NMSA10

MSM #150- Show #150! It’s Because of You!

/ , , , , /

Jokes:

Swimming
An urgent call was put in for a plumber at noon but he didn’t arrive until 5 hours later. “How is it?” he asked entering the house. “Not so bad,” replied the home owner. “While we were waiting for you to arrive, I taught my wife how to swim.”

Spots
“Doctor!” complained the patient, “I keep seeing spots before my eyes.” The doctor scratched his head. “Why have you come to me? Have you seen an ophthalmologist?” “No,” replied the patient, “just spots.”

On Our Mind:

Robert Nay:  Bubble Ball is the most popular free download for the Apple App Store. If he would have charged for it, he would have made 2 million dollars from it.  He’s 14.

From our Listeners:
Happy new year my friends

I’m not sure which of you are still active substitutes but i do hope all of you will do me the kindness of forwarding this to as many people and organizations who substitute or work with substitute teachers as you can.

A Seattle venue is relatively close for California and “right next door” for Oregon. The Northwest is a nice location for a conference/vacation combination for anyone!

Link to Flyer:  http://www.nstasubs.org/2011Conference/Call%20to%20Conference%202011-%20Final.pdf

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Girls and Science
http://www.braincake.org/
http://stemstories.org/

From the Twitterverse:

*PrometheanUSA RT WhiteheadsClass Martin Luther King, Jr. vocabulary and spelling games and resources: #promethean #iwb #edtech
*russeltarr Simple Graphic Organizer Makes Fractions a Little Less Painful: http://tinyurl.com/ycfqaud
*bhsprincipal RT @nothingfuture: A grade is the smallest amount of information we can possibly record about a student’s experience.
*stevehargadon We listen to business leaders more than educators “reform” dialog. Why? http://wapo.st/frBgX5 via @tonnet
*DanielBeylerian Any teachers found ways 2 supplement their income by teaching online? Ontario Certified Teacher. PD oriented instruction is goal #edchat
*rkiker Teens In Tech Launches Startup Incubator for Young Entrepreneurs http://pulsene.ws/JqK1
*clifmims Skype’s New Resource Specifically for Teachers http://ow.ly/3BZhl #education #edtech
*NancyTeaches RT @justwonderinY: I learn the most when PD is layered. (focused, embedded in daily practice, across year, & about kids) #elemchat
*stribs Story of man who’s spent over a decade trying to convince doctors that he’s not mentally ill > This American Life
*sharon_elin Virginia Poised to Ban Teacher-Student Texting, Facebooking rww.to/gMQPzF via @RWW Comment on google doc: cut.gd/sk6a
*kconners09 Have students draw to write- getting over writers block. Good 4 SS. Edutopia http://ow.ly/1rZtMc #english #sschat
*rushtheiceberg The GMAIL+ method I spoke about in my preso at #edcampoc The Edublogger #edchat
*lkolb Join us in May for first annual U of M Virtual Ed Tech Conference (Free! Wear your PJ’s and Network)….more info @umvirtualcon

NSMA 2010 Session 6:

Session 4:

He Says, She Says
The Home School Connection
Debbie Silver & Monte Shelby

Family Tree

The new research:
create a home environment that encourages learning.
communicate high, yet reasonable expectations.

Reading with parents. Muffins with moms/ donuts with dad. The kids read to the parents.
Saturday picnics. No “traditional” school focus, just a picnic held at school. provide the food and prizes. Just play games and make connections.
Staff development while the parents have all of the kids. Do they picked a routine thing that all of the kids could do. The parents then monitor the kids. The parents were trained. First thing on Monday morning – kids behave better at that time.
The parents ran the program. Agenda was shared with the parents. Parents called other parents with personal invitations. Social things where the only expectation was that parents show up.  Example of pool night at community center. Parents mentoring parents. 8th grader parents mentor 6th grade. Someone to call.

Develop list of things that parents can do:
Theatre Aid
Hall Moms and Pops
Teacher’s Aid
Have parents take pictures- make sure they get each kid over the weeks. Email the picture immediately to the parents.
Add question on a “take home” assignment that needs a parental response. Name a family member who emigrated. Name the favorite food of a parent.
Parent input page. The student has to teach the parent something. The parent has to respond with what they were taught.

Professional Development Kit: The what, the why, the how of student led conferences. by Jack Berckemeyer and Patti Kinney.

Make sure that you make good calls. Can be especially useful if you make a good call before you ever make a bad one.
Check NAESP for good suggestions for parents.

News:

SnagFilms

SnagFilms is committed to finding the world‘s most compelling documentaries, whether from established heavyweights or first-time filmmakers, and making them available to the wide audience these titles deserve.
SnagFilms.com is a website where you can watch full-length documentary films for free, but we’re also a platform that lets you “snag” a film and put it anywhere on the web. With a library of over 1500 films, and rapidly growing, you’re bound to find films that resonate with your interests. We make it easy for you to find a film that shines a light on a cause you care about. You can then open a virtual movie theater on any web site, so any one can watch your favorite SnagFilms for free.
SnagFilms can be summed up in four words: Find. Watch. Snag. Support.
Find. Whether using our custom search tools, browsing by topic, or tuning into one of the great channels provided by our partners, with a few clicks you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.
Watch. By streaming films worldwide, on-demand, 24×7 and with no software installation or downloading required, we have radically expanded the audience for documentary films. All you need is a decent broadband connection. Just click play, go full-screen, and lean back and enjoy our films.
Snag. Widgets let you take your favorite SnagFilms with you wherever you like to go online. Open a virtual movie theater right in your webpage, blog, Facebook or MySpace page, or just about any other place online you can think of.
Support. At their best, documentaries don‘t merely entertain us, they engage and inspire us to action. We provide a link for you to a charity related to the topic of each film (many of them selected by the filmmaker) so you can get involved, immediately.  And just by embedding our widgets, you’ve donated your pixels and helped support independent film.

http://www.snagfilms.com/

Tech Spotlight:

British Library introduces first app for iOS, Android

The British Library has launched its first-ever mobile app, Treasures. The title is available in three separate editions, for iPad, iPhone/iPod and Android. It so far provides access to a little over 100 items from the Library’s collection, such as a 1215 copy of the Magna Carta, music manuscripts belonging to Handel, Purcell and Mozart, and Buddhist, Christian and Zoroastrian religious documents.
The iPad app, Treasures HD, is priced at £2.39, and benefits from a higher-resolution native interface. The iPhone/iPod title is £1.19. While the former requires only iOS 3.2, the latter demands at least iOS 4; both are restricted to the UK App Store.
http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/11/01/10/provides.access.to.rare.books/

Google Goggles gets faster, smarter and solves Sudoku
Check this out.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/google-goggles-gets-faster-smarter-and.html

GEL Conference

Short for “Good Experience Live”, Gel is a conference and community exploring good experience in all its forms – in art, business, technology, society, and life.
Gel was founded by Mark Hurst in 2003 and has run a spring event in New York City each year since.Gel 2011 will be the 9th annual event. (Hurst has also run two spinoff events, Gel Health in 2009 and euroGel in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2006. See Past Gels.)
Instead of focusing on just one thing – design, technology, user experience, business, etc. – like many conferences, Gel touches on many things. This challenges attendees to find, and learn from, the patterns that underlie good experience, even in disciplines vastly different from their own.
The best way to understand the Gel experience is to attend. (Next event is Gel 2011.) You might also like to watch videos from Gel 2010 to get a sense of the caliber and range of speakers – though attendees have said that the videos don’t fully describe the Gel experience.
http://www.gelconference.com/

99%

http://the99percent.com/videos

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

MSM 149 NMSA 2010: Weather, Differentiation

/ , , , , , , /

Jokes:

Apples
A man traveling through the country stopped at a small roadside fruit stand and bought some apples. When he mentioned they were awfully small, the farmer replied, “Yup.” The man took a bite of one of the apples and exclaimed, “Not very flavorful, either.” “That’s right,” said the farmer. “Lucky they’re small, ain’t it?”

Accountants
Did you hear about the accountant with insomnia? He decided to try counting sheep, but he made a mistake and was up all night trying to find it!

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Weather vs Climate – A Throw Down

Advisory:

Future Me:  A letter to the future . . . from yourself.
This Week in Rap

From the Twitterverse:

*missnoor28 RT @ShellTerrell: Google Doc of Presentations in Case the Website is Down #rscon11 Plz RT!
*steelepierce @johnccarver OH has two districts piloting e-days in lieu of snow days. We’re exploring that. @colonelb @pammoran
**DianeRavitch What you need to know about Finland: http://www.publicpolicyblogger.com/2010/12/before-its-too-late-fifteen-reasons-why.html
Key Quote:  “I think the things that CAN be imported are ideas that allow a refocusing away from testing and performance by giving teachers more autonomy, a focus on quality rather then quantity of teaching, higher level academic teacher training qualifications, improving the status of teaching as a profession.”  
*russeltarr Anecdotage: Great database of anecdotes for spicing up lessons!: http://tinyurl.com/yztfrxp
*hshawjr U.S. drive for high test scores has stifled students’ creativity | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME: via @addthis
Referenced link:  http://www.oecd.org/document/61/0,3746,en_32252351_32235731_46567613_1_1_1_1,00.html
Key Quote:  “In fact, it keeps students from learning all the other things they need to know — literature, history, languages, mathematics, science — actual knowledge and skills that go into a well-educated mind, the raw material for creative and civic behavior.“
*missnoor28 Future Me – Send a Letter to Your Future Self freetech4teachers.com/2011/01/future… #edchat
*russeltarr Google Features That Make Teachers’ Lives Easier: http://tinyurl.com/m5bwgf
*DoTheMathBooks I’ve never know any trouble than an hour’s reading didn’t assuage. Arthur Schopenhauer #quote
*drmmtatom Girls arrested for Facebook teacher attack invite #fhuedu610 http://flne.ws/26341773 on Fluent News
*drmmtatom 100 Online Resources That Are Transforming Education: http://on.mash.to/i1NhRT
*mcleod Video: 3 phases of educational technology #edtech
1.  Dynamic presentation created by the teacher.  (Keynote, Powerpoint, etc.)
2.  Texts replaced by content based knowledge.  (Pencil/Paper outcomes)
3.  Students as producers of content.
*mcleod Print your own flute (yes, that’s correct) Did I mention I want a 3D printer?!
*lkolb Join us in May for first annual U of M Virtual Ed Tech Conference (Free! Wear your PJ’s and Network)….more info @umvirtualcon

NSMA 2010 Session 6:

Session 3

10 ways to differentiate:

Gretchen Goodman

Differentiation is part of RTI – Tier I
Pet Peeves by Joel Pett
Take a label. bubbasrealma@me.com

Practical tips
Appllication
Differentiated instruction is a concept that makes it possible to maximize learning for ALL students. It is a collection of instructionally intelligent strategies based on student centerned best practice that make it possible for teachers to create different pathways that respond to the needs of diverse learners

1. Tic Tac Toe

This is related to the student contract plans.
Don’t use any of these everyday.
this can lead to a large amount of work. be careful. You can have them do all 3, turn them in and pick the 1 that they want graded.
Label the boxes. Give them 2 die and let them roll. If they roll a 3 and a 4, they get to pick, they can either do #3 and #4 or #7.

