Jokes You Can Use:  

 

Any stairway is a stairway to heaven if you’re clumsy enough.

 

Sleeping Beauty must have been terrified the first time she went back to sleep.

 

If your shirt isn’t tucked into your pants, your pants are tucked into your shirt.

 

If you swap the “W”s in Where, What, and When with “T”s. You end up with their answers.

 

The snooze button has probably ruined more lives than shark attacks have.

 

Freshwater fish aren’t technically seafood.

 

Advisory:

 

How People Make Only a Jar of Trash a Year

 

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/zero-waste-families-plastic-culture/?beta=true

 

Brainstorm vs Green needle

if you think of the word “brainstorm” you hear the word brainstorm. if you think of the words “green needle” you hear green needle.

https://mobile.twitter.com/sirvinnyd/status/996962183257968641/video/1

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Everyday Phenomena

I was recently reading the February, 2018 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 “Teacher to Teacher” column, featuring  “Teaching With Everyday Phenomena,” written by Susan German. Phenomena are observable events that serve two purposes in her classroom.  First, they increase student engagement and second, they make subsequent lessons more coherent.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2018/5/24_Middle_School_Science_Minute__Everyday_Phenomena.html

 

From the Twitterverse:

Todd Bloch‏ @blocht574

“Mr BLOCH I exceeded my NWEA goal in science!” So you learn something in my class? “Yeah, but that test doesn’t measure all I learned from you!” #mschat #miched Students are more than a score! (So is learning)

 

MiddleWeb‏ @middleweb

REVIEW – Fair Isn’t Always Equal: A Must-Read 2nd Edition. #mschat Grading & assessment thought leader @rickwormeli2 earns high praise. #edchat #leadupchat #middleschool #educoach @stenhousepub #grading #assessment #equity https://www.middleweb.com/37724/fair-isnt-always-equal-a-must-read-2nd-edition/ …

Danny Steele‏ @SteeleThoughts

Good teachers will spend some time this summer thinking about how they can improve their lessons next year. That’s just what they do.

 

Michigan Medicine‏Verified account @umichmedicine

Mowing the lawn on this holiday weekend? Dr. @braduren has important safety tips you need to keep in mind: http://michmed.org/eKRVW

edutopia‏Verified account @edutopia

Thank you, Maria Montessori.

MiddleWeb‏ @middleweb

REVIEW: Helping Striving Readers Become Thriving Readers. @Stephharvey49 and @AnnieTWard have the answers says reviewer Linda Biondi. #engchat #elachat #educoach @ncte #literacy #reading @ILAToday #coteachat @ScholasticTeach https://www.middleweb.com/37727/helping-striving-readers-become-thriving-readers/ …

Dave Burgess‏ @burgessdave

The 10 #PBL Commandments!!! Incredible video and Hamilton parody by @AmandaFoxSTEM http://daveburgess.com/the-10-pbl-commandments/ … #tlap #geniushour #DitchBook

 

Mrs_Borak‏ @ashleyborak

Genius hour presentations were amazing! I’m so impressed by our student’s dedication and creativity.

Tarrant Institute‏ @innovativeEd

For the pm crowd: @dave_baroody shares rubric, resources & lessons learned from implementing Genius Hour

 

teacheridea‏ @teacheridea

TI: 20+ Summer Scavenger Hunts. https://tinyurl.com/yd9akmeb  #edtech #edchat #elemchat #3rdchat #4thchat #5thchat #middlechat #mschat #6thchat #7thchat #8thchat #scichat

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

 

Strategies:

 

Desmos Pet House: A Linear {and Not-So-Linear} Project

To prepare Math 8 students for future linear studies in Algebra 1, Desmos Pet House, a math-meets-art-meets-coding project, began as a seemingly simplistic graph paper sketch.  However, the open task proved to be a “low floor, high ceiling” experience that whisked students into the world of linear functions, linear inequalities, restrictions on the domain and range, and even animations!  Desmos provides a platform for instant visual feedback for the algebraic “code” students wrote.

http://www.mathycathy.com/blog/2018/05/desmos-pet-house-a-linear-and-not-so-linear-project/

 

Resources:

 

We Could Live without These Education Buzz words

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2018/05/19/we-could-live-without-these-education-buzz-words/

Summer Reading List

• What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith
• YOU are NOT so SMART by David McRaney  
• The American Spirit:  Who We Are and What We Stand For by David McCullough
• The Genius Hour Guidebook by Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi
  • http://geniushour.wikispaces.com/Resources+%26+Documents
• Engaging with the YouTube Generation by TouchCast  
• The Rejection Collection by Matt Diffee  
• Teaching Kids to Thrive by Dr. Debbie Silver  

 

Web Spotlight:  

 

The Web Goes Dark For . . .

