http://www.learner.org/
Internet Safety:
NetSmartz: http://www.netsmartz.org/
SafeKids: http://www.safekids.com/
Buying Stuff:
ZDNet: http://review.zdnet.com
CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com
Educational Leadership Readings:
UbD and Technology
Change and Leadership
Marzano’s Classroom Instruction that Works
Presenters:
Chris O’Neal:  http://www.edleadersonline.org
Karen (?):  http://www.ivyrun.com
ISTE 2010 Site for this presentation:  http://leaders.wikispaces.com/iste2010

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

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 ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life
]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=502 2 00:01:01 Jokes: Danger One night a husband and his wife were sleeping and suddenly the wife woke up. "Dear, there's a burglar eating the cake downstairs!" ... Jokes: Danger One night a husband and his wife were sleeping and suddenly the wife woke up. "Dear, there's a burglar eating the cake downstairs!" said the wife. "So should I call the police or the ambulance?" asked the husband. Circles During basic army training, a sergeant was telling his group how a submachine gun sprayed bullets. He drew a circle on a blackboard and announced that it had a 260 degree angle. "But, sergeant, all circles have 360 degrees," called out a conscript. "Don't be stupid," the sergeant roared. "This is a small circle." Tee Time Two men were talking about golf. One of them said, "I shoot in the 70's." The other replied, "That's great!" The first one said, "Yeah, if it gets any cooler than that, I go to the clubhouse." On Our Mind: PLNs enforced by administration. http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/great-pln-backlash-of-2010/ Listeners: To Eric: nbsp;Thanks for the email! To reviewer #28 thanks for the stars on iTunes! From the Twitterverse: WESatD2L nbsp;The six levels of Benjamin Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as found in Pirates of the Caribbean bit.ly/a9OlQo russeltarr nbsp;e-Textbooks: Feasible or Futile? http://tinyurl.com/njpxaf web20classroom nbsp;RT @gcouros: 70 Ways to Keep Students Engaged http://bit.ly/axkVx4 Some great ideas here! mcleod nbsp;Coach Brown: "Bad prof devt is a monumental waste; canrsquo;t remember good use of prof devt within my own district." http://goo.gl/M2wS Curriki nbsp;Popular this month: Teaching Understanding By Design http://ow.ly/2fJhV markbarnes19 nbsp;How do you Teach Creativity? #124; ISTE Connects - Educational Technology http://ow.ly/2fQ8U erinmisegadis nbsp;User guide for Edmodo - http://www.edmodo.com/guide rmbyrne nbsp;Screenjelly - Quick and Easy Screencasting via Free Technology for Teachers - Screenjelly is a free ... http://tinyurl.com/33evthh web20classroom nbsp;Educational Grants For The 2010-2011 School Year: http://bit.ly/9im4Gy Advisory: Library of Congress: nbsp;The Exquisite Corpse . . . http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-library-congress-the-exquisite/id374009707 Tech Tools: Gradebook: LearnBoostrsquo;s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more. Manage your gradebook, lesson plans, calendars, scheduling, and more from one place: LearnBoost. Once you switch, you'll wonder what life was like before LearnBoost. Sign up for your free account! Standards Supported The majority of states have announced support for the Common Core Standards. We're the first to fully support and integrate these leading standards across our gradebook and lesson plan software. You'll love how we let you "tag" standards to your lesson plans, gradebook, and more. http://www.learnboost.com/ LearnPort A National Online Library of Professional Development Resources Compiled to Help Bridge Research, Policy and Practice. Across states, national organizations and technical assistance investments, an extensive amount of professional development material is available. This library provides local educators with easy access to an array of resources that can be used or customized to meet their needs. http://www.learningport.us/ Survey Tools: Free Tech 4 Teachers: A wonderful write up of 9 tools that you can use to create surveys. Interesting. The list does NOT include Google Forms, which is most commonly used survey tool. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/07/nine-survey-tools-for-teachers-and.html Webspotlight: Schoolwide Videos useful for Professional Development. The Schoolwide Network was created in response to the lack of quality video (and print) resources available on the Internet... MSM,,Podcast,,Tech,,advisory middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com no No MSM-128 Pirate T-Shirts for all the listeners! (Well, as many as Promotion’s budget will allow…) http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=500 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=500#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:40:57 +0000 Troy http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=500 Jokes:

Counting
A man rushed into a doctor’s office, jumped on his back, and started screaming, “One! Two! Three! Four!” “Wait a minute!” yelled the doctor, trying to get free. “What do you think you’re doing?” The man said, “Well doctor, they did say I could count on you!”

