Year: 2010

NMSA10By Troy Patterson

MSM 141 An Interview with Dr. Monte Selby

Dr. Monte Selby graciously sat down for an interview with us. Take a listen. He is truly a middle school guru. We can use many more just like him. Shawn asks him some questions about the U.S. Department of Education interview, what do new principals need to remember and more. You can find out more about Dr. Selby on his web page or on Facebook. His books are really terrific. Check these out:

Middle School Matters – (Is this a great name for a book or what?)

Because You Teach

Bridging The Gap To At-Risk Youth: Bricks & Bridges

That’s What I Need: Using Song Lyrics To Teach And Practice The Six Traits Of Effective Writing

NMSA10By Troy Patterson

NMSA2010 Update

The conference is well underway. I’ve been to some really good sessions. Notes will follow soon. There are a ton of really excellent middle school people. These people make a difference in the lives of kids.

Session 1 this morning was with Todd Williamson. As always, he did a great job. You can find his notes at The Technorate Teacher (use link on the side). I took away a really good tip about there being more than just Digital natives vs Digital Immigrants. Instead, he talks about 4 different levels and those being tool specific. Will post more.

By the way, loving using the iPad and a wireless keyboard for taking notes. Wifi is hard to come by though.

Off to another session.

NMSA10By Troy Patterson

NMSA 2010 Here We Come.

Well, we’re ready to go to NMSA 2010. We’ve got our program books, tickets, reservations and such. I’m in Nerdvana-my program book is all highlighted, marked up, drawn on and notes added. All of this is done electronically using GoodReader. (Shawn will point out that I actually paid for this program- sparkly moment– I don’t mind paying for things that are truly “worth” the money- at $1.99 – I had no problem what so ever paying for this one).

I’ve also set up a chart for all the members of my team to coordinate which sessions we are going to. We’ll fill it in on the plane.

MSM, News, NMSA10, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 140 NMSA 2010, Math & Reading Resources!

Jokes:

Proper Grammar
The teacher wrote on the blackboard, “I ain’t had no fun all summer.” “Now Paul,” she said. “What shall I do to correct this?” “Get a boyfriend.” Paul replied.

Dressing Rooms
A lady walked into a boutique and asked the sales lady, “May I try on that cute dress in the window?” The sales lady replied; “Sure, but wouldn’t you be more comfortable in a dressing room?”

Birthday Presents
The parents of a difficult boy were discussing what to give him for a birthday present. The mother said, “Let’s buy him a bicycle.” “Well,” said the father, “maybe but do you think it will improve his behavior?” “Probably not,” said the mother, “but it will spread it over a wider area.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference (If you’re going, contact us. We have a great link for you).
Keep in mind that new flight rules take effect on Nov. 1st.

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

Dave is looking for an excellent Earth Science Middle School Teacher.

From our Listeners:

As far as the testing discussion goes, I am blown away by states that test the previous year’s material at the beginning of the following year. That just doesn’t make sense to me (not that I agree with all of NC’s testing program either). Here in NC, we administer EOG (End-of-Grade) tests about 3 weeks before school is out for the summer. Admin get the scores back about 5 hours after the last test is finished, and teachers usually get scores the following day. Scores are released to students before going home for the summer. The past couple of years, we have had a retest program for students who did not score at proficient levels.

Granted, there are issues with this system as well. Testing that far in advance of the end of school leads to a “Why are we still here?” attitude from some of the kids after the test. I think that makes much more sense than not being able to start the year covering relevant grade-level material.
Todd Williamson
Note:  We’re hoping there will be a ton of folks at his presentation on Friday at 7:30 am in Baltimore this coming week.  If you’re going to NMSA and willing, please consider his presentation in Room: 339 (Baltimore Convention Center)
Audience: Community Leaders, Media Specialists/Librarians, Pre-service teachers, Teachers, Technical Coordinators
Presentation Level: Intermediate
Presentation Description:  Students today live in a highly networked world—from email to text messaging to online gaming and social networking. Teachers, meanwhile, often express concerns about staying one step ahead of technology savvy students. Learn about the rationale for using social media in the classroom along with strategies for navigating the new media landscape with your students. Also featured will be the SMARTR portal, a STEM portal of youth- focused Math and Science virtual learning experiences developed for and by students!