• WikiSpaces dies for teachers and classrooms July 31, 2018.  Grab your stuff while the grabbing’s good.

The Digital Curtain Falls Across . . .

• Padlet:  Using the Freemium Model now.  
• Avast – Education license is now discounted 50% instead of free.  
• Xtranormal is now Nawmal and is priced for education at $10/month.  

 

Can you think of more that should be on this list?  Share them on this spreadsheet.  We’d love to hear from you.  

 

CAPTURING TELEVISION HISTORY, ONE VOICE AT A TIME

We record in-depth video conversations with key figures in television, both in front of and behind the camera.

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/#annotations:qnoNQF70Eei1nnuFOrZvRw

Random Thoughts . . .  

 

Personal Web Site

 

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

 

Jokes You Can Use:  

Lily‏ @Lilylauren

I want to defend a penguin in court simply so I can say “Your honour. My client is clearly not a flight risk”

 

Important “Jokes You Can Use” Tool from Google

https://www.blog.google/topics/next-billion-users/no-laughing-matter-files-go-introduces-bad-joke-detector/  

 

A student in class the other day dropped her phone.  It landed safely. It was in airplane mode.

 

I’m currently boycotting any company that sells items I can’t afford.

 

PATIENT: Doctor, I need your help. I’m addicted to checking my Twitter!

DOCTOR: I’m so sorry, I don’t follow.

 

Why are iPhone chargers not called Apple Juice?!

 

Did you hear about the love affair between sugar and cream?  It was icing on the cake.

 

Advisory:

 

Motivation Increased 35% By One Simple Goal-Setting Instruction, Study Finds

Goals are frequently found to boost people’s motivation, and so their performance.

A recent study, however, reveals a fascinating kink in that oft-quoted research.

Men, it seems, respond to goals better than women, the study found.

 

https://www.spring.org.uk/2016/03/motivation-increased-35-simple-goal-setting.php

 

ZenTangles

 

https://zentangle.com/

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Take a Stream Selfie

I was recently reading the February, 2018 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 Citizen Science article, “Take a Stream Selfie for Science,” written by Jill Nugent. The article describes a project that maps streams across the United States and bridges an existing gap in water quality data. For more information, please visit:

https://scistarter.com/streamselfie

 

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2018/4/16_Middle_School_Science_Minute__Stream_Selfie.html

 

From the Twitterverse:

ISTE‏ @iste

“As educators, our challenge and opportunity is to give our students the tools they need to engage in a civil society whose future they will shape.” http://bit.ly/2KB1VHW  via @EdSurge #stuvoice #digcit

 

NYSUT‏ @nysut

Sign up for the Thunderclap to spread the word. Urge Sen. Flanagan and @NYSenate to support local control of teacher evaluations! Together we can fix APPR! https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/69830-we-can-fix-appr … #Pass8301NOW #LetUSTeach #LetThemLearn

 

Richard Byrne‏ @rmbyrne

Free Tools for Creating Animated Videos https://t.co/b7Mc57kpSL

 

Richard Byrne‏ @rmbyrne

How to Automatically Issue Certificates When Students Pass a Quiz in Google Forms http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/04/how-to-automatically-issue-certificates.html …

 

Greg Gorman‏ @gormang

10 ways Google tools can make the end of the year ROCK https://wp.me/p3bT67-1Sh  via @jmattmiller #usd246

 

Richard Byrne‏ @rmbyrne

17 Audacity Tutorials for Beginners http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/05/17-audacity-tutorials-for-beginners.html …

 

Richard Byrne‏ @rmbyrne

300+ Printable Comic Templates http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/05/300-printable-comic-templates.html …

 

Richard Byrne‏ @rmbyrne

TodaysMeet Is Shutting Down – Six Alternatives to Try http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2018/04/todaysmeet-is-shutting-down-six.html …

 

Tony Vincent‏ @tonyvincent

You can visually organize your Google Drive by color-coding folders and including emojis as icons. http://tonyv.me/gdrive