2. Tiering

Always start with the standard and move up or down.
One of the most common DI strategies.
Teach one concept with layers of difficulty/complexity designed by need and readiness.
EG. (Civil War)Tier 1:
Define slavery

Tier II
Take facts and then analyze, apply knowledge.

Tier 3
Present a 3-4 page essay

3. Cubing – 6 sides to a lesson

Describe it
Compare it
Associate it
analyze it
Apply it
Argue for/against it

teachingmadeeasier.com
F6SDETME
60 days of access
Stuff it with paper and tape it.
The post office has cubes. Cover with contact paper. Priority cubes.
Michael’s has whiteboard cubes.
Use different cubes for different groups:
Above
On
Below

or by interest.

Can also use a spinner to pick numbers by box.

Use different cubes.

4. Task Cards

Review the information in the chart showing the habitat.
Can assign them a task as they enter or let them pick

5. Think Dots

Different assignments in boxes.
give the kids a popsicle stick with a different number of dots.

6. Grouping

Clock Partners
Colored clothes pins
Table tents with names
Pull a popsicle stick
Teacher assigned
CD covers- Go to a music store. Write down the first four songs of a variety of songs and cut down the strips. Students pick a song. They are then grouped by artists.
Puzzle pieces- Take a picture of something the kids like. Cut it into puzzles pieces. The kids pick a piece and put the puzzle together for a group. Keep hotel keys.
Hershey kiss groups.
Paint chips – get 4

This can really help cutting down on bullying. When kids know each other and work together, they are less likely to bully.
Have kids write 4 science vocabulary words on a page that is quartered. Have students pick a partner for each word.

7. Assessments

Gallery Walk – Large chart paper. Open ended questions on the chart paper. Kids have to answer a certain number of them. Nobody can use a ditto.
Write and Pass- Each kid has a question. They respond to the question within 1 minute, then pass to the next student.
1 minute write – Summarize for 1 minute at the end of class. Write everything that you learned today in 1 minute. One teacher called this “brain vomit”.
K-W-L+  – The plus is what do you still want to know.
Who-Has I Have ~ Get a set of index cards. Laminate with blanks. Each card has two pieces of information- the who has question and an answer of what they have. This means that they have to know answers.  (Browser based generator:  http://www.brendenisteaching.com/gen/myloops/)

8.  Exit Tickets

I don’t understand
I would like to learn about
The most important thing I learned today is
3-2-1 Exit card.

9. Know The children

Learning Style Inventory
Observations
Self evaluations
Scavenger Hunt – find someone who can….
That’s Me- ask questions. Have students raise their hand and shout “that’s me” if the question is yes.
80% of drop outs are tactile/kinesetic.

10. Pass Options

Turn to partner and discuss
Off the pass, but come back and have them restate. (Go to 2 more kids and then come back to them.)

Don’t Forget – Recognition:
Silent Cheer
Give them a hand – trace and pass
Way to go home call.
Post cards
e-mails…digital photos attached.

#11 Centers:

Tie to the curriculum
Match with the standards
Teach them how to use.
Can be games, boards, magnetic letters, computers, etc.
1. Train the troops.

FaceBook assignment- post a Facebook page of a famous person.

Menu:
• Appetizer: Everyone does together.
Entree – Do on your own.
Side Dishes – Select at least 2.
Dessert- optional. Extra credit.
XK6

News:

Internet Gains on Television as Public’s Main News Source

More Young People Cite Internet than TV

The internet is slowly closing in on television as Americans’ main source of national and international news. Currently, 41% say they get most of their news about national and international news from the internet, which is little changed over the past two years but up 17 points since 2007.
…more people continue to cite the internet than newspapers as their main source of news, reflecting both the growth of the internet, and the gradual decline in newspaper readership (from 34% in 2007 to 31% now).
In 2010, for the first time, the internet has surpassed television as the main source of national and international news for people younger than 30.

The Test Chinese Schools Still Fail

High scores for Shanghai’s 15-year-olds are actually a sign of weakness.
By JIANG XUEQIN

It’s ironic that just as the world is appreciating the strengths of China’s education system, Chinese are waking up to its weaknesses.
China’s most promising students still must go abroad to develop their managerial drive and creativity, and there they have to unlearn the test-centric approach to knowledge that was drilled into them.
Even Shanghai educators admit they’re merely producing competent mediocrity.
Shanghai’s stellar results on PISA are a symptom of the problem. Tests are less relevant to concrete life and work skills than the ability to write a coherent essay, which requires being able to identify a problem, break it down to its constituent parts, analyze it from multiple angles and assemble a solution in a succinct manner to communicate across cultures and time.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576008692493038646.html

Webspotlight:

4 Promising Curation Tools That Help Make Sense of the Web

by Steve Rosenbaum

1. Storify

2. Scoop.it

3. Curated.by

4. Pearltrees

http://mashable.com/2011/01/06/curation-tools/

Big Huge Labs

http://bighugelabs.com/education.php

Do Amazing Things with your Photos

What is BeFunky?

BeFunky simplifies photo editing and effects for everyday people.

Marvelous Photo Effects

Choose from our constantly growing library of photo effects to turn your ordinary photos into extraordinary art with virtually no effort.

Smart Photo Editing

Photo editing made smart. Fix your common photo problems like bad lighting, digital noise, fuzzy colors and details with one click.

Design Goodies

Give your digital creations a whole lot of character with BeFunky Goodies. Add speech bubbles, frames and more…
http://befunky.com/

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

MSM 148 NMSA 2010: Happy New Year!

/ , , , , , /

Jokes:

On a visit to Chicago
On a visit to Chicago, a woman was eager to visit a posh department store a few blocks from her hotel. Her husband agreeably hailed a cab. “The lady wants to go to Neiman Marcus,” he told the driver. The cabby looked over his shoulder at them. “And the gentleman?” he asked. “Does he want to go to the bank?”

Marriage
“Honey,” said this husband to his wife, “I invited a friend home for supper.” “What? Are you crazy? The house is a mess, I didn’t go shopping, all the dishes are dirty, and I don’t feel like cooking a fancy meal!” “I know all that.” “Then, why did you invite a friend for supper?” “Because the poor guy is thinking about getting married.”

Blood Pressure
When a doctor remarked on a new patient?s extraordinarily ruddy complexion, he said, “High blood pressure, Doc. It runs in my family.” “Your mother’s side or your father’s?” the doctor asked. “Neither,” the patient replied. “It’s from my wife’s family.” “Oh, come now,” said the doctor “How could your wife’s family give you high blood pressure?” He sighed. “You oughta meet ’em sometime, Doc!”

Marriage
The wife saw her husband frustrated reading the Marriage Certificate from top to bottom, flip it over, and then read it again… She asked: “Honey, what are you looking for?” He answered: “Nothing dear, I’m just looking for the expiration date.”

On Our Mind:

Happy New Year!
Resolutions?

Middle School Science Minute

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

Did you Know…..
Ummmmm… Chemistry

Advisory:

2011 Predictions:  http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1101/110101-happy_new_year.html

From the Twitterverse:

*gatorbonBC by DianeRavitch  Corporate Schools vs Public Schools? No Separate is STILL not equal. Wear Red 4 Public Ed Tues Jan 4. #WearRedForEd #edchat @DianeRavitch
*nancyrubin by francesblo  Why Should Educators Blog? Reflective Writing Can Positively Affect Teaching http://ow.ly/3wNf3
*DianeRavitch What you need to know about Finland: http://www.publicpolicyblogger.com/2010/12/before-its-too-late-fifteen-reasons-why.html
*AnthonyCody Battling the “Bad Teacher” Bogeyman: A Teacher takes on Hanushek’s misguided model of improvement: #edreform
*mcleod New post: A hilarious (and scary) tale about standardized testing scoring #edtech
*web20classroom Want More Engaged Students? Give Them A Say:
*web20classroom RT @ransomtech: A good discussion starter: “21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020”
*NCMSA RT @mathematicsprof: 2011 is also the sum of 11 CONSECUTIVE prime numbers: 2011=157+163+167+173+179+181+191+193+197+199+211
*SeanBanville “2011 to Be Best Year Ever” – My latest BreakingNewsEnglish lesson plan – #ESL
*mcleod CASTLE blog post: Virtual Schooling In The News
*sarahhanawald RT @fredbartels: Blaming bad teachers for learning failure in high-poverty areas like blaming bad doctors for high disease rates in slums.
*DianeRavitch LA school that is “least effective” but not really: http://tinyurl.com/2busj8d
*terryfreedman 10 tips for planning the use of technology in lessons: Using educational technology effectively usu.. Pls RT, thx!

NSMA 2010 Session 5:

A five year multi-case study of middle level teachers

Dr. Holly Thornton
thorntonhj@app state.edu
(email her for the presentation)

Teacher Observation:  Caitlyn
A lot of these are self reporting.
It’s a legal can of worms.

Teacher Observation:  Caitlyn

Longitudinal case analysis.

Do these beliefs last over time.

Teacher Observation: Caitlyn

Put on your teacher evaluator hat.

What did they do well and what needs improvement?

Teacher Observation:  Amy

More organized.

Dispositions Observation form.

There is an observation form for this stuff.

