Monthly Archives: April 2023

MSM 582: When Speaking in Spammish, Shouldn’t There Be An Accent?

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Summary:

Shawn and Troy share testing, email woes, time markers, and more. Dave has some great books (and some feedback from last week’s show). 

Jokes:  

It’s nice to live in a small town, because if you don’t know what you are doing, someone else does.

She wanted a séance. I wanted a palm reading.

– So we found a happy medium.

Car died. Had to call Uber to go get my tux pressed. $55.

– Man, was I taken to the cleaners.

Luxury coffin? 

  • That’s the LAST thing I need.

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Best STEM Books 2023 for Middle School Students

I was recently reading the March/April 2023 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  In this issue, I read an article on the Best STEM Books 2023 for books published in 2022.

Best STEM Books winners explore problems and possible solutions in the scientific world and, where applicable, in the lives of the protagonists.  Instead of focusing on specific content, the Best STEM Books emphasize real-world issues that cross disciplinary boundaries.  There were six books in the list that were most appropriate for middle school students.  They are:

  • American Murderer: The Parasite that Haunted the South
  • Break Down: Explosions, Implosions, Crashes, Crunches, Cracks, and More……A How Things Work Look at How Things Don’t
  • Concrete: From the Ground Up
  • No Boundaries: 25 Women Explorers and Scientists Share Adventures, Inspiration, and Advice
  • Science Comics: Bridges: Engineering Masterpieces
  • Superpower? The Wearable-Tech Revolution

http://k12science.net/best-stem-books-2023-for-middle-school-students/

Reports from the Front Lines

The Social Web  

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Word of the day is ‘confelicity’: joy in the happiness of others.

Ryan Reynolds  @VancityReynolds

Everything I own smells like champagne, beer and grass. I’m still somewhere between giggling and sobbing. This town and this sport is one of the most romantic things on earth. Thank you, @Wrexham_AFC 

Also from Susie Dent:  

I love these lost markers of time: overmorrow: the day after tomorrow. ereyesterday: the day before yesterday. yestreen: yesterday evening. yestermorn: yesterday morning. sennight: a week (seven nights, just as ‘fortnight’ is fourteen nights).  

Bodo Hoenen  @BodoHoenen

Here is the pitch I gave on stage at #asugsvsummit We are so excited to have launched the first of three tools we are building to power the future of learning!

@nolej_app

Strategies:  

FAQ: The Playlist Model

Q1: How Long Should Students Work on a Playlist?

Q2: What Is The Best Format to Present a Playlist?

Q3: How Do I Track Student Progress?

Q4: What Do I Do With Students Who Are Done Early?

*See Podcast 572 for the Playlist Model

https://catlintucker.com/2023/04/faq-playlist-model/

Set Up New Co-teaching Relationships that Snap!

​​https://www.middleweb.com/48877/set-up-new-co-teaching-relationships-that-snap/ 

Resources:  

FIVE AI TOOLS TO TRY (APRIL 2023)

With AI comes a lot of uncertainty, and there are undoubtedly some blurred lines. However, I was recently inspired by Ted Lasso to “be curious, not judgmental.” He explains in the popular show, during a beloved scene, that asking questions before forming judgments and opinions shows curiosity and can lead to more informed decisions. So thanks, Ted! I am now personally trying this approach when it comes to AI tools.

https://blog.tcea.org/five-ai-tools-to-try-april-2023/

Historical Photos of Mount Rushmore Before the Famous Faces

https://petapixel.com/2023/03/24/historical-photos-of-mount-rushmore-before-the-famous-faces/

Eigo AI

Eigo.AI uses AI technologies to generate listening, reading, and speaking lessons for English learners. Each lesson is available in three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each lesson includes:

  • A subtitled video;
  • A reading passage with comprehension questions;
  • A speaking practice activity;
  • A vocabulary review quiz

https://eigo.ai/

THE BEST RESOURCES ABOUT IEP’S

https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2023/04/12/the-best-resources-about-ieps/

