Month: October 2011

advisory, Lesson Plan, Strategy, Teaching Tip, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 183 You Vill Pass Dis Test, You Vill Like Dis Test, You Vill Attach De Schtandard To Each Schtandard . . .

Jokes You Can Use:

1. Why are round pizzas put in square boxes?
2. If a deaf person must appear in court is it still called a hearing?
3. Why does the sign read, “Enter at your own risk” who else could you risk other than yourself?
4. If it’s called “frying pan” is it OK to boil something in it?
5. Why doesn’t every doughnut have nuts in it?

Do you know what happens to quarterbacks when they reach the ends of their lives?
They just pass away.

Troy’s Backup Jokes:
Test Question:  Give a brief explanation of the meaning of the term “hard water.”
Student Answer:  Ice

Test Question:  What is methane?
Student Answer:  Methane is a smelly greenhouse gas that is produced when trees and/or cows are burned.
(F in Exams by Richard Benson)

On Our Mind:

Week and a half to AMLE/NMSA 2011 in Louisville . . .
Sessions
Affiliate Sessions:  Contact Doug Herlensky if you’re attending.
Dinner

Eileen Award:

Kam Yousaf

Advisory:

What would it take to make a model look like Barbie?

Here’s a breakdown of what she’d need done to be the kind of doll women aspire to: a brow lift, a jaw line shave, rhinoplasty, a cheek and neck reduction, a chin implant, scooped-out shoulders, a breast lift, liposuction on her arms, and tummy tuck, which would also have to be sculpted as if it were lined in whale-bone from the inside. And that’s just the half of her.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/the-plastic-surgery-a-model-needs-to-look-like-barbie-2584798

Respect

Respect Rap – I use this with grades 2 – 4 but it’s suitable through middle school. Just love the message, the instrumental track, the editing, the kids’ performances (and the Principal’s, too). The choreography is amazing, the scene setup, the dancing at the end … it’s just dripping with awesome. Congratulations, Fearless Lions at Frank Porter Graham Elementary in Chapel Hill, NC. YOU, QUITE LITERALLY, ROCK!
http://www.ncs-tech.org/?p=6844

Middle School Science Minute

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

This middle school science minute is about Oobleck.  This is a great activity when students are full of extra energy.  Just mix cornstarch and water and it makes a “non-Newtonian” fluid.  It starts off with the consistency of peanut butter, then through handling becomes brittle and breaks, but then eventually becomes an oozing liquid again.

I thought it might be fun to do this podcast around Halloween, when slimy things are at the forefront.  Oobleck goes by many names but this is my favorite one because there is a nice tie in to the Dr Seuss book — Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

From the Twitterverse:

*web20classroom From @azjd-5 Skills For 21st Century Learners:7 Things You Should Know About Open Textbook Publishing (PDF): bit.ly/g7LhvC
*Maiju1975 Our race to the bottom. RT @DianeRavitch: This is the graph that shapes our future: nytimes.com/imagepages/201…
*willrich45 I don’t want best practice. I want changed practice. The former usually is just using tech to do the same as we’ve always done. #grumpytour
*rmbyrne Looking for Lesson Materials? Try OER Commons bit.ly/tzFMcI via @AddThis
*missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡ Teach with your #ipad – Blooms Taxonomy with Apps | @scoopit goo.gl/f6nC1 #edtech #edchat #ipad #mlearningPeriodic Table of #QRcodes | @scoopit #edtech #edchat #science #mlearning
*csousanh Is there still a place for teacher autonomy in US Public schools? #edchat, #vted, #cpchat, #midleved educationalmusings.net
*fabclassroom Sign up for UPS My Choice & be entered into the Win What you want Sweepstakes twrt.me/vbs19v by @dallassinglemom
*sguditus iPad use in the middle school – communication, research and resources: bit.ly/wmsipad #midleved #masscue11
*mrsebiology Podcasting in the Classroom: bit.ly/ukZlEy #edchat #edtech #midleved #elemchat
*ssandifer Teaching with Technology in the Middle: Diigo for Digital Writing Reflection | @scoopit bit.ly/uiMOz6 #edtech
*DianeRavitch Tests for everything including auto shop and foreign languages, to rate teachers. Thanks @arneduncan: online.wsj.com/article/SB1000…
*mcleodScott McLeod

Every day in school students receive regular reminders they’re not trusted. Cumulative impact of that over many years is … ?