Left hand column is responsiveness

Right hand column is technical

Center is Medium level.

The disconnected side sounds like a slam, but it isn’t intended to be so.

Dispositions in Action

Focus is impact on student learning/depth of understanding.

Responsive sees the kids getting learning deeply and technical is seeing the kids getting it correctly (technical details)

Context wasn’t a main factor in this study.

Aligned with Young Adolescent needs.

Responsive are better at teaching this.

Responsive dispositions align more with deeper teaching.  Both are necessary, but Responsive seems to have an advantage.

Manifested in teacher/student interaction.

Discourse analysis

Used to understand how the teachers got the kids to this place

Grounded theory from model middle school analysis

Evaluating Dispositions

Summary Findings Over Time

Young teachers’ dispositions remained fairly consistent over time.

They maintained their dispositions over time.

The testing pieces helped them live out their dispositions, maybe.

Many teachers leave the field because they don’t feel successful in what they choose to do.

What does this imply for us?

Factors that did not

Type of school setting

Content area taught

Testing emphasis

Factors that matter most

School climate

Collaborative time with teacher

School leadership

Principal trust was a huge influence.

Push on testing

Trust that they would do their jobs was important

Testing emphasis

How that emphasis was stressed moved people to the technical side.

Original dispositional orientation.

Can you teach dispositions?

All were dealing with a strong emphasis on standardized high stakes testing via No Child Left Behind.

(Note find teacher quality index)

All were held accountable to these tests and were successful in getting students to do well on them.

However, the young teachers’ dispositions affected how they reacted to the testing focus and how they ultimately defined teaching and learning in their classrooms.

Note:  The more middle school a middle school is the better the test scores.  (Find this study)
Consider as Middle Level Teacher Educators

Responsive teachers may at this time in education feel like they are teaching against the grain.  The question may be what types of dispositions we want our graduates to possess, given the current educational context and challenges.  What serves them best and ultimately what best serves their students and our future society?

The people who will be in the next century are the responsive types, not the technical types.

Look for publications in Teacher Ed Quarterly.

How to manifest it in the classroom.

CEU info:  AA7
2461 Session #
Send her stuff too.

21st Century Skills for students

Session 2
2229
Chad Foster

Teenagers preparing for the real world.
Mostly read by 8th graders. Written at a 7th grade level.
Based off of a 10 day short course.
Reading literacy is the basis.
Business background.

Students spend 15,000 hours in the classroom before graduation. Too many kids don’t know what to do after school. Schools do a good job of educating kids but not preparing them.
Success:

  • Good Friends
  • Reputation
  • Like what they are doing
  • Give back to the community

Need:
Knowledge- must be relevant

What part of the cell provides energy? mitocondri

  • Communication Skills
  • People Skills
  • Technology Skills
  • Time Management Skills

Skills must be learned. They can’t be Googled.
We need to teach the ability to talk to “strangers”.

80% of jobs that are being hired are never posted or advertised. People with networking skills are getting the jobs. In the past, you needed to work hard to stay in contact with others. Today it is easy.

Meet a stranger activity. Too many kids don’t know how to talk to business people. They think that they need lots of complex questions. They need to learn how to ask simple questions, listen and then follow up.

Teach kids to talk about:

  • Family
  • What they do
  • Hobbies

Have kids practice talking to “strangers”. Start with students acting like someone else. Then have adults do the same thing. Then bring in business people.
Have the students contact people who use outside the norm jobs. Students complete interviews and then do a one minute presentation.
Bring in a diverse panel for kids to ask questions.

Have kids write a handwritten thank you cards.

News:

Can Learning to Play the Violin Make you Smarter?

Brenda Brenner, a music education professor at the IU Jacobs School of Music, developed the program after academic research showed students who played string instruments performed better academically than those who did not.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20101224/NEWS04/12240324/1013/NEWS04/Attica-students-part-effort-see-music-improves-minds

Webspotlight:

Google Body
Played with Google Earth?  You know, that website the kids go to to look at their own homes via satellite?  Here’s one for the human body:  http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/

Math & Money

Mint.com, the popular personal finance management service, in collaboration with Scholastic has launched a free personal finance curriculum for middle school use. Math and Money is a collection of four short lessons (2 primary lessons and two “bonus” lessons) about personal finance. Lesson one is designed to teach students about wages, taxes, and costs of living. Lesson two is designed to teach students the benefits of saving their money in a bank. The bonus lessons expand the first two lessons. Scholastic hosts printable materials that you can download and use to support the lessons.
http://www.scholastic.com/mint/

Life on Minimum Wage

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/11/life-on-minimum-wage-lesson-in-personal.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

MSM 147 NMSA 2010: PISA sir, may we have some more? :-P

/ , , , /

Jokes:

ABCs
Little Freddy’s second-grade teacher was quizzing them on the alphabet. “Freddy,” she says, “what comes after ‘O’?” Freddy says, “Yeah!”

Mothers
Miss Jones had been giving her second-grade students a lesson on science. She had explained about magnets and showed how they would pick up nails and other bits of iron. Now it was question time, and she asked, “My name begins with the letter ‘M’ and I pick up things. What am I?” A little boy on the front row proudly said, “You’re a mother!”

On Our Mind:

WOOT!  It’s Christmas Break!  (then 2 weeks ‘till exams after that . . . )
Australian schools got out this past week for their summer break …
Edublog Awards:  Congrats to all the winners!

2nd Runner up:  EdTechCrew
1st Runner up:   LearnEnglish
The 2010 Winner:  PortableRadio.ca

Middle School Science Minute

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

Did you Know…..
Botany facts!

Advisory:

What kids can do
http://whatkidscando.org/

Teaching Strategy:
“Managing Students in the Computer Lab”
Source: Teresa Sutherland, Retired Middle School Teacher

Keep a red plastic cup at each computer. When students need help, have
them place the highly visible cups on top of their monitors.  Students
won’t be calling for help or spending time with their hands raised in
the air!

Here’s an alternate idea:  check your local Dollar Store for mini orange road cones.  The shape works well on thin monitors and they last a long time!

Our addition:
Use 3 cups to monitor group work. Use green cups for groups to self report that they are working fine, yellow for they are starting to struggle, and red for need teacher help.

From the Twitterverse:

*kelalford Delicious is Officially Dead via DEN Blog Network – Please see Wes Fryers’ post ** Delicious Social … http://tinyurl.com/2755dqd
*zeitz Delicious.com not shutting down. Just looking for a new home. See what PC Mag says
*Larryferlazzo New post: “Part Two Of The Best Videos For Educators — 2010”
*mguhlin MGuhlin.org Blogs – Project-Based Learning Video from Common Craft: Video from The Buck Institute for Education ..
*russeltarr 15 Classroom display posters – famous history graduates http://tinyurl.com/q23ecb
*math2go Algebra teacher engages students:
*AngelaMaiers True leaders say: Because it’s possible rather than because I said so..when asked- Why do we have to…. #leadershipchat
*newfirewithin The Unintended Consequences of Incentive Programs in Schools – The Tempered Radical http://ow.ly/3oILL <–YEP!
*mbteach Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” http://post.ly/1KxX1
*web20classroom The TED Commandments-Rules Every Speaker Should Know:
*newsfromtengrrl How to design thought-provoking interactions | 24 Tips http://hoki.es/gHsnun
*LadyParadis In a snowy park / swings sway / in the wind / abandoned / until spring #gogyohka
*LateralWisdom RT @ErikRees: // The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® – http://j.mp/dEHslf
*russeltarr Using Target Diagrams to scaffold historical understanding #historyteacher: http://tinyurl.com/337e88g
*ccassinelli w00t w00t! Several staff members contacted me today after I shared this list of technology integration ideas #babysteps

NSMA 2010 Session 5:

Getting the Most out of Your Networked World
Todd Williamson

thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com

Tapscott Video

Information Thieves
Miracles.flv
Swedish group has combined several different artists into a new video.
Norwegian Recycling

Caveats of Networked Learning
Native/Immigrant Paradigm
‘Junk” Detection
What the web is good for
Networked Learning

Wes Fryer’s response to Digital Natives:
Digital Refugees – Ignorant or in Denial
Digital voyeurs – Knowing
Digital Immigrants – Participating
Digital Natives – Living
All of the above are digital (tool) specific

Growing up with a computer on your hip….doesn’t make you hip to the use of computers.

There is a difference between what they do and what we want them to do.

Junk Detection:
“If it’s on the Internet, it must be true”.
California Velcro Crop by Ken Umbach (1993)
dHMO.org
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
Additional Bogus Websites:  http://publish.uwo.ca/~floyd/general/boguswebsites.htm

Information=Danger?

We need to ask better questions. Questions that can’t be “googled”.

The illiterate of the future won’t be those that can’t read or write, it will be those that can’t learn, unlearn and relearn. Allan Tofler.

Filter failure vs Information overload. Clay Shirkey.

3 Things that we can do with Technology:
Create
makebeliefscomix.com
avairy.com

Communicate
Skype
Skype an author Network
Contact Experts in the Field you study
Other Classrooms: SkypeInSchools Wiki
Edmodo- private Facebook-style network for education.

Collaborate
•MSP2 – Middle School Portal 2 – Math & Science Pathways
Learn from a network a PLN

What I know/ infinity

Networking Tools….New and Old
Conferences
Workshops
Teacher’s Lounge
Journals
Listserves
Twitter
Blogs
Social Bookmarks
Podcasts
Facebook

“You don’t learn to swim by sitting beside the pool. You can’t learn about networks without diving in either.”

Smartr portal
Developed for students – science and math oriented.

Reading Lists:
Rethinking Education in the age of technology. Allan Collins & Richard Halverson.

Shawn’s SoundNote Notes from this session:
SoundNote Recording created November 5, 2010 7:28 AM:

Todd Williamson
Twitter:  @twilliamson15
http://www.multi url.com/1/3Kz
Backchannel:  www.todaysmeet.com/twilliamson (12/18/2010:  This is now expired.)

How does technology fit in to what I do?
Check out his blog for information on the presentation.
Video on “this generation”.
-Don Tapscott
Norweigan band that rips off a number of other bands.