Discrete Option

Instead of presenting all answer options to choose from at once, the options are shown successively in random. One at a time. For each option, the test taker will have to decide whether it is correct or not. That leaves four possible scenarios for each option:

  1. The option is incorrect, and the test taker marks it as incorrect: The next option will be presented if there are any left.
  2. The option is incorrect, and the test taker marks is as correct: The test taker failed. The test is over.
  3. The option is correct, and the test taker marks is as incorrect: The test taker failed.
  4. The option is correct, and the test taker marks it as correct: The test taker passed. The test is over.

https://www.olivertacke.de/labs/2023/04/28/a-new-h5p-content-type-discrete-option-multiple-choice/

Web Spotlight:  

Free Concert:  Postcards From Italy

https://music.bju.edu/live/?fbclid=IwAR0lQFiLUNqmJQunEcRbs3s5S0QuxeHYQl0mMW8wJ_TUfg5VRamtewrOHwE

AXIS:  The Culture Translator

#ActuallyAutistic

What it is: Emma Camp writes in an op-ed for the New York Times about the “aestheticization” of neurodivergence.

Repair, Reparent, Repeat

What it is: The Atlantic spoke to several psychologists about breaking negative parenting cycles.

Slang of the Week

DonoWall: A term, often used in Twitch chat, for when someone donates to a streamer and the streamer doesn’t respond to the message in the donation, or the “dono.” The term is often accompanied by this gif of someone talking to a wall. (Ex: Donation: “Thanks for all the streams. They’ve really helped me through my breakup with my girlfriend.” Streamer: “…” Chat: “DonoWall”)

Random Thoughts . . .  

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 581: Slinging the Slang Making Us Thirsty!

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Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about reading, SEL, and more. Dave has his (and student’s heads) in the clouds. 

Jokes:  

I just got a job in marketing for a cereal company

  • I’ll be Raisin Bran awareness

What kind of crime did the mug of Starbucks commit?

  • Grande larceny.

A group of ophthalmologists recently opened a clinic to treat some of the more painful ocular diseases.

  • It’s a site for sore eyes.

Dreamed I was a muffler……

  • …….woke up exhausted.

The barista gave his heart and soul to the coffee shop.

  • Of course, he got a latte in return.

I was named after my Dad. 

  • It would be impossible to be named before him

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast:  GLOBE Observer-Clouds

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

In this issue, I read the “Scope on the Skies” column, written by Bob Riddle.  He wrote an article entitled, “Castles in the Sky.”

Bob jokingly talks about people suffering from Pareidolia, a human condition that has us seeing familiar patterns or images as we look around us.  This, of course, is not a serious condition, but helps to explain the things we see when looking at puffy cumulus clouds.  This provided a lead into the citizen science project of studying clouds using the GLOBE Observer app, provided by the GLOBE Program.  To learn more about the GLOBE Observer app, visit:

https://observer.globe.gov

http://k12science.net/globe-observer-clouds/

Reports from the Front Lines

  • Books, How Do You Read?
  • SEL Movement

The Social Web  

Marvin Olasky  @MarvinOlasky

If you’re a teacher, I hope you’re pro-chess, since it’s a great help in building strong minds. Please check out this gift Washington Post article, at no cost to you. Read here:  https://t.co/bR14UdxPjD  

AJ Juliani  @ajjuliani

Must-read thread y’all!

    Ana Lorena Fabrega  @anafabrega11

    We are dealing with a generation of kids who are sensitive and risk averse—kids who seek adults to solve their problems and protect them from discomfort. We must stop this. Kids are not as fragile as we think

donnie piercey  @mrpiercEy

My new favorite game is “Guess the AI Prompt”:

Susie Dent @susie_dent

If you’re in need of a smile I offer you the Finnish word ‘kalsarikänni’. It means drinking at home, alone, and in your underwear.

