Monthly Archives: April 2021

MSM 505: Same Pig, Different Lipstick?

/ , /

Summary:

Shawn and Troy discuss teaching with Tech Tools. Should you change them frequently? Dave has a Cultural Responsive Middle School Science Minute. 

Jokes:  

Why does Waldo always wear stripes?

  • He doesn’t want to be spotted

Which coffee place should you never play basketball against? 

  • Dukin Donuts

What is an unemployed jester?

  • Nobody’s fool

You know a wedding is an emotional day. Even the cake is in tiers.

What do you call an alligator in a vest? 

  • An investigator

The Black Eyed Peas can sing us a tune, but the chick peas can only hummus one. 

According to a recent survey, 9 out of 10 people who are afraid of hurdles never get over it. 

What is it called if you are afraid of giants? 

  • Feefiphobia

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Culturally Responsive Teaching

I was recently reading the March/April 2021 issue of “Science and Children” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  In this issue, I read the “Editor’s Note” section, written by Elizabeth Barrett-Zahn.  Elizabeth wrote an article entitled, “Culturally Responsive Teaching.”

At the heart of Culturally Responsive and Relevant Teaching is a willingness to listen, reflect, and celebrate the richness that cultural and linguistic diversity has to offer.  

AMLE.org reference:  https://www.amle.org/12-questions-to-ask-when-designing-culturally-and-historically-responsive-curriculum/  

Reports from the Front Lines

The Twitterverse  

Lydia Jennings, Ph.D.  @1NativeSoilNerd

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was informed by the Blackfeet Nation— and he mixed it up, because he didn’t know how to make it fit within America’s individualized culture.

https://t.co/oRaZEUKKzU?amp=1

Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo

The Best Places To Get Accessible History Texts For ELLs

https://t.co/yBe0etKEYr?amp=1

Will Richardson-BIG Questions Institute  @willrich45

A contractual obligation to hand in lesson plans a week in advance? Wow. That’s an interesting story about trust and power and respect, huh? #justaskin

NJAMLE  @NJAMLE

The Hunger for Learning remains a constant for Middle Level Educators in May & we @NJAMLE have just the recipe. Mrs. Kristyn Corace from @DoverMiddleNJ presents “Helping Learners with Disabilities during Remote Learning” Join us 5/12 at 4:00pm EST for this free virtual workshop!

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

Strategies:  

50 English Activities – 5 Minute learning Moments.

The pack contains fifty fun activities that will get your students thinking, talking and collaborating while they learn. Some of them are real classics used by teachers for many years, while others are new ideas sure to inspire your students.  

https://teacher-toolkit.co.uk/products/fifty-bright-ideas-teacher-toolkit-cards?fbclid=IwAR3EDPZa7Fn5bGegXR5yIndAz0ieaXz_fuVl-UydKx3s_iu1UnHbuRWbu9k

Video Annotation

Free service from the University of Minnesota. You can annotate videos and share those annotations. Allow your students to annotate as well. 

https://ant.umn.edu/

Pile of Words: Drive Deeper Engagement with Vocabulary at the Beginning of a Unit, Text, or Project

Step 1: Think about the unit, text, or project you are about to start and create a list of vocabulary words and key terms.

Step 2: Group students and give them time to discuss and define.

Step 3: Group the words into categories by shared characteristics and label each category.

Step 4: Ask students to make predictions about what they expect to learn based on the pile of words.

Step 5: As students progress through the unit, text, or project, ask them to revisit their predictions.

<a href=”https://catlintucker.com/2021/04/pile-of-words/#annotations:H2oscqCpEeuieVNcAxJjiQ” data-type=”URL” data-id=”https://catlintucker.com/2021/04/pile-of-words/#annotations:H2oscqCpEeuieVNcAxJjiQ”>https://catlintucker.com/2021/04/pile-of-words/#annotations:H2oscqCpEeuieVNcAxJjiQ</a>

Resources:

Axis:  The Culture Translator

Slang of the Week

lives in my head rent-free: refers to something you dwell on frequently, whether an experience, image, video, or person. (Ex: “I spent so much time learning the TikTok dance for “Savage,” now it’s going to live in my head rent-free forever.”)  

EASY AND QUICK PROMPTS TO HELP STUDENTS CONNECT TO YOUR CONTENT

Easy and Quick Prompts to help students connect to your content

Web Spotlight:  

Random Thoughts . . .  