From the Twitterverse:

*BernajeanPorter by ipadeducatorsRT @cnansen: @BernajeanPorter One of the most useful sites I have run across in the last month-Dot Voting http://www.dotvoting.org/ #edchat
*AngelaMaiers The Complete Facebook For Educators! | Tech the Plunge http://ow.ly/2ZYRd
*CBrannon In a meeting. They gave me a laptop and want me to pay attention….I will…In a minute….
*kylepace 100 incredibly useful YouTube channels for teachers: #edtech
*jybuell How Allies Used Math Against German Tanks | Autopia | Wired.com wired.com/autopia/2010/1…
*Curriki “Quoth the Raven, Nevermore…” and nevermore will you be without great Halloween lesson plans! http://ow.ly/2ZlIX #english #history
*stevehargadon Recording posted of interview with Diane Ravitch on How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education http://icio.us/z3fkbn
*DanielPink Memory decline accompanies earlier retirement, study finds . . . http://nyti.ms/9efpih (via NY Times)
*drmmtatom My Brainshark – Easily Narrate and Share Presentations #fhuedu508 http://tinyurl.com/39n6csk

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :

Hero Machine: Design your own superhero: http://tinyurl.com/olzc3a
Uber-Mongo-Important assignment for operative Infamous40000:  Design a superhero and share the experience with us.  Call us at (262) 724-6653 and send us a copy of your superhero!

Tech Tools:

AlternativeTo:

Great way to find new software.
http://alternativeto.net/software

Wiggio

Set up your group in under a minute.
Add people to your group by pulling them in from your email or Facebook contacts. They never need to sign up. As soon as you add, you can start communicating.
Each feature is designed to be straightforward and self-explanatory. No training. No learning curve.
Keep up with your group on-the-go. You can text message and email into your group, and receive group communications to your cell phone, email and Facebook.
All the tools you need packaged together.

http://wiggio.com/

Math Open Geometry

Great geometry resources.
http://www.mathopenref.com/index.html

Microsoft Academic Search

Looks to be technically oriented. Some good possibilities though. Conferences are included.
http://journalogy.com/

One Word

Interesting idea for a writing assignment.
http://oneword.com/

News:

Robots in the classroom?  They’re here!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/22/south.korea.robot.teachers/index.html

Political Peril for the Common Core?

How to Assure Continued Progress

By Michael D. Usdan
Could the backlash against large governmental programs (like healthcare) effect the implementation of Common Core Standards?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/27/09usdan_ep.h30.html?tkn=QMZFzckQpU3lROPtxOCXWM%2FnuCM2CsPo6oqD&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

Google Search Tools

“Secret” codes to make your google searching even better.
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators.html

Big East Career Fair

Could this be the start of a new way of finding a job?
http://www.bigeastcareerfair.com/

Teacher Jotter

Social Network for Teachers.
Build professional relationships, share resources, exchange ideas and opportunities.
http://www.teacherjotter.com/

Reading Slowly

Interesting thoughts on reading.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0621/Should-your-child-be-learning-the-art-of-slow-reading

Collaboration Video

Does this look like collaboration at your school?
http://www.tuttlesvc.org/2010/10/planning-collaboratively.html

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
UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

On Reading

Larry Ferlazzo links to an article from the Christian Science Monitor on “slow reading” . The gist of the article is that students are learning to read in a different way than before. They are skimming instead of reading for understanding. This is part of a larger movement which says that people who read on a screen tend to skim more than read longer works. This reading style than changes the way that our brains are wired.

This made me think of some of the changes that we have made at our school. Our sixth grade students are all conferencing with their teachers. This conferencing has made it much more difficult for kids to “fake read”- which apparently lots of them have been doing for a long time. By having to talk to a teacher about the book, they are being held accountable. For many of them, they are truly reading whole books for the first time.  These students have been getting away with pretending to read, or reading just parts of books for a long time (apparently several of them have learned that if you read the very beginning and the very end of the book- you can convince the teacher that you’ve “read” the book). Another popular strategy is to “read” books that have a movie out. The conferencing is going well for the most part. There are still some kinks to work out, but it seems to be paying good dividends.