Matt Miller   AI for Educators   @jmattmiller

Have you seen Teachflix?  A free resource with more than 500 classroom videos vetted by educators! Find what you need with:  a search bar  age-level categories  content area categories With activities/worksheets for any video  Check it out: http://teachflix.org

Strategies:  

“Froot Loop” Conspiracy Theories

Students will develop a better understanding of conspiracies, conspiracy theories, and how to avoid being tricked by “froot loop conspiracy theories.”

https://lessons.wesfryer.com/lessons/conspiracy-theories#annotations:ByhPbNn7Ee2orsf19V6MzQ

Video Resource:  https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/  

Resources:  

Propello

Propello makes it easier to give every student a first-class learning experience. Our K-12 teaching and learning platform combines high-quality, customizable curriculum with built-in scaffolding and supports to propel learning forward.

https://propello.com/

Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was first proposed by Georges Polti in 1895 to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance.[1] Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi, who also identified 36 situations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations#annotations:nbR0Qtn7Ee2gUNdfbHaxvQ

Make Something Wonderful

The best way to understand a person is to listen to that person directly. And the best way to understand Steve is to listen to what he said and wrote over the course of his life. His words—in speeches, interviews, and emails—offer a window into how he thought. And he was an exquisite thinker.

https://book.stevejobsarchive.com/#annotations:SbVQGtmgEe2mo–41YjV1A

Knoword

With Knoword, you’ll have a powerful tool to help your students build their vocabulary skills while having fun!

https://playknoword.com/pricing

https://playknoword.com/#annotations:DYWYetlfEe2xgucfocUWyA

Salt Water Classroom

Saltwater Classroom is a Maine-based 501(C)3 non-profit organization that is committed to a new wave of ocean education. We believe that the first step towards a sustainable future on our Blue Planet is a renewed emphasis on ocean literacy. From education stems passion, and from passion blooms stewardship. 

https://www.saltwaterclassroom.com/

SketchPlanations

Some great resources. Also great models for having students create their own examples. 

https://sketchplanations.com/#annotations:uKBoBtcrEe23vE90M51Iaw

Openverse

Explore more than 700 million creative works

An extensive library of free stock photos, images, and audio, available for free use.

All Openverse content is under a Creative Commons license or is in the public domain.

https://openverse.org/#annotations:YG8bqtb-Ee2MvCdQYrEDrw

Question Well

“Generates an endless supply of questions so teachers can focus on what matters.

Just input some reading, and the AI will write Essential Questions, Learning Objectives, and aligned

multiple-choice questions.”

https://www.questionwell.org/

University of California Riverside – Brain Games

At the University of California, Riverside (UCR) Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well-Being, we strive to improve your brain’s fitness. We research, test, and disseminate evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist you in real life with memory, vision, hearing, learning, and more. We have a track record of making our tested procedures publicly available so that our innovations help our community and the world.  

https://braingamecenter.ucr.edu/

The apps:  https://braingamecenter.ucr.edu/cognitive-training-apps/  

AXIS – The Culture Translator

Slang of the Week

Passenger Princess: A term for a girl who prefers to sit shotgun and be driven rather than drive herself. The word is usually applied to girls who like to have their boyfriend drive them, and who might not even know how to drive themselves. The term has been used in both serious and satirical TikTok videos, some with young women reveling in their royal status, others with young men, parents, or pets enjoying the princess seat.

This Trend is Making Me Thirsty

What it is: Recipes for water on TikTok are going viral, with #flavoredwater collecting 322 million views as of this writing.

Web Spotlight:  

Teachers, Don’t Take Your Work Home

I asked teachers on social media to share their best strategies for minimizing the amount of work they have to take home.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-teachers-dont-take-your-work-home/2023/04

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 580: I Get What They Are Trying to Do, But “Oh, My Goodness”

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Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about the impact of COVID on students, executive function, and more. Dave shares time management tips in Science.