New bookmark: Social Media Guidelines:  http://www.delicious.com/ericstoller/social-media-guidelines

RT @ericstoller: Censoring social media is like trying to stop a waterfall with a colander. #NASPAtechC #NASPAtech

*This space intentionally left blank*  (I’ve always wanted to say that . . .)

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

News:

Testing Costs

As the nation endures its sputtering recovery, significant cuts to state and local education budgets continue to dominate headlines. With bruising fights over tenure, pensions, and collective bargaining, educators fear that these cuts may shrink educator jobs and benefits for years to come.
Within this context, though, it is testing that has emerged as the real villain. In protest blogs, op-eds, and tweets, critics rail against “billions and billions” spent on assessment, arguing that if only we stopped testing, teachers’ jobs, art classes, sports, school nurses, librarians, small classes, and more would be saved.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/12/07tucker.h31.html

Will Richardson:  Make It Stop. Please.

http://willrichardson.com/post/11862306546/make-it-stop-please

Resources:

60 Seconds

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/files/2011/06/internet-60-seconds-infographic.jpg

Stitch.it

Simply copy-and-paste a set of links in our text box and click ‘Stich It’. We’ll convert those links into one short URL for you to share. It’s that easy!
http://stich.it/

Good to Know

  • Stay safe online
  • Your data on the web
  • Your data on Google
  • Manage your data

http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/

WhatFolio

http://www.whatfolio.com/

Primary Sources:
Documents from a variety of eras. From 4000bc – 21st Century.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
Welcome to the David Rumsey Map Collection Database and Blog.
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
Royal Society
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/search

Music Primary Sources:

Victrola Book of Opera
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/victor-book-of-the-opera
Acoustic Recordings
http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/about/acoustical-recording

iPad Resources

https://sites.google.com/site/iccarsproject/home/ipad-ios-resources

Web Spotlight:

Larry Ferlazzo

Daniel Pink was recently interviewed on a local Washington, D.C. television show along with a local university official. You watch it all here, but I thought the few minutes he spent discussing the role of grades, autonomy and inquiry in education to be particularly thought-provoking. I used Tube Chop to “chop” those two brief segments and have them embedded below. I don’t know if they will come through on an RSS Readers, so you might have to click through to my blog in order to view them.
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2011/10/23/daniel-pink-on-grades-autonomy-inquiry/

Strategies:

How YouTube Is Changing The Classroom
As long as there have been teachers, they’ve battled the same problems: How can they reach students of multiple ability levels at once, cover more course material in limited time, and find more time to engage with students one-on-one?
Some educators think they’ve found a solution to all three problems in, of all things, YouTube.
A small group of teachers nationwide is replacing in-class lectures with short online videos students watch at home. This flip-flop of homework and lecture — from which the model gets its name, “the flipped classroom” — leaves class time open for students to complete their assignments with their teacher standing by to offer one-on-one help.
Research backing the model is scarce, and some critics have dismissed the model as a gimmick. Still, a handful Indiana teachers — and top state education officials — are willing to give it a try.http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2011/10/12/how-youtube-is-changing-the-classroom/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

AMLE 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.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:  

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

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, News, Podcast, Strategy, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 182 iPads? We’re Blinding You With Science Resources!

Jokes You Can Use:

After dying in a car crash, three friends find themselves at an orientation to enter heaven. Each one was asked, “When you are in your casket, what would you like to hear your friends and family saying about you?” Sean says, “I would like to hear them say I was a great doctor and a great family man.” Karl says, “I would like to hear them say I was a wonderful husband and an excellent teacher who made a difference in children’s lives.” Juan says, “I would like to hear them say, ‘Look! He’s moving!'”

Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
Bug-eyed mosquitoes and bowlegged ants!
I’m about to tell you a story I’ve never heard before,
So pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
Admission is free, so pay at the door.

One fine day, in the middle of the night,
two, dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back, they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
and saved the lives of the two dead boys.
If you don’t believe my lies are true,
ask the blind man, he saw it too!


Ruth_A_Buzzi Ruth Buzzi
Nobody really wants their cats to “think outside the box.” #happyCATurday

TweeterofWit CL
Don’t have a fish pedicure. They’re sole-destroying. #fishpedicure

On Our Mind:

CMU CMLA meeting on Wednesday.

Eileen Award:

CMUCMLA

From the Twitterverse:

*Twilliamson15 Just downloaded Smart Seat for iPad…set up my seating charts already…looks useful
*fabclassroom Deal of the Day! Miniature Styling Iron ends Tonight at Midnight twrt.me/qv07c1
*cindybrock “@wfryer: blabberize.com blabberize supports downloading your creations to import into other projects! ow.ly/75xm0 #tmky11
*DianeRavitch Rupert Murdoch wants to teach your kids: motherjones.com/politics/2011/…
*willrich45 Just Posted: Learners not Knowers bit.ly/oLujaN #edchat #edreform
*missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡” @virtual_teach: Teachers have become what lawyers were (possible still r) …feared, disrespected, distrusted…because of a few bad eggs.
*tomshepp RT @VAMCE2010: 12 iPad Apps for Storytelling in the Classroom appsineducation.blogspot.com/2011/06/12-ipa… #edtech #edchat #ipaded #edapps

RT @VAMCE2010: App Building Tools for Teachers and Students flpbd.it/9mCF #ipaded #edapp #mlearning #ipadapps #tlchat

Teens and Educational Technology, 5 Steps to Success http://zite.to/o38GEU #ipaded #edapp #edapps
*mcleod New bookmark: App Building Tools for Teachers and Students bit.ly/p5HWXV
*shannonmmiller Instrumental Music for Film and Video from Creative Commons ow.ly/6YjTw
**russeltarr Rubrics for Assessment: tinyurl.com/5vdf878
*cfanch classtools.net had a QR code game generator. Cool! #edcampmanor

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.  

News:

As minds get quicker, teens get smarter

U.S. researchers say they have demonstrated for the first time that adolescents become smarter because their brains process information faster.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/09/29/As-minds-get-quicker-teens-get-smarter/UPI-84711317352462

GlogsterEDU

Dear Glogster EDUcators,

We sincerely apologize for the site issues you’ve been experiencing lately. We can assure you that they are temporary, and Glogster EDU will be better as a result.

Glogster (glogster.com) and Glogster EDU (edu.glogster.com) are currently sharing server infrastructure. Sometimes this results in capacity overload, which can lead to slow loading or unexpected errors.

We are in the process of moving Glogster.com to a separate infrastructure so that Glogster EDU will be fast and reliable for you and your students.

We will keep you updated on all known issues via Twitter and Facebook, so please follow Glogster EDU on either platform.
We are committed to you, our valued educators, and are taking the necessary steps toward providing you with high quality service you can count on. Thank you for your patience and understanding while we complete the moving process.

