Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.

Jokes You Can Use:

Q: Did you hear about the person who forgot to pay their exorcist?

A: They were repossessed.

“Frank, if you have 20 dollars and Bill takes away 14. What would you have?” said the teacher.

“A fight!” answers Frank.

Four best friends met at the hospital since their wives were giving births to their babies. The nurse comes up to the first man and says, “Congratulations, you got twins.” The man said “How strange, I’m the manager of Minnesota Twins.” After awhile the nurse comes up to the second man and says, “Congratulations, you got triplets.” Man was like “Hmmm, strange I worked as a director for the “3 musketeers.” Finally, the nurse comes up to the third man and says

“Congratulations, you got twins x2.” Man is happy and says, “Ironic, I work for the hotel “4 Seasons.” All three of them are happy until they see their last buddy jumping all over the place, cursing God and banging his head on the wall. They asked him what’s wrong and he answered, “What’s wrong? I work for 7up”!

A court jester is thrown into jail for telling terrible jokes.

~What did he say after the guard locked him up?

O-PUN the door!

A man walks into the psychiatrist’s office with a zucchini up his nose, a cucumber in his left ear, and a breadstick in his right ear. He says, “What is wrong with me?

The psychiatrist replies, “You are not eating properly.”

Why was the glowworm unhappy?

Because her children were not very bright!

Q:Why did the football coach go to the bank?

A:He wanted to get his quarter-back!!!

Why did the author write his novel in the basement?

He wanted to write a best cellar.

A family was having dinner and the little boy said,”Dad I don’t like the

holes in the cheese!” Well son, eat the cheese and leave the holes on the

side of the plate.

Eileen Award:

• Twitter: Ben Kuhlman, Lauren Martin, Colleen Skiles, Danielle Davis-Cripe, Lou Ann Gvist

• Happy Birthday:  Todd Whitaker

Advisory:

Ashton Kutcher Acceptance Speech – Teen Choice Awards 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuBSRC1zpHw

What If Superheroes Had Part-Time Jobs

Have students pick a SuperHero (or create one). Then have them decide upon a part time job (or alternate) job. Students could draw or write the story about the SuperHero.

http://laughingsquid.com/what-if-superheroes-had-part-time-jobs/

Middle School Science Minute

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

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE MINUTE-SCIENCE SONGS

I was recently reading the September, 2013 issue of Science Scope, a magazine written for Middle School Science Teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.  In this issue, I came upon an article entitled, “Songs in Service of Science,” written by Kathryn Hoffman.  Within the article, she explains how science songs can be beneficial to students.  At the end of the podcast, I sing two of the songs from the article.  They are:

• The Linnaean Levels of Classification

• Cellular Respiration.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2013/10/18_Middle_School_Science_Minute-Science_Songs.html

From the Twitterverse:

* michael thornton ‏@mthornton78

Faculty meetings need less direct instruction and more “play time” and facilitation. Make it a maker/creator time. #satchat

* edutopia ‏@edutopia 26m

Get outside this weekend! Check out 50+ resources for active learning: http://edut.to/17zA70Q  #PEchat #edchat

* Maggie ‏@march4teachers 1h

Common Core Standards: Ten Colossal Errors http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/11/common_core_standards_ten_colo.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW … via @educationweek

* Scott McLeod ‏@mcleod 2h

New York’s Teacher of the Year Is Not Rated “Highly Effective” #edreform #iaedfuture #ialegis

* Larry Ferlazzo ‏@Larryferlazzo 2h

Microsoft Eliminates Its Own Destructive VAM Rankings; However, Gates Still Seems Focused On Using It For Us http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/11/16/microsoft-eliminates-its-own-destructive-vam-rankings-however-gates-still-seems-focused-on-using-it-for-us/#.Uod5-drGHPQ.twitter …

* Scott McLeod ‏@mcleod 3h

Kahoot! | Game-based blended learning & classroom response system

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Strategies:

Learn the Address

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, documentarian Ken Burns, along with numerous partners, has launched a national effort to encourage everyone in America to video record themselves reading or reciting the speech.The collection of recordings housed on this site will continue to grow as more and more people are inspired by the power of history and take the challenge to LEARN THE ADDRESS.

Share Your Gettysburg Address

How to Participate

It’s easy! Just follow these three simple steps:

1. Download or print the words to the Gettysburg Address located here and practice reading it out loud. Or if you are up for the whole challenge – memorize!

2. Record yourself (have a friend record you) reading the speech using your computer, laptop, tablet, mobile device or digital video recorder.

3. Upload your video to YouTube and use the form below to send us your link!

That’s it! Your video will be included among presidents, politicians, entertainers, journalists, and hundreds of others who have taken the challenge to LEARN THE ADDRESS.

http://www.learntheaddress.org/

Grade Table

http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2013/11/everything-thats-wrong-with-traditional-grading-in-one-table.html?utm_source=feedburner&IP=10.38.97.3&CAT=WEBLOG&USER=IPGROUP&CE=0

Bruno: Achievement Gaps Have Closed More Than You Think

One of the subtlest pitfalls, however, concerns the apparent persistence of achievement gaps between different groups of students.

To see why rising achievement matters, we can consider 8th grade reading scores. According to last week’s report, the difference between the average score for black students and the average score for white students has remained exactly the same since 1998 at 26 points.

This is the very definition of a “persistent achievement gap”. (The NAEP tweaked its methodology in 1998, so I’m omitting prior years’ scores for simplicity.)

At the same time, though, the average reading score white 8th graders has increased from 270 points to 276 points. As a result, that 26 point gap represents a (slightly) smaller fraction of white students’ overall achievement. Specifically, it means that black 8th graders have gone from scoring 90.4% as high as their white peers (on average) to scoring 90.6% as high.

