Monthly Archives: February 2011

MSM 155 Rice, Rice Baby … Kaplan for Kindergarten!

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Jokes You Can Use:

Definitions:

BEAUTY PARLOR:
A place where women curl up and dye.
CANNIBAL:
Someone who is fed up with people.
CHICKENS:
The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.
COMMITTEE:
A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.
DUST:
Mud with the juice squeezed out.
EGOTIST:
Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.
GOSSIP:
Never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.
KLEENEX:
Cold Storage.
INFLATION:
Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.
MOSQUITO:
An insect that makes you like flies better.
RAISIN:
Grape with a sunburn.
SECRET:
Something you tell to one person at a time.
SKELETON:
A bunch of bones with the person scraped off.
TOOTHACHE:
The pain that drives you to extraction.
TOMORROW:
One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.
YAWN:
An honest opinion openly expressed.
WRINKLES:
Something other people have. You have character lines.

On Our Mind:

Embracing the Wide Sky
Daniel Tammet in audiobook format

From our Listeners:

No Eileen Award today

Advisory:

Free Rice

  • Click on the right answer in the middle of this page.
  • If you get it right, you get a harder question. If you get it wrong, you get an easier question.
  • For each answer you get right, we donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance.
http://freerice.com/

Middle School Science Minute

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

  • Science Songs
  • Plate Tectonics

From the Twitterverse:

*shannonmmiller Your Classroom as an Apple Store from Rethink the Box…Love the ideas! http://ow.ly/3ZABJ
*missnoor28 RT @simfin: RT @russeltarr: 10 Killer Content Sources for Your iPod Learning Mix: http://tinyurl.com/yflj5tu #mlearning #edtech

RT @marynabadenhors: If doctors were treated like teachers (I wish teachers were treated more like doctors) #edreform

RT @jdthomas7: 10 Ways 2 Use QR Codes in yr Classroom | Technology Teacher – #edtech #edchat
*tombarrett 14 Interesting Ways to use Web Conferencing in the Classroom – I know there are plenty more good ideas, pls add yours
*willrich45 ACT out against the SAT Interesting vid. Will be dealing with this soon enough. #college #testing
*IAM_SHAKESPEARE THE_REAL_WILLIAM Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
*itrt High School ipad apps http://www.diigo.com/annotated/34bd3822e59f5bae78327df034dd87d9
*maggiecary If Teachers Graded Parents:
*bethstill If you are new to ISTE this year you might want to check out this event on Saturday: #iste11

News:

Studies Find Language Is Key to Learning Math

By Sarah D. Sparks

New research shows a lack of language skills can hamstring a student’s ability to understand the most fundamental concepts in mathematics.
Children start counting everything in sight as soon as they begin to speak, but research shows they do not immediately attach abstract meaning to the numbers.
The findings provide more evidence for the link between early literacy and numeracy suggested by other recent research.
The findings also may suggest the importance of using number lines rather than finger-counting in early grades, Ms. Goldin-Meadow said.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/17/21math.h30.html?tkn=RMVFed6tRXiQd1a8OyriYPqFy8qmkJgPYe0F&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

Wisconsin

http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/the-wisconsin-protests-do-public-employees-make-more-than-private-employees
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/17/wisconsin.budget/index.html

Prepping for Kindergarten Test

This year she hired a former Montessori teacher to tutor her preschooler on everything from learning continents to sounding out words.
Tutor Lemi Erinkitola started a tutoring company for kids as young as 3, preparing children, mostly on the South Side, for CPS’ admissions tests. She said that when she went through the process with her own three children, she found few resources.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-testing-0215-20110214,0,3146773.story

Resources:

Find out who is linked to your (or your school’s) web site:

  1. Go to AltaVisa
  2. Type in link:webaddressIwanttoknowlinks.com (um, after link: type the address of your web site or your school’s web site).
  3. Change “Show Links” button to Except this domain – this will exclude your own posts.

