Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about the week “off”, middle schoolers being middle schoolers, and more. Dave heats up. 

Jokes:  

Mountains aren’t just funny…

• They’re hill areas.

---

Do pots and pans talk about the news in the drying rack?

• No; moistly they just dish on each other.

---

So i’ve finally completed a PhD in palindromes…

• You can now call me Dr Awkward.

---

How do monsters like their eggs?

• Terrorfried

---

“Had to give up my career due to fallen arches.”

“You were a pro athlete?”

“No. Architect.”

---

Man. Every time I ask what the lowest Army rank is, people say that’s private.

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast: The Sun’s Heat

I was recently reading the January/February 2023 issue of “Science & Children” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  

In this issue, I read the “Science 101” column, written by Matthew Bobrowsky.  He wrote a Q and A article entitled, “How Does the Sun’s Heat Get to Us Here on Earth?”  

Heat is the flow of energy from one object to another object because of their difference in temperature.  That energy, thermal energy, results from the random motion of atoms and molecules.  The molecules move around, bouncing off of each other and bouncing off anything with which the object comes into contact.  The hotter the object, the faster the molecules are moving.

http://k12science.net/the-suns-heat/

Reports from the Front Lines

• School’s Out
  • Social Media is wrong about something
  • Kids stayed home
• LOC Browser Extension

The Social Web  

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Word of the day is ‘pertolerate’ (17th century): to endure steadfastly to the end.

PUNS  @ThePunnyWorld

My mom was a radiologist. She met my dad when he came in for an x-ray. I wonder what she saw in him.

Police have arrested the World Tongue-Twister Champion. They said he’ll be given a tough sentence.  

TeacherGoals  @teachergoals

Get it? 

Fixing Education  @FixingEducation

On Tuesday, 2/21/23, this student violently attacked his teacher aide at Matanzas HS. When deputies spoke with the student, he explained that he was upset because the aide took his Nintendo Switch away during class. Student was described as 6’6”, 270 lbs.  Video:  https://twitter.com/i/status/1629129801087713282  

The Ghost of Ernie   @ErnieHarwell1

The voice of the turtle is heard in our land today! #playball #DetroitRoots #LetsGoTigers

The voice of the turtle is heard in our land today! #playball #DetroitRoots #LetsGoTigers pic.twitter.com/2W3WgFxnmd

— The Ghost of Ernie 🎙⚾️ (@ErnieHarwell1) February 25, 2023

Strategies:

Eliminate Off-Task Behavior During Group Work

https://www.trevormuir.com/blog/off-task-behavior#annotations:PX6MgLOjEe2JrlfL93lwwQ

Who Benefits From Attending Effective High Schools?

All students benefit from attending effective schools, but the least advantaged students experience larger improvements in high-school graduation, college going, and school-based arrests.

Commonly used test-score value-added understates the long-run importance of effective schools, particularly for less-advantaged populations.

Click to access Who_Benefits_JOLE_r1_clean.pdf

Taboo.AI

https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2023/02/25/this-online-taboo-game-using-artificial-intelligence-is-fun-can-be-a-language-learning-tool-for-ells/

https://taboo-ai.vercel.app/

Resources:  

AXIS:  The Culture Translator

Rise and Shine

What it is: TikTok’s #5to9 club and #morningroutine videos are inspiring some young people to start their days earlier for maximum productivity.

American Battlefield Trust:  Augmented Reality

Get up close to Abraham Lincoln as he recites his famous Gettysburg Address. Wander around Brandy Station’s historic St. James Church and see what the interior may have looked like. Examine an excavated Spanish piece of eight up close. Bring history to life in your space with the American Battlefield Trust’s collection of Augmented Reality (AR) experiences and your smartphone.  https://www.battlefields.org/learn/augmented-reality  

TEACHING “THE OCKY WAY”

Prepackaged lessons do serve a purpose in education. They give educators a starting point, helping save time. Teachers don’t need to be reinventing lessons every time they teach something new. 

It makes me think of “The Ocky Way” channel found on YouTube/TikTok and Instagram. Where a small deli in Red Hook, NY makes common foods come to life prepared by owner Mohamed. Mohamed has risen to internet fame by taking standard meals, then adds his own touch to them to make them unique for the consumer. Sometimes customers bring in fast food orders from nieghboring stories to have the meal done “The Ocky Way”.