Jokes:  

Thank you for explaining “going against the grain” to me.

  • But it really rubbed me the wrong way.

I misplaced Dwayne Johnson’s cutting tool for the origami workshop!

  • I can’t believe I lost the Rock’s Paper Scissors!

Our hero’s second adventure had him learning how to calm the ocean’s waves.

  • It was a sea quell.

My friend David lost his ID in Prague

  • Now we just call him Dav

I hate cliffhangers

  • They’re just so…

Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast:  Time Management

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

In this issue, I read the “Practical Research” column, written by Alison Betz Seymour.  She wrote an article entitled, ““But, I’m Not Done Yet!” Time Management in the Science Classroom.”  

Here are some practical, simple suggestions to develop time management skills:

1.  Explicitly talk about time management.

2.  Prompts such as “Check in with your time, there are about 10 minutes left for this task.”

3.  Scaffold students’ ability to visualize time by using an analog clock with time intervals marked with dry-erase pens.

http://k12science.net/time-management/

Reports from the Front Lines

  • Budget Season
  • ‘Tis the Assessment Season
  • Word Count

The Social Web  

Terrible Maps  @TerribleMaps

Bill Ivey  @bivey

“What’s Love Got to Do With It? – Creating Connections in the Classroom”

Quote Tweet:  

  Michael McCullough  @ME_McCullough

Stop using pop culture references as the first half of the title of your journal article.

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Word of the day is ‘battologise’ (17th century): to needlessly and annoyingly repeat the same thing, over and over.

alexlindsay@alexlindsay

I spend a lot of time with ChatGPT. My impression… It’s just really book smart. It has no life experience except what it’s read. It’s as inaccurate and as sure of itself as people I meet in real life that have read a lot about a subject but have no operational knowledge.

Michelle Wagner  @wagnerlearning

If you’re looking for professional learning – find free, high-quality, asynchronous, professional learning at https://literacyessentials.org! From PreK to Disciplinary Literacy, there’s something for every teacher! #MichiganLiteracy

Erin Scholes  @ScholesE15

Fantastic #AprilFoolsDay #PedagoguePride

Quote Tweet:  

Illinois State  @IllinoisStateU

BREAKING NEWS  Illinois State is retiring its 100-year-old official nickname of “Redbirds” and will henceforth be known as the “Fighting Pedagogues.” #PedagoguePride

Doug Holton @dougholton

Article on the current state of #AI text-to-video generators https://www.wired.com/story/text-to-video-ai-generators-filmmaking-hollywood/  A comparison of 5 tools for creating talking avatars https://youtu.be/U0HNdsxC8YU  And a tutorial on how to make your own #balenciaga meme style videos https://youtu.be/IFszI_wUhzQ #ChatGPT #video #midjourney

History Hit 

drpontSseolc2tt2u02l4838l96ui68fhtghca2mt5125u169h2l29l6h6tt

Mario Fabbrini, owner of Papa Fabbrini Pizzas, watches the ceremonial burial of 29,188 frozen pizzas on 5 March, 1973. He had been ordered to recall the pizzas by the Food and Drug Administration. To demonstrate his accountability, Fabbrini organized a public disposal of the pizzas, later dubbed the “Great Michigan Pizza Funeral”.

Resources:  

Simon

https://www.factmonster.com/games/simonsays#annotations:GXOmBtVIEe2FJxfAFa8eAg

Six Things Educators Must Know About Neurodivergent People

Neurodiversity is in the middle of a circle. Different diagnoses are around the circle.
https://stimpunks.org/2022/11/22/six-things-educators-must-know-about-neurodivergent-people/#annotations:OSF4DtSmEe2uGNd3Tt9bRg

Above The Noise

ABOVE THE NOISE is a show that cuts through the hype and takes a deeper look at the research and facts behind controversial and trending topics in the news. Hosted by Myles Bess.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4K10PNjqgGLKA3lo5V8KdQ

