MSM 350:  It’s a Manic Moodle Monday Test Prepping!

 

Jokes You Can Use:  

Poodle: “My life is a mess. My owner is mean, my girlfriend is leaving me for a German shepherd, and I’m as nervous as a cat.”

Collie: “Why don’t you go see a psychiatrist?”

Poodle: “I can’t. I’m not allowed on the couch.”

 

A man goes to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor checks him out thoroughly doing various tests. He then goes back to his table and sits down. “I’m prescribing these pills for you,” he says.

Noting the weird name of the prescription, the man asks, “What am I taking now?”

“Oh, I don’t want you to swallow them. Just spill them on the floor twice a day and pick them up, one at a time.”

 

I wrote a book about birds…

It flew off the shelf.

 

Advisory:

 

Are you the Majority?

 

*Short ad at the end.

 

Prisencolinensinainciusol

Instead, pick a language you don’t know, but can roughly approximate what it sounds like when spoken. Then, “speak” it, making up a nonsense version of that language as you go along. Now, take your “words” and put it to music which you think is appropriate for that language’s culture. If you do it well, you’ll end up with a song which to a native speaker is gibberish, but to someone who doesn’t know the language sounds like it could be real.

 

http://nowiknow.com/prisencolinensinainciusol/

 

 

Middle School Science Minute  

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

 

Tapping Into Energy

I was recently reading the December, 2016 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 the Editor’s Desk article, “Tapping Into Energy.” It was written by Patty McGinnis, Editor of Science Scope.  The article describes how the topic of energy is one that touches every middle school science classroom regardless of the science discipline taught.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2017/2/17_Middle_School_Science_Minute__Tapping_Into_Energy.html

 

From the Twitterverse:  

Jordan Hubbard ‏@_MsHubbard  

Jordan Hubbard Retweeted Jack Berckemeyer

Bahah love my 8th graders.

Jordan Hubbard added,

Jack Berckemeyer @JBerckemeyer

If you teach middle school you know that 8th graders invented alternative facts – just saying 🙂

Big History Project ‏@BigHistoryPro

If you teach history, you teach writing: http://bh-p.co/2jBN9ql  #satchat #edchat

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

Stacy St. Clair ‏@StacyStClair

Another president’s take: – at Tribune Tower

Dr. Justin Tarte ‏@justintarte

If you’re looking for a list of educators to follow on #twitter, I’d recommend starting here: http://goo.gl/m3Nlul  #knobpride #education

 

Glenn Robbins ‏@Glennr1809

Hey #PLN please follow & RT to show one of my great teachers the power of Twitter PD! @AmyLeeBrewin

History News! ‏@historynews

Fashions for February 1813 http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/2017/02/fashions-for-february-1813.html … #twitterstorians

Aaron Duff, M.Ed. ‏@education_geek

Students will tell you…if you ask! #WritetoLearnMO #edchat #elemchat

Todd Distelrath ‏@tdistelrath

Anti-Common Core bill looks to replace MI standards with old Mass. standards. Mass. currently uses CC. http://on.freep.com/2lbZtv6  via @freep

 

#mschat every Thursday 8:00 pm.  Join Todd Bloch for a great conversation!  

Strategies:

 

Sharing Resources, Preparing for tests

 

Discussion of sharing resources and preparing for tests.

 

26 Research-Based Tips You Can Use in the Classroom Tomorrow

 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/26-research-based-tips-you-can-use-in-classroom-tomorrow-todd-finley

 

Resources:

 

Presidential Historians Survey

C-SPAN’s academic advisors devised a survey in which participants used a one (“not effective”) to ten (“very effective”) scale to rate each president on ten qualities of presidential leadership: “Public Persuasion,” “Crisis Leadership,” “Economic Management,” “Moral Authority,” “International Relations,” “Administrative Skills,” “Relations with Congress,” “Vision/Setting An Agenda,” “Pursued Equal Justice for All,” and “Performance Within the Context of His Times.”

Surveys were distributed to historians and other professional observers of the presidency, drawn from a database of C-SPAN’s programming, augmented by suggestions from the academic advisors. Ninety-one agreed to participate. Participants were guaranteed that individual survey results remain confidential. Survey responses were tabulated by averaging all responses in a given category for each president. Each of the ten categories was given equal weighting in arriving at a president’s total score.

 

https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/

 

Learn about the past Presidents of the United States

 

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/project/american-democracy

 

Women in History

A collection of interviews with people who were there at key moments in women’s history

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jb8q3

 

7 Google Forms

 

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2017/02/7-great-google-forms-templates-to-use.html

 

Web Spotlight:

 

Random Thoughts . . .  

Personal Web Site

 

MSM 349:  Teach those video and audio skills.

 

Jokes You Can Use:

 

“There are so many cemeteries in your neighborhood.”

“I know, people are just dying to live here.”

 

The magazine about ceiling fans went out of business…

… due to low circulation.

 

One day, I saw a friend of mine crying over a bag of chips.