Caveats of Networked Learning
Native/Immigrant Paradigm
“Junk” Detection
What the web is Good For
Networked Learning

Native/Immigrant Paradigm
Marc Prensky reference.
Dangerous dichotomy of Native vs. Immigrant
Wes Bryer:  Digital Landscape
1.  Digital Refugees
2.  Digital Voyeurs
3.  Digital Immigrants: Participating
4.  Digital Natives:  Living in the zone.
Growing up with a computer on your hip, doesn’t make you hip to the use of computers.
We need to teach them how to use the tool.
Crap Detection
California Velcro Crop
Dihydrogen Monoxide dhmo.org
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
We need to help our students and teachers develop a filter to determine good and bad information on the web.
Information = danger?
The Power of the web for today’s students
It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.  – Clay Shirky
3 Things that the Web is good for.
Create
Screentoaster
Glogster
Animoto
MakeBeliefsComix.com
edublogs
Aviary
Communication tools
Skype
Skype an Author Network
Contact Experts in the Field you Study
Other classrooms:  SkypeInSchools Wiki
Edmodo – private Facebook – style network for education.
Tools
MSP2
PBWorks
Google docs
Wallwisher
ePals
It’s not about knowing all the tools.  The important thing is that you have a toolbox full of opportunities ready to meet a specific task.
Learn from a Network
He knows nothing, proven mathematically.
The network is smarter than the node.
What I know – Infinity divided by what I know becomes zero.
Learning Network names
PLN – Personal Learning Network
PLN –
NIHCTTAR – Network I Have Come To Trust And Respect
Networking Tools … New and Old
Conferences
Workshops
Twitter
Blogs
Social Bookmarks
Podcasting
FaceBook
You don’t learn how to swim sitting beside the pool.  You can’t learn about networks without diving in either.
Smartr* portal  smartr.edc.org
Designed for students to get in and build some of their learning.
Dead Tree resources
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, by Will Richardson
Rethinking Education In the Age of Technology, Allan Collins and Richard Halverson.

Contact Info:  twilliamson15@gmail.com
Twitter:  @twilliamson15
http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com

CEU:  PK8

News:

Put PISA in Perspective

By Walt Gardner on December 8, 2010 7:05 AM
PISA measures learning that has taken place since birth, but not necessarily what students have learned during their previous year in school.
About 5,100 students only from Shanghai were chosen. But Shanghai is hardly representative of China because it is an industrialized center with scores of modern universities.
According to a study in the International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership in April 2008, the relationship between student achievement rankings on international assessments of reading, mathematics and science and a nation’s future economic growth is untenable and not causal.
None of the above seems to sink in. In fact, any explanations are immediately labeled as excuses. This attitude effectively cuts off a rational discussion because it puts the other side on the defensive.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2010/12/the_astonishing_illiteracy_about_pisa.html

NMSA on the Tube
http://www.nmsa.org/Advocacy/OtherResources/tabid/327/Default.aspx
NMSA members were featured guests covering a variety of critical achool and home issues for 10- to 15-year-olds on The Parent-Teacher Corner, on the Lifetime Television morning show, The Balancing Act.

Dr. Betty Greene-Bryant named NMSA Senior Director of Professional Services

“Betty comes to NMSA from the Maryland State Department of Education where she coordinated the Maryland State Improvement Grant (MSIG), a U.S. Department of Education OSEP Professional Development Grant. Previously she has served in the roles of director and assistant director for other U.S. Department of Education grants. Betty served as the first principal in residence at the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and director for professional standards at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and has served as a middle and high school principal for more than 10 years. Her other work in the field has been that of a college instructor in the area of school administration and teacher training at American University and Coppin State University.” – From the NMSA website.

Taking Teacher Evaluation to Extremes

By Kenneth Mitchell
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/17/15mitchell.h30.html?tkn=TLOFwiP0tsOnR6JT3k/eb9Op9p6gM3PcMctB&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

New words of the Decade:
Video is 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2010/12/time-video-new-words-born-this-decade.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

MSM 146 NMSA 2010 Dinner Conversation

/ , , /

This week’s show is a recording of the dinner conversation we enjoyed during the National Middle School Annual Conference. There is a lot of background noise, but the audio is surprisingly decent considering. The conversation revolved largely around the Department of Education questions that Shawn was asked. We should be back with a “normal” show next week.

MSM-145 NMSA 2010:U.S. Department of Education & JACK BERCKEMEYER!

/ , , , /

Jokes:

Speed Versus Age
A Policeman stops a speeding car and tells the woman driver; When I saw you driving down the road, I thought to myself, sixty-five at least. The woman replied: “I don’t think that is quite fair. I think this hat makes me look younger.”

Hearing Aids
Seems an elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%. The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased you can hear again.” To which the gentleman said, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will five times!”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference
Santa:

North Pole

Activities – Paid site, but you could gather some ideas.

From the Audience:

In response to Reid’s question on digital science resources, I thought I could share a few thoughts and ideas.

Probably the best interactive online science simulations are called Gismos and can be found at:
http://www.explorelearning.com
They come at a cost but when you look at them you will see that they really provide skills in inquiry and understanding.  They are very “age appropriate” and include topics in earth, moon, and sun; measurement and lab skills; heredity and genetics; ecology and interdependence; motion and force, electricity and magnetism; and many, many more.  You can’t go wrong with Gizmos.
………………………..
As far as online textbooks go, there are not a lot of choices, unless you go with a textbook company and Reid did not want to go with a standard textbook.  I agree that he will have more success if he looks at “units” instead of a “full year.”  In Michigan we recommend four 9-10 week units in grades 5-7.  In 8th grade we recommend more units, but units that last shorter periods of time.  The other negative about online resources is that they tend to downplay inquiry, which is very important, as well as being more “high schoolish” in their content and delivery.  But here are a few choices:
Classzone—They provide resources to their student texts, but provide quite a bit of material.  Visit: http://www.classzone.com/cz/index.htm
Prisms—PRISMS is a collection of reviewed phenomena and representations for middle school. The goal is to help increase the amount of content aligned and pedagogically useful resources available in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) for middle school teachers and students.  Visit: http://prisms.mmsa.org/
Khan Academy—You have mentioned quite a few times, but is worth a visit at: http://www.khanacademy.org/
………………………..
I would also recommend that he participate in the National Middle Level Science Teachers Association. Educators can join at: http://www.nmlsta.org/
You mentioned that I write a newsletter and it is the twice-monthly Michigan Science Matters Network eBlast.  It is archived at http://msta-mich.org/smn But Science Matters is a network from within the National Science Teachers Association and Indiana is a part of the Network.  I would encourage him to contact the State Coordinator:  Kate Baird.  They are also affiliated with the state science organization—Hoosier Association of Teachers and they can be found at: http://www.hasti.org/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Pennies for the Planet! Penny Wars!

Advisory:

Secret Santa

The Secret Santa gift exchange is a favorite Christmas season activity. Put a twist on it in your classroom by having students give each other acts of kindness rather than gifts. Remind students how Secret Santa works. Tell them that instead of giving gifts they will be giving acts of kindness. Supply them with a few examples, such as giving compliments, helping with homework or sharing a joke. Give students slips of paper to write their names on and place them in a bag. Students draw the name of their partner for Secret Santa. Remind students to keep their identity secret.

Give the students pieces of A4 paper and have them decorate with Christmas borders so that they look like scrolls. Each day students write their acts of kindness on their scrolls. At the end of the week, everyone tries to guess who their Secret Santa is, and they turn their kindness scroll over to their partner.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6567051_holiday-activities-middle-school-students.html

From the Twitterverse:

*maggiecary Helping Your Child Transition from EZ Readers to Chapter Books:
*bdyck Wondering How the Internet Sees You?
*bhsprincipal The Answer Sheet | What Tom Friedman got wrong about schools and why it matters – http://wapo.st/eXgscu via @wackjacq #cpchat #bhschat
*bhsprincipal Patrick Larkin RT @MrWejr: Teachers Who Shun Social Media Left In the Dark- Vancouver Sun via @jsteffenhagen #edchat #bhschat
*cybraryman1 Email Around the World Project: #ellchat #kinderchat
*cybraryman1 @kconners09 My Ed Chats page: #sschat (every Monday 7 pm EST)  Here’s the link to tonight’s #sschat archive. http://ow.ly/3hdbh
@Ron_Peck A properly designed Cooperative Learning Project does work well. Cooperative Learning: #sschat
*WackJacq RT @mcleod: New post: The 7 tacit lessons which schools teach children http://bit.lhttp://bit.ly/hMaMCQ #sschat #cpchat (Note:  link in the tweet is bad.  Here it is:  http://www.minddump.org/the-7-tacit-lessons-which-schools-teach-child)
*TheSwish @MsTeacher28 We do a Bill of Rights “hand game” http://goo.gl/YHdBh & “Do I Have a Right” from @icivics #sschat
*Larryferlazzo The Best Teacher Resources For “Foldables”
*mbteach Come see a model lesson on using Skype in the classroom w/myself & @dancallahan at 11:20 #edcampnyc w/@jswiatek at #edcampcitrus

NSMA 2010

Department of Ed Interview

Session 4

April Tibbles is chief of staff.  (I got to sit next to the lovely and talented April Tibbles!)

Greg Darnieder is special advisor to Sec. Duncan.  College Access Initiative.
Leah Raphael, Patrick Desmond (Teacher fellows)  (LaDezma? A little difficult to hear)
Secondary planning group being developed.

Think about this while we talk:  If you had 60 seconds with the secretary, what would you say about middle school?

Speed round:
1st word:  Personalization
2nd word:  Looping
3rd word:  College and career readiness standards.
4th word:  Rigor
5th word:  Transitioning to high school.
6th word:  Data

Are the needs of middle school students distinct?
What does a middle school look like?
Reauthorization of Perkins is coming up next year.
Should that program be revised to include middle grades?
If you had 60 seconds with Arne Duncan . . .

1.  Exploratories to drive desire to learn and career choice.

2.  This We Believe – No half measures.

3.  We would love to have you on the podcast.
Secondary Schools Working Group

Session 4

LA Strategies that Meet the needs of the Adolescents

Jack Berckemeyer

Hands on. See hand out.

jackberckemeyer.com

steve spangler – diaper genie and bernoulli’s law.