How do you know that your students are really reading?

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/10/28/reservations-about-christian-science-monitor-column-on-slow-reading-movement/

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0621/Should-your-child-be-learning-the-art-of-slow-reading

NewsBy Troy Patterson

Thoughts about Standardized Testing

I found this thoughtful post about standardized testing by John Spencer. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that he teaches using an “authentic approach” and his scores are terrific. I also think he makes a good point in that the students behave different if the people with the “clipboards” are there. Of particular interest is the quote

“Our test results are a bit of an anomaly, because I told my students outright that the system is more rigged than Chuck-E-Cheese games and that no one wins in the process, but that huge transnational conglomerates want to feast on their minds like zombies.”

Good stuff.

http://jtspencer.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-testing-does-to-good-teachers.html

Conferences, MSM, News, NMSA10By Troy Patterson

MSM 139 Testing, Conferences & Tools

Jokes:

Ailments
A man was feeling terribly out of sorts and decided to go to the doctor so he made an appointment and showed up the next day. After the doctor examined the man, the doctor invited him into his office for the consultation. The doctor came into the room with three different bottles of pills. The doctor told the man to take the red pill in the morning with a big glass of water, the blue pill in the afternoon with a big glass of water and the green pill in the evening with a big glass of water. The man, terribly shocked at the amount of pills he had to take, asked the doctor what in the world was wrong with him. The doctor replied, “You aren’t getting enough water.”

On Our Mind:

Testing Relief
Conferences
Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy’s Take on Conferences.

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

Human Body Systems Facts

From the Twitterverse:

* Twilliamson15 Todd Williamson:  @Frideswidel haha, thanks…I’ll stick with hoping enough folks show for a decent conversation
* drmmtatom Monte Tatom Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Co-Host TEACH Town Hall w/ A&E Network @ Temple University | U.S. Dept. of Ed http://tinyurl.com/2esmcml
* drmmtatom Monte Tatom  Action Research: What Do We Know About Learning in the Cloud? #fhuqep http://tinyurl.com/2dw7ww3
*appleplaza Apple Plaza Angry Birds Halloween Edition Comes to Apple iOS Devices http://sns.ly/AEq59
* AngelaMaiers Angela Maiers Chalk Talk 10/22/10
*ktenkely ktenkely Animation Chefs will teach your students how to create their own stop motion animations #edtech #edchat
* lthumann Lisa Thumann Web 2.0 apps from the afternoon session with @edutecher and I http://thumannresources.com/2010/10/22/tltechforum/ #tltechforum
(Call us if you try any of these websites at (262) 724-6653)
*timoreilly Tim O’Reilly  Rule #1: Have Fun. Summary of my talk on innovation at Greenbiz Innovation Forum:
*mcleod Scott McLeod  Can a student bully a teacher? Do these videos constitute teacher bullying? @russgoerend

Advisory:

Famous Partners

Place the names of famous couples on index cards, mix them up, have students match up. (http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/List_of_famous_pairs/)

Life Raft

Students stand on top of shower curtain and flip it over without anyone stepping off.

Life Skill Lessons

How to tie a tie, how to set the table, how to do anything….celebrate success!!

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Animation Chefs:  Learn how to animate from these three chefs!

Tech Tools:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
http://nlvm.usu.edu/

TestMoz
http://testmoz.com/

Google Fusion Tables

Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online.
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/public/tour/index.html

News:

Charter school first in county to switch to four-day week

A Palm Beach County charter high school plans to switch to a four-day school week beginning in January. Students would be in school for a total of 902.4 hours this year, above the 900-hour minimum state requirement, according to a calculation received by the district, Edwards said.
It’s pitched as an opportunity for students to have more time for part-time jobs, school activities, and dual-enrollment programs that enable students to earn college credit. Daniel also described it as a way to decrease “discipline issues and student absences.”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-four-day-school-week-20101021,0,6276565.story

Moving Forward With the Common Core
By Sarah Fine

If there remains any doubt about the momentum of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, let it be abandoned once and for all. Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia, which collectively educate three-fourths of all school-age children in this country, have pledged to adopt the core. Intellectual gatekeepers have given the standards a resounding pass. Plans for implementation have begun. For better or worse, the boulder is on its way down the mountain, gathering strength and speed as it goes.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/20/08fine.h30.html?tkn=LYXFpDDbwWg77mw9AnpIQPhrrQpBWyZw4y%2Fk&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