Resources:

Science360

We gather news from wherever science is happening, including directly from scientists, college and university press offices, popular and peer-reviewed journals, dozens of National Science Foundation science and engineering centers, and funding sources that include government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and private industry.
http://news.science360.gov/files

Free EBooks

Get 5 free books each month. You can download PDF’s or TXT’s. They also have pay plans that are unlimited downloads and can be sent to Kindle app and more.
http://www.free-ebooks.net/

Biology

Warning, these are anatomically correct.
http://www.zygotebody.com/#
http://www.healthline.com/human-body-maps/
http://www.biodigitalhuman.com/default.html

Password Generator

Help students create better passwords. This is limited but easy to use.
http://passwordbird.com/

Triptico

The Triptico resource application currently contains 20 different interactive resources – all of which are easy to edit, adapt, save and share. You can access them all with one simple download… everything is completely free – and you will receive updates whenever new resources are added!

http://www.triptico.co.uk/

Web Spotlight:

Teacher Wall

Scholastic, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and DonorsChoose.org bring you the Teacher Wall – a virtual teacher town square where America’s educators can share their stories, knowledge, and ideas on our nation’s schools.
The Teacher Wall provides teachers with an opportunity to talk about what’s important to them. From challenges to A-ha! moments, from professional development to job satisfaction, from curriculum to parent engagement – the topics tackled on the Wall showcase a wide range of voices and provide teachers with a chance to interact, share, and learn from one another, all while contributing to the conversation on American education.
http://teacherwall.scholastic.com/

Strategies:

ISTE 2011:  Brain Rules by Dr. John Medina

Dr. John Medina
Crossing the brain is scientific bunk. Question and answer session.
20% to 110% boost with 150 minutes of aerobic exercise.
Does the use of Google change the brain?

Yes, but we don’t know how. Look up cryptochrome.  (Supplement:  The act of sitting in front of a computer plays with the cryptochrome in our heads and messes with the circadian rhythm.)  The brain research being done is only scratching the surface. To correlate it to education is making leaps not supported by neuroscience yet.

Note: This guy is from Seattle Pacific University. A Free Methodist affiliated institute. He dropped the “frickin'” bomb a number of times.  SPU certainly has changed since I was being recruited to go there.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

AMLE 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.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

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, Podcast, Strategy, Teaching Tip, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 181 A Separate Peace

Jokes You Can Use:

Pete and Larry had not seen each other in many years. Now they had a long talk trying to fill in the gap of those years by telling about their lives. Finally Pete invited Larry to visit him in his new apartment. “I got a wife and three kids and I’d love to have you visit us.”
“Great. Where do you live?”
“Here’s the address. And there’s plenty of parking behind the apartment. Park and come around to the front door, kick it open with your foot, go to the elevator and press the button with your left elbow, then enter! When you reach the sixth floor, go down the hall until you see my name on the door. Then press the doorbell with your right elbow and I’ll let you in.”
“Good. But tell me…what is all this business of kicking the front door open, then pressing elevator buttons with my right, then my left elbow?”
“Surely, you’re not coming empty-handed.”

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

A Police officer approached a motorist stopped in the middle of the road before the river overpass holding up traffic. The officer noticed the driver jotting on a notebook frantically. He asked the driver, what in the world are you doing? The driver replied, “The sign says Draw Bridge”.

On Our Mind:

Congratulations to Dr. Monte Tatom

NMSA/AMLE early registration extended a week.
Dr. Debbie Silver is rumored to have a new book out soon on motivating the hard to motivate student.

Eileen Award:

Sara Kaviar

Middle School Science Minute

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

Part 4 of the podcasts on Lab Safety.  It is about the 7 Standards for Maintaining a Safer Laboratory Environment.

From the Twitterverse:

*pammoran How 2 get started writing fiction – insights from master writing class teacher-novelist Jill Dawson via Guardian bit.ly/qxcmzF #nwp
*s_bearden Googlelittrips seems like a great tool for teaching Language Arts/English! #edcampcitrus #elemchat #engchat
*mcleod Congrats to @johnccarver for being recognized as a 2011 Innovator in Education! goo.gl/2yb4G #edtech #vanmeter
*robertjmarzano If you have more questions about Leaders of Learning, you can ask me live on Oct 17 6:30pm EDT on #edfocus. bit.ly/phLXht
*tombarrett The Graphic Classroom: The Best Comics List (for all grade levels) bit.ly/oXK5Nn #comics #graphicnovels