Teaching “the Ocky Way”

STEALTHGPT

Unleash the power of undetectable AI writing

https://stealthgpt.ai/#annotations:JpLEnrE0Ee2TrsPIrD7nAw

Ben Collins Spreadsheet Tips Archives

Ben Collins does a wonderful FREE weekly newsletter. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRjLOmw2lfxvRnyYBqDB3YT_CUmQn337cIoYp8d2bnTxHe3SaVsduZXkbiDS_6HF84CL5eBdfYuzYT_/pubhtml

A Framework for Learning Through the Purposeful Use of Technology

https://esheninger.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-framework-for-learning-through.html

Web Spotlight:  

Becorns

Becorns are little people I make out of acorns and sticks. Then I photograph them in nature with real animals. In this video, I share my process for taking photos with some Eastern Bluebirds. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3auU2OIe_gA#annotations:dDeyrLRMEe28oV_DsHYdzg

https://www.davidmbird.com/

What Is Going On With This Andrew Tate Hand Gesture?

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were seen using the sign during their arrest in Romania, and teachers in the UK say teenage boys are copying it.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34dgy/andrew-tate-hand-gesture#annotations:8Ikh3rB8Ee2_IsOG8gVz8Q

Little Known Punctuation Marks

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12710/13-little-known-punctuation-marks-we-should-be-using

Random Thoughts . . .  

The Persona Spectrum

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/xamarin/the-journey-to-accessible-apps/

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about break, creating your own computers, interesting words and more. Dave tells us how kids can get involved with Marine Iguanas. 

Jokes:  

Anyone who can spell the word drawer backwards…

• Will get a reward.

---

I have a friend named David. He had boy and named him Harley. Now, when he introduces himself, he does so

• “I’m Harley, David’s son.”

---

“How much do you charge?” a man asks a lawyer.

“For $100 I answer three questions,” the lawyer answers.

“That’s awfully steep isn’t it?” says the man.

“Yes it is,” replies the lawyer. “Now what’s your final question?”

---

What type of lunch do you get at an air show?

• A plain one.

---

My dog hates holograms.

• They make no scents!

---

Here’s my list of friends who love Palindromes:

Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen.

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast: Marine Iguanas

I was recently reading the January/February 2023 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  

In this issue, I read the “Citizen Science” column, written by Jill Nugent.  She wrote an article entitled, “Iguanas from Above.”  

“Iguanas from Above’ is a citizen science project designed to answer questions about marine iguanas, their population, and their habitat.  The project will help to determine the current population size of marine iguanas and their locations within the archipelagos.  For more information, visit:

http://k12science.net/marine-iguanas/ 

https://www.iguanasfromabove.com

Reports from the Front Lines

• Break
• Lock Down Browser
  • Exam.net
  • Moodle
• Spreadsheets
• COVID and schools

The Social Web  

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Word of the day is a reminder of ‘ipsedixitism’ (16th century): the assertion that something is ‘fact’ because someone else said so.  

Word of the day is ‘gadwaddick’: old Norfolk dialect for going on a jaunt or a head-clearing pootle.  

benteh @benteh@mastodon.social

Word of the day, a yiddish slang word:

farpotshket (https://forvo.com/word/farpotshket/ )

broken, because someone tried to fix it

This word doesn’t just describe something that is broken, but something that is broken specifically because someone else tried to fix it, making it worse. It is used most commonly today to describe software engineering projects.

Paul Thomas  @plthomasEdD

Pronunciation requires context

Paul Couretas  @MrCouretasPE

“Mr. C, why aren’t you in the Olympics, or the circus? I think you would be great in the circus. Probably not Olympics, but definitely the circus!” Might be the best thing a student has ever said to me.. #physed #education #movement #sports #olympics #circus #clown

Help A Teacher  @HelpATeacher

This is pretty awesome!   Unknown

Jennifer Zimny  @jzimnycricket

Finally set up my Would You Rather station! I loved hearing students reactions to it once I put it up. Templates coming soon.

Deborah Farmer Kris  @dfkris

Middle schoolers are my *favorite* — and I’m delighted CNN let me explain why. With insight (and positive tween vibes) from  @Pfagell & @LDamour.  https://t.co/S3B5lMFvFU  

Strategies:  

Design Fiction Daily

Lots of resources of things that don’t exist. 

