MSM 224: Spewing Forth: Alternate Show Weeks
Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.
Eileen Award:
- Scoopit:
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- Facebook: Steve Ralston
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- iTunes: Steve Ralston
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Jokes You Can Use:
One Halloween a man was walking down the street and heard a thumping noise behind him. Looking behind him he saw a coffin following him, upright. He was a bit nervous and began walking a little bit faster. The coffin continued, “thumpety thump, thumpety thump”. He began running and the coffin kept up and began opening and closing, “”thumpety thump, thumpety thump clap, “thumpety thump, thumpety thump clap”. Terrified he ran to his front door, and went inside, slamming the door and locking it. The coffin continued, “thumpety thump, thumpety thump – CRASH” it came right through the door, He ran up the stairs, and right behind him, “thumpety thump, thumpety thump clap, “thumpety thump, thumpety thump clap”. He rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door, but the coffin broke through the door – “thumpety thump, thumpety thump crash”. Terrified the man grabbed the first thing he could, a bottle of Robutusin and threw it – and the coffin stopped!
One psychologist greets another on the street: “You’re fine, how am I?”
Socrates came upon an acquaintance that ran up to him excitedly and said, “Do you know what I just heard about one of your students?” “Just a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Test of Three. “The first test is Truth. Are you sure that what you will say is true? “Oh no,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it.” “So you don’t really know if it’s true, Socrates said. Now let’s try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?” “No, on the contrary..” “So,” Socrates interrupted, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not certain it’s true?” The man shrugged, rather embarrassed. Socrates continued. “You may still pass though, because there is a third test, the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me at all?” “Well it ..no, not really..” “Well, concluded Socates, “If what you want to tell me is neither True nor good nor ever Useful, why tell it to me at all?” The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was held in such high esteem. It also explains why he never found out what Plato was up to.
Advisory:
Antipodes
http://www.jasondavies.com/maps/antipodes/
Last Wish
Lifelong football fan Danny Webber had one last wish – to meet QB Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. With help from the Colts organization and wonderful workers at the Heritage House, his wish was granted. Watch as Inside the NFL cameras were there to capture this truly heart-warming story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1sK9HLpFo&feature=youtu.be
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Volcano Safety
This podcast is based on the Question of the Month from the Scope on Safety section of the October, 2012 issue of Science Scope, a magazine for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association. The question of the month is written by Ken Roy, director of environmental health and safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
The question of the month deals with the use of ammonium dichromate in the classroom.
We won’t blow our tops on this one.
From the Twitterverse:
 * Orion School View @OrionSchoolViewALL teachers should read this! Ten Commandments For Educators Who Teach Kids on the Autism Spectrum http://enabledkids.ca/?p=2076 via @EnabledKids |
 * Valerie Lees @ValerieLeessd36This is what interdisciplinary learning can give us:students offer overnight solution to gas station crises #Sandy http://huff.to/Ydl312 #fb” |
 * Kevin J. Galbraith @KevGHow Are Districts Covering the Tech. Costs of Common Core? http://zite.to/RzLc6h |
 * Diane Ravitch @DianeRavitchDo you have your armband? “Just let me teach.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/01/just-let-me-teach-arm-bands-taking-off/ … |
 * Scott McLeod @mcleodChina as number two — or even number three |
 * Catherine Flippen @CatFlippenInstead of teachers evaluating other teachers, use method called “Idea Bandit”–visit a classroom, “steal” a great idea. #edadmin |
 * Eye On Education @eyeoneducationHow to Design Open-Ended Assignments to Meet the #CommonCore http://ow.ly/eZncK #edchat #ccss #engedu #literacy #ccchat |
 * Emily Wyble @wyblee#edcampGR presenters switching back and forth on the Apple TV between the iPad mini and the “regular.” Co-teaching possibilities? |
 * Kevin Creutz @kevcreutzThree Video Explanations of Why We Change Our Clocks This Weekend via @rmbyrne #edtech |
 * Larry Ferlazzo @LarryferlazzoIdeas for English Language Learners | ‘Gangnam Style,’ ‘Emotion Words’ and More http://nyti.ms/Sfnew1 |
 * Scott McLeod @mcleodNew bookmark: Library Of Congress Unveils Massive Common Core Resource Center | @edudemic |
 * Sandra Wozniak @sanwozAre you using elections to teach critical thinking? Great resources #satchat |
 * Sandy Kendell @EdTechSandyKHow to clean Apple products including iPad | #mlearning #edtech #ipaded @scoopit http://sco.lt/98tt4L |
 * Rick Wormeli @RickWormeliSchool superintendent to Thomas Friedman: Why you are wrong about Race to the Top http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/10/31/school-superintendent-to-thomas-friedman-why-you-are-wrong-about-race-to-the-top/ … |
 * Sandra Wozniak @sanwozHOTS & Bloom’s by @JillBromen on @scoopitGreat critical thinking resources. #gtchat #edchat |
Resources:
Higher Order Thinking Strategies and Tools
“The following Online Interactive Thinking Strategies and Tools are designed to provide a scaffold which enables students to think with more depth and structure. When using them, ask students to continually reflect on and justify which Habits of Mind best suit how they are thinking.”
