June 2012 – Middle School Matters

June 25, 2012Conferences, ISTE, TechBy Troy Patterson

Conference with iPad

So for ISTE 2012, I didn’t bring a laptop. Rather, I’m relying on my iPad and iPhone only.
Here are some of my thoughts:

Pros:
• Light weight. I really, really like not carrying around the 6 pound laptop.
• Ability to quickly capture audio, images and notes. Audio is kept in sync with the text.
• Flexibility. I use an external keyboard. Being able to just put my keyboard in my lap and set the iPad on the chair (next to or in front of me) or on the floor (in my bag) is very handy. Feels much less cumbersome. Barriers do make a difference. This is a much, much lower barrier.
• Battery life. It is AWESOME to not have to worry about finding a plug. It’s also nice to not have to constantly calculate how much longer before you need to find an outlet.

Cons:
• I usually take my notes and combine them into a “booklet”. To do this, I utilize Headings and other styles. This is not available on my notetaking software that I’m using. Thus, I’ll have to take some time when I get back to pull the notes together.

June 25, 2012June 25, 2012Conferences, ISTEBy Troy Pattersonconference, ISTE

ISTE Walk

We had a good chat on the walk back to the Hotel. Specifically, we chatted about the Panel Discussion at ISTE2012 Conference.

Here is a snippet of that conversation. But first an overview:

The Panel was comprised of Sir Kenneth Robinson, Shawn Covell, Marc Prensky, and Mayim Bialik.

Sir Kenneth Robinson is very polished and graceful on stage. He was definitely selling his book, but was funny and engaging. He talked about how he was told Americans don’t get irony. That isn’t true, he said. After all, we have No Child Left Behind. Whoever named that sure understood irony. He also talked about how we can’t afford to not make changes to education.

Shawn Covell was representing QualComm. She is a political representative for them. Her role was really representing QualComm and their upcoming conference. Predictably, her focus was completely on wireless access and mobile devices.

Marc Prensky was pretty good. He is more of a futurist than truly an educator. His information was interesting to think about. He talked about Passion and it’s importance. He also talked about focusing on the kids.

Dr. Mayim Bialik talked about a tutor that she had that made a difference in her life. Her parents were teachers. It wasn’t until she was 15 that she learned that she loved science. She talked about how she is representing Texas Instruments here. She talked a little about being a teacher in the “Home school” community.

Our conversation on the way home:
A) way too much “commercial” conversation. The QualComm representative isn’t to be blamed. That is basically her role. Why ISTE chose to put her on stage is another question.
B) Dr. Bialik was disappointing. She never talked about her role/experience as a neuroscientist. Rather, at one point, she said “there are probably people in the audience more qualified than I am to answer”… In fact, she repeated this a couple of times. Marc Prensky was asked a question about the effect of “screens” on the development of the brain. He answered and then threw it over to “the neuroscientist”. She completely passed.
C) Marc Prensky also brought up the idea of the 15% of kids who are successful in school and will be despite/ in spite of the educational system. What about the other 85%, he asked.
This led to a rich discussion on the walk. Dr. Bialik was on stage, in front of 13,000 educators. Her experience was abnormal (in the sense that it was not normal). She is currently involved with home school kids. Are these part of the 15%? Are these kids who really don’t need any change in the system? How does this impact the 85%?

We also chatted about the effect that business and the business model has had on education. That discussion will have to wait.

Overall, it was a disappointing Keynote. Sir Kenneth Robinson was good. However, there was a way, way long commercial for ISTE at the beginning. The panel discussion didn’t work. Had the panel been comprised of Sir Ken, Marc Prensky and a couple more educators, it may have been fruitful. However, as it was, two of the panel members just couldn’t contribute much.

Ah, well. Here’s hoping the sessions are effective tomorrow.

June 16, 2012June 16, 2012advisory, MSM, News, Podcast, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 210: What’s Wrong With The Teenage Mind . . . ?