*warning, swears on the “About” page. 

https://www.designfictiondaily.com/p/martian-domesteading

Resources:  

There’s an AI for That

https://theresanaiforthat.com/#annotations:3l02vK-WEe2EoHuVQdv1Zw

10 things to know about how social media affects teens’ brains

“Our brains, our bodies, and our society have been evolving together to shape human development for millennia. … Within the last 20 years, the advent of portable technology and social media platforms [has been] changing what took 60,000 years to evolve,” Mitch Prinstein, the chief science officer at the American Psychological Association (APA)

Humans are social creatures, and we learn through social interaction. In fact, said Prinstein, “numerous studies have revealed that children’s interactions with peers have enduring effects on their occupational status, salary, relationship success, emotional development, mental health, and even on physical health and mortality over 40 years later. These effects are stronger than the effects of children’s IQ, socioeconomic status and educational attainment.”

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/16/1157180971/10-things-to-know-about-how-social-media-affects-teens-brains#annotations:kFCH0q7gEe2gecvaJNFTsA

How Can I Support My Child in Learning Maths?

https://tommaths.blogspot.com/2023/02/how-can-i-support-my-children-learning.html#annotations:JdBapq4WEe2Z8T-xlPqdKA

AXIS:  The Culture Translator

A Somber Report

What it is: This Monday, the CDC released its 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey report. Out of 17,000 US high school students surveyed in late 2021, nearly 60 percent of teen girls reported persistent sadness or hopelessness.

Losing Their Drive

What it is: Fewer teens seem interested in obtaining a driver’s license than in years past, with only 45 percent of 17-year-olds getting them in 2020—a drop of 17 percentage points compared to 1997.

Web Spotlight:  

 O Kai Sauliūtė Tekėjo – Lithuanian Folk Song

A folk song for the 105th Anniversary of Lithuanian Independence.  Turn on the closed captions and do a “Notice & Wonder” as you listen and watch the video.  

What a conductor actually does on stage

f you’ve ever seen an orchestra perform you’ve probably had a difficult time looking away from the person dead center on the stage – the conductor. It’s hard to miss someone as they swing their arms around pointing at the musicians that seem to be focused instead on their music stands. So what exactly is the conductor doing? 

We decided to ask James Gaffigan – a conductor who recently guest conducted the New York Philharmonic in Central Park – just what it is that makes a conductor so necessary and how their actions shape the performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_yIn8V3UcU

Student Solar Project Bridges Digital Divide in Rural Virginia

To bridge this digital divide during the pandemic, the school district set up 32 of these WOW stations throughout the county in parking lots at churches, grocery stores and any other businesses willing to share their parking lots. 

High school students enrolled in both construction and energy and power classes helped build the WOW units.

https://www.gettingsmart.com/2023/02/16/student-solar-project-bridges-digital-divide-in-rural-virginia/#annotations:BOdESq4QEe2QKEN-wM4XoQ

Black History Month For Teachers

Put the power of primary sources to work in the classroom. Browse ready-to-use lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids.

https://blackhistorymonth.gov/for-teachers/#annotations:pFlPxK4PEe2KnDd_zq9AlA

The Science of Measurement | Metrology Matters

Nothing to do with weather, this is about measuring. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q4UWZqNVBk#annotations:4asBCK4NEe27st_-pdzQ0g

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Summary:

Shawn and Troy discuss defenestration, AI, and more. Dave is statistically correct. 

Jokes:  

My Daughter turned 18 last weekend, so I bought her a locket with a picture of herself inside. Thankfully, she’s now finally..

• Independent..

---

I took an elevator up to the eleventh floor for a meeting. As I got out, the operator said “Have a good day, son.”

“Don’t call me son,” I said. “You’re not my dad.”

He scratched his head, “No, but I brought you up, didn’t I?”

After my meeting, I got back on the elevator to go back down, and the same operator was there. I said nothing to him, but when we got to the ground floor, he said to me, “I’m sorry.”

“Because you thought you were my dad?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No, son, because I let you down.”

---

What do you call a line of people waiting to get their hair cut?

• A barber Queue

---

Pancake jokes? 

• I’ve got a stack of ‘em.

---

Furniture Salesman: “This sofa will seat five without any problems.”

Customer: “Where am I going to find five people with no problems?”

---

One day, I hope to be able to install an indoor soccer pitch in my attic. I know what you’re thinking…lofty goals.

---

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast: Statistical Thinking

I was recently reading the January/February 2023 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  

In this issue, I read the “Interdisciplinary Ideas” column, written by Kristin Hunter-Thomson.  She wrote an article entitled, “Why Should We All Embrace Statistical Thinking?”  