Capitalize My Title

Choose your style: 

  • APA: Capitalize using the APA style guide.
  • Chicago: Capitalize using the Chicago Manual of Style capitalization rules.
  • AP: Use the Associated Press Stylebook capitalization guidelines.
  • MLA: Use the MLA Handbook title capitalization rules.
  • BB: Use the Bluebook title capitalization rules.
  • AMA: Use the AMA Manual of Style capitalization rules.
  • NY Times: Use the NY Times style guidelines.
  • Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia’s capitalization rules.
  • Email: Use proper capitalization rules for email.

Choose your case options: 

  • Title Case: Capitalize only the words that should be capitalized according to the top tab style guide.
  • Sentence Case: Capitalize only the first word of each sentence.
  • Uppercase: Convert your title from lowercase to uppercase.
  • Lowercase: Convert your title from uppercase to lowercase.
  • First Letter: Capitalize the first letter of every word.
  • Alt Case: Capitalize every other letter of your text starting with the first letter being capitalized.
  • Toggle Case: Change the case of every letter in your string. Similar to the Microsoft Word feature.

Other Options

  • Straight quotes: Curly quotes (“,”,‘,’) are used in good typography. If you need to use straight quotes, enable this feature.
  • Get Headline Score/Get Email Subject Score: Find out how strong your headline or email subject is by using our convenient tools.

https://capitalizemytitle.com/#annotations:E-0-btL-Ee2Hul8Yre00hg

Introduction to Earth Science 

The Open Education Initiative at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce a newly-adapted work by Dr. Laura Neser. Introduction to Earth Science is a 530+ page open textbook designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to Earth Science that can be freely accessed online, read offline, printed, or purchased as a print-on-demand book. It is intended for a typical 1000-level university introductory course in the Geosciences, although its contents could be applied to many other related courses.

Announcing open textbook: Introduction to Earth Science

Deep Time

https://ncse.ngo/deep-time-really-really-deep-man#annotations:CgKTNNPNEe2w19dxbNldMA

AXIS – The Culture Translator

Work vs. Worship

What it is: The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson charts the rise of “workism,” a cultural phenomenon that positions work as the thing that provides what people used to expect from organized religion.  

#CollegeAdmissions TikTok

What it is: TikTok posts detail the pressure, excitement, and heartbreak of the college admission process.  

Pitch

Pitch keeps your team’s work on-brand, on message, and on time. Innovative features make creating and sharing your work feel effortless.

https://pitch.com/product-tour

Web Spotlight:  

Chasing rainbows

Apparently, the very idea of colorblindness is hard to visualize. Take a shot at looking through my eyes.

Living with colorblindness feels like you’re constantly being pranked by the world in subtle, irritating ways.

https://www.theverge.com/23650428/colorblindness-design-ui-accessibility-wordle#annotations:ZsTYKtVnEe2Qi9OL0pBQfQ

Rainbows are a Full Circle

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/rainbow-full-circle/#annotations:tmNUutPXEe2-9n9c7XLVIw

The Massive ESSER Experiment: Here’s what we’re learning.

The Massive ESSER Experiment: Here’s what we’re learning.

Random Thoughts . . .  

Click the Play button below to listen to the show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM 579: The Nintendo Effect – Brutally Honest!

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Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about break, books, student perspectives of a trip, and more. Dave gets salty with kids participating. 

Jokes:  

Yesterday I changed a lightbulb. Then I crossed the street and walked into a bar.

  • I’m starting to think my whole life is a joke.

When my wife said that quilts are better than duvets, I told her…

  • …to be careful making blanket statements like that!

Why is everyone so exhausted on April 1st?

  • They just finished a 31 day March

If Wile E. Coyote has enough money to buy all that stuff from ACME, why doesn’t he just buy himself dinner?

It’s nice to live in a small town, because if you don’t know what you are doing, someone else does.