I. Spelling:
Get words from other courses.
Put words on an index card. Tape the card on their back. They get 20 questions to figure out the word.
Harley Davidson spelling words. =

• Snap fingers and spell.
• Have them repeat you spelling the word. Change volume to really low.
• Chanting the word by syllable.
puzzlemaker.com

Word within a word

Paper plate Spelling – Put one letter on each plate. If a word includes more than one instance of a letter, the holder must move. If they start to spell it wrong, interrupt them. Then go back to them. Each and every group has to recite their answer. The kids hear it many times. (Always correct).

Replace a letter with a sound.
Blueberry and banana sentences. Replace the underline with a word. Use only 2 words to replace the line.

II. Reading Strategies
Book Talks
National Geographics (appropriate). Use for students who are finished with the assignments. Pick interesting articles. Use during pre and post learning time.
Story Pyramid- See handout
Useful for any subject. Just switch the questions.

3 Study card
The art of manipulation. The week of the test (Monday)use outlining, teaches listening skills and outlining. Then combine it down to a smaller piece of paper. Then cut it down to one index card.

READ magazine.
Pick a role and sell it to the kid first.

III. Academic Writing Strategies
19 Rules to Final Copy

IV. Creative Writing Strategies
Cliff Hangers
Make the kids be quite for 5 minutes at the beginning of class and write. It gets them focused.
How to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. The follow up is important. Teaches sequence of events and transitions.
Spin a story – Put a brad on a piece of paper with names/locations/conflict. Can also use  Weekly World Report – just the headlines.

V. Grammar
We don’t think about grammar as visual. Go to the window- does anyone see a noun?
“Fanatasia” the dancing hippos – kids come up with adjectives.
“Grammar Rock”

VI. Listening Skills
Place an X on the floor where you give direct instruction.
Sound effects on CD. They write what it the effect is.
“Green Grass Grew All Around”- they listen then quiz them.

VII. Oral Communications
Commercials
Songs

Presenting:
Chin Up
Speak so you can be heard
Eye Contact
Have them memorize a poem, then project the words on the back wall.
Use a prop box.

News:

Scrapping Education Dept. Could Be Tough Task

By Alyson Klein
During the recent midterm election, a number of conservative Republican candidates eager to clamp down on what they see as bureaucratic waste took aim at scrapping a familiar target: the 30-year-old U.S. Department of Education.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/03/14department.h30.html?tkn=LPSFd931Pu0MSHTZwcv4b9T%2FrkBlNeC1Xsfh&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

A Closer Look at a Christmas Carol

Need an example of an author rewriting? Want to teach the “secret” code of adults (cursive)? This is a great example of how Charles Dickens wrote the classic tale.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/30/nyregion/dickens-christmas-carol-pages.html

Free Audio version of A Christmas Carol

Author: Charles Dickens
Narrator: Antonia Bath
Publisher:LearnOutLoud.com
Unabridged Edition
Running Time: 2 Hrs. 45 Min.
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature/European-Classics/A-Christmas-Carol/29311

The Power of Literature Circles
I promise to provide practical resources on the how, when, where, what of lit circles, but let me first make a case for why every K-12 classroom should institute some version of literature circles.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literature-circles-how-to-and-reasons-why-elena-aguilar
http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/quest/collections/sites/aguilar_elena/literature_circles.htm

Interactive White Boards

Interactive White Boards are here, whether we like them or not. Golly, if your classroom doesn’t have one by now, I’d be real surprised.  And while tech educators often rail against them (because teachers hog them), I’ve decided to throw up the white flag of surrender- for the kids.  It would seem teachers aren’t going to give these things up and let the kids use them. Ever.
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/34792

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

MSM 144 NMSA 2010: PLC’s, Listener Question & Adolescent Thinkers

/ , , , /

Jokes:

Tuning
The doorbell rang, and the lady of the house discovered a workman, complete with tool chest, at the front door. “Lady,” he announced, “I’m the piano tuner.” The lady exclaimed, “Why, I didn’t send for a piano tuner.” The man replied, “I know, but your neighbors did.”

Age
A teacher said to her student, “Billy, if both of your parents were born in 1967, how old are they now?” After a few moments, Billy answered, “It depends.” “It depends on what?” she asked. “It depends on whether you ask my father or my mother.”

Space
When the Smith family moved into their new house, a visiting grandparent asked five-year-old Tommy how he liked the new place. “It’s great,” he said. “I have my own room, Alex has his own room, and Jamie has her own room. But poor mom is still in with dad.”

Painting
Mary goes to her first show at an art gallery and is looking at the paintings. One is a huge canvas that has black with yellow blobs of paint splattered all over it. The next painting is a murky gray color that has drips of purple paint streaked across it. Mary walks over to the artist and says, “I don’t understand your paintings.” “I paint what I feel inside me,” explains the artist. “Have you ever tried Alka-Seltzer?”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference

From the Audience:

Guys-  I have just recently started to listen to your podcasts and follow you on Twitter.  I am impressed and look forward to learning from the networking.  I am a middle school principal in Lowell, Indiana.  I need some help with a couple of things.  First,  it is a Science adoption year here in Indiana and I need help locating quality digital resources for adoption instead of textbooks.  Do you guys know of any that I could research.  Second,  I am interested in Second Life and how you guys use this web tool.
Reid

Middle School Science Minute

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

Cell Phones, iPods and energy. What do your students need to know?

Advisory:

Have your students take a short quiz on World Hunger. You could have the students take the quiz collaboratively, or take it yourself first, then give it to the students. Good discussion topics. Plus a donation is made every time someone takes the quiz.
http://gifts.wfp.org/quiz/

From the Twitterverse:

*ransomtech ✜ Stephen Ransom Gr8 screencasting tool on Mac!! RT @ScreenFlow: #BlackFriday is here! 15% off ScreenFlow thru end of November 🙂
*brasst Tami Brass Connect Safely |A Parents’ Guide to Facebook | Safety Advice Articles diigo.com/0dsjc via @Diigo
*rkiker How I Planned a Successful Unconference in 6 hours – and You Can Too http://pulsene.ws/o0Eo #edchat #edcamp
*kevcreutz Seven Ways to Build Your Own Educational Games #edtech
*
kconners09 RT @DanielPink: An inspired school principal (@L_Hilt) tries a FedEx Day for her teachers. Fantastic.
*shannonmmiller 10 Terrific iPhone and iPad Musical Performances http://ow.ly/3fUBZ @johnccarver
* drmmtatom Twitter Rubric: #fhucid
* jeanbont #pun outside class door today: “My arm!”, said Captain Hook, offhandedly.
*maggiecary When Your Child’s Grades are Failing:

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Waiting to hear back from Infamous40000 . . .

NSMA 2010 Session 3:

Session 3

Professional Learning Communities

Making a School Great: Professional Learning Communities

PLC is NOT:

  • A program
  • A package of reforms to be adopted
  • A step-by-step recipe for change
  • A sure fire system borrowed by another school
  • One more thing to add to an already cluttered school agenda

The research says that we take on the characteristics of the students we teach.

Culture
Climate
•Standards based (Learning Targets)
Coaching

Early success breeds Hope.

Covey’s concept of Sphere of Influence.  Sphere of control is where we need to operate.

Collaboration leads to taking out the walls.

Professional Development:

  • Research Based
  • Center around principles
  • BS or BA (Borrow straight or Borrow adjusted)

True Colors

Adults do not learn from experience, they learn from reflection. J. Mezirow
Must build reflection into the PD experience.

The starting of the PLC:

  • Pacing Guides – Calendar
  • Academic vocabulary
  • Writing prompts

Led to:

  • Pre/Post tests
  • Summative assessments

Instructional Focus
Formative assessment
Metacognition (Think alouds)
Prior Knowledge

  • Foundation
  • Scaffolding

Collaboration is the key.

Starting collaboration:
Grade level;
2 collaborative sessions  required per 9 weeks. There was form for follow up.
The next year, 1 was required. The third year, no mention. The idea was to integrate it into what they do.
Special education started getting involved. The special ed teachers gave some ideas for accommodations.

Common planning for departments. Started vertical articulation. This lead to similarities being identified. Identified overlap of standards.
Developed a 2 year plan. Language Arts teachers decided to “loop”. (5th & 6th and 6th & 7th grades.).
Cross curricular

  • writing prompts
  • Sharing ideas

Leads to Differentiation as well.
Leadership Team

  • How did it begin?
  • What does it look like now?

The leadership team takes issues to the principal. Makes sure that all teachers have a voice.

Reading became the focus of the school.
Reading became the common core.

First Step:
SRA

  • Scripted
  • Starts with the basics
  • Progresses through levels
  • Remarkable progress

Next:

  • Researched reading strategies
  • School wide:
  • Word Walls
  • Book Walks
  • Anticipation Guides
  • Anticipation Guides
  • Graphic Organizers
  • Think-Alouds
  • QAR

Sphere of Influence.

ICU – Intensive Care Unit
Exploratory Math labs, Lit labs
Saturday School
Summer school

ICU questions. All students are listed on Google Docs. Students who have issues are marked and followed up by everyone (eg. student missing homework).

  • Who do you owe?
  • What do you owe?
  • What do you need?
  • How can I help you?

Every teacher has to make 3 parents calls a week. At least 1 must be positive.
Celebrations at card marking

  • Movies
  • Baseball game
  • Bowling

*************************************************************************************

NMSA 2010:  Developing Adolescent Thinkers

SoundNote Recording created November 4, 2010 12:30 PM:

Sheila_J_Berlinger@mcpsmd.org
Jennifer_Bernard@mcpsmd.org
Denise_M_DeFlore@mcpsmd.org
Elizabeth_A_Sandall@mcpsmd.org

Pink folder on table and name tag.  Types of development paper to share.

This we Believe
“For middle school students to be successful, the school’s organization, curriculum, pedagogy and programs must be based on the developmental readiness, needs and interests of young adolescent learners.”
We need to staff our middle schools with experts in teaching middle school kids.

Outcomes

•  Identify the characteristics of the adolescent learner

•  Explain the instructional implications for adolescents based on their brain development.

•  Articulate how the selection of instructional ….
Characteristics of the Adolescent Learner:  Step One
Step one

•  Draw 2-3 strips from the envelope.

•  Sort the characteristics by the categories on the placemat.