Statistical thinking is the mindset that we use when doing anything with data.  The mindset is based on the following three criteria:

1.  Any work with data involves interconnected processes.

2.  All processes and data have variability.

3.  Understanding variability and these processes is key to making sense of data.

http://k12science.net/statistical-thinking/

Reports from the Front Lines

• Lock Down browsers
• Spreadsheets
  • Assessment Tracking 

The Social Web  

Alexlindsay  @alexlindsay

You can read 100 books on baking bread but you won’t actually know how to bake bread until you’ve baked 100 loaves yourself. This applies to many things in life.

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Word of the day is ‘stiff-rumped’ (18th century): obstinate, unbending, and accustomed to taking everyone else for fools.

I have only just discovered that the original meaning of ‘prime time’, in the 16th century, was Spring.  

John R. Sowash  @jrsowash

Unleash the power of reading with this simple Google Form reading log! it’s the perfect tool to kickstart your next reading challenge. https://chrmbook.com/google-forms-reading-log/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=jrsowash&utm_content=edtechposts

#teachertwitter #GoogleEdu

Jonny Hemphill  @worcesterjonny

Cause of disease and treatment across the historical periods all on one page. Trying to help year 11 with their revision with this thinking quilt. Color coding the historical periods and the themes #historyteacher

NBR, Nordic Baltic Region of FIPLV & Egle Sleinotiene  

Resources:  

Our 10th Annual 15-Second Vocabulary Video Challenge

We invite students to create a short video that defines or teaches any of the words in our Word of the Day collection. Contest dates: Feb. 15-March 15, 2023.

Student Vocabulary Challenge: Invent a Word

Come up with your own addition to the English language. Suggest a new word by Feb. 28, and it could become our April Fools’ Word of the Day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/01/learning/student-vocabulary-challenge-invent-a-word.html#annotations:hamkrqcjEe2ORtuJMgChGQ 

Project Look Sharp

Inspire and enrich your teaching by engaging all students in rigorous and reflective analysis of rich media documents.

In today’s media-saturated world, we need to teach our students the habits of critical thinking needed for their academic, career and civic lives. They need consistent practice in asking the right questions and in reflecting on their own meaning-making. Project Look Sharp’s approach integrates materials and methodologies that teach both core subject-area learning with these media literacy skills.

https://projectlooksharp.org/#annotations:QSHLgKloEe2UDZMLXUlVSg

AMLE Book Spotlight – Middle School Superpowers – Raising Resilient Teens in Turbulent Times – Phyllis Fagell

Are you concerned that middle school will wreak havoc on your tween’s well-being and sense of self? Wondering how you can ward off the decline in confidence research shows kids experience during these vulnerable years? Seeking strategies that will help your child emerge from middle school with even more resilience than when they started?   

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0306829754/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Geography Bee!

1200 questions for your Geography Bee at your school!  Downloadable as a Moodle Course and ready to make usable in your school.  

https://moodle.net/resource/4olx2f65uf6u-geography-bee

Web Spotlight:  

On the Road: Middle school football players execute life-changing play

As part of our continuing series “On the Road,” Steve Hartman meets the Olivet Eagles, a middle school football team who took a fledgling player under their wing and executed what may be the most successful play of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ejh_hb15Fc#annotations:bbKRtKYnEe2csQcPYuLe2A

We’ve always been distracted

Worried that technology is ‘breaking your brain’? Fears about attention spans and focus are as old as writing itself

https://aeon.co/essays/weve-always-been-distracted-or-at-least-worried-that-we-are#annotations:zL8KgKVyEe2iYn-bq0nsJA

WRBH

WRBH’s mission is to turn the printed word into the spoken word so that the blind and print impaired can receive the same ease of access to current information as their sighted peers.

WRBH’s target audience includes the blind and illiterate as well as individuals who are unable to read due to illness, spinal cord injuries, eye muscle damage, learning disabilities, lack of access to print media, and loss of vision due to age. While the majority of reading services for the blind use mechanized voice software, WRBH is the only organization providing this variety of programming via the human voice thanks to over 150 volunteers who donate nearly 5,000 hours annually to read printed information. 

https://www.wrbh.org/about-us/who-we-are/#annotations:edKTbqY1Ee2bXR8OXyqQVw

AXIS:  The Culture Translator

Defining the Situationship

What it is: With Valentine’s Day approaching, many young people are defining their relationships as “situationships,” according to Tinder’s “Year in Swipe” data report for 2022.

The Broom Method

In order to fuel its rockets, NASA scientists must take two of the most basic elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and cool them down hundreds of degrees into their liquid states. In this more efficient form, a rocket’s tank volume can be maximized, providing the needed fuel to achieve lift. This process is a potentially dangerous one, as hydrogen is highly combustible. If at any point during storage, fueling, or flight the liquid form evaporates back into gas, a leak could mean a massive explosion.