I remember how we used to roll around in tires in my neighborhood.

Good years …

What is actually more useful when broken? 

  • An egg

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? 

  • Footprints

Does anyone at Grey Poupon, Gulden’s, French’s etc. actually CUT the mustard?

ANCHOR MOORING BREAKS FREE, ISLAND SHIFTS 6 FEET

Officials have said that one of the 4 main anchor moorings that keep Mackinac Island in place was severed sometime late last fall. The moorings, which were installed around 1910, are tethered to bedrock and are in place to keep the Island from further shifting on a northern trajectory. The faulty cable was from the mooring near British Landing on the Island’s northwest side.

It’s unclear how the untethered cable on the beach (see photo) went undetected for so long, however other folks had noticed a slight change in navigation nuances. Chris Shepler, Manager of Shepler Ferry said that several of his Ferry Captains indicated that they thought the west break-wall appeared to be slightly closer to the Round Island Light House. Syd Hawkins, Captain for Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry said, “All fall, when utilizing GPS, we kept coming in 2 to 3 feet off course at the dock, I figured the GPS needed a reset or re-calibration. I never would have thought the Island could shift.” Jason St. Onge, Proprietor of the Cannonball Oasis at British Landing which is very near the break said, “Never noticed a thing, and if there were any changes, it certainly didn’t affect the perfect cylindrical swirl on the soft serve ice cream cones!”

It is unclear at this time when the cable will be re-attached to the mooring and the Island reset to its plotted position, but folks close to the issue indicated it will probably happen before Memorial Day Weekend. In the odd event that a second of the four moorings breaks, a tugboat style ship will be brought in for stabilization efforts. Some quick research indicated that there hasn’t been a separation of the cables from a mooring in almost 61 years. The Army Corp of Engineers, which is responsible for the cables and moorings, inspects them for wear and fray every two years.

Middle School Science Minute  

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

Become a Salt Watcher

I was recently reading the March/April 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, “Become a Salt Watcher in Your Community.”  

When students think of salt, they typically think of table salt, which is sodium chloride.  Road salt, also known as rock salt, is often sodium chloride or magnesium chloride.  The goal of the Izaak Walton League of America Salt Watch project is to monitor chloride levels in local streams and creeks.  For more information, please visit:

http://iwla.org

http://k12science.net/become-a-salt-watcher/

Reports from the Front Lines

  • Maine Education Funding Correction – Math Error – Spreadsheet
  • Principal Fill In
  • Shawn’s “Break”
    • Biography of Robert E. Lee
    • Troy’s Recommendation: Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause – by Ty Seidule
    • The Winner’s – Fredrik Backman 

The Social Web

Darren E. Draper  @ddraper

“Let him serve as a reminder… that even the best teachers can’t teach if students aren’t prepared to learn. And that no one — not children, not teachers, not society — is well served when parents consider discipline a relic of the past.”  https://t.co/bVjoUARIhv  

Denise Ball  @DeniseBall_EDU

Thank you for sharing the classroom rotation station ideas and resources for elementary, middle and high school classrooms.  

    Want to get started with station rotation or level up your stations? Look no further! Our post includes  Videos Examples Ideas a FREE collection of station rotation task cards you can use with your class! https://ditchthattextbook.com/station-rotation/ #Ditchbook  

Jonny Hemphill  @worcesterjonny

If you’d like a copy of these ‘get them thinking’ medicine cards, please click on the link. There are 60 cards with a brief description on the back of who or what is on the front. The cards cover many aspects of the history of medicine https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cyHYb8xuZ3JKua9Z2jajTMJFKbXufnAU

#gcsehistory  

Here is a quick retrieval task I’ve been working on about the cause of disease across the historical periods. I’ve used a traffic light system to illustrate when an idea starts, if it continues into later periods and when it is no longer used.  #historyteacher  https://twitter.com/worcesterjonny/status/1642092574537138177/photo/1  