Web site extensions:

.org – organization
.com – company
.sch – school (used outside of U.S.)
.k12 – most U.S. school sites
.edu – U.S. higher ed
.gov – U.S. government (add country code for outside U.S.)
.ac – higher ed outside of U.S. usually used with country code, example: “.ac.uk”
.net – network
.mil – U.S. military
.co – Company (if paired with a country code, example: “.co.uk,” the state of Colorado or the country, Columbia)

EmbedPlus as an educational tool for videos

Our core features could help teachers focus students on relevant parts of existing     videos and allow them to add extended material. See our initial ideas below:

  • Chapter/Scene Skipping – Videos often have specific segments or turning points that viewers may wish to jump back and forth to – especially after the first view. A video could span multiple topics and/or contain different speakers. Teachers can mark each turning point for easy navigation using the jump buttons on the player. Alternatively, if a video has certain ‘skippable’ parts that are not relevant to the desired lesson, the beginning of the relevant parts could be marked for direct access to them.
  • Movable Zoom and Slow Motion – These are the other DVD-like             controls. They can be particularly valuable for science and nature videos in which students are to make observations. To illustrate, a video might contain experiments     and chemical reactions that may happen too quickly for normal playback. Slow motion     and zoom offers students a chance to get a closer and clearer understanding of the     event. They can also provide greater accessibility that some students might need     for viewing text and other objects within a video.
  • Third Party Annotations -Teachers might wish to offer additional             information beyond what is presented in a video. Such information could be effectively     displayed using annotations that popup at user-defined times. EmbedPlus offers such     a feature for third-parties-i.e. anyone that wishes to embed a video. While annotations/captions are also possible through YouTube, they can only be added by a user with access to the video’s channel. EmbedPlus complements YouTube in this way. You will also find that with EmbedPlus’ annotations, the control bar of the player displays the text to avoid blocking the video screen and possibly distracting viewers.
  • Real-time Reactions – This optional feature displays YouTube and Twitter reactions right inside the player. We are speculating that some comments from YouTube and Twitter can offer students useful viewpoints from others that have viewed a video-particularly those outside the students’ classroom. This of course         depends on the nature of the commenters and tweeters.

http://www.embedplus.com/

Free Stuff from 3D Vinci

Sketch-Up tutorials
http://www.3dvinci.net/ccp0-display/freestuff.html

Math Practice – Make 5

Practice using Addition/Subtraction/Multiplication. Students answer questions to get 5 in a row.
http://www.fi.uu.nl/toepassingen/00091/toepassing_wisweb.en.html

TutPup

Welcome to Tutpup, where you can compete in fun, educational games against other kids from all over the World!
Our aim is to provide simple, fun, competitive games that help children learn and gain confidence with Maths, English and other key skills and knowledge.
http://tutpup.com/

Web Spotlight:

TED Conversations

A new platform for sharing ideas. 3 ways to engage:

  • Ideas
  • Questions
  • Debates

Useful to find ideas for discussions.
http://www.ted.com/conversations

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 16 – 17, 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

The Failure of Public Schools

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I’ve been talking to several people lately about public schools and their role. Here is my concern: we truly have a chance to revolutionize education. However, instead of looking at how the world has changed, how our lives have changed, and what students will need, we (being the legislators mostly) have decided to chase the fallacy of some past idea. Instead of moving to creativity, we have moved to simple standardized tests.

Public schools are crucial to democracy. However, Michael Martin has an interesting article on why public schools must fail. Certainly thought provoking.

http://ksdcitizens.org/2010/12/22/waiting-for-superfraud/

MSM-154 Throwing Cadbury Creme Eggs at Cyberbullying.

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Jokes You Can Use:

Languages
A mother mouse and her three children crept out of their hole into the kitchen and began feasting on some delicious bits of food. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Mother Mouse saw a cat slinking toward them. The cat was between the mice and their hole. The mother muse puffed up her lungs and went, “Woof! Woof!” The cat turned tail and ran. With that, the mother quickly led her children back to safety in their hole. When they were settle and breathing normally, Mother Mouse said to her children. “Now, what’s the lesson from that experience?” “We don’t know,” the baby mice squeaked. “It is this,” said Mother Mouse. “It’s always good to know a second language.”