In other words, the “stagnant” 26-point gap between black and white students is obscuring the fact the gap – expressed as a fraction of white student achievement – has narrowed.

http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2013/11/bruno-achievement-gaps-are-closing-faster-than-you-think.html

Resources:

History in Color

Take black and white photographs from the past and add a splash of color. The impact is different.

https://www.facebook.com/HistoryInColor

Similar:

Some Lincoln and WWII pictures.  Click through the slider at the top of the page.

http://lightbox.time.com/2012/10/25/a-vibrant-past-colorizing-the-archives-of-history/#3

Optical Illusions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelJZG_bF98#t=19

eQuiz Show

Why study with eQuizShow?

1. Creating your own quiz show takes only seconds

2. Your quiz show will always be available

3. No registration required

4. Our quiz show format is ideal for reinforcing and studying topics

Really easy to use. Great if you have an Interactive Board or Projector. You can also preprint the questions and answers.

Terms and Conditions:

By using our website, you agree to these Terms & Conditions as well as our Privacy Policy.

1. eQuizShow content ownership rights

By creating and putting information into a template on our site, you acknowledge that eQuizShow.com has absolute content rights.

We may edit, delete, or redistribute your template for any reason. For instance, we may delete templates that are inactive for a period of time and/or other reasons that we see fit.

2. User content ownership rights

A user who creates a template never has the right to ask for a copy of all of the information in that template, even if eQuizShow.com decides to delete or alter the template.

A user does not have the right to delete his/her template. A user can ask eQuizShow to delete a template from our system, but eQuizShow might not comply, depending on our opinion, for any reason.

3. Private information

If a user includes private information in one or more of his/her templates, the user can ask for the entire template or templates to be removed from our system. eQuizShow can decide if they think information is considered private.

4. Spam or inappropriate content

If eQuizShow feels that a template contains sexual, gruesome, inappropriate, or spam containing material, eQuizShow will delete that template immediately.

Privacy Policy

eQuizShow will not publish user feedback without the user’s permission. Additionally, eQuizShow will not give out your email, name, or Google Profile for any reason.

eQuizShow retains all rights to user submitted content. eQuizShow can do as it wishes with this content.

http://equizshow.com/

How to participate in a Twitter Chat

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/participate-twitter-chat-txeduchat/

Web Spotlight:

Rewrite of E-Rate Program Could Cover Technology Outside Schools

With the final public comment period on proposed changes to the E-rate having come to a close, one of the most intruging questions to emerge is whether the federal program should cover the costs of paying for students’ web access outside of school.

With the final public comment period on proposed changes to the E-rate having come to a close, one of the most intruging questions to emerge is whether the federal program should cover the costs of paying for students’ web access outside of school.

Sprint Corporation, the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., also called for the FCC to include support for off-campus access. Both companies agreed that firewall restrictions should be kept in place for publically funded projects, limiting internet use to only authorized sites.

“The E-Rate fund is already stretched and network construction is expensive,” Verizon said in its comments.  “Using E-rate to fund construction by schools or libraries—which are not best suited to building telecommunications networks in any event—will unnecessarily divert funds that other schools and libraries could use to obtain high-capacity connections. “

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2013/11/as_the_final_public_comment.html

8 Universal Secrets of Motivated Learners

Deceptively simple, their advice boils down to 8 universal secrets of powerful, personalized learning. Taken together, they give us a critical lens through which we can analyze what’s going wrong—and what’s going right—as we teach and as we learn.

1. We feel OK. Creating well-being in a learning environment is the crucial first step, according to both kids and scientists. Threats to our physical or emotional safety—from hunger to humiliation—shut down learning as we respond to more primal signals.

2. It matters. A personal connection or a real-world issue can make all the difference to whether we care about an academic task. Offering a choice on some aspect of the work also sends its value up, and so does the chance to work on things with friends.

3. It’s active. From constructing a model to collaborating on a puzzle, we start to “own” new information when our hands and minds engage our thinking processes more fully.

4. It stretches us. Extreme frustration can shut down learning, but a stretch that’s both challenging and achievable gives the learner a buzz of excitement. (Don’t forget to notice small successes along the way!)

5. We have a coach. We do much better with someone around who will help us make sure we’re getting it right—watching us practice and giving us tips, with plenty of time to learn from our mistakes.

6. We have to use it. Doing something with information not only shows that we know it but also makes it stick in our minds. The most fun is to perform what we’ve learned or teach it to others—but even a pop quiz will do the trick.

7. We think back on it. What did I learn? What would I do differently next time? How have I grown and changed? Making time for us to reflect on questions like these has a huge effect on deepening our learning—yet it’s the easiest thing to skip.

8. We plan our next steps. Planning any venture—an argument, a project, even what we’re going to say next—is a creative adventure. It forces us to remember information in order to develop an idea or solve a problem. Hand us the keys to our learning and watch us take those intellectual risks!

– See more at: http://www.personalizelearning.com/2013/11/8-universal-secrets-of-motivated.html#!

http://www.personalizelearning.com/2013/11/8-universal-secrets-of-motivated.html#!

UDACITY’S SEBASTIAN THRUN, GODFATHER OF FREE ONLINE EDUCATION, CHANGES COURSE

http://www.fastcompany.com/3021473/udacity-sebastian-thrun-uphill-climb

AMLE 2013 Annual Conference

Executive Director’s Meeting:

• Membership focused on Teachers and resources for educators, backburner Administrators and Universities.

• Free membership option has been a HUGE hit:  10,000 new members in the first month.

Half-Baked Ideas . . .

On the go recording.