AMLE Feature:

No specific AMLE Feature this week. Look for more to come.

Jokes You Can Use:

Boss: I’ve noticed that you go out and get your haircut during work hours.

Employee: It grows during work hours.

Boss: It also grows during non-work hours.

Employee: I didn’t get it all cut.

What did the leftovers say when put into the freezer?

Foiled again.

What’s another name for a nursery?

Bawlroom.

Eileen Award:

Annie Murphy Paul
Alise Herrara
Joe Webb
Sara Davenport Sisk

Advisory:

Fun with Visual Charades and Narrated Slideshows Based on Fairy Tales

In their recently published article, “Five-Picture Charades: A Flexible Model for Technology Training in Digital Media Tools and Teaching Strategies,” in the journal Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, Curby Alexander and Tom Hammond present a persuasive case for using “visual charades” as a learning activity with students involving media and creativity.

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2012/06/06/fun-with-visual-charades-and-narrated-slideshows-based-on-fairy-tales-edtech4u/

Middle School Science Minute

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

In the Spring Edition of “Green Teacher,” Emily Harris wrote an article entitled, “Fostering Students’ Water Wisdom.” The purpose of the article was to bring water awareness into the classroom and contribute to a better global future.

She says that teachers play a vital role in helping foster an early appreciation of this most precious resource. For this reason, WaterCan developed curriculum resources in both English and French which can be freely downloaded from the “Water Wisdom Portal” at:

http://www.watercan.com/students

She then goes on to share one of her favorite lesson plans for 7th – 8th grade students, entitled “Water Around the World.” This class project introduces students to water usage, and to data gathering and analysis.

Dave’s Water Cycle Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw275056JtA

Hey Dave, what do you think about this?

“Voyager 1 Spaceship to Break Out of Solar System, Into Outer Spacehttp://abcn.ws/N0eYA8”

From the Twitterverse:

Stephanie Sandifer ‏@ssandifer

#ISTE12 Daily #edtech is out! http://bit.ly/irlKEQ ▸ Top stories today via

@MfgStories @TinaKotlarek

Terie Engelbrecht ‏@mrsebiology

CoboCards: http://goo.gl/izGkb Free online flashcard making site #edchat #edtech

#elearning

Jerry Blumengarten ‏@cybraryman1

My Parent Involvement – Engagement sites: http://tinyurl.com/48yvpey #Satchat

Terie Engelbrecht ‏@mrsebiology

Infogram: http://goo.gl/ZO4xJ Web tool to create infographics #edchat #edtech

#elearning

Diane Ravitch ‏@DianeRavitch

Why do some school districts have to be reformed and saved again and again?

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/05/18/289/

tomshepp ‏@tomshepp

21 Map Creation Tools for Students and Teachers http://flpbd.it/P5apj #edtech

#elearning

Mental Floss ‏@mental_floss

25 Brand Names People Incorrectly Use as Generic Terms — http://goo.gl/edBLf

CharlieTravers 4‏@TimeTravel

Great free education resources on #Myresourcecloud http://www.myresourcecloud.net

#edtools #edchat #elt #esl #homeschool

ninok eyiz ‏@eyizibra

“@DianeRavitch: Student test scores are not a measure of great teachers. Unless you are

a Pearson stockholder. #greatteachers” #fb

Lucy Gray ‏@elemenous

Checking out “For ISTE Attendees: Global Education Summit Update” http://ning.it/Nvex3b

#globaled12

Brenda Dyck ‏@bdyck

Very worth reading: A Memorial Day Lesson in Citizenship

http://speedchange.blogspot.ca/2012/05/memorial-day-lesson-in-citizenship.html?m=1

@drcarlapeck

Ian Jukes ‏@ijukes

Job Outlook and Starting Salaries for New Grads http://bit.ly/NuYSAU

ABC News ‏@ABC

13 Hidden Airline Rules http://abcn.ws/MEMgAH

Smhearty ‏@Smhearty

Report: Apple Prepping Separate Podcast App — AppAdvice http://zite.to/KAmdR0 via

@zite

Same3Guys.com ‏@Same3Guys

Apple launching Podcast app with iOS 6 http://ow.ly/bCBaQ Is this good or bad for podcast

creators?