I asked him what’s wrong and he said that he was just following the instruction written on the bag of chips.

“Tear here to open!”

 

George Washington was such a great president.

He never blamed any of the country’s problems on the previous administration.

 

My sister explained to my nephew how his voice would eventually change as he grew up.

Tyler was exuberant at the prospect.

“Cool!” he said. “I hope I get a German accent.”

Eileen Award:  

  • iTunes:  Anonymous Listener

 

Advisory:

FEAR has two meanings: Forget Everything and Run, or Face Everything and Rise.

Americans

How are we different than the rest of the world?

http://www.fashionbeans.com/content/odd-things-about-america-that-americans-havent-realized/?loc=0

Middle School Science Minute  

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

 

Science Cafes

 

I was recently reading the November, 2016 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 the article, “Science Cafes.” It was written by Arianne Bazilio, Amy Ryan, and Jennifer Welborn.  The article describes an affordable, easy-to-implement model that introduces young girls to STEM-related topics, careers, and role models.

 

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2017/2/2_Middle_School_Science_Minute__Science_Cafes.html

 

From the Twitterverse:  

ReadWriteThink.org ‏@RWTnow

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks was born today in 1913. Students consider her legacy in this lesson plan: http://bit.ly/brRi2u

 

Bill Ferriter ‏@plugusin

This was a good @lifehacker read: Everything You Need to Shoot Good-Looking Video With Your iPhone – http://bit.ly/2kGZ9my  #edtech

 

Matt Miller ‏@jmattmiller

Google Classroom: Check In with Students http://ift.tt/2k754BI  via alicekeeler #DitchBook #gsuiteedu

 

George Couros ‏@gcouros

How Being Bored Makes You More Creative

https://t.co/CupKYArSMk

 

Tom Loud, Ed.S ‏@loudlearning

Dinosaurs Didn’t Read! Don’t Risk It! #edchat #education

Will Richardson ‏@willrich45

How is Finland building schools of the future? http://buff.ly/2k3DF3x  Interesting.

 

Ted Fujimoto ‏@tedfujimoto

How Schools Build A Positive Culture Through Advisory via @TeachingChannel http://ow.ly/WWSwv  #edreform #edchat #stemed #edpolicy #stem

 

EdTech K–12 Magazine ‏@EdTech_K12

Help your #students create solid @Google Portfolios by following these steps:

https://t.co/oCoXcghqq8

Mahara:  https://mahara.org/  

 

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

 

Strategies:

 

Positive Notes

A simple idea built on a suggestion from my friend Chris Tuttell, Kudos Cookies are short, handwritten notes of praise paired with a sweet treat.  I write anywhere from two to eight notes every morning — depending on how much time I have after arriving at school — and make deliveries all day long.

The good news is that Matt Townsley and Santo Nicotera have found a solution.  Both are starting every faculty meeting with the same agenda item:  Writing positive notes to two kids that are hand delivered the next morning.

http://blog.williamferriter.com/2017/02/04/want-better-faculty-meetings-start-here/

 

Teaching Good Study Habits, Minute by Minute

Take studying, for example. If you are a parent of a struggling or resistant learner, you’ve probably heard more than one person suggest, “She just needs to study more.” Most kids think this means filling in a study guide or rereading a chapter. But many don’t learn by writing or reading. Their strengths lie in the visual, kinesthetic, musical, or social realm. How, then, are we to help our children develop their studying skills?

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/good-study-habits-minute-by-minute-heather-lambert

 

Resources:

 

Twisted wave

Audio editor. Available online or for Mac and iOS. (Think of GarageBand).

Need to register for a free account. Free account is limited to 5 minute projects and one hour total. Projects are kept for 30 days.

 

https://twistedwave.com/

 

Hemingway App

Interesting writing feedback for students.

“Now, when we say “grade level,” we aren’t saying that’s who you’re writing for. In fact, Ernest Hemingway’s work scores as low 5th grade, despite his adult audience. What our measurement actually gauges is the lowest education needed to understand your prose. Studies have shown the average American reads at a tenth-grade level — so that’s a good target.”

http://hemingwayapp.com/

http://hemingwayapp.com/help.html

 

Google Forms

Use them to collect information for yourself.

http://ditchthattextbook.com/2017/01/30/quick-google-forms-time-savers-for-teachers/

 

Web Spotlight:

 

Charter Schools spend MORE on administration

A new report finds that New Orleans schools spend more on administration and less on teaching than than they would have if they had not undergone a transformation to charter schools after Hurricane Katrina.

The drop in instructional expenses — $706 per student — is due mainly to lower salaries and reduced benefits for instructional staff, Harris and Buerger found.

But salaries make up just a third of the instructional spending drop.  Half of it is due to reduced spending on benefits.

http://thelensnola.org/2017/01/17/study-says-new-orleans-schools-spend-more-on-administration-and-less-on-teaching-after-charter-transformation/

 

Random Thoughts . . .  

 

Personal Web Site