Personal Web Site   

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 504: Underestimating the Plague

/ , /

Summary:

Shawn and Troy discuss H5P, kids sneaking in, reopening schools and more. Dave books Middle School STEM. 

Jokes:  

“I read a history of sandpaper recently…The guy who invented it wasn’t sure how to go about it but he had a rough idea.”

“I found a spider in my shoes. He looks ridiculous; they’re way too big for him.”

“My favorite time on the clock is 6:30. Hands down.”

“Why do you never see pigs hiding in trees?

“When musicians perform onstage, the sound bounces around the room off of the walls. When a pigeon performs onstage, the sound does not bounce. 

  • Because a coo sticks.”

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Best STEM Trade Books for Middle School Students

The National Science Teaching Association in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council released the 2021 list of the Best STEM Trade Books for Students.  In this podcast we look at the 7 books recommended for students in grades 6 – 8.

  • All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team
  • Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature
  • Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM
  • Galileo! Galileo!
  • Machines That Think!: Big Ideas that Changed the World
  • Spaceman: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut
  • Who Gives a Poop?: Surprising Science from One End to the Other

Reports from the Front Lines

  • The push to the end of the year . . . 
  • H5P Interactive Book Module – Love It!  
  • Falsobordone:  1350 – Music for a Plague  
  • Reopening Schools
    • Many are open
    • Air filtering (basic dust)
    • Temperature

Advisory:  

You Can Be a Different Person After the Pandemic

Our personalities are not set in stone. They are more like sand dunes.

Changing a trait requires acting in ways that embody that trait, rather than simply thinking about it. 

For example, in one study, putting more effort into homework led students to become more conscientious — a reversal of the popular notion that conscientious students put more effort into their homework. In another, people were able to become more extroverted or conscientious in four months just by listing the ways they’d like to change and what steps they would take to get there.

Here’s what a post-pandemic dispositional makeover might look like: Someone who was chronically late in the Before Times might work on being more conscientious, or timely. One way to show your friends how much you missed them is to start respecting their time.

Through painful isolation, this past year has, perversely, revealed the value of friendships and social ties. For those who want to renew connections that have atrophied, solidify friendships that have migrated to Zoom, or otherwise live differently, it’s very possible to do so. Remember that your personality is more like a sand dune than a stone.

The Twitterverse  

Phyllis Fagell, LCPC @Pfagell

Fair question.

Colby Sharp  @colbysharp

This school year is hard. I’m so tired. Overwhelmed. Everything feels so heavy.

Chad Livengood  @ChadLivengood

#Michiganian  https://twitter.com/i/status/1383216891645231104  

GIFQuote Tweet

Shailin Thomas  @shailinthomas

Michiganders imply the existence of a Michigoose.

Alice Keeler  @alicekeeler

Students Removing Files from Google Drive https://buff.ly/3dmyLLL via @YouTube

Mary Appleget  @teachtothebrain

Teachers Face Burnout More Than a Year Into Pandemic-Era Learning

https://t.co/d90d486zJ3?amp=1

Alice Keeler  @alicekeeler

Free Gamification Badge Game Template https://buff.ly/3dgQ1mR via @YouTube

https://twitter.com/alicekeeler/status/1383193531746029570/photo/1

Will Richardson-BIG Questions Institute  @willrich45

Apple’s upcoming mixed reality headset will reportedly weigh less than an iPhone

https://t.co/A0M9iocNDt?amp=1

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

Strategies:  

I Didn’t Allow Hand-Raising In My Class. Here’s Why.

https://www.weareteachers.com/student-discussions/#annotations:QeSQvJ1SEeu4l_dpA8JPaw

Resources:

 H5P Free Online Teaching Resources

www.H5P.org  

Top 50 Websites

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-50-most-visited-websites-in-the-world/#annotations:G8wEYpu6EeuiiEcEXihNYg

Use Text Sets to Benefit Bilingual Students

Use Text Sets to Benefit Bilingual Students

Web Spotlight:  

AMLE Call for Presentations

Call for Presentations

AXIS – The Culture Translator

Slang of the Week

salty: feeling angry, agitated, upset, or annoyed. (Ex: “I tried to tell her I had to be home by my curfew and couldn’t drive her home, but she got real salty about it.”) 

John Hattie: We need to get better at learning transfer

“Surely, the purpose of teaching a child something is so that they can transfer it to another circumstance?” “Over the last 200 years, it’s kind of been our dirty secret: we know it’s important, but it’s hard to find evidence on how to teach it,” he says. 