Graphic novels in the classroom | Scoop.it via @dilaycock #graphicnovels #comics
kevcreutz 60 Second Science Lessons bit.ly/qbHUI5 via @rmbyrne #edtech
*TeachnologyNews Riddle Of The Day For Students: What is easy to get into, but hard to get out of?- Trouble.
*fabclassroom Huge List of New Printable Coupons twrt.me/o2q8tv via @DebbieDoesCoups
*SeanBanville Soooo many fab blogs – RT @annabooklover: Best grammar blogs: bit.ly/pwSEo4
*AncientProverbs The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons. -Aristotle
*Larryferlazzo “Should we all buy India’s new $60 tablet computer? ” BBC bbc.in/qmVhIN
*VirtualLrnAcad iNACOL Revises National Standards Guide for Online Learning j.mp/rtsVlF #onlinelearning #edtech
*russeltarr Rubrics for Assessment: tinyurl.com/5vdf878

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.  

News:

A Separate Peace

Alliance’s founder and lead teacher, Tina Owen. She decided to start the school after she was outed at a large Milwaukee high school where she worked as an English teacher. After word spread, she decided her sexuality may as well be all the way out.

…suggested that such a school would not only create the impression that intolerance would be permitted everywhere else but also leave its sheltered graduates unprepared to deal with the sometimes harsh realities of being a gay person in America.

…He recently attended a homecoming dance at his boyfriend’s school, and though people said nasty things as the two boys made their way inside, Dylan notes, somewhat optimistically, that the trash talkers were parents rather than students. He adds, “It seems like my generation is getting over it.”

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2095385_2096859_2096805-1,00.html

Resources:

iPads in the Science Classroom

Last year, around October 2010, I got 13 iPads for my Science students through a service-learning grant. This is the start of my second year using those iPads with my Science students. The summer before I got the iPads I was able to try one out myself and wrote about the possibilities here. I elaborated further on how I was going to use the iPads here. Once students started to use the iPads I used a Google form to see which apps they liked the best. Here are the results of that survey.
http://www.educatoral.com/wordpress/2011/09/28/ipads-in-science-2/

Common Core Maps

http://commoncore.org/maps/

National Geographic Xpeditions

Geography lessons and free resources for your classroom:  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/g68.html

Better Lesson

http://betterlesson.com/home

Google Lit Trips

The short version is simple. Google Lit Trips are free downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. At each location along the journey there are placemarks with pop-up windows containing a variety of resources including relevant media, thought provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references made in that particular portion of the story.
The focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students. I like to say Google Lit Trips “3-dimensionalize” the reading experience by placing readers “inside the story” traveling alongside the characters; looking through the windshield of that old jalopy in The Grapes of Wrath or waddling alongside Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s duckling family in Make Way for Ducklings.”
What Google Lit Trips AREN’T
Google Lit Trips aren’t like sparknotes and other resources that can be used to circumvent the need to actually do the reading. They are designed to stimulate higher level thinking skills and to connect the story’s themes and messages to the issues of the real world in which students live.

http://www.googlelittrips.org/

Web Spotlight:

Welcome to the 21things4Students Site

This site was created by a grant from the REMC Association of Michigan for the creation of an educational resource for students preparing for 21st century skills. Members of the REMC Instructional Technology Specialists in Michigan along with teachers from around the state have created this site to provide project-based activities which are aligned to the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S), and the Michigan Educational Technology Standards for students (METS) as well as the Framework for 21st Century Learning identified by the Partnership For 21st Century Skills.
http://www.21things4students.net/

For Educators:
http://www.21things4teachers.net/

For Administrators:
http://www.21things4administrators.net/

Strategies:

Deb’s Data Digest

A wide variety of resources and strategies.
http://datadeb.wordpress.com/

ScreenCasts as Assessment/Instruction

Here are some examples.
http://wwcsd.net/groups/screencasts/

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.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

Michigan Association of Middle School Educators

  • 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
advisory, MSM, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 180 Last Stand, Sift(eo) my way, QuickClassics & Memories (all alone in the moonlight . . . )

Jokes You Can Use:

Ruth_A_Buzzi

1.  Why are hot dogs at Detroit Tigers’ stadium so much better than the ones sold by the Seattle Mariners? Because you can eat them in October.