On Our Mind:

ISTE 2010 Swag!

Listeners:

Letter 1:
“Hi guys,
I listened to the June 26 podcast today while driving to my summer job, (a teacher with a summer job?!).  Thanks for the moderation of the the theme music.  I enjoyed the discussion and your thoughts.  I teach at a fairly small rural school and our cell phone policy is pretty simple.  You can have it.  You can use it with permission in class, it sits on the desktop, off, no ringer, no vibrate. I find that you are using it, without permission,  you have lost it for 24 hours, or until the next time class meets, (don’t get caught on a Friday!) you can use it at passing times and at lunch.
The high school was pretty good with this policy, it was a group of HS students that convinced our principal to adopt this policy.  The MS kids had a harder time with it, there were a small number  that just could not follow these simple rules.  I am not sure where we will be with this policy next year.  We are going to 1 to 1 computers (MacBook) in 6-12 next year so there will be a lot of changes in the next school year.
Keep up the good work, summer is about over, argh!!! ;) ”

Craig

Letter 2:
Shawn and Troy~~

I wanted to share how much I enjoy your podcasts.  They actually make me look forward to my daily exercise when I have to opportunity to listen.  I have just started listening and I am catching up on old ones.

Your topics and enthusiasm give me a refreshed outlook for the school year.  I have been spending the last 2 hours reviewing your webpage and found so many interesting links.  In a time that can be very negative toward education, you have given me a reason to continue my positive outlook and remind me each time I listen why I got into teaching.

Thanks so much~~

Kerry

Letter 3:
From AK Jenny:  http://www.conquercollegewithld.com/

Letter 4:
Dear Shawn & Troy,

On behalf of the stakeholder and partner organizations of the Michigan Joint Education Conference (MIJEC), I want to express my appreciation to you for sharing your expertise with the attendees of last month’s conference at Thurston High School in South Redford.

By sharing your best practices with other educators, you enhanced our conference and helped to further the professional development of our attendees.

I hope that you will consider presenting next year’s Michigan Joint Education Conference, which will be held on Wednesday, June 22.  Watch the MIJEC website for announcements concerning our call for presenters.

Thanks again for your participation in the 2010 Michigan Joint Education Conference.

Sincerely,
Ric Wiltse, MACUL

From the Twitterverse:

  • drmmtatom  ISTE Unplugged Recordings Now Available http://tinyurl.com/289a3xs
  • russeltarr  Collection of Free Mathematics Classroom Posters: http://tinyurl.com/2vucuqp
  • moodlenews  interested in the #Blackboard acquisition? Read this now: http://bit.ly/diaC59 #moodle @cytochromec
  • lesliefisher  I learned that the staff at the Apple Store can only sit down when you do, so, when you like the person, sit down! If not, run in circles!
  • russeltarr  AutoMotivator is for making printable motivational posters or parody demotivational posters.: http://tinyurl.com/ksfqum
  • cmtoy  ‘You’re racing toward our old model!” Chinese educator to American educator. Who the heck is leading us and why are they taking us there?
  • solennial  Teachers in Pender Co. can’t be Facebook friends with students WECT.com – Wilmington, NC news and weather - http://bit.ly/byY4H7
  • WhiteheadsClass  More than a million creative writing prompts at http://bit.ly/d1jRI0
  • .FakeAPStylebook  hacker – Anyone who knows anything at all about computers beyond e-mail/web browsing, and therefore is a troublemaker.