On Our Mind:

Snow Days – Part 2
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_721287.html

From our Listeners:

The Eileen Award:  It’s a great hands-on project being sponsored by the International Year of Chemistry for all elementary school and high school students, and according to the IYC there is little to no cost to perform the experiments.  They are trying to make it a World Record for largest chemistry experiment ever! I found more information about the experiment itself at http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2010/3205/3_wright.html .  From my understanding teachers just go to the website and sign up if they want to participate, and they can get lesson plans/walkthroughs right there.
-Alan

Advisory:

Jeopardy Archive
Just place your mouse over the dollar value for the question to reveal the “answer”.

Middle School Science Minute

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

Check out Dave’s Science Explosion Channel on YouTube.

From the Twitterverse:

*cybraryman1 My Glogs (Glogster) page (a fun approach to learning):
*AngelaMaiers Just got my invite 2 greplin.com (Thnx @gsiemens ) What do you think of it greplin users?
*ApplePlaza Google may buy podcaster Next New Networks http://sns.ly/o4b9y9
*CraftTestDummy This could be dangerous!RT @jenjentrixie: Did you know you can make a homemade version of the Cadbury Creme Eggs. Yum! http://fb.me/szfl279V
*hasai Spending Money on your Honey {Picture}
*HeyLeeAnn MI State Board of Ed votes 2 raise MEAP cut scores. Projected that %age schools not making AYP could jump from 14% to 66%. Yikes!
*pammoran James Paul Gee vid- on grading w/ games …. challenges status quo thinking (Shift from knowledge/fact based to creativity and innovation based schools.)
*leoniehaimson Ruling:D.C. teachers fired by Rhee must be offered jobs, back wages | | DC | Washington Examiner:
*Learngamer Tug-A-War sentence maker-write topic on paper strip, lay on floor, use rope/towel, players pull, touch paper must write http://ow.ly/3S8Fd
*shannonmmiller Create self grading tests Forms in Google Docs http://ow.ly/3S8DG #vanmeter
*Ron_Peck For those of you eagerly anticipating the #sschat archive from tonight’s chat…wait no more!

News:

Schools Tackle Legal Twists and Turns of Cyberbullying

High-profile incidents put legal, policy issues in the spotlight but lack of clarity remains
By Michelle R. Davis
School leaders across the country are dealing with more-routine cases daily and often feel they have little legal advice or precedent to guide them in their decision making.
Case law regarding student speech, particularly off-campus speech, is outdated, many legal experts say. School leaders say it’s unclear just what actions they can take in some cyberbullying cases. And recent rulings in cases that have dealt with some forms of cyberbullying haven’t clarified the matter.
Schools should have no qualms about taking action when cyberbullying affects the school setting, causing a safety issue either to other students or to faculty members, says Francisco M. Negrón Jr., the general counsel for the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Va.
But the legalities surrounding how schools can respond in less clear-cut cases of cyberbullying are bewildering, to say the least, says Thomas E. Wheeler, the chairman of the Council of School Attorneys, a group affiliated with the NSBA, and a partner in the Indianapolis law firm of Frost Brown Todd LLC. “It’s beyond murky. It’s contradictory,” he says.
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/02/09/02cyberbullying.h04.html?intc=DD2.11EM

Resources:

DrawIsland
Easy to use on-line drawing program. Nothing to download. You can download images once done.
http://drawisland.com/

Science Animation Gallery
takes what can be difficult to understand concepts, and animates them in a way that breaks down the concept into manageable parts.
http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3637
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animation.html

Filibustery
Welcome to Filibustery, a website devoted to making the filibuster — and the proposals in the U.S. Senate to reform it — more understandable.
http://filibustery.com/

Reading Concepts
3 resources on teaching reading available to download.:

  • How to Generate Interest So Reading Comprehension Improves
  • Four-Ply Vocabulary Plan
  • LINKING THE LANGUAGE-A Cross-Disciplinary Vocabulary Approach

http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/library_browse.php?type=author&id=75

