MSM 657: I Trusted the Student . . . I Held Out My Hand
Summary:
Shawn and Troy talk about testing, spaced practice, trusting students, and more. Dave balances negative and positive, discusses polarity, and well, isn’t all wet.
Jokes:
Why do nurses carry around red crayons?
- Sometimes they need to draw blood.
Albert