Tom Murray‏Verified account @thomascmurray

8 apps and tools for classroom SEL http://ow.ly/L8rw30jQn9L  #edtech

 

Steve Seward‏ @sewardstephen

Exit tickets, entry tickets, mid-lesson tickets—it’s all about learner thinking & using data to inform (extend or remediate) next instructional decisions. 25 questions to get you & your learners kick-started! #AdaptBasedOnPurpose

Michael Werner‏ @SimpleCEO

8 Ideas for Using Tech in Math Class http://rviv.ly/P4Egec

 

George Couros‏Verified account @gcouros

How to change your mindset to be more positive.  

https://t.co/SopAVGSWVo

 

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

 

Strategies:

 

Positive Reinforcement

As the largest middle school in the state of New Jersey, Lincoln Middle School has struggled at times with student discipline. Chronic tardiness and fights on campus have been a problem for this school, which serves 1,800 7th- and 8th-grade students.

Traditional approaches to student discipline haven’t worked to change the school’s culture. Not only has punishment been largely ineffective as a deterrent, but it also erodes the critical relationship between students and educators. When teachers are constantly meting out punishment, their relationship with students becomes confrontational instead of supportive—and this isn’t the type of environment in which students can learn most effectively.

 

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2018/05/01/positive-reinforcement-leads-to-school-wide-change/

 

My Daughter’s Homework is Killing Me

Memorization, not rationalization. That is the advice of my 13-year-old daughter, Esmee, as I struggle to make sense of a paragraph of notes for an upcoming Earth Science test on minerals.

Esmee is in the eighth grade…

What I am interested in is what my daughter is doing during those nightly hours between 8 o’clock and midnight, when she finally gets to bed.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/my-daughters-homework-is-killing-me/309514/

 

Resources:

 

The Problem with All Stars

How humility is crucial to success.

Start by asking kids, if you could make up a team, would it be better to have a team of all super stars, or a mix of stars and average players?

32 minutes. – Audio only

https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_the_team_of_humble_stars

 

Save the Planet Board Game

Save The Planet Board Game is free and open-source DIY cooperative board game. In the Save the Planet Game you and your family and friends can work together to save the planet to win, while learning how to save the planet in real life. The beginner option is appropriate for children 4 and up and the advanced option is a fun game for teens up to any age. This game is open-source so you are encouraged to build on it – make it better, add more good deeds, make a local deed list and make more advanced derivatives. Have fun!

http://www.appropedia.org/Save_the_planet_board_game

 

Answer Garden

AnswerGarden is a new minimalistic feedback tool. Use it for real time audience participation, online brainstorming and classroom feedback.

https://answergarden.ch/

 

Sourcera

Search museums, archives and libraries for images, embed them in slides at the click of a button! Also available for documents.

Highlight text in your slide and use it to search many of the world’s largest and richest archives.

Find images that you can re-use, view licensing information, embed them in your presentation complete with attribution, caption and link to source with a single click.

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sourcera/bahhjiijkghmilcaakejnpgakhgdmhdd?utm_source=permalink

 

Docs Teach

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

 

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation’s record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.

 

Access thousands of primary sources  — letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, videos, and other document types — spanning the course of American history. We’re always adding more!

 

Borrow from an ever-expanding collection of document-based activities created by the National Archives, and teachers around the world. Copy and modify activities for your students.

 

Create your own activities using the online tools. It’s as simple as: (1) selecting a tool, (2) choosing your primary sources, and (3) customizing instructions.

 

https://www.docsteach.org/

 

Audacity Tutorials for Beginners

17 Videos to help you (and your students) use Audacity.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wGbZVVzENlzXKZJz3D1XmOZeL91GncR

 

Trinket

Share Code from any Device

Trinket lets you run and write code in any browser, on any device.

Trinkets work instantly, with no need to log in, download plugins, or install software.