Planet Foss
Share pictures of science.
http://www.fossweb.com/planetfoss/index.html

TopicMarks
Summary any text
http://topicmarks.com/

SPENT
If you were unemployed, what would you do?
http://playspent.org/

Web Spotlight:

Interdisciplinary Lessons in a Time of Testing

By Anthony Colucci

As the items on the agenda roll by, we wait to find out what buzzword, billionaire reformer, or babbling politician has created a new mountain of work for us.
Let’s also not forget that some people will only judge our students, our schools, and our teaching abilities based on the results of whatever standardized test is given at a particular grade level. What’s tested becomes the priority in this over-scheduled environment, and other important knowledge and skills—like the history of our country or its location on the Earth—are very likely to get left behind.
By stressing connections across the curriculum, learning becomes more meaningful and engaging to our students. Additionally, interdisciplinary teaching can revitalize us by increasing instructional time, promoting more collaboration within our professional communities, and giving us the satisfaction of knowing that we are acting in the best interests of our students, while simultaneously addressing standards that otherwise might be brushed over or ignored altogether in the mad rush to get ready for the Test.
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/02/09/tln_interdis.html?tkn=MMCCEsbljhQJM1zKm5tfb2BhoBNuDlL9x4+s&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

SciTable
We hope that you have enjoyed the high quality resources we’ve published for you in Scitable  – eBooks in cell biology, genetics, readings in ecology, and special modules on scientific communication and career planning.   Now we’d like to ask you to do something to help us achieve our mission of expanding Scitable across all of the sciences.
The more classrooms that use Scitable, the more traffic we have, and the faster we can afford to expand our library.  So please let your fellow faculty know about Scitable.
You can tell your colleagues in your own department, post to listserves, speak about it at conferences…there are dozens of ways to spread the word.
Whichever way you choose, please take a few minutes today to tell your colleagues.

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 153 Snow Day!

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Jokes:

Students

The science graduate asks, “Why does it work?” The engineering graduate asks, “How does it work?” The accounting graduate asks, “How much does it cost?” The liberal arts graduate asks, “Would you like fries with that?”
Jail Time
A woman was arrested for shop lifting. When she went before the judge he asked her, “What did you steal?” She replied: “A can of peaches.” The judge asked her why she had stolen them and she replied that she was hungry. The judge then asked her how many peaches were in the can. She replied 5. The judge then said, “I will give you 5 days in jail.” Before the judge could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman’s husband spoke up and asked the judge if he could say something. The judge said, “What is it?” The husband said, “She also stole a can of peas.”

Letters
A man who was just married was flying to the Florida Keys for a business trip. His new bride was to accompany him the next day. When he got there he E-mailed his wife to let her know he made it there safely. When he sent the E-mail, he mistyped the address. In Boston, a grieving widow, whose husband has recently passed away, receives the E-mail. She reads it, screams, and faints. Hearing her grandmothers cry, the widow’s 18-year-old granddaughter runs into the living room to see the computer on with a message. It reads: Dear love, Just got here. Preparing for your arrival tomorrow. Can’t wait to see you. Love, Me P.S. Sure is hot down here.

On Our Mind:

Snow Days!!!

From our Listeners:

iTunes listener Eileen:  Thanks for the iTunes comments and rating!  We’re glad we’re part of your ride to school every day.

Advisory:

Half an idea:  Belly Button Bacteria.

