Monthly Archives: September 2010

Education Nation

/ /

Lots has been posted over the yesterday and today about “Education Nation”. That is the, the federal government’s emphasis on education. This is an interesting post on how the issue of poverty was glossed over and ignored. Add this article about Snooki and education, and, well, you’ve got a few things to think about.(Quote: When we talk about teachers, and we try to lay all the blame on them and we say, ‘why can’t that teacher get that kid’s score up,’ watch Jersey Shore. Watch it. And tell me what teacher could possibly have reached anyone of them, to get any one of their scores up, in any subject.)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/race-to-the-top/the-elephant-obama-lauer-ignor.html?wprss=answer-sheet

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/lawrence-odonnell-has-the-last-word-on-snooki-and-education/

New Teachers Needed?

/ /

I remember back a few years ago (OK, quite a few years ago), when “they” were saying that Michigan would need a large number of teachers. I was happy as I was just graduating. However, the number of teachers needed never really materialized. I thought of this with the recent articles on how the retirement incentive didn’t work out as the legislators had predicted (that was a real surprise-um, not really). Now comes an article from Rhode Island about how they graduate more teachers than they need. Every year, they graduate about 1,000 teachers. In a good year, they hire 200-250. The teachers who are graduating are specializing in elementary education. Fewer than 50 specialized in math. They are cutting back due to economic pressures and a declining population. Interesting. In light of President Obama’s chatting today, I wonder how many times we are going to hear about the lack of teachers.

Some interesting numbers from the article (http://www.projo.com/news/content/teacher_glut_09-26-10_KEJUER0_v247.1fc0ad5.html):

BY THE NUMBERSR.I.’s teachers

50,000+

Approximate number of adults certified to be teachers in Rhode Island

15,000

Total number of certified teachers currently teaching in the state, both public and private schools

12,000

Number teaching in R.I. public schools

1,000

Approximate number of graduates from the state’s eight traditional teacher training programs each year

390

Number of graduates who specialized in elementary education in 2008-2009

49

Number of graduates who specialized in math in 2008-2009

44

Number of graduates who specialized in secondary special education, mild to moderate in 2008-2009

19

Number of graduates who specialized in biology in 2008-2009

4

Number of graduates who specialized in chemistry in 2008-2009

3

Number of graduates who specialized in physics in 2008-2009

Source: R.I. Dept. of EducationTeacher training in R.I. — A snapshot

MSM-135 iPads in Education: A Discussion with Dr. Monte Tatom

/ /

Special Thanks to Dr. Tatom for sharing his experience with us:

The discussion centered around iPad use in education. We discussed iPad use at the college and middle school level. Lots of good tips.

*The sound is less than perfect is some spots. However, the content is really good.

MSM 134- Advisory and a Way with Words.

/ , , , /

Jokes:

Best Signs
Sign on company bulletin board: “This firm requires no physical-fitness program. Everyone gets enough exercise jumping to conclusions, flying of the handle, running down the boss, flogging dead horses, knifing friends in the back, dodging responsibility, and pushing their luck.”

Listeners:

Dave Bydlowski:  thanks for the email.  Looking forward to hearing from you throughout the year!  Go Science!  (David’s Podcast)

From the Twitterverse:

  • * paulbogush @msstewart You can lead kids..don’t give tool, ask what do you need to be successful, they will give Ans, you suggest tool …
  • * Larryferlazzo Good Parent Engagement Video
  • * teach42 An to anyone I may have wronged without realizing it this year, I apologize. #Twitonment
  • * tombarrett I’d be grateful of you visited Class 9’s Blog + comment to encourage them as they begin their blogging journey :-
  • * msstewart Anyone ever given opt-in group work? Students have option to work either independently or in a group for different parts of project
  • * web20classroom Lessons in the Absence of Teachers « Cooperative Catalyst
  • * phsprincipal Whew… someone else RT @micwalker: RT @garystager: Ladies & gentlemen, I give you the worst principal in the world –
  • * web20classroom From @TeachPaperless-Increasing Student Engagement By Getting Rid Of Textbooks:

Advisory:

Making Hard Decisions:

What would your students do if they discovered that they had broken a rule?
http://www.pgatour.com/2010/r/09/02/teenager-disqualified.ap/index.html

Career Path Discussion:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703466704575489773416987814.html

Tech Tools:

Basic Google Search that everyone should know:

10 Basics tips to make your google searching better and easier.
http://www.techlearning.com/article/32300

Wordia

From their About page:
Wordia.com is a high-quality online dictionary: a professional authoritative textual dictionary but with one big difference…
Like a traditional dictionary, Wordia allows users to search for the spelling, meaning and etymology of a word but what makes Wordia unique is the ability for users to explore the personal connotation of word through video.
My Take:
Videos vary in quality. However, look beyond just the video. There are also definitions, etymologies and more. It is a great idea though. You could do something similar with your class. Or your class could contribute.
http://www.wordia.com/

SnappyWords

Free visual English dictionary.  An online interactive English dictionary and thesaurus that helps you find the meanings of words and draw connections to associated words. You can easily see the meaning of each by simply placing the mouse cursor over it.
http://www.snappywords.com/

DocDroid

DocDroid is a completely free online document uploading, conversion and sharing tool.

  • Upload documents in nearly any format.
  • Share the document via eMail, Twitter or Facebook.
  • Fast HTML preview for readers.
  • Let the reader choose in which format he wants to download the document.
  • Multiple file upload is possible.
  • Password protection is possible.
  • Supported formats: PDF, DOCX, DOC, ODT, PAGES, RTF, OTT, XLS, XLSX, TXT, PPT, PPTX, ODP and more!
  • Documents can be deleted by you or are deleted after 60 days without view.

http://www.docdroid.net/

Webspotlight:

Free Teaching History Poster

You can order a FREE historical thinking poster. They also have resources for elementary, middle and high school.
http://teachinghistory.org/

Math Fun Facts

This archive is designed as a resource for enriching your math courses and nurturing your interest and talent in mathematics! Each Math Fun Fact is a math puzzle or short article that contains a cool mathematics idea. You’ll can learn about the mathematics of things like card shuffling to poker to computer vision to fractals to music, just to name a few. This makes great enrichment material for gifted math students or problem-solving groups.
http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/

Commonly misheard expressions

From a friend Down Under. Still a great discussion.
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/09/ten-misheard-expressions-to-avoid-in-your-writing/

Classroom Secrets- Taking My Students on a Classroom Tour

By Marsha Ratzel
The first tour stop is the “Start of Class Procedure and Class Agenda,” projected on my interactive whiteboard.
I’m not sure the procedures and routines of Room 66 are worth much, monetarily speaking. But collectively they maximize our learning time together by allowing us to accomplish the administrative tasks quickly, efficiently, and without trauma to students. I estimate that they give me an extra 4-5 minutes of class time every day – which means I’m able to squeeze out an extra day of instruction every 10 days. Since we are in school for 10 months, that means I’m creating nearly 18 extra class periods of instruction versus someone who doesn’t use these kinds of tricks. That’s almost a month of extra instructional time in each class.
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/09/15/tln_ratzel.html?tkn=ZRZF%2FCsty6RQ0ltMWceCfc%2B5%2FYBAcGhCp00l&cmp=clp-edweek

News:

Did Bill Gates waste billions of dollars over math errors?

Did Bill Gates waste a billion dollars because he failed to understand the formula for the standard deviation of the mean?  Howard Wainer makes the case in the entertaining Picturing the Uncertain World (first chapter with the Gates story free here).