During the Apollo missions, scientists and engineers would simply walk through the facilities with a long broom held out in front of them. When the broom touched the invisible burning hydrogen, the end would suddenly combust and they could mark another area which had dangerous gas within it. It was low-tech — but it worked.

https://shop.minimuseum.com/blogs/cool-things/the-broom-method#annotations:5I8QSKZNEe2nnYdCmsV8eQ

Dispositional Realignment

Two Lithuanian films make it onto Netflix and HBO Max

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1887252/two-lithuanian-films-make-it-onto-netflix-and-hbo-max?fbclid=IwAR1CYSTB5QpGFys8Gl0OQYu0O4gf1UODG6Eel0BCeXgDNdGVzm7lo6O0DJw

Random Thoughts . . .  

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about Parent Conferences, Moodle Flow, AI and more. Dave is trading in some books.

Jokes:  

Why did the dachshund sit in the shade? 

• It was a hot dog.

---

I ran into a lamppost yesterday. 

• Luckily, I only sustained light injuries.

---

Why were the middle ages also called the dark ages? 

• There were too many knights.

---

Why were police called to a daycare center? 

• A 3-year-old was resisting a rest.

---

Why are long fairy tales boring? 

• They tend to dragon.

---

Nobody has seen the zamboni driver lately. 

• I’m sure he’ll resurface eventually.

---

Why did I buy a boat? 

• It was for sail.

---

Cowboys used to hang lanterns off each side off their saddles, to help find their way whilst riding at night..

• This is believed to be the earliest form of saddle light navigation.. 🤔

---

I was debating with my friend about who the greatest vampire was.

I said, “The one from Sesame Street”

He said, “He doesn’t count!”

To which I replied, “Oh yes, he certainly does”

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast:  2023 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Middle School Students

I was recently reading the January/February 2023 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.

In this issue, I read an article on the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students in 2023. 

Here are the 7 books selected as outstanding for middle school students:

• Antarctica: A Melting Continent
• Oceanarium: Welcome to the Museum
• Salmon: Swimming for Survival
• The Code Breaker — Young Readers Edition: Jennifer Doudna and the Race to Understand Our Genetic Code
• Animal Allies: 15 Amazing Women in Wildlife Research
• How to Build a Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps
• The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner

http://k12science.net/2023-outstanding-science-trade-books-for-middle-school-students/ 

Reports from the Front Lines

• Parent Conferences
  • In person
  • Remote
  • In the Round, Scheduled
• Moodle Flow
• Webinar

The Social Web  

ChatGPT 2049 @ChatGPT2049

Automated

Holy cow has @OpenAI gimped the ChatGPT tech. It’s almost useless for any sort of creative writing now. I mean, come on.

Peter Forister  @forecaster25

INSANE conditions on Mt Washington, NH. 120mph+ winds and -95°F wind chill. It is above the tropopause, meaning that these are stratospheric winds. Footage from the summit live stream 2:30-2:40pm. #nhwx  https://twitter.com/i/status/1621598650022363142  

Monica Roach  @MonicaRoach15

Hey #vbits ! Did you know that @MergeVR now works with the forward facing camera on Chromebooks?!? Thanks for the info, @lesliefisher!

Susie Dent @susie_dent

Word of the Day (again) is ‘quiddling’ (18th century): busying oneself with trivial tasks as a way of avoiding the important ones.

PUNS @ThePunnyWorld

A shark can swim faster than me, but I can run faster than a shark. So in a triathlon, it would all come down to who is the better cyclist

Sardonicus @Sardonicus@mastodon.social

A cement truck crashed near Winganon, Oklahoma in the 1950s and the mixer was too heavy to move. It’s still there; locals have painted it to look like an abandoned NASAcapsule.  https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/10/the-

MrBerard@MrBerard@pilote.me

#EduGlow telling 12 year old that Instagram runs on Python, the same language they are using. Also telling them Instagram stands for “Instant Telegram”, the name the company was founded under in Victorian times.

Dr. Sean Munger @seanmunger@metalhead.club

Here are all the paper airplanes I confiscated during the course of *one* 8th grade class yesterday. Why did my Ph.D. program not prepare me for this? 