From the Twitterverse:

*netbook_news Kineo Android Education Tablet from Brainchild This March: When I was 11 I actually went to school on a snow day…
*russeltarr Tweetreach: How far did your tweet travel?: http://tinyurl.com/q7zhvp
*jcalvert4 Finished the 1st post in a series about our Google powered curriculum portal on my new blog http://me.lt/7lPZ #GCT
*BethRitterGuth RT @m_yam: Free Technology for Teachers: Quicklyst – A Quick Way to Create Outlines (@rmbyrne) http://ow.ly/3MlbG #engchat
*BethRitterGuth RT @johnfaig: Excellent mind map of web2.0 tools – http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=8423d4adcc56d262e6a058163334a92a #engchat
*drmmtatom Student Suspended for Calling Teacher Fat on Facebook: http://on.mash.to/gjOnkH #fhuedu610
*davekinkead Libyan frogman sent to Italy couldn’t swim classic #wikileaks
*stardiverr oh. my. RT @gjmueller: Belly button bacteria, in full bloom http://ow.ly/3NoKd #scichat
*drmmtatom Art Teachers, You Have to See This! #fhuedu508 http://tinyurl.com/4uowvjs
*bjnichols Social Media Guidelines for Schools Wiki http://diigo.com/0f108 #edchat

Resources:

QuickLyst:

How do I take notes?
  1. To start taking notes in Quicklyst, click on the appropriate button in the upper right corner of your web browser’s window.
  2. Click on the first textbox to enter a title for your notes.
  3. Click on the area underneath the title box and start taking your notes.
  4. Press the “enter” key on your keyboard to add a new line to your notes.
  5. Use the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to move between your different bulet points, and use tab (indent) and shift+tab (un-indent) to create an outline.
  6. If you want instant-access to the DuckDuckGo search engine, enter a question mark followed by what you’re looking for. Press enter, and we’llautomatically fetch the best result for you.
  7. If you want instant-access to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, enter a colon followed by the word you want to define. Press enter, and we’ll automatically fetch the best definition for you.
  8. If you want to edit, delete, or view your notes, click on the All Notes button in the menu. From there, you should see a list of notes. If you hover over a particular note, you will see small icons.
    • The trash can icon deletes the note
    • The pencil icon takes you to the note-taking page to edit the notes
    • The plus-sign icon adds the selected notes to your Study Queue
    • The ‘x’ icon removes the selected notes from your Study Queue
    • Easily print custom study guides
    • Automatically send your notes to an Amazon Kindle™ device
    • Download your notes for Microsoft Word™ and other word processing programs
What is my Study Queue?
    Your Study Queue is a place to save all your notes that are relevant to upcoming exams. There are some unique features that take advantage of the Study Queue that allow you to:
Can I enter a fake email address to register?
    Sure. Actually, you don’t need to enter an email address at all. You can just enter a desired username instead if you want, but you will never be able to recover your account if you forget your password and didn’t enter a valid email address.

    http://www.quicklyst.com/

    Brain Teasers, Riddles, Trivia, Brain Exercises, Games, Forums and more…

    With over 20,000 brain teasers, riddles, logic problems, quizzes and mind puzzles submitted and ranked by users like you, Braingle has the largest collection anywhere on the internet. Our large array of unique online multiplayer games will keep you entertained for hours, and if you want to improve your brain, check out the Mentalrobics section. If you crave a brain teaser, mind puzzle, riddle or game, we are the place to get it. Increase your creativity, boost learning and become a better person at Braingle. Get ready to have your brain tangled!

    http://www.braingle.com/

    Web Spotlight:

    Project Based Learning:

    Welcome to PBL-Online, a one stop solution for Project Based Learning! You’ll find all the resources you need to design and manage high quality projects for middle and high school students.
    http://pbl-online.org/

    The Buck Institute for Education

    The Buck Institute for Education (BIE) is dedicated to improving 21st Century teaching and learning throughout the world by creating and disseminating products, practices and knowledge for effective Project Based Learning.
    Founded in 1987, BIE is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that receives partial funding from the Leonard and Beryl Buck Trust, the same trust that supports the Marin Community Foundation, the Marin Institute and the Buck Institute for Age Research. This funding allows us to make our products and services affordable, and to focus BIE resources on clients and partners with a demonstrated commitment to expanding the use of project based pedagogy in schools and communities.
    http://www.bie.org/index.php/site/PBL/overview_pbl/

    20 Technology Skills that Every Educator Should Have

    By Laura Turner
    http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/tools_technologies/20_technology_skills_every_educator_should_have

    Events & Happenings:

    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