Step two

•  Look at the hot pink paper and discuss.

•  Consult the document titled “Characteristics of Adolescent Learners.”

•  Examine how the characteristics were sorted.

•  Compare your lists to one we have provided.

Implications for learning
What implications does the information on the characteristics of the adolescent learner handout have for planning and instruction based on your role in your school district?
I need to incorporate those characteristics into my teaching to support their learning.
Why is rigor important and why does it matter?

•  Review your rigor placement.

•  Define Rigor:

International competitiveness.
Teaching with the end in mind.
Using thinking based learning.
Green Handout:  Rigorous Instruction in the middle school
Triangle image on the page.

1.  Explicit opportunities for critical thinking

2.  Selection of rigorous instructional materials

3.  Appropriately matched and differentiated instructional strategies.
Application activity:
Toni Morrison’s The Big Box
Chosen for an adult audience in a conference setting.
This is an illustration for use around the triangle.

1.  Listen to and look at the Big Box.

2.  With your table mates, revisit the text with the elements of reasoning.

3.  Be prepared to share your assignment element(s).

Reflection:
How did this experience motivate and engage you?
Rigor selection process.

Provocative:  To what extent is the curriculum concerned with the central problems in the discipline that challenge students’ previous concepts?

Ambiguous:  To what extent does the curriculum focus on cymbals and images paced with multiple meanings?

Complex:  To what extent is the curriculum organized around complex, interrelated concepts?

Emotional:  To what extent is the curriculum …

(Lilac paper)

Ambiguous:  forced us to interpret

Emotional:  there were things there that each reader can identify with.

Provacative:  Things to defend or discuss vigorously.

Complex:

PACE and the Big Box.
Implications for planning and instruction
What implications do the definition and measure of rigor (PACE) have for planning and instruction based on your role in your school district?
Engaging the students in something worthy of their time.
The elements of thought:  The Reasoning Wheel
Richard Paul and Linda Elders model.

1.  Points of view

2.  Purpose of the thinking

3.  Question at issue

4.  Information

5.  Interpretation and inference

6.  Concepts

7.  Assumptions

8.  Implications and consequences

Am I critical thinker?

Implications:  things that might happen

Consequences:  Things that will happen.

Discussion:

How would this model support their learning and help ensure rigorous instruction?
Adolescent Brain Development
Emotions??  Highly developed …
Reasoning and reflection?
Under construction …
(Until early or mid-twenties)
Developmental Rates
Significant growth occurs in the adolescent similar to childhood growth.
As those synapses are growing, we need to use them or lose them.
The stronger the relationship between the student and the teacher, the better the ability to set emotions aside and learn.
Prune the students to direct their energy to where it should go and strengthen the core of the tree/student.
Which neuron provides the greater potential for connection?
What students are asked to think about and what they’re asked to do determines the level of neuron they have.
Neuron develops on feedback and challlenge.
Challenge:  problem solving, critical thinking, relevant projects, complex materials.
Feedback:  Exemplars, connected to clear standards and criteria, various forms, timely, opportunity to use it.

Sense and Meaning
Long term memory:  retrieving information
Sense:  comprehension, I understand it, it makes sense.  Until it makes sense, it’s not stored.
Meaning:  Relevance-I can connect it to something else I know.  No connection = no meaning.
“Of the two, meaning has the greater impact on the probablily that the information will be stored.”  -Sousa
Implications for planning and instruction:  What implications does the information on the adolescent brain have for planning and instruction based on your role in your school district?

Rigorous Instructional Practices

•  The content refers to WHAT students will learn.

•  The process refers to HOW students will learn or explore the content.

•  The product is the EVIDENCE of student learning.

Implications for planning and instruction
What do I now have to consider in order to successfully develop adolescent thinkers?
CEU Code:  UN8

News:

Thanksgiving Sites

What Really Happened?
A comparison of Thanksgiving stories:
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/what-really-happened-comparing-stories-of-the-first-thanksgiving/

Webspotlight:

7 Ways to build your own games

Sharendipity
ClassTools.net
Purpose Games
What 2 Learn
YoYo Games
Jeopardy Labs
ProProfs Brain Games
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/11/seven-ways-to-build-your-own.html

Students, Ownership and Creativity: 35 Resources

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

MSM- 143 NMSA 2010: Motivating Students and Summarization Pt. 2

/ , , , /

Jokes:

Frogs
A guy was walking beside a pond when a frog jumped out and told him that she was really a beautiful princess and if he were to kiss her, she would make him VERY happy! He picked up the frog and put it into his pocket. A few minutes later, the frog poked her head out and said, “Didn’t you hear me?! I’m a beautiful princess and if you kiss me I will stay with you and do ANYTHING you want!” The guy took the frog out and said, “Look, I understand what you are saying, but I am a computer programmer and right now I don’t have time for a girlfriend… but a talking FROG is REALLY, REALLY COOL!”

Scotland
Over a remote Scottish island a helicopter lost power and was forced to make an emergency landing. Luckily there was a small cottage nearby. The pilot walked over to it and knocked on the door. “Is there a mechanic in the area?” he asked the woman who answered the door. She scratched her head and thought for a few seconds. “No,” she finally said, pointing down the road, “but we do have a McArdle and a McKay.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
“Heliophysics.” and more.

From the Twitterverse:

* NMSAnews NMSA RMLE Online: Influences of High-Stakes Testing on Middle School Mission and Practice
* rguthrie Rachel Guthrie Is school a selective process where students need to be ranked, sorted and culled? or an experience meant to encourage and promote learning?
*chadratliff Ouch: The 20 worst-paying college degrees in 2010 http://yhoo.it/b8ESfk
*PrometheanUSA THANK A TEACHER MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE IN ON PROMETHEAN PLANET STORE GET 10% OFF ALL ADULT T-SHIRTS +15% ON yr ORDER $40 OR MORE**code TY15
*presentationzen Mac News reporting that Pearson/Peachpit books, including my books, now on iBookstore. http://snipurl.com/1hb5uc
*DianeRavitch Is teacher experience important? “Reformers” say no. Research says yes: http://shankerblog.org/?p=1319
*go2publicschool Professor gives an exam, analyzes the grades, realizes 1/3rd of his class cheated. Proceeds to call them out: #badass
*doctorjeff #EDUCATION VIEW: LET’S TEST to see if testing has taken all joy out of our classrooms, and if we find it hasn’t, let us test until it does.
*drmmtatom Official Google Docs Blog googledocs.blogspot.com/?spref=tw #fhucid

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Waiting to hear back from Infamous40000 . . .

NSMA 2010 Session 2:

Session 2:
1267
Sharon Faber
Ms. Sandra Dutemple
Motivating Students

Great Strategies that Increase Positive Behavior & Motivate Students

“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability and their motivation”
John F. Kennedy

Kids are different. They are smarter -they know stuff, just not necessarily what we want them to know.

  • Reaffirm
  • Reinforce
  • New learning

Kids come to school to see their friends – we just happen to be there.
Research says 4th grade is crucial. Once they feel dumb- they need to save face.

Insanity – Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results .

When the horse dies – get off.

“The goal of teachers is to meet all students at their starting points and to move each one along a continuum of growth as far and as quickly as possible. Learning has no ceiling. ”
Tomlinson

Vocabulary & Prior Knowledge are required to increase knowledge.
Need to have a personality to be a good teacher.
Teachers need to be enthusiastic.

BA  or BS – Borrow and Adjust or Borrow Straight.

Use a different noise to bring kids back. Not all of the kids will hear your voice. Then the good

Email for handout

You teach like you learn.

“For these are all our children. we either profit or pay for what they become.” James Baldwin

Successful teaching is an evolving process.
It is important to keep an open mind because new and promising ideas are constantly emerging.
When a strategy or method clearly increases student learning, follow the practice as early as possible so that the students become accustomed to the specific way of thinking and acting.

Teachers make a tremendous difference in student achievement.
The key trait of effective teachers is that use systematic and explicit instructional strategies that work in any content.

Systemic
Skills and con pets are taught in a planned, logically progressive sequence.
Explicit
Direct explanation: stories, example
Teacher modeling: show them
Guided practice: pairs think together
Independent practice: formative assessment
Application: own, understood, useable

More than pairs allows for “slugs”
Too often the cooperative group allow for training kids to not think. (Time keeper, etc. )

Common Behaviors

  • Acting Out
  • Impatience & Impulsive
  • Gaps in politeness & social graces
  • Increased absences
  • Tardiness
  • Incidents of illness during class.
  • Academic learning and achievement problems (va
  • Inattentive & easily districted
  • Short attention span
  • Low self-esteem
  • Narrow range of interest
  • Fear failure
  • Lack structure & organization
  • Avoid responsibility

What you can do:

  • Model behavior

Hardwired by DNA:

Teach:

  • Humility
  • Forgiveness
  • Empathy
  • Optimism
  • Compassion
  • Sympathy
  • Patience
  • Shame
  • Cooperation
  • Gratitude

• Give respect to students when they seem to least deserve it.
• Share decision making with the class. Maintain expectations while offering choices and getting input.
Avoid sarcasm.
Model the process of adult thinking. Keep voice calm
Discipline through positive relationships instead of exerting power or authority.
Embed social skills like meet and greet skills, turn taking, thanking others.
Be inclusive
Celebrate efforts as well as achievement.

Actions that DON”T help:
Focus only on the basics.
Maintain order through force.
Eliminate or reduce time for arts, sports & PE.
Decrease interaction among students.
Deliver heavy handed, top down lectures. ( Kids know what your buttons are and will use them).

Actions that DO help:
Teach in 15 to 20 minute blocks and then let them share.
Routine & Consistency are crucial

Motivation always revolves around good teaching.

Davis Sousa – How the Brain Learns to Read. 2005

sharonfaber.com

Get their attention
emotion drives attention
focus their attention
maintain their attention
Keep them on task.

How long until I retire?
OR
What miracles can I create today?