Virtual Pumpkin Carving

A, um, virtual pumpkin to carve.
http://www.ncs-tech.org/pub/carve_pumpkin.swf

The Fisch Flip

Colorado teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams were some of the first educators I learned about who are leveraging the power of podcasting, screencasting, and video sharing to “flip” the traditional model of lecture in class and homework at home which predominates in many schools today.
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/10/20/the-fisch-flip-in-michigan-dale-eizenga-on-flipping-traditional-lecture-and-homework-routines/

ISTE 2010:  Google Apps in Education

For full online presentation, go here:  http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd4wqj5_406gwcsdnf4
Connecting Education.com
New Approaches for the 21st Century
www.connectingeducation.com
alt:  www.schoolinfo.ca
Waiting for initial slide . . . .

Side note:  look for Googletrekers
I’ve so got to check out TodaysMeet
Telling us a little about Skoodat
•  Similar to Salesforce.com
•  Large toolset to work with.
•  Very scalable.
•  www.skoodat.com

Roger Nevin
“School is becoming irrelevant.”  – Student Quote
Bridging the gap
•  Connecting education with how young people use digital technology in their personal lives.  This web site has the following mandate when recommending technologies:
•  it must improve learning
•  it must engage students
•  it must be based on best practices and research
•  it is free and sustainable
•  we have tested it successfully
… and one more

Using Google Apps Education Edition to Improve Learning.
Presentation content
•  Challenges of traditional uses of computers in schools
•  Paradigms of cloud computing and the 2009 Horizion report
•  And many more  ……
Teacher Comments
•  Students worked in groups.
•  Students were engaged.
•  Students who liked music were into podcasting.
•  Every student worked and collaborated on the group wiki.
•  Students were engaged.
– Jackie Anderson, Teacher
Despite our success with using technology there were still challenges
•  Audacity
•  “Microsnot” Office
•  Corel