Three phases of learning – surface learning, deep learning and transfer of learning – all require a different approach, he says.

Hattie believes too much time is dedicated to the surface-level learning, while the process of acquiring and consolidating deeper knowledge, and the transfer of this to other areas, has been neglected – evidence of which he has seen in a body of recent research. 

https://www.tes.com/news/john-hattie-we-need-get-better-learning-transfer#annotations:EC9NhpuHEeuIRxO7IvQ4mQ

MountainMoot 2021

My favorite conference. 

http://mountainmoot.com/ 

Random Thoughts . . .  

H. Resolution 222:  Supporting National Middle School Month

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/222?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Education%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=38

Polycam

https://poly.cam/

Personal Website   

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 503: Two is plural; Just Between You, Me, and Every Listener

/ /

Summary:

Shawn and Troy share the importance of family, discuss less work, more focus, types of noise, and Gallery walk ideas. Dave drops some citizen science (and a bit of a red herring).

Jokes:  

I was singing Monkees songs the other day. My friend said that she’d had enough. I wasn’t sure. 

  • Then I say her face. 
  • Now, I’m a Believer

If a piano falls you, your head would B-flat

We’re house hunting right now. In one house, I looked up and told my wife “that’s a pretty good ceiling. It’s not the best, but it’s up there”. 

Of all the inventions over the last 100 years, the dry-erase board has to be the most remarkable. 

The average person is really mean. 

Why did the illiterate witch get kicked out of the coven? 

  • She couldn’t spell

Where did the college aged vampire like to shop?

  • Forever 21

I tried to come up with a joke about social distancing, but this is as close as I could get. 

I don’t know why Marvel hasn’t put advertisements on the hulk. He is essentially a giant banner. 

Accidentally played Dad instead of dead when I encountered a bear. Now it can ride a bike without training wheels. 

Eileen Award:  

  • Twitter:  Todd Bloch  

Middle School Science Minute  

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

River Herring: A Citizen Science Project

I was recently reading the March/April 2021 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association. In this issue, I read the section “Citizen Science” written by Jill Nugent.  Jill wrote an article entitled “The Return of the River Herring.”

The Mystic River Herring Education Project is an online citizen science project with a user-friendly website full of information and resources.  To engage in the citizen science project, students will visit the project home page and watch short video clips of migrating river herring.  They will count the number of river herring that they observe swimming from right to left on the screen.  To learn more, visit:

https://www.mysticherring.org

Reports from the Front Lines

  • The push to the end of the year . . . 
  • Training vs Education
  • Concepts vs Buttons
  • OBSBot Review
  • Podcasts 
    • Over 26% only have 1 episode
    • 44% have 3 or fewer
  • Qlone

Advisory:  

‘So Deep And So Rich’: Seniors Stay Connected Via Their New Life On Zoom

While many of us are suffering from “Zoom fatigue,” I found these women were invigorated by the virtual platform, and just as committed as ever to their meeting every week to discuss their writing.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/04/983895036/so-deep-and-so-rich-seniors-talk-about-their-new-life-on-zoom

The Twitterverse  

Typical EduCelebrity   @EduCelebrity

  1. Those who think kids can’t write a full essay haven’t seen the subject lines of emails they send to their teachers.
  2. Sometimes the most effective therapy a teacher gets is the discussion one has with their colleague going to and from their car in the parking lot.  
  3. We need to stop pushing college on every single student. There are good paying jobs that do not require a college education. Somebody, after all, needs to run your inservices.

Shane  @theedpodcast

Be honest: when was the last time you updated your teacher blog?

𝓓𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓢𝓬𝓱𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓸𝓾 𝓔𝓭.𝓓.  @daveschmittou

Today, instead of just hitting retweet on a good idea, go to your calendar and put some action on your schedule to put the idea into practice.

Kim Campbell  @KimCamp4Kids

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.  And as Troy says, “The Twitter never stops!”  Eileen Award for Todd Bloch’s recommendation on Twitter.  

Strategies:  

25 sites for students with free time on their hands

When students are done with an assignment or project, how can they spend extra time wisely? These sites give them something academic to chew on.

The Wakelet

*I find this completely overwhelming. 

13 Effective Study Strategies to Help Students Learn

Between kindergarten and twelfth grade, students are expected to learn how to study, schedule their time and complete sizable assignments without procrastinating. Yet these skills often aren’t taught explicitly. With the increased self-sufficiency necessitated by virtual education, educators and parents can help students learn and manage their goals more effectively by directly teaching study skills.