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/09/the-small-schools-myth.html

ISTE 2010

Kathleen Blake Yancey:  kyancey@fsu.edu
National Council of Teachers of English
Former President of said organization.
Online Resourcing and Researching
Two large parts
1.  What it was to research and what it means to research now.
2.  How can we help them research online now.
Assumptions
1.  Sources = Materials
2.  Materials = Verbal, Visual, and Multimedia
3.  Use of the Materials of Others
4.  Creation of Materials
One:  An Historical Document
The Victorian Albert Museum of London
Anybody can access the library . . . when they’re open.
Banker’s Hours
7 slips in order to get the material you want to view.
If they’re still open, you get to read it.
The Seattle Public Library
$15.00 cost if you’re not a citizen of Seattle.
Very recently were we allowed to access it ourselves.
Victorian Albert Museum Library has open shelves.
The amount of material that is accessible is very new and very recent.
Two:  Web -> Print Upload
Libraries are getting rid of duplicate copies and divesting themselves of print materials because of space.
JSTOR is a research device that will let students archive material to read, i.e. make their own collection.
Example:  Visual Search ability
Think of it as a MindMap research context.
Three:  Ecology!
Genetics?
New England Journal of Medicine
Wired Science
LA Times Online
DNA Talk – off topic source
Genetics and Health
The Medical Quack
The Classroom (STEDMAN/YANCEY)
Ethics
Knows how information/knowledge is created, historically and currently.
Knows academic conventions
Knows IP/copyright law (including fair use)
Composes ethically with the materials of others.
Knowledgeable
Finds appropriate information
Contextualizes information
Evaluates information
Creates new meanings with information
Searching Text/Context
Focused and systematic (Card Catalogues/Search Engines)
Stumbling -> Physical context as search instrument (Principle of Proximity:  What’s next door?)
Breadcrumbing/Linking -> Electronic, hypertextual context as search instrument (principle of conceptual proximity:  What’s related?)
The first two are direct, the last is indirect.
Sam Wineberg’s Three Moves That Make History
Corroboration:  Walther Fisher’s “Fidelity”
Convergency begets competence.
Sourcing
Contextualization
His book:  How Knowledge Is Made
Case Study I:  How do they compare?
1.  Analysis of an Encyclopedia entry and a Wikipedia entry – an opportunity to consider how a given term is defined in two spaces purporting to provide information of the same quality; intended to help us understand how they are alike and different and what one might do in creating a Wikipedia entry.
Case Study II:  Answering a question using online resources.
1.  Is Bright Star accurate?  http://www.rc.mud.edu
2.  Patients Like Me  www.patientslikeme.com
Shows the patient’s symptoms through the view of the patient.
3.  New York Times:  State of the Union Addresses Search Tool.
4.  Weather/Climate Events
Which sources of information do you trust and why?
Convergence Begets Confidence
1.  What sources did you find?
2.  How do they compare?
3.  Can you map them?
4.  How credible are they?
5.  How did you know?
And just the other day ….
Beth:  A lot of it begins with medical/pharmaceutical research and then considers research in other areas.  At a quick glance, really just a quick Google search [if you want a more complete bibliography, I have one in my office …]
Case Study III:  What’s the Story Behind Copenhagen?
The New York Times:  Times Topics
Case Study IV:  How Would You Document the Decade?
The New York Times:  Documenting the Decade.
How would you document the decade and you get one image to represent the decade.
Each picture comes with student written text, so it doesn’t stand alone.
The Learning Network (NYT)
Student challenge:  Create a New York Times ‘Found Poem’.  (example given)
National Gallery of Writing Website
www.galleryofwriting.org
Create a profile
Search/contribute
writing
audio
scanable images
Teachers can create their own gallery and have the ability to approve/disapprove pieces.

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

Quote from Drumming to the Beat of Diiferent Marchers

/ / /

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 peoplei n his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.
By Donald D. Quinn

MSM- 133 It’s Constitution Day!

/ , /

Jokes:

A beginner rider at the stables was trying to saddle a horse. “Excuse me,” said the old hand, “but you are putting that saddle on backwards.” “How do you know,” snapped the student. “You do not know which way I’m going.”