NMSA 2010:  Summarization in Any Subject

Part Two:
Rick Wormeli, 2010  (Handout provided)

Break
Summarization Strategies:
Reading Notations
Annotated text is one of the best things we can teach according to research.
(Check Mark)          I agree with this.
X                I disagree with this.
??                I don’t understand this.
!!                Wow!  (‘Elicits a strong emotion)
CL                General Claim
EV                Evidence for the Claim
(These can be numbered to indicate their sequence, too:  EV1, EV2, EV3…)

Journalistic vs. Encyclopedic Writing
Read the journalistic version first then read the encyclopedic version is workable.
They’ll hang on the encyclopedic version if they read the journalistic stuff first.
Create narrative versions of boring stuff that we have to teach.
Reading Notations
EV for evidence
Annotated text is one of the best things we can teach according to research.
Journalistic vs. Encyclopedic writing.
Read the journalistic version first then read the encyclopedia version is workable.
They’ll hang on the encyclopedic version if they read the journalistic stuff first.
Create narrative versions of boring stuff that we have to teach.
Text structure:  The kids memorize the key words for each structure to identify it in class.
Chronological Order
Definition and Key words:
Compare and contrast
Proposition and support
Enumeration
Virtual Metaphors:  Graphic Organizers
Matrix
Venn Diagram
Writing is 98% thinking!
“If I had more time, I’d have written less.”  -Pascal
Kids need feedback in 1 – 3 days to internalize it.
Shorter is better, less is more.
T-Chart/T-List
Cornell Note-Taking format
T-Chart with summarization at the bottom.
Somebody wanted but so
Somebody (characters)
wanted (plot motivation)
but (conflict)
so (resolution)
Something Happened and Then
Something (independent variable)
happened (change in that independent variable) …
and (effect on the dependent variable) …
then (conclusion)  …
Narrowing the Topic
Is the topic narrow enough to be focused , but broad enough to have plenty to write about?
When we summarize, we:
Delete some elements
Keep some elements
Substitute for some elements.  (DKS) Ask students to memorize these three actions.

TaRGeTS
Trivia
Redundancies
Generalize
Determine Topic Sentence (Subject and author’s claim about it)
(What’s the headline for this?)
Writing Concisely
Avoid redundancies and saying the same thing in different ways:  see slide.
-Write Tight, 1993 by William Brohaugh
More Summarization Tips.
Use reading notations.
Allow students to mark consumable and non-consumable text.  (Highlighting tape)   Eraseable highlighters and wikisticks
Emphasize opinion free summaries – no commentaries.
Teach students to evaluate their own summarizations.
Set length slimit of 10 to 25% of the original text, <1% for longer text.
Encourage two or more readings or exposures.
Evaluating our Summaries (see handout)
Does it convey the information accurately?
Is it too narrow or too broad?  Does it convey . . . .
Help with Paraphrasing
Build students’ vocabulary and verbal dexterity.  Post word banks.  Use vocabulary immersion.
Provide repeated experiences with varied sentence combinations and word play.
Use repeated think-alludes
Play renaming and clue games such as Password, Taboo, and $25,000 Pyramid.
3-2-1
3: Identify
2:  List
1:  Name/What
Unique Summarization Formats/Products
See slide on handout.
Endless list of writing possibilities  see slide
RAFTS
Raise the complexity:
Lower the complexity:
Change the verb:
See the verb list from the slides.
Backwards Summaries
“Make the web from which this paragraph came.”
Save the Last Word for Me
Read a passage, making notations as they go.
They identify three or more sentences to which they have a response.
Place students in groups of 3 to 5, then one member of each group to read a line that he has identified.  He reads; there is no commentary or reason for choosing it given.
Each group member other than the reading person responds to … see slides.
Change the point of view
Tell the story from the points of view of other objects/people . . .
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Frayer Model
“Word Link”
Each student gets a word and they have to find someone to join with and explain the connection.
Summarization Pyramid.
Great prompts for each line:  Synonmy, analogy, question, three attributes, alternative title, causes, effects, reasons . . .
One word summaries
Exclusion Brainstorming
Premise: Ther eis not any curriculum so symbolic or abstract that we cannot “physicalize” it for better student learning.
Funny:  Yelling Movie in a crowded Firehouse …
Physicalizing Process:
Identify essential pieces
Physicalize those pieces and present them to the class.
Class critiques the physicalization in terms of accuracy, comprehensiveness.
see slides
Statues (Body Sculture)
Line-up
“If I get the kids to say it, they hear it.”
Summary Ball
The ones left standing are declared the winners.
Human Bingo
Always put something in there that’s crazy.
Human Continuum (Mobile Socratic seminar)
Masking tape on the floor (winding)
A=Gree
D= Duh, or disagree
Middle Line is uncomfortable to respond.
It’s ok to tell little white lies to protect the kid.
$25,000 Pyramid
Pictionary
Taboo Cards
Share one, Get one
We think primarily in physical terms.  Over time we become adept at translating symbolic and abstract concepts into meaningful structures or experiences.
Metaphor
Make one!
________ is/are a _____________ because ____________ .
Ask students …
Metaphors Break Down
Descriptions with and without metaphors.
Common Analougous Relationships (kids memorize)
4-Square Synectics
Brainstorm four objects from a particular category
How is the human digestive system like each household item:  sink, old carpet, microwave, broom.
Highly Recommended and Scummarization Ideas
Go to NCTE’s ReadWriteThink website.
Where do we go from today?
3x3x3!
Three Strategies/principles/aspects that will be in your thinking in the next three weeks for four weeks.
Three topics/ skills . .

Webspotlight:

DisUnion

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Americans went to war with themselves. Disunion revisits and reconsiders America’s most perilous period — using contemporary accounts, diaries, images and historical assessments to follow the Civil War as it unfolded.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/

ViewChange

Using the power of video to tell stories about real people and progress in global development.
Varied length of videos. Videos can be downloaded. Some really great videos can be found. You can change the view from an interesting circle to a list view. Many different subject areas are represented.
http://www.viewchange.org/

Google Lit Trips:

http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html

When Pictures Make History

A timeline of image-makers who have shaped world history
Excerpted from the book, TIME History’s Greatest Events
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2031505,00.html#ixzz15pzqxYhq

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2031505,00.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

MSM 142 NMSA 2010 Follow up 1, RTI, Summarizing and More….

/ , , , , /

Jokes:

Women’s Rights
A girl involved with the women’s libertarian group boarded a crowded bus and one man rose to his feet. “No, No, you must not give up your seat. I insist,” she said. The man replied; “You may insist as much as you like, Lady. This is my street where I get off.”

Initials
Mr. R.B. Jones applied for a position with the government and was accepted. On his first day, the personnel dept processed his records. When asked what the R.B. stood for, he informed the clerk that they stood for nothing. His parents had named him with the initials only. The clerk informed him that his records could not show initials only so they typed his name as R. (only) B. (only) Jones. He got his first paycheck made out to Ronly Bonly Jones!

Barbershops
The reading material at the barbershop consisted entirely of murder stories, mysteries, thrillers, and ghost tales. When Peter asked the barber if he wanted to terrify his customers, he replied, “No. Peter. These books make the customers’ hair stand up and then it becomes easier to trim and cut.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Chemistry Facts. Cool and useful. Did you know……?

From the Twitterverse:

*gcouros Let Them Speak – Why Student Led Conferences are the Right Choice
*coolcatteacher Vicki Davis
“Education ranks 55th out of 55 industries surveyed in the US” in the use of technology. Bob Wise
*web20classroom Steven W. Anderson
Using Wikis To Strengthen Vocabulary:
*francesblo Fran Lo
How To Get Early Access To ‘Skype Education’ Right Now edudemic.com/2010/11/how-to… via @edudemic #midleved #elearning
*
elemenous Learning: Is there an app for that? http://ow.ly/37Uit
*
shannonmmiller The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness…Great Math Resources http://ow.ly/329S9 #vanmeter
*
shannonmmiller Glogster and Gloster.edu as an alternative to PowerPoint http://ow.ly/329re
*
Larryferlazzo Elect.io is an easy way to find candidate positions in any US election http://www.elect.io/

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Waiting to hear back from Infamous40000 . . .

NSMA 2010 Session 1:

How to Implement a highly effective RTI Model

Kristin Heckt
Sara Malinoski
Jennifer Webb

Timothy Edwards in Connecticut
1100 kids. 30 kids on Tier 3.

SRBI- Scientifically Researched Based Interventions

Must be Multi-Tiered.

  • Tier 1 is 80% of students – this applies to all students.
  • Tier 2 is 20% of 6th grade. Becomes less in 7th & 8th grade.
  • 74% of kids coming at “Goal”
  • 95% at goal at the end of 7th grade.

Highly successful model. By 8th grade, no students are below basic.

Focus on academic interventions.

  • Vision
  • Clarity
  • Coherence
  • Courage

See “What Needs to be in Place?” –

  • Curriculum
  • Standarts-based
  • Understanding by Design

Data

  • Universal Screens
  • CFA’s
  • Diagnostic
  • Progress Monitoring
  • Use for Tier identification

PD
Embedded- into the course of the day. Team meeting everyday.  Moved from compliance issues to PLC practice.

  • Literacy
  • Technology
  • Research based Instructional design
  • Instructional coaches do PD weekly

Communication
DDDM at grade level
Students & Families – students monitor their own progress.

Support
Schedule – Flexible block schedule – kinda. Music is crucial to the district. Tier 2 or 3 comes out of encore periods. Needed flexibility from teachers as the kids would come and go throughout the year. Some kids would come out of Social Studies or Unified Arts (life skills, tech ed).
Administration
Personnel – 4 teams at each grade level. Down to 3 grade by grade level. 108 teachers for 1100 students.  Reorganized teachers to include some interventionists as well as the core areas. 6 Intervention Teachers.
Reallocated Resources

Programming
3 Tier Approach
Research based programs
Interdisciplinary teams
PLC’s

Special Education referrals have dropped considerably. Data shows that progress is being made. This leads to fewer students being identified. They went from a discrepancy model to the RTI model.

Including special education teachers now. They were just using interventionists. Special education and regular education teachers are both included into the intervention classes.

45 kids in Tier 2 & 16 in Tier 3 per grade level – approximate.

Email Kristin for her schedule. Teachers cover lunch. kheckt@swindler.k12.ct.us

Topics for embedded PD
Understanding by Design
Literacy
Technology
PLC
Data Driven Decision Making & Data Teams
High Yield Instructional Strategies
Common formative & Summative Assessments
Differentiation
Standards Based Grading

Book study. Change in culture.
Instructional Rounds is next. They want teachers to do the instructional rounds.