Advisory:

8 Ways to get to know a new class:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_650dvtj3dgk

Tech Tools:

SnagIt for Mac (beta)

http://www.techsmith.com/snagitmac/

Book Suggestion engine
Uses Amazon and LibraryThing
http://bookseer.com/

SlideSix
Allows voiceover of uploaded powerpoint, keynote, OpenOffice presentations.
http://slidesix.com/

ISock
www.guppiesinthedark.com
http://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/isock-de-pratende-sok/id346782860?mt=8

Webspotlight:

Big Thinkers:  T. Barry Brazelton on Parents as Partners in Education

Scientists answer the question of which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2010/07/newsy-video-chicken-or-the-egg-question-finally-solved.html

Should we require educators to use RSS?
http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/07/should-we-require-school-employees-to-have-rss-readers-part-2-more-questions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dangerouslyirrelevant+%28Dangerously+Irrelevant%29

Schoolwide
http://www.schoolwidenetwork.com/?search_type=grade_9

Shout out:

Kerry, Craig and Jenny thanks for the feedback!

News:

ISTE 2010:  Virtual Schools

Virtual School Initiative:  21st Century Learning and Teaching
Dr. Kathy Hayden:  Assistant Professor of Educational Technology, California State University, San Marcos khayden@csusm.edu
Stacey Campo via Skype (teacher):  Poway Unified School District

  • Stacey is an Apple Professor at Cal. State.
  • Path to Growth
  • This developed out of a book they read.
    • Does your district offer online courses?
  • Articulating the Vision
    • “Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”
  • Articulating the vision:  Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …
  • Summit feedback:  The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:
    • On-going staff development in online pedagogy.
    • Teacher Union/Administrative Counseling suport.
    • Curriculum alignment with PUSD and CA standards.
    • Technical Support
    • Sufficient, sustainable technical resources.
    • Competition was a driving force.
  • Modeling and embedding principles of effective learning and teaching.
    • Tier 1:  Basic integration
    • Tier 2:  Integrated practices.
    • Tier 3:  Thought Leaders
  • Professional Development
    • 1.  Directly engage staff
    • 2.  Leverage technology
    • 3.  Create alternative evaluations
    • All of this comes with a pay raise.
  • TLC:  Teaching and Learning Cooperatives
  • Partnership:  Poway USD and California State University
    • Distinguished Professor in Residence Grant
    • 360 Hours of support
    • Professional expertise and experience
  • Polling question:  Should teachers be certified to teach online?
    • Audience answer:  25% yes.
  • Health is one of the first things that high schools take online.
  • “Learning Point Portal” on the screen now.
  • Teacher Pay
    • $2500 to develop the course.
    • If they teach the course, they get a fractional pay for it.
    • Additional pay if they are teaching outside their content area.
    • Site to check out:  http://floridaitunesu.org
  • Find interesting ways to have conversations in an on-line settng.
    • INACOL: Standards (not a perfect match)
    • Essential Elements:  Concord Consortium
    • PUSD Virtual School
    • Discussion Forums
      • It is important that these kids talk.
      • It led to kids reconnecting with kids they had been friends with at other schools.
    • Scaffolding for success
      • Constant communication in multiple mediums.
      • If they fell below the 70% line, parents were called by the grading software.
        • ConnectEd messages.
      • Real-world thinking
      • Decision-Making
      • Authentic Learning
      • Engaged the teachers and students in project based learning.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