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/57644/13-effective-study-strategies-to-help-students-learn#annotations:yhksTpYUEeuOqqcU9dphIQ

Resources:

The Louvre

The Collections database consists of entries for more than 480,000 works in the Musée du Louvre and Musée National Eugène-Delacroix. Updated on a daily basis, it is the result of the continuous research and documentation efforts carried out by teams of experts from both museums.

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/#annotations:LPfBBpPtEeuPL-csC-6M3w

Anagrammaker

Anagram Maker is designed to create anagrams by swapping letters in a name, word or phrase, resulting in new words. The generator uses all original letters.

https://anagrammaker.com/#annotations:DVCmYpPIEeuSM29rAVD6EA

Fake Airplane Tickets

http://omatic.musicairport.com/ 

Rules of Sports

Decimal Blocks

Free and paid versions. Very visual representation of blocks. Could be useful to demonstrate or have kids demonstrate (screen capture). 

https://www.mathspad.co.uk/i2/teach.php?id=decimalBlocksTool

Web Spotlight:  

Cartoons

https://mapologies.wordpress.com/2021/03/21/cartoons/

The Culture Translator:  Slang of the Week

edgelord: a person who makes extremely dark or exaggerated statements on social media in order to get attention, be controversial, or be seen as “edgy.” (Ex: “That used to be my favorite online forum, until the edgelords took it over and started posting Joker memes.”)  

milkshake duck: someone who goes viral for something charming and funny, only to be revealed later as offensive or problematic. (Ex: I thought that meme about the stuck shipping container in the Suez Canal was funny, but then I found out the person who tweeted about it boils frogs to death for fun. Total milkshake duck.)  

redpilled: having become “enlightened” (or at least thinking you have become enlightened) about how the world really works, as Neo famously did in The Matrix movies. (Ex: “I used to think social media was just helping us connect with others… then I got redpilled.”)  

Gen Z is planning a Post Panny Party!  Use that one at the next teacher’s meeting . . . 

Regions of the US

Regions of the United States

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 502: Expectations, Bad Influence, Moneyball for Education, “You What…”

/ /

Summary:

Ratholes are most of the show. We talk about conferences, teaching and technology, and more. Dave has some things that “bug” him career-wise.

Jokes:  

Why is everyone so tired at the beginning of April?

  • They just finished a 31 day March

I’ve been cleaning up. Going through books and such. A copy of “A Christmas Carol” fell on my toe. 

  • Man, it hurts likes the Dickens 

One friend got another friend a rat for a present. The rat had a tank top on. 

  • The first friend asked why it was wearing a tank top. Ah, it’s a Gym rat. “I hope he works out for you”. 

I finally did it!

  • I bought a new pair shoes with memory foam insoles. No more forgetting why I walked into the kitchen. 

I once a parrot a song. He has since forgotten the words. 

  • Now, he’s just a hummingbird

Where do Dad’s keep their jokes? 

  • In a Dad-a-base

How do you cut an ocean in half?

  • Use a sea saw.

I fell asleep last night while reading old magazines. 

  • I woke up this morning with back issues. 

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Careers in Entomology

I was recently reading the January/February 2021 issue of “The Science Teacher” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  In this issue, I read the section “Career of the Month” written by Luba Vangelova.  Luba wrote an article entitled “Entomologist Ary Faraji.”

Entomologists study insects and may work for educational or research institutions, government agencies, private industry, and consulting.  Ary Faraji works as an entomologist in a local government agency in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The mission of his agency is to reduce the annoyance levels posed by biting mosquitoes and to protect residents from pathogens mosquitoes can carry.

Reports from the Front Lines

  • The push to the end of the year . . . 
  • Practice Interviewing
  • Understanding of Technology
  • Testing…
  • Vaccines (and kids)
  • Virtual Tours
  • Extra Credit

Advisory:  

Teen Vogue

Future Predictions

40 Weird And Cool Things People Found Inside Second-hand Books

Resources:

Complete Knot List

Complete Knot List

Eyes on the Prize

Produced by Blackside, Eyes on the Prize tells the definitive story of the civil rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations continue to be felt today. Winner of numerous Emmy Awards, a George Foster Peabody Award, an International Documentary Award, and a Television Critics Association Award, Eyes on the Prize is the most critically acclaimed documentary on civil rights in America.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/eyesontheprize/

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download