PLC/Data Team Structure
Interdisciplinary Teams – includes encores. 6 teachers per team level. Unified Art is “core class”. Encore is PE, music and health.

Tier 1:

  • Universal assessments
  • Comprehensive & differentiated instruction informed by scientific research.
  • Ongoing, embedded PD
  • Instructional & Human resources.
  • PLC’s / Data Teams
  • Material and instruction at instructional levels.

The Assessment Process:

  • Screening – identifies students for targeted intervention – 3x a year.
  • Diagnostic – Pinpoint instructional needs
  • Progress monitoring – Shows whether the instruction is effective and impacting student skill development.

Tier 1 Assesment Questions:
Why is the student not performing at the expected level?
What skills does the student need to learn to be a skilled reader?

See Tier 1 Literacy Intervention Plan

Tier 2

  • Small group instruction – never more than 8 kids at a time.
  • Additional support (4x out of the 6 day rotation – 45 minutes)
  • Homogenous grouping. (Use Read Naturally).
  • Interventions are short term.

Literacy Example:
Work Your Way Back: (See handout).

AIMS web norms.

Keeping students aware is a big part of the process.

Tier 3: Customized and Intense.

Programs:

  • Word warm ups
  • rewards
  • Let’s Read

Individual or small group (4 or less).
Homogenous groups.
Interventions require a high degree of expertise on the part of the teacher.

Fidelity of the Program:

  • Master teachers
  • Scientifically researched-based programs
  • Adherence to protocols:
  • Time
  • Setting
  • Grouping
  • Progress Monitoring
  • Communication

LW5

NMSA 2010:  Summarization in Any Subject
Part One:
Rick Wormeli, 2010  (Handout provided)
email him if we want the Powerpoint presentation of this if we want it.
Break at 10:00 am and the water is behind him.
Housekeeping done
Summarization
College websites have pages and pages of advice that should have been taught in elementary and middle school.
He started teaching in 1981.
Real learning has little to do with instruction.
Learning happens two ways:
They have to use it outside your classroom.

They need to summarize their learning in the middle and at the end of their learning.

Summarizing and debriefing.
What you teach is irrelevant.  It’s what the kids carry forward that matters.
Lectures chunked with summarization increases learning.
It’s revitalizing to do summarizing.
Summarize the brown slide article selection:
Text from the presentation (Courtesy Rick Wormeli):
Take a look at the NMSA’s This We Believe materials, Turning Points 2000, or the on-line research at www.nmsa.org: middle level students are in prime exploration mode.  They require ample opportunities to wrestle with ideas, not have those ideas spoon fed to them.  They should feel safe and invited to experiment and fail in the middle of class or at home as they learn new material.  Unfortunately, the way we’ve set things up in many middle schools, students consider academic struggle as being weak when it could be used as a launching pad for more effective learning instead.
Let’s make it okay to fail in the pursuit of learning.  One of the most vivid ways we can do this is to model it.  We set up real situations in which we do not know answers or how to solve problems – ‘really not know something, not just faking it — then find the answer or solve the problem constructively in front of students so they see what it looks like to not know something, to handle it wisely, and to remain a respected individual in the community.  Many middle school students do not push themselves to explore different talents or new thinking because they are focused on protecting their reputations as the persons who always get the right answers.  What potential is lost because a student needs to protect his personal status quo?
My summarization:
Prime exploration mode for middle school students.
They need opportunities to wrestle with ideas of their choosing.
They need to feel safe to experiment as they learn.  (Free to fail.)
Schools are not set up that way unfortunately.
Policy:  make it ok.
Model it for them.

Construct sandboxes to experiment it.  It helps protect them in the social of transescent learning.

“Share deodorant zones” and tell your neighbor why it is a good summarization.
Person listening:  agree or disagree, but tell why you agree or disagree.
Most of probably did well.  Most kids haven’t done it and so they struggle with it.
What makes a summarization good?
Is it comfortable to share under the scrutiny of others?
Problem/solution structure
Using one’s own words.
Give them a chance to language play to build vocab to summarize.
Jeremy ate pizza.
Embellish as needed.  Give me 10 ways to say a sentence.

Writing process terms:  they have to describe what they are doing/have done with the clay.

“Great books are rewritten.”
It captures the text accurately.
Could our neighbors get all the information in the topic from our summarization?
1.  Read it.
2.  Read it again.
3.  Look for key terms that are critical for understanding.
4.  Find key terms:
Nouns & Verbs
Words that without them, the sentence or passage wouldn’t make sense.
Topic sentence
Things that answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Chris Tovani, “I read it but I don’t get it.”
How was it to give advice on how well someone did on their summarization?
When we defend our thinking, we move into our internal editor.
They’ll remember it for much longer.
Kids will have to be taught on how to critique each other’s summarizations.
Gettysburg Address example
1.  Go sentence by sentence.
2.  Do a compressed poem.
3.  Guided reading.
4.  Visualization:  Draw a picture.
5.  Provide context to the document.
6.  Ask students what their experience is with death and cemeteries.
7.  Read aloud.
Yes, but by someone who knows the context and background.  Don’t read it cold.
8.  Define difficult words.
Rick’s method:
Pull out some phrases and then add them back in to reduce overloading.
Highlight contrast words:  Now/ago for example
One strategy won’t work:  You need 5 or 6 together to make it work.
Poetry Example:  “With hocked gems financing him . . . ”  (Dooling and Lachman, 1971)
•    With hocked gems financing him our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme
•    Your eyes deceive, he had said, an egg, not a table, correctly typifies this unexplored planet
•    Now three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging along sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys
•    Days become weeks, as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge
•    At last from nowhere, welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying momentous success
-Christopher Columbus
Students must have a frame of reference to understand the metaphor:  “He flozzled his website.”
Is this a good or a bad thing?  Add more context information to add clarity and creating background where there is none.
Tell the story of the Code of Hammurabi before discussing the Magna Carta.
Before studying the detailed rules of baseball, play baseball.
Before reading about how microscopes work, play with microscopes.
“In terms of standards, maybe  a standard for exposure to exploring…”  -A summarization of Bill Ivey and Rick Wormeli.
Before reading the Gettysburg Address, inform students that Lincoln was dedicating a cemetery.
Before reading a book about a military campaign or a murder mystery with references to chess, play Chess with a student in front of the class, or teach them the basic rules, get enough boards, and ask the class to play.
Primary-Recency Effect
See Graph:    (Courtesy Rick Wormeli)
Frontload and backload the hour.
Makes a difference
The bell work is always related to the stuff we’re doing that day.
Stop 7 minutes early and have them summarize what they learned in the hour.  (Gotta do this one!)
Make these cycles with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Free fact:  If you’re not a good student, put your paper under a poorer student’s paper and you’ll get a better grade.
Definition:  Summarization is restating the essence of text or an experience in as few words as possible or in a new, yet efficient, manner.
Sprenger’s Suggestions for Long Term Retention  (How to Teach So Students Remember, ASCD, 2005)  (Preview of the inside of the book:  http://books.google.com/books?id=z5ipcWRLCPYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22How+to+teach+so+students+remember%22&source=bl&ots=fyqpgsXxJ8&sig=VOVU5LOBWF4-gZPA9CNtyzf0o_o&hl=en&ei=swTeTIfEHsbPnAe4_YSvDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false )
Reach:  on an emotional level.
Reflect:
Recode:  put it in terms of their own life
Reinforce:  graphic organizer
Rehearse:
Review:
Retrieve:
Remember who’s doing the learning.
Break Here for Next Show:
Whomever responds to the students/classmates is doing the learning.  Make sure the majority of the time it’s the students responding and summarizing, not the teacher.
Teachers ask 80 questions each hour on average, while students ask only two during that same hour.  (Betty Hollas)  Students learn more when they ask questions.  Find ways to make question-asking so compelling and habitual they can’t escape it.
Have a conversation (with Wormeli) using only nouns.
First one to utter a verb loses.
Prime the brain prior to asking students to do any learning experience.
Priming means we show students:
1.  What they will get out of the experience (the objectives).
2.  What they will encounter as they go through the experience (itinerary, structure)
Avoid Confabulation
The Brain seeks wholeness.  It will fill in the holes in partial learning with made-up learning and experiences and it will convince itself that this was the original learning all along.  To prevent this:
Deal with misconceptions:  Students should summarize material they already understand, not material they are coming to know.
Recall success with individual, unrelated items:

Age of Student
# of Unconnected, Individual Items Successfully Recalled
(plus or minus 2, Wolfe, 2001)

5    2

7    3

11    5

15+    7
Courtesy Rick Wormeli’s PowerPoint.
Summarization tips:
Create or activate personal background.
Prime the brain.
Plan according to the Primacy-Recency Effect.
Use varied summary formats – written, artistic, oral, physical, musical.
Use summary experiences before, during, and after lessons.
Teach students to recognize familiar text structures .
Teach students to recognize familiar writing structures.
Use analogies.
Chunk text and experiences.

Courtesy Rick Wormel’s PowerPoint.
Reading Math

Math books have more concepts per sentence and paragraph than any other type of text.

There is little redundancy in math text.
Words as well as numbers and other symbols are used throughout the text.
Eyes travel in different patterns than traditional left-to-right.
They often have distracting sidebars.

In most text there’s a topic sentence or key idea followed by detailed supports.  In math, we get the details first then the topic sentence – the key idea is given in the form of a question or a task at the end.  Students ahve to read the text agian after seeing this key idea and figure out what material in the text is important and unimportant.

Word Morphology
Teach prefixes, roots and suffixes!
See the list in his handout.
Kids who know their roots and suffixes, can summarize.
Latin is Fun!  – Book example.
Break
Part Two
Summarization Strategies:
Reading Notations
Annotated text is one of the best things we can teach according to research.
(Check Mark)           I agree with this.
X                I disagree with this.
??                I don’t understand this.
!!                Wow!  (‘Elicits a strong emotion)
CL                General Claim
EV                Evidence for the Claim
(These can be numbered to indicate their sequence, too:  EV1, EV2, EV3…)

News:

Oregon School Addresses English Language Learners

http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=128942579843364600

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

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

1 2