News:

Thompson: The Humiliation Of High-Stakes Standardized Testing

Virtually all of my students volunteered accounts of the testing indignities that have been dumped on them, but I am particularly haunted by Jeremy, as I will call him. This brilliant Native American gave into depression when stakes were attached to weekly benchmark assessments, meaning that half of class time was lost to testing. In my non-tested class, Jeremy would periodically wave a standardized math or English test that he was supposed to have turned in for a grade. “This is what they think of us,” he would moan. Like nearly 40% of that semester’s sophomores, Jeremy dropped out was driven out by the test prep which drove out teaching and learning.

http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/2012/06/thompson-pearson-anti-testing-rally-illuminates-the-essence-of-bubble-in-testing.html

Future Shock

I’ll have more to say on the iPad later but one can’t help being struck by the volume and vehemence of apparently technologically sophisticated people inveighing against the iPad.

http://speirs.org/blog/2010/1/29/future-shock.html

Computers Grade Essays Fast … But Not Always Well

by MOLLY BLOOM

Imagine a school where every child gets instant, personalized writing help for a fraction of the cost of hiring a human teacher — and where a computer, not a person, grades a student’s essays.

Perelman says any student who can read can be taught to score very highly on a machine-graded test.

Shermis ran the Gettysburg Address through one of the earlier-generation computer grading programs, one usually used to evaluate the writing abilities of college freshmen.

Suffice it to say, Abe did not ace the test.

The computer graders he uses give students instant feedback on every draft. Pence says there’s no way he and his red teacher’s pen could do that. And quicker responses, he says, lead to more writing.

“The quantity drives the quality up,” Pence says. “It’s kind of the old bicycle thing — the best way to learn how to ride a bicycle is to ride a bicycle. And the best way to get better at writing is to write and receive consistent, timely feedback.”

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/07/154452475/computers-grade-essays-fast-but-not-always-well?ft=1&f=1019

What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?

“What was he thinking?” It’s the familiar cry of bewildered parents trying to understand why their teenagers act the way they do.

How does the boy who can thoughtfully explain the reasons never to drink and drive end up in a drunken crash? Why does the girl who knows all about birth control find herself pregnant by a boy she doesn’t even like? What happened to the gifted, imaginative child who excelled through high school but then dropped out of college, drifted from job to job and now lives in his parents’ basement?

What happens when children reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? The answer is: a good deal of teenage weirdness.

Becoming an adult means leaving the world of your parents and starting to make your way toward the future that you will share with your peers. Puberty not only turns on the motivational and emotional system with new force, it also turns it away from the family and toward the world of equals.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984.html

Tools:

Quipper

Quipper produces entertaining and educational quiz apps. We also allows users to create their own apps! Also available on iOS and Android.

http://www.quipper.com/

Go Class

GoClass is a teaching application for tablet devices that redefines the boundaries of computing in the classroom. Connect with your students like never before, customize and fine-tune your lesson plans on the fly, engage students in new ways and continuously evaluate their understanding while you are in class.

By enriching existing methodologies – rather than replacing them – GoClass empowers you to build on your teaching experience while engaging students in a 21st century learning environment.