There are some terrific organizers here that would be easy to replicate.
http://learningcurveplanner.com.au/thinking-tools.html
The Victorians Learn to work like a historian
This website introduces primary pupils to historical sources. It helps children to think and work like historians by using objects, images and documents from the collections of the V&A and The National Archives to learn about the Victorian period. Begin with this tutorial to get the best out of the six themed units that follow.
This short starter activity introduces the learning model that guides and supports pupils’ work throughout the resource.
The approach for dealing with sources has been broken down into four steps. A simple mnemonic, L-A-C-E, helps pupils to remember them.
Two online presenters guide pupils through each unit. They introduce a range of different historical sources and ask various prompt questions at each step of the LACE process. There is some variation between these questions, to accommodate the different types of sources used in this resource, but they retain the same focus throughout:
LOOK: Describe what you can see.
ASK: What questions do you need to ask, and answer, to make sense of what you have seen?
CONCLUDE: What have you learned about the issue that you are investigating from this source?
EXPAND: What more would you like to know about? How can you find out?
The steps in the LACE process are not always mutually exclusive. In fact, evaluating evidence is often an iterative process. Pupils may sometimes engage with the different steps in a non-linear way. When this happens it is not a problem. The main purpose of this approach is to encourage pupils to develop different types of questions to progress their understanding of the evidence.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/victorians/resources.htm
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/victorians/Default.aspx
A visual A-Z of the hidden treasures of language.
As a lover of language and words, especially obscure and endangered words, I was instantly besotted with Project Twins’ visual interpretations of unusual words, originally exhibited at the MadArt Gallery Dublin during DesignWeek 2011.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/07/02/project-twins-unusual-words/
Public Domain Comics
We are the best site for downloading FREE public domain Golden Age Comics. All files here have been researched by our staff and users to make sure they are copyright free and in the public domain. To start downloading just register an account and enjoy these great comic books. We do not charge per download and the goal of the project is to archive these comic books online and make them widely available.
http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/
Web Spotlight:
Can Your Kid Read Graphs and Charts?
As these visual displays become more and more ubiquitous, it is all the more important that students know how to read, interpret, and summarize the information presented. It’s become an essential element of overall literacy.
As students get older, it’s important for them to learn not only how to be intelligent viewers of graphic representations, but wary and cautious viewers. While charts and graphs obviously are a boon to our ability to communicate information about large numbers or complicated relationships, there are also hidden pitfalls.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/can-your-kid-read-graphs-and-charts/263689/
http://tedmccagg.typepad.com/drawings/2012/10/back-in-my-day.html
News:
Ethiopian kids hack OLPCs in 5 months with zero instruction
“We left the boxes in the village. Closed. Taped shut. No instruction, no human being. I thought, the kids will play with the boxes! Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, but found the on/off switch. He’d never seen an on/off switch. He powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs [in English] in the village. And within five months, they had hacked Android. Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera! And they figured out it had a camera, and they hacked Android.”
http://dvice.com/archives/2012/10/ethiopian-kids.php
Events & Happenings:
Calendar of Events:
Ohio Middle Level Association:
- The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.
AMLE Affiliate Conferences:
- The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2013 in Dearborn, MI.
- The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March, 2013
Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.
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