2.  Ultimately, my ex broke up with the blond chick and married a sweet little Native American lady. I hope they’re one big Hopi family.

On Our Mind:

New “toys” for Shawn.
https://www.sifteo.com/

Eileen Award:

  • Kerry Derminer
  • Noel Parish
  • Kevin Upton

Advisory:kkinstruction Kalysta

How to Make a 1920s Flapper style Dress in only One Hour! Includes 4 Special Bonuses. http://j.mp/nDRXcO

Middle School Science Minute

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

Part 3 of the 4 part series on lab safety.  This podcast focuses in on standards on specific safety precautions involving chemicals and lab equipment.  The importance of lab safety was pointed out last week in the Chicago area when a student suffered a serious injury while passing around dry ice and water in a plastic bottle and it exploded.  The full article can be found at:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-26/news/ct-met-science-class-20110926_1_chemistry-class-nsta-national-science-teachers-association

From the Twitterverse:

*ShellTerrell 10 Reasons Teachers Make Great Punching Bags bit.ly/mTIOEa #edreform
*web20classroom RT @hopkinsdavid: QR Codes in the classroom bit.ly/d1m6Ux #QRCode #edtech
*jybuell How Your Brain Reacts to Mistakes Depends on Your Mindset bit.ly/o6uY3L ScienceDaily cc:// @occam98
*DianeRavitch Is this the best education parody site on Twitter? laststand4children.org
*2learn2 germinate – to become a naturalized German #stevec
*JohnMikulski Schools need a social media strategy that goes beyond simply blocking everything. #edtechconf
*missnoor28 Some of the best resources of #QRcode “My QRCode page” http://j.mp/oNdEKF #dtech #mlearning
*AskAaronLee Are you an educator? Try Google+ as a tool for your class – http://ow.ly/6J4XR rt @chrisbrogan
*web20classroom iPad Apps To Support Blooms Taxonomy from @kathyschrock: bit.ly/oSkbu0
*mcleod New from CASTLE: Virtual Schooling in the News bit.ly/nwbFIE
*rmbyrne New post: dotEPUB – Convert Any Webpage into an ePub Document goo.gl/fb/g8xie

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

News:

A bet on No Child Left Behind

Diane Ravitch is a glass half-empty kind of gal, while I suffer from excessive Panglossian tendencies. In the spring of 2007, we made a bet. The payoff is dinner at the River Café, at the foot of Brooklyn Heights, overlooking New York harbor and the Manhattan skyline, tucked neatly under the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/who-won-a-2007-bet-on-no-child-left-behind/2011/09/26/gIQAwBBi0K_blog.html

How Teacher Turnover Harms Students

By Barnett Berry
Finally reaching the bottom of one my reading stacks, I found myself fascinated and frustrated by the findings of a new study on the relationship between teacher turnover and student achievement.
http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/advancing-teaching-profession/09-2011/how-teacher-turnover-harms-students
http://www.nber.org/papers/w17176

How to fix this mess called middle school

“Twelves (and thirteens and fourteens for that matter) probably do not belong in formal school environments at all, but in some kind of cross between summer camp and the Civilian Conservation Corps camps of the Great Depression — plenty of physical activity, structured groups and time with peers, with a little formal education thrown in.”
I’ve written before about such a proposal, but it’s worth repeating again as school districts tackle the problem anew. The answer: blowing up middle school as we know it and turning at least some of it into a “boot camp for life.”
Enough with “academic rigor.” Stop testing kids ad nauseam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-to-fix-the-mess-we-call-middle-school/2011/09/25/gIQAjCx1yK_blog.html

Resources:

Dead Sea Scrolls Online

It’s taken 24 centuries, the work of archaeologists, scholars and historians, and the advent of the Internet to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to anyone in the world. Today, as the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, we’re celebrating the launch of the Dead Sea Scrolls online; a project of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem powered by Google technology.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/from-desert-to-web-bringing-dead-sea.html

VizLingo

Turn text into a video representation.
http://www.vizlingo.com/

History Pin

Historypin is a way for millions of people to come together, from across different generations, cultures and places, to share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history.
Everyone has history to share: whether its sitting in yellowed albums in the attic, collected in piles of crackly tapes, conserved in the 1000s of archives all over the world or passed down in memories and old stories.
Each of these pieces of history finds a home on Historypin, where everyone has the chance to see it, add to it, learn from it, debate it and use it to build up a more complete understanding of the world.
Historypin has been developed by the not-for-profit company We Are What We Do, in partnership with Google.
YouTube introductory video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdT3eKdto4w
http://www.historypin.com/

SpeakIt!

Speak It is a Google Chrome extension that enables you to have the text on most webpages read to you. With Speak It installed just highlight the text on a the page you’re viewing then right-click to activate Speak It. Then click the play button to have the text read to you. The voice is very digitized, but it is clear.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/09/speak-it-text-to-speech-in-google.html

Web Spotlight:

Cheating

Here’s an overview of some of the most shocking instances of teacher cheating, plus a few episodes that may have been overblown.
http://www.propublica.org/article/americas-most-outrageous-teacher-cheating-scandals

Students need to develop Grit

http://edcommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/teaching-character-strengths-and-values.html

Teaching All

Jeremy is a special education teacher.  Jeremy’s classroom is a great example of universal design for learning, as his students have access to a myriad of technology tools including iPads and interactive whiteboards.  Outside of the classroom, Jeremy works part-time as a Family Trainer and Technology Advisor.  As a Family Trainer, he consults with families who have children with autism to develop behavior plans, design Intensive Teaching programs, and determine the best technology solutions for children.  When it comes to special education technology, he is an iOS expert!  When Jeremy is not browsing the iTunes App Store or posting about apps on Facebook, he enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his friends and family.
Site has activities for Interactive Whiteboards (IWB’s), iPad Apps and much more.
Tons of links!
http://teachingall.blogspot.com/

Digital Promise

Founded after more than a decade of effort, including a 2004 report to Congress, Digital Promise has been endorsed by virtually every major national association of educators and educational institutions, libraries, and museums. The project that gave rise to Digital Promise was launched by the Carnegie, Century, Knight, MacArthur, and Open Society foundations, sustained by the Federation of American Scientists, and championed by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, civic and business leaders, who came together on its behalf.
http://www.digitalpromise.org/

Strategies:

Read Ten Classic Books in Under a Minute

If you’ve ever lamented to someone about not having enough time to read, there’s a cure for what ails you. While nothing can replace the feel of a good novel in your hands — and the eau de stink of the used bookstore you found it in — the Book-A-Minute website aims to catch you up on all the classics you’ve been meaning to read since … forever. “When even the CliffsNotes are just too long, come here. Covers everything from Shakespeare to Steinbeck,” the site teases. They’ve taken fine literature, science-fiction/fantasy, and children’s bedtime stories and condensed them into amusing one-minute reads. Interestingly enough, you’ll find that many of them are dead-on descriptions of the actual works. Skip through ten classic books below and check a few to-dos off your bucket list.
http://flavorwire.com/213381/read-ten-classic-books-in-under-a-minute

What Will Improve a Student’s Memory?

By Daniel T. Willingham
Question: I often have students tell me that they studied for a  test, meaning that they reviewed their notes and the textbook, but they still did not do well. If they have reviewed the material, why don’t they remember it? Is there anything I can do to help them study more effectively?
http://cdl.org/resource-library/pdf/What%20Will%20Improve%20a%20Students%20Memory.pdf

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.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

Michigan Association of Middle School Educators

  • 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