*NOTE: They have rights to all materials.

http://www.goclass.com/guestapp/index.aspx

Resources:

50 Summer Learning Activities for Kids

Common Sense Media has produced a 16 page guide to summer learning activities.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/06/50-summer-learning-activities-for-kids.html

Summer Reading List

Summer, with its steady supply of barbecues, picnics, parties, and other heavy doses of sociality, makes the need for a well-timed antidote of solitude more urgent than any other season, and what better solitary escape than a good book? It’s time for the annual Brain Pickings summer reading list for cognitive sunshine. Gathered here, in no particular order, are 10 recent and forthcoming books to infuse your season’s well-measured you-moments with a wealth of cross-disciplinary stimulation.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/11/summer-reading-list-2012/

Web Spotlight:

TIMMS/PISA vs. Entrepreneural Spirit:

http://zhaolearning.com/2012/06/06/test-scores-vs-entrepreneurship-pisa-timss-and-confidence/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.
- MAMSE Exhibitor Form
- MAMSE Registration Form

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

June 10, 2012advisory, AMLE, Interview, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 209: AMLE Feature Presentation . . . Popcorn Please!

AMLE Feature:

Today, join us for a interview with Todd Williamson. Director of Technology and Science for Carteret County Schools, MiddleTalk contributor, and NCMSA Technology Specialist.

Science Experiment
Tech-in-20 Series
Math and Science Portal
ISTE?

Jokes You Can Use:

Sign in a business:

We understand that your phone call is important.

So, we will not interrupt by serving you when you are on the phone.

RUTH BUZZI ‏@Ruth_A_Buzzi

Cats inherently dislike water. That explains why so many turn to alcohol. #HappyCATurday

On Our Mind:

The power of crowdsourcing: Jerry Blumengarten goes to ISTE12.
Death of MiJEC . . . ?
Edmodo finally tips its hand: http://www.hackeducation.com/2012/03/06/edmodo-makes-the-move-from-social-network-to-education-platform/

Eileen Award:

Facebook: Julie Smith Flack
Twitter: John Winsor, US School Counselors, Microsoft TeachTec
Special Guest: Todd Williamson

Advisory:

How big is your city?

http://twentytwowords.com/2012/06/07/how-big-is-l-a-at-least-8-other-major-u-s-cities-could-fit-inside-it/

Middle School Science Minute

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

http://www.watercan.com/students

She then goes on to share one of her favorite lesson plans for 5th – 6th grade students, entitled “Water Alive!” This is a research based activity designed to help generate an understanding about the universal dependence on water, through the “eyes” of an African animal.

From the Twitterverse:

Jerry Blumengarten ‏@cybraryman1

My Organization pages: http://tinyurl.com/4u2ku8m Many teachers need help being

better organized. #SATchat

Admins: Never lose sight of the fact of how hard it is to be in the classroom & all that

teachers have to deal with. Support #satchat

Scott McLeod ‏@mcleod

Use Technology to Upend Traditional Classrooms http://bit.ly/MrVUuu #edtech

Deming: Vast majority of problems we have with individual employees are attributable

to the work systems in which they’re embedded #satchat

RT @mandery: A1 Ineffective teachers teach in isolation. #satchat

a. Lack of effective feedback loops (from ‘above’ & ‘below’) contributes to teacher

ineffectiveness #satchat

b. Failure of systems to articulate/implement new vision of learning/teaching also

contributes to teacher ineffectiveness #satchat

New bookmark: Redefining Instruction With Technology: Five Essential Steps

http://bit.ly/LcUzGN

pammoran ‏@pammoran

Irish kids get diff kind of state exam than US kids- thinking & writing analytically abt

geography – not MC items http://j.mp/KVjlfl

Tweeter of Wit ‏@TweeterofWit

“@sccenglish: Choosing your summer reading: a flowchart from @Teachdotcom –

http://www.sccenglish.ie/2012/06/summer-reading-flowchart.html”

Sirius ‏@ButSiriuslyFlks

@TeacherSabrina I feel I was a better teacher 10 years ago when I had creative

freedom. Now, I’m a skill-and-drill teacher b/c I have to be.

