Month: May 2015

Jokes You Can Use:

Ray had just reached his 150th birthday. Surrounded by reporters, he was asked, “Excuse me, sir, but how did you come to live to be 150?”

Ray answered, “It was easy. I just never argue with anyone.”

One reporter shot back, “That’s crazy! It had to be something else — diet, exercise, or something. Just not arguing won’t keep you alive for 150 years!”

The old fella stared hard at the reporter for several seconds. Then he shrugged and said, “Hmm. Maybe you’re right.”

 

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his cell phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife’s voice urgently warning him, “Herman, I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on I-280. Please be careful!”

Herman replied, “It’s not just one car. It’s hundreds of them!”

 

“One of the hardest decisions in life is when to be middle-aged.” — Rob Loach

 

Practical Jokes for Co-Workers/Future Pranksters . . . on You:

You can paint a bar of soap with clear nail polish, let it dry, and then put it where someone is likely to try to use it.

Here are several food-related pranks. You can replace the cream filling in some Oreos.

You can shoot some mustard into the end of a toothpaste tube for a little surprise when the next person gives the tube a squeeze.

Although April is not prime season for caramel apples, you could prepare some anyway, along with a caramel onion or two.

The next one would involve some expense, unless you already have an air horn on hand.

Bathrooms are great places for some pranks. Here are some that are fairly innocent.

You could leave a note for your family or friends in the toilet paper roll.

Or using permanent marker, you could float a note in the toilet.

Make sure stomach flu season is past before doing this next one.

For the next one you would need to put water only in the cups closest to the doors. The rest could be empty.

This last one is fun if your office or home has had some bugs recently.

A guy walking down a street one afternoon passes an old man sitting on the side of the road with a large sack.

The younger guy says to the old man, “Watcha got in the sack?”

The old man responds, “I got some monkeys in that there sack.”

The younger man asks, “If I guess how many monkeys you got in the sack, can I keep one?”

The old man replies, “Son, if you guess how many monkeys I got in this sack, I’ll give you both of ’em!”

 

Advisory:

Learn Chinese:  Chineasy TED Talk

http://chineasy.org/films/ted-talk.aspx

 

Ever look at a piece of chinese text and say to yourself, “It’s Greek to me”?  Well it’s not. It’s Chinese!  This TED Talk on Chineasy shows students 8 symbols to begin understanding Chinese.  If it’s this easy to learn something new in an Advisory class, how hard can the rest of the day be?

 

Book Review this week.  

 

101 (More) Amazing Facts – mental_floss on YouTube – List Show (307)

May need to edit the first couple. As always, watch first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdfaafOJhOo

 

French School Deems Teenager’s Skirt an Illegal Display of Religion

PARIS — A secondary school in northeastern France has sent a 15-year-old student home twice in the last two weeks for wearing a long skirt that the principal judged was “an ostentatious sign” of the girl’s Muslim faith.

 

Could tie in well with a school uniform discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/world/europe/french-school-teenagers-skirt-illegal-display-religion.html

 

What are Girls Good For

 

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-girls-are-good-for-happy-birthday.html

 

Future Me

Email to be delivered in the future.

https://www.futureme.org/

Middle School Science Minute

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

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE MINUTE-WRITING IN SCIENCE

 

I was recently reading the February, 2015 issue of “Science Scope,” a magazine written for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.

 

In this issue, I read the article, “Reading and Writing Alignment Across Content Areas” written by Susan Merten.  In the article she explains how her school reached their goal of improving student expository writing overall in every written response, extended or brief, and in all subjects, especially science.

 

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2015/5/7_Middle_School_Science_Minute-Writing_in_Science.html

 

From the Twitterverse:

Derek McCoy ‏@mccoyderek 4m4 minutes ago5 Innovations From The Past Decade That Aim To Change The American Classroom http://buff.ly/1FSOQmT

Joy Kirr ‏@JoyKirr 22m22 minutes agoArrived at #edcampchicago – pls excuse my myriad tweets today – it’s Disney World for me! 😀

Ross Cooper ‏@RossCoops31 1h1 hour agoJust a reminder. In case you STILL don’t know about #currichat #satchat

pammoran ‏@pammoran 2h2 hours agoLove this! Charleston native son Steve Colbert funds every SC tchers’ current Donors Choose grant #notajoke #scchat

Tish Jennings ‏@TishJennings May 7New Research: Students Benefit from Learning That Intelligence Is Not Fixed http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/16/new-research-students-benefit-from-learning-that-intelligence-is-not-fixed/ …

Monte Tatom @drmmtatom  ·  Apr 28#edwebchat ~ @newteacherhelp shares the “Pass the Past” App #fhuedu320 #tn_teta  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pass-the-past/id392637590?mt=8

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.  And as Troy says, “The Twitter never stops!”

 

Resources:

Deekit

Collaborative Whiteboard

Sign in using Google, Facebook or MicroSoft Account. Click on tools to reveal more options.

https://www.deekit.com/

 

Ultimate Guide to Taking Notes in Class

PictoGraph Creator

 

http://primaryschoolict.com/pictograph/

Topographical Maps

http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/history.html

Web Spotlight:

The School That Silicon Valley Thinks Will Save Education

On one side of the glass is a cheery little scene, with two teachers leading two different middle school lessons on opposite ends of the room. But on the other side is something altogether unusual: an airy and open office with vaulted ceilings, sunlight streaming onto low-slung couches, and rows of hoodie-wearing employees typing away on their computers while munching on free snacks from the kitchen.

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/altschool/

 

Principals: Are you brave enough to ask for staff feedback?

To get a full, clear picture of how well you’re doing, ask questions that prompt teachers to consider your performance from different, specific angles, while allowing them to also provide more open-ended feedback. The following are some suggested survey items.

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/faculty-staff-survey-form/

President Obama on His Teacher

I credit my education to Ms. Mabel Hefty just as much as I would any institution of higher learning.

When I entered Ms. Hefty’s fifth-grade class at Punahou School in the fall of 1971, I was just a kid with a funny name in a new school, feeling a little out of place, hoping to fit in like anyone else.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/29/email-president-obama-my-fifth-grade-teacher

 

Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, New Teachers Are Staying on the Job

Despite previous reports that new teachers are ditching their professions in record numbers, new federal data suggest that a grand majority of novice classroom instructors are showing up for work year after year.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/contrary-to-conventional-wisdom-new-teachers-are-staying-on-the-job/391985/

 

John Oliver on standardized testing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k

Random Thoughts . . .

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