On Our Mind:

First week back to school . . .
Constitution Day Resources . . .
Cybrary Man:  http://cybraryman.com/constitution.html

Listeners:

Thanks to @Mthman & @rushtheiceberg for the recommendation on Twitter!
Best wishes to Kevin at Honey Grove on his new blog!

From the Twitterverse:

  • * topedutweets  Teachers to take online professional development courses – study says improves instruction & student achievement http://ow.ly/2yAwX
  • * math2go   Survival Kit for New Teachers:
  • * Twilliamson15  have done podcasting with my students to cover the hundreds of human body systems topics we can’t fit into class. #scichat
  • * gcouros  Focus on results can make children do worse, study finds
  • * Larryferlazzo  Oxford English Dictionary May Never Be Published Again
  • * cybraryman1  Have students do a What if? and then have them make a map. For example if Americans lost Am Revol. #sschat
  • * drmmtatom  RT @NMHS_Principal: How Do You Measure the Effectiveness of Professional Development? by @snbeach
  • * shareski  Great story about integrity and sports from this teen from Wisconsin via@rmcdonald17
  • * ipadeducators  An interesting discssion of iPad project in eighth grade classrooms – what do you think?:
  • * cybraryman1  My Constitution page (Constitution Day – Sept 17th):
  • * DoTheMathBooks The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones. John Wooden #quote

Advisory:

NMSA Video Contest

“Showcase your students’ video production talent as they share how they are making a difference!
NMSA is accepting video submissions to be played at its 37th Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, November 4-6, 2010. More than 7,000 educators from around the world will view the winning videos and see them recognized on the conference website, SchoolTube, and the conference program book.
Challenge your students to use their 21st century technology and communication skills to showcase how they, their class, or school have been innovative, creative, or inspiring.”
http://www.nmsa.org/annual/AbouttheConference/VideoContest/tabid/2264/Default.aspx

Tech Tools:

ThoughtAudio:

As the world moves toward more complex interactions, one of the most fundamental aspects of humanity is to enjoy its thoughts and its great works. Our journey has always been one of making classic literature available to anyone willing to listen, and now in this next phase, to expand our scope to include more thinkers, writers and essayists. Although thinking may not seem as relevant today, with advancing technology providing alternative vehicles of entertainment, we are committed to bringing a small part of intellectual enjoyment to the globe.
http://www.thoughtaudio.com/

Reading Logs
Reading Logs gives students a better way to track reading, create vocabulary cards and practice spelling. Learning material is uploaded by teachers and is accessed online by students in their class.
http://www.readinglogs.com/

How Safe is your password?
http://howsecureismypassword.net/

Voki:  Animated avatars
Education application form for the animated avatar app.
From the website:  “Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.”

Webspotlight:

TheApple is a diverse community of aspiring and current educators that want to support each other and advance their careers. Think of it as social networking with great career resources. We have a very active group of members from the veteran teacher, career changer, and even the pre-college student. Mentoring and career building is a good part of what we do. Let me be the first to invite you to become an active part of TheApple

http://theapple.monster.com/

47+ Alternatives to YouTube:
Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. However, many teachers cannot access YouTube in their classrooms. That is why I originally wrote what became one of the most popular posts to ever appear on Free Technology for Teachers, 30+ Alternatives to YouTube. That post is now fourteen months old and I’ve come across more alternatives in that time. Also in that time span some of the resources on the list have shut down. So it’s time to update the list.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/09/47-alternatives-to-using-youtube-in.html

News:

California testing iPads as Algebra Textbook Replacements

A pilot project in four California school districts will replace 400 students’ eighth-grade algebra textbooks with Apple iPads in an attempt to prove the advantages of interactive digital technologies over traditional teaching methods.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/117625-california-testing-ipads-as-algebra-textbooks

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

Back to school

/ /

In Michigan, school does not begin until after Labor Day by state law. Thus, our students return to school tomorrow morning. The idea behind the law is that Michigan would lose like a bajillion dollars in tourism money if we started before Labor Day. People who teach in other states can’t believe that restate after Labor Day. When does your state open school?