Merriam-Webster  @MerriamWebster

The #WordOfTheDay is ‘shenanigans.’ Be careful out there today. https://merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-da

Senator Dayna Polehanki  @SenPolehanki

“[Michigan’s teacher] evaluation system contains too many categories, with too much reliance on M-STEP, an exam that was never built for teacher performance metrics in the first place.” —

@joshcowenMSU    https://t.co/yeG0mYgBK1  

Amy W Pento  @amypento

I stumbled upon The Noun Project, a collection of free icons and stock photos that are simple and clear. It’s a great resource to reduce visual clutter on teaching materials and save teacher time. https://thenounproject.com

Bob Harrison @bharrisonEDU

We can learn about learning from the way kids play video games: The Nintendo Effect. https://a.co/iN88JYY

Susie Dent  @susie_dent

Etymology of the day: the ‘desert’ in ‘just deserts’ (not ‘just desserts’) is an old past tense of the French ‘deservir’, to ‘deserve’. Someone’s just deserts are their ‘comeuppance’, which rests on the idea of ‘coming up’ before a judge.

Math Lady Hazel   @mathladyhazel

The simplest way to visualize the set of numbers. Utterly useful diagram! []

Duuk Baten @duuk@mastodon.green

Colleague Vivian did a short (technical) analysis of ‘ChatGPT’ detection tools.

It seems to confirm my intuition, these tools don’t really work reliably…

https://communities.surf.nl/en/ai-in-e   (See further down in the show notes.)  

Resources:  

AI-generated text detectors: Do they work?

Ever since the release of ChatGPT, people have been amazed and have been using it to help them with all sorts of tasks, such as content creation. However, the model has faced criticism: some are raising concerns about plagiarism for example. AI-generated content detectors claim to distinguish between text that was written by a human and text that was written by an AI. How well do these tools really work?  

https://communities.surf.nl/en/ai-in-education/article/ai-generated-text-detectors-do-they-work

Real World Math

These Concept lessons are designed to target specific math concepts, often in real world settings and situations.  You’ll solve proportions, estimate area, and calculate volume in unique locations around the world.

http://www.realworldmath.org/concept-lessons.html#annotations:HGGnoszHEe2o6L8YtSrWCQ 

Say Yes To Life

Eleven months after he was liberated from the Nazi concentration camps, Viktor E. Frankl held a series of public lectures in Vienna. The psychiatrist, who would soon become world famous, explained his central thoughts on meaning, resilience, and the importance of embracing life even in the face of great adversity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRbZAaqPCU

Camtasia 

https://www.techsmith.com/store/camtasia

Web Spotlight:  

How a 100-Year-Old Animated Film Is Restored!

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

Preserving our local Taranaki Stories

The Taranaki Media Archive started life as the Audio History Trust back in 2008. A group of like-minded people got together with the aim to preserve our Taranaki stories and make them into enjoyable audio documentaries in CD form that would be freely available for people to access.

The combined libraries of the South Taranaki District Council agreed to put them on their shelves and since then they have all been borrowed and enjoyed frequently.

The founding trust board members were Selwyn Metcalfe, Lyn Walker, Marlene Stevenson, and Hamish Guthrie.

Since the Audio Trust’s inception over 45 audio documentaries have been made – quite a few with people who have now passed on, which emphasises the importance of gathering these stories before the are lost forever.

In 2008 the most accessible format was a CD. Time and technology has moved on, and these days many people probably don’t have a viable CD player to access our collection. The trust was then faced with the predicament “what to do with the collection?”

It was decided to reform the Trust and build a website to house the sound collection, but to also extend the parameters of the trust to include our history on film/video as well. With that in mind the trust decided that a change of name would better reflect its mission … and the Taranaki Media Archive was born.

https://taranakimediaarchive.co.nz/#annotations:MO6ojtArEe2H42NuMJwpjg

Random Thoughts . . .  

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