Easily share or embed the code with your changes when you’re done.

https://trinket.io/

 

Periodic Videos

A lesson about every single element on the periodic table

Created by the Periodic Videos team using the TED-Ed platform.

http://ed.ted.com/periodic-videos

 

The Baseball Study by Recht and Leslie

Video relating research on the importance of vocabulary and background knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6qpSrr3cg&feature=youtu.be

 

18 Free Image Sites and Tools for Schools

A picture is worth a thousand words, but it might also be worth a thousand dollars if your school gets hit with a copyright violation claim. This happens to schools every year as students or teachers inappropriately use an image that they do not have the rights to.

http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2018/04/free-images.html?spref=tw

Web Spotlight:

 

25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/25-things-successful-teachers-do-differently/

 

Strategies List

Thinking Collaborative List of strategies for the learning. Here is a sample…

1-2-6

3-2-1 Plus 1

5-3-1

7-11 Conversations

A B Each Teach

Adjournment Directions

Airplane Stacking

Analogy Prompts

Applause

Around the Room

Ask for Sabotage Ideas

Assumptions Challenge

Assumptions Inquiry

Assumptions Wall

Attention First

Banned Words

Block Party

Brainstorm Modalities

Brainstorm Questions

Brainstorm

Break and Breathe

Broken Squares

Caping

Card Games

Card Stack and Shuffle

Carousel Brainstorming

Carousel Interview

Catalogue

Causal Loop Diagram

Check In

Choose Voice

Choreograph an Opening

Clarify Conflicting Mental Modes

Use the link below for more:

http://www.thinkingcollaborative.com/strategies/

 

Grasshopper

Welcome to Grasshopper,the coding app for beginners

• Learn with fun, quick lessons on your phone that teach you to write real JavaScript.
• Move through progressively challenging levels as you develop your abilities.
• Graduate with fundamental programming skills for your next step as a coder.

https://grasshopper.codes/

 

Amazon Shareholder Letter

 

Six-Page Narratives

We don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations at Amazon. Instead, we write narratively structured six-page memos. We silently read one at the beginning of each meeting in a kind of “study hall.” Not surprisingly, the quality of these memos varies widely. Some have the clarity of angels singing. They are brilliant and thoughtful and set up the meeting for high-quality discussion. Sometimes they come in at the other end of the spectrum.

 

High Standards

Understanding this point is important because it keeps you humble. You can consider yourself a person of high standards in general and still have debilitating blind spots. There can be whole arenas of endeavor where you may not even know that your standards are low or non-existent, and certainly not world class. It’s critical to be open to that likelihood.

Recognition and Scope

What do you need to achieve high standards in a particular domain area? First, you have to be able to recognize what good looks like in that domain. Second, you must have realistic expectations for how hard it should be (how much work it will take) to achieve that result – the scope.

Let me give you two examples. One is a sort of toy illustration but it makes the point clearly, and another is a real one that comes up at Amazon all the time.

Perfect Handstands

A close friend recently decided to learn to do a perfect free-standing handstand. No leaning against a wall. Not for just a few seconds. Instagram good. She decided to start her journey by taking a handstand workshop at her yoga studio. She then practiced for a while but wasn’t getting the results she wanted. So, she hired a handstand coach. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, but evidently this is an actual thing that exists. In the very first lesson, the coach gave her some wonderful advice. “Most people,” he said, “think that if they work hard, they should be able to master a handstand in about two weeks. The reality is that it takes about six months of daily practice. If you think you should be able to do it in two weeks, you’re just going to end up quitting.” Unrealistic beliefs on scope – often hidden and undiscussed – kill high standards. To achieve high standards yourself or as part of a team, you need to form and proactively communicate realistic beliefs about how hard something is going to be – something this coach understood well.

In the handstand example, it’s pretty straightforward to recognize high standards. It wouldn’t be difficult to lay out in detail the requirements of a well-executed handstand, and then you’re either doing it or you’re not. The writing example is very different. The difference between a great memo and an average one is much squishier. It would be extremely hard to write down the detailed requirements that make up a great memo. Nevertheless, I find that much of the time, readers react to great memos very similarly. They know it when they see it. The standard is there, and it is real, even if it’s not easily describable.

Here’s what we’ve figured out. Often, when a memo isn’t great, it’s not the writer’s inability to recognize the high standard, but instead a wrong expectation on scope: they mistakenly believe a high-standards, six-page memo can be written in one or two days or even a few hours, when really it might take a week or more! They’re trying to perfect a handstand in just two weeks, and we’re not coaching them right. The great memos are written and re-written, shared with colleagues who are asked to improve the work, set aside for a couple of days, and then edited again with a fresh mind. They simply can’t be done in a day or two. The key point here is that you can improve results through the simple act of teaching scope – that a great memo probably should take a week or more.

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312518121161/d456916dex991.htm

 

Random Thoughts . . .  

 

Personal Web Site

 

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