Strategies:  

Creating a Collection of 101 Creative Ideas to Use AI in Education

https://creativehecommunity.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/creating-a-collection-of-101-creative-ideas-to-use-ai-in-education/#annotations:sdWeRKM1Ee2J2Te4-WiB3g

The Art of Self-Pacing: How to Build Playlists that Keep Students on Track

The playlist, or individual rotation model, is a highly effective blended learning model that empowers students to take ownership of their learning by giving them control over the pace and path of their learning. This model presents a sequence of carefully curated learning activities tailored to each student’s unique needs and abilities, allowing them to progress toward specific learning objectives at their own pace.

https://catlintucker.com/2023/01/self-pacing-playlists/#annotations:O4dLUJ9yEe2WJgeQ7nWPjw

this is why we should stop giving homework

The United States must examine the underlying inequities of peoples’ lives, rather than focus on increasing schools’ workloads and lessening children’s free time for mythical academic gains that lead to little change.

At Human Restoration Project, one of the core systemic changes we suggest is the elimination of homework. Throughout this piece, I will outline several research studies and reports that demonstrate how the negative impact of homework is so evident that any mandated homework, outside of some minor catching up or for incredibly niche cases, simply does more harm than good.

I’ll summarize four main reasons why homework just flat out doesn’t make sense.

• Achievement, whether that be measured through standardized tests or general academic knowledge, isn’t correlated to assigning or completing homework.
• Homework is an inequitable practice that harms certain individuals more than others, to the detriment of those with less resources and to minor, if any, improvement for those with resources.
• It contributes to negative impacts at home with one’s family, peer relationships, and just general school-life balance, which causes far more problems than homework is meant to solve.
• And finally, it highlights and exacerbates our obsession with ultra-competitive college admissions and job opportunities, and other detrimental faults of making everything about getting ahead.

https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/this-is-why-we-should-stop-giving-homework#annotations:KyBGWp8hEe2fg2-d8-VHiQ

Resources:  

ONE STRATEGY FOR COMBATTING PSEUDOSCIENCE

written by Miguel Guhlin 

Are you a critical thinker? I am not…yet. The gap between knowing what’s possible and where I’m at spurs me to learn more.

And, wow, what an amazing set of resources I have found!

One Strategy for Combatting Pseudoscience

MacWhisper

Quickly and easily transcribe audio files into text with OpenAI’s state-of-the-art transcription technology Whisper. Whether you’re recording a meeting, lecture, or other important audio, MacWhisper quickly and accurately transcribes your audio files into text.

https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/macwhisper#annotations:CdFMyKKcEe26GVfusJc_lw

GifCap

Create animated GIFs from a screen recording.

Client-side only, no data is uploaded. Modern browser required.

https://gifcap.dev/#annotations:O7r7WqGWEe2EgTP7XuKyEQ

PEN America Index of Educational Gag Orders

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tj5WQVBmB6SQg-zP_M8uZsQQGH09TxmBY73v23zpyr0/edit#gid=1505554870

Graphic Organizers

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFMyLVL8e0/VFXNoPFq27ppbHjVlnRYtg/view

Info Wall – H5P

A free H5P content type that allows users to present simple structured lists of information that can be filtered in publishing systems like Canvas, Brightspace, Blackboard, Moodle and WordPress. 

Web Spotlight:  

AXIS:  The Culture Translator

Duped

What it is: Products that are “dupes”—less costly alternatives to brand name options—are taking over TikTok and Instagram.

We’ve Lost the Plot

What it is: An article in the Atlantic questions if the line between entertainment and real life has become blurred beyond recognition, suggesting that we already live in a sort of socially-conditioned metaverse.

The Hangout House

What it is: A parent went viral on TikTok for sharing his tips for making his house the house where his teenagers and their friends want to spend time together.

Pranks Destroy Scam Callers- GlitterBomb Payback

Chatham-Kent County Renames Snowplows

Random Thoughts . . .  

Jack Berckemeyer – Nuts & Bolts Conference  

“I sent an update to all the Nuts and Bolts Consultants that I am working on a five year plan to work my butt off then slow my roll. By then I will be 60 (damn Jack you looo great) Traveling is wearing me out, I am beat up and tired. I need to work on some personal self care and start to wind down my 30 year career in education.

So what does this mean, nothing changes in the next 5 years I will still be working with schools, still keynoting and doing whatever I can to help struggling schools and educators. However, by 2025 I will be selling Nuts and Bolts – The Never Boring Conference – if you’re interested let’s chat. NB changed my life and brought me so much joy. All stays the same for this summer, great locations and outstanding speakers. I am just looking for some to either take it on or partner with me.”  

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