Miguel Guhlin ‏@mguhlin

iPaddiction: 8 Burning Questions About iPads in Class (Answered!)

http://dlvr.it/1hWFrq

jennyluca ‏@jennyluca

“@rgesthuizen: Sad when we don’t know how hard it is to be a teacher today. Good article

TheAge

http://m.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/baillieu-has-no-idea-how-teachers-work-20120605-1

zu5x.html @NedManning’s article

TenMarks Education ‏@TenMarks

What I Wish I’d Done Before Deploying iPads to 735 Middle Schoolers, Pt 2

http://bit.ly/KlOcix via @tericeschneider #tichat #edchat #5thchat

John Norton ‏@middleweb

We’re about to launch the new MiddleWeb. Get a sneak peek & find out about the great

content. http://bit.ly/LaghJ1 #midleved #elemchat @amle

What’s new on the site? “ . . . [O]ur launch will include original pieces by Rick Wormeli,

Nancy Flanagan, Jose Vilson, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Chris Toy, Marsha Ratzel, Elena

Aguilar, Bill Ivey and other insightful middle grades minds.”

Terie Engelbrecht ‏@mrsebiology

What a zero really says by @cherraolthof: http://goo.gl/iV3rT #edchat #midleved

News:

Teacher tenure: a Fairfax schools firing case

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teacher-tenure-a-fairfax-schools-firing-case/2012/06/02/gJQAVt4l9U_story.html

Resources:

KanBan2Go

kanban2go is an ‘app’ that can help you get work done by organizing your tasks in simple notes on a Kanban board. You can access kanban2go via your browser through most Internet connected devices – PCs, Macs, iPads, Android tablets, Windows tablets, iPhones, Android phones and Windows phones.

It is free for now. We haven’t figured out what to charge you yet :). Don’t worry. We’ll give you at least a 30 day notice if we decide to charge you a small sum to keep the lights on. And you have the option to take your data with you anytime you want to cancel your account.

https://kanban2go.com/

ScrollKit

A website builder that works more like drawing. No coding required.

https://www.scrollkit.com/

Web Spotlight:

The Greatest Teacher I Had in College

by Vicki Davis

I will never forget my meanest, toughest professor:Dr. Phil Adler at Georgia Tech. Everyone knew that he was hard. He taught Socratically (by asking questions)and his track record was the best.

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2012/06/greatest-teacher-i-had-in-college.html

BookType

Write, collaborate, publish.

Booktype is a free, open source platform that allows organisations and communities to produce beautiful, engaging books formatted for print, Amazon, iBooks and almost any ereader within minutes.

Use collaborative editing, live chat and messaging tools to engage proofreaders, editors and contributors and keep track through individual book histories, versions, clones, editing permissions and license management.

Booktype’s powerful, quick output to pdf, epub, mobi, odt and html will export books ready for Amazon, iBooks, Lulu.com and other print-on-demand or ebook stores. Build a community around your content with social tools and use the reach of mobile, tablet and ebook technology to engage new audiences.

Booktype is installed and hosted on your server so all content belongs to you. Not only can you give any book any license you wish, but you are free to distribute where and how you wish without restriction. No platform or data lock-in, no hidden fees, no sneaky reselling costs, no restrictive service agreements.

Booktype does not require you to transfer any of your content rights to Sourcefabric. It’s your content, not ours. Booktype does not make revenues from your content through any sales. it’s your money not ours. Total publishing choice, total publishing control.

You can use Booktype in a closed business environment for the production of inhouse materials, online for the production of open educational resources, or on the ‘open web’ for community based production – and any point in between.

Booktype’s use cases extend far and beyond the selling of books. It allows organisations of all sizes to use books to open up new revenue streams and reach new audiences through education, documentation, promotion and content reuse.

http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/booktype/

4 Great & Free Museum Apps to Teach your Students (or to simply enjoy!)

If you want to learn about art through the centuries, there is probably no better place than one of the great museums. But of course, if you are not living in Paris, London, New York you need to travel and you rarely have an excibition that brings together all great masterpieces of a certain artist.

Well, the next best thing might be one (or all) of the free apps below and visit the museum on a virtual trip.

http://www.edukwest.com/4-great-free-museum-apps-to-teach-your-students-or-to-simply-enjoy/