What do you do if…
•  Jason arrives to school with is World Issues ISU essay on a USB key.  He tries to open it at school but it is unable to because of . . .
•  Maria creates a presentation for her Law class on a Mac computer at home.  Unfortunatelly she can’t open it at school.  (NOTE:  This is not necessarily accurate.  Macs can save it so that it can be opened on a Windows machine.  I included it because it was part of the presentation.)
•  You have assigned a group presentation in your ENG 4UI class.  In one group . . . .
•  You are teaching a grade 12 history course and the final June essays are due.  One of your students loses the assignment.
•  You have asked your Grade 10 Science class to do their class presentations using Power Point. .  . .
Cloud Computing
•  You are already using cloud computing
•  Data is held on internet servers.
•  Programs which run the email service are on Internet servers.
Research & Best Practices
•  The 2009 Horizon Report “introduces six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use in learning-focused organizations within horizons over the . . .
Cloud Computing
•  Which means …
•  You only need a browser to access both programs and data.
•  Google has servers on ships.
•  Accessed by any computer or PDA through an Internet Connection.
•  Main apps
•  email, chat, talk
•  Images – Draw
•  Calendar
•  Word processer
•  Spreadsheet – forms
•  Can make online tests.
•  Presentation Software
•  Wiki/Web Page
•  Video
UNDER ONE PLATFORM
•  site:  http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=?
•  Google Apps Education Edition is Free! and Ad Free!
•  Why is it Free?
•  This is their version of Charity Donations
•  Secondary School in New York Video
•  Teachers and Principals talk about Google Docs
•  What do you get?
•  7 gigs of space for students to save podcast and video assignments
•  Gives users a virtual drive that can be used to uplad and download any file up to 200MB to a total of 2GB
•  Spam/Virus Checkers
•  It is a paperless solution
•  Saves printing costs.
•  Documents are never lost – saves automatically
•  Do not have to worry about the correc software version
•  Can both upload and download documents off of your hard drive
•  Quick setup
•  Easy to administrate
•  Ability to share assignments, documents
•  Student to student
•  Student to teacher to student
•  Teacher to teacher to administration
•  Communicate using documents to parents
•  Prevents plagiarism
•  Improves learning
•  On-line tests and surveys
•  Private or public
•  Can record names
•  Can automatically mark tests
•  practice for EQAO Literacy Test
•  Surveys (student, parent, staff)
•  Example:  Adam Scott:  adamscott.ca
•  Administrator power
•  Can disable services
•  Have precise control of who has access to what.
•  Students keep their login and all account data for their entire school career and further.
•  Challenges
•  Need Internet Access
•  However you can save documents off line as a word, ppt, rtf, open office document
•  PDAs can access most features – but not all
•  Your data is stored in another country (maybe)
•  Patriot Act allows the US government to access your data
•  However … there is not document cast where any government tapped into students or faculty google apps documents or emails.
Google Apps – Postini
•  July 2009 Google added Postini security suite
•  Audit emails
•  Filtering
•  High level virus and spam checker.
Selling Apps to Admin.
•  Realize that many IT departments are not in favor of Google Apps
•  Use applications such as bitstripsforschools which use the cloud.
•  Start smaller with Google Apps Standard Edition
•  Say, “This is a pilot project.”
•  Use Google Standard Edition.
•  Set up a formal meeting or presentation.
•  Google Apps and the cloud is supported by leading research (Horizon Report)
•  Is Secure
•  Easier to administer
•  Saves lots of $$$$$
•  Easy for teachers to learn and allows them to be more productive
•  Improves learning while teaching 21st Century Skills
•  Promotes the school
•  Is Green.
•  Everything you make in google docs is searchable text.
Setting up Google Apps (easy)
•  Get a domain (godaddy is good) – Cost is $10-15 per year
•  Go to google
•  Simple form to fill out (showing admin approval)
•  Set MX records on the domain you registered and use forward feature from your domain to redirect your domain to the Google Apps Site
•  Get a text file of students with first name, last name, login and password (could use pseudonyms)
Administration
•  Less than one hour per week spent on it per 1000 students
Implementing Google Appls
•  Use “buy in” approach (if you are not a schol administrator)
•  Start with a few classes
•  Must be successful from the beginning
•  Teach both the students and the teacher – Helps to have (Yellow highlighting white words)
•  Create an ? where the students have to create both a shared document and a web page where they images of the video.
Google Apps Activity One
Google Apps – Quote
“Everyone saw the benefits of share . . . .”
The Did You Know Video 4.0
Free Netbook program a success at Milton High School
•  The price of netbooks is coming down.
•  Lightweight
•  Google is bringing out their own operating system.
•  Kids prefer the net books
•  Portability and connectivity
connectingeducaiton.com:  Presentation site.
Presentation:   http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd4wqj5_406gwcsdnf4

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
NewsBy Troy Patterson

Testing Concluded- Almost

Today was the last day of our standardized testing. Well, today was the last day of general testing. We still have some make ups to do for kids who were absent on testing days or kids who have just registered with us. The teachers are happy but exhausted. The kids are happy but really exhausted. Our students take much, much more time than the “suggested” times given to us. The kids work really hard. They want to do well. They take their time and focus. I wonder how much the legislators really understand about the testing that they have invested so much into. My favorite quote was that they are using “irrefutable data” to determine how good schools are. This in light of two of the tests have incorrect directions. One of the tests has an answer sheet that doesn’t match the test.

But, really, the kids are wiped out. They tested, and tested. They worked really hard. It’s difficult for middle school kids to be quiet for 3 hours at a time. But they did it. They allowed the students who work more slowly the opportunity to finish the test.

Next up is for us to spend hours packing up the tests and getting them shipped back. We’ll spend lots of time in this endeavor. Much more than I’m hoping legislators understand. For if they understand how much time and energy are spent on this and choose to ignore it…well.

We’ll wait months for the results. So much for informing instruction. The results will be pretty predictable. That is, results are most predictable by the social economic status of the students.

Soon (within a couple of years) we’ll have a national test. It’ll be interesting to see what that one is like. Will it be timed like the ACT? Will it be middle school developmental appropriate? (Please don’t misunderstand that- I don’t mean lower expectations).

What does standardized testing look like for you?