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 ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life
]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=500 1 00:01:01 Jokes: Counting A man rushed into a doctor's office, jumped on his back, and started screaming, "One! Two! Three! Four!" "Wait a minute!" yelled the ... Jokes: Counting A man rushed into a doctor's office, jumped on his back, and started screaming, "One! Two! Three! Four!" "Wait a minute!" yelled the doctor, trying to get free. "What do you think you're doing?" The man said, "Well doctor, they did say I could count on you!" On Our Mind: ISTE 2010 Swag! Listeners: Letter 1: ldquo;Hi guys, I listened to the June 26 podcast today while driving to my summer job, (a teacher with a summer job?!). nbsp;Thanks for the moderation of the the theme music. nbsp;I enjoyed the discussion and your thoughts. nbsp;I teach at a fairly small rural school and our cell phone policy is pretty simple. nbsp;You can have it. nbsp;You can use it with permission in class, it sits on the desktop, off, no ringer, no vibrate. I find that you are using it, without permission, nbsp;you have lost it for 24 hours, or until the next time class meets, (don't get caught on a Friday!) you can use it at passing times and at lunch. The high school was pretty good with this policy, it was a group of HS students that convinced our principal to adopt this policy. nbsp;The MS kids had a harder time with it, there were a small number nbsp;that just could not follow these simple rules. nbsp;I am not sure where we will be with this policy next year. nbsp;We are going to 1 to 1 computers (MacBook) in 6-12 next year so there will be a lot of changes in the next school year. Keep up the good work, summer is about over, argh!!! ;)rdquo; Craig Letter 2: Shawn and Troy~~ I wanted to share how much I enjoy your podcasts. nbsp;They actually make me look forward to my daily exercise when I have to opportunity to listen. nbsp;I have just started listening and I am catching up on old ones. Your topics and enthusiasm give me a refreshed outlook for the school year. nbsp;I have been spending the last 2 hours reviewing your webpage and found so many interesting links. nbsp;In a time that can be very negative toward education, you have given me a reason to continue my positive outlook and remind me each time I listen why I got into teaching. Thanks so much~~ Kerry Letter 3: From AK Jenny: nbsp;http://www.conquercollegewithld.com/ Letter 4: Dear Shawn #38; Troy, On behalf of the stakeholder and partner organizations of the Michigan Joint Education Conference (MIJEC), I want to express my appreciation to you for sharing your expertise with the attendees of last month's conference at Thurston High School in South Redford. By sharing your best practices with other educators, you enhanced our conference and helped to further the professional development of our attendees. I hope that you will consider presenting next year's Michigan Joint Education Conference, which will be held on Wednesday, June 22. nbsp;Watch the MIJEC website for announcements concerning our call for presenters. Thanks again for your participation in the 2010 Michigan Joint Education Conference. Sincerely, Ric Wiltse, MACUL From the Twitterverse: WhiteheadsClass nbsp;RT @JamiePortman: 15 ways to foster a love of learning. Great stuff!! http://bit.ly/cdXoNf thart74 nbsp;Video: STUDENTS use tools to assess the effectiveness of instructional strategies and teaching techniques. http://bit.ly/dryuvo thart74 nbsp;Catching Readers Before They Fall - instructional strategies,PD guide, group activities. Preview entire book online! http://bit.ly/cwvkbJ brasst nbsp;Apps for interacting with US govt resources - APPS http://bit.ly/bnaLsu via www.diigo.com/~brasst elemenous nbsp;If you're interested in finding more apps, try Appolicious http://tinyurl.com/mof69f #psls getschooled nbsp;Even with rising #collegecost, 4 year degree is still important to earn more than your parents http://ow.ly/29msV posterous nbsp;I've started using http://NutshellMail.com to manage my Facebook and Twitter accounts through one simple email. johnrwoodman nbsp;Nobody who bought a dril... MSM,,Podcast,,Tech,,advisory middleschooleducators@middleschoolmatters.com no No EduBloggerCon East 2010 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=494 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=494#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:01:33 +0000 Shawn http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=494 Did ya miss it?  EduBloggerCon East 2010 is done.  It was great cranking the ‘puter up to full volume, listening to the presenters and running back to chime in on something in the chat room.  You can get the chats by looking up #ebce10 on Twitter or catch the Smackdown! video at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8236239 and checking out the links at http://www.edubloggercon.com/EBC+East+2010+Smackdown.  Well worth the bandwidth and I recommend you put it on your calendar for next year!

]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=494 0 Edubloggercon East Starts Monday http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=492 http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=492#comments Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:52:51 +0000 Shawn http://middleschoolmatters.com/?p=492 Say your school board wants to cut your pay, your state legislature wants to tax your health benefits by 3%, and your principal doesn’t want to spend money for you to attend a conference.  What do you do?  Attend an UnConference!  Edubloggercon is an unconference you can attend on the web.  Unlike Classroom 2.0 that has a preset agenda, UnConferences are an ad hoc gathering centered around the topics the attendees brainstorm in the opening session.  Best part?  You don’t have to be physically present to attend some of the sessions.  Some UnConferences will stream sessions out onto the web for remote viewers’ benefit.  Edubloggercon East is one such event coming up this Monday.  They’ve posted a Ustream link for Monday’s event and asked folks to watch for the #ebce10 hashtag on Twitter.  Or click here . . .

]]> http://middleschoolmatters.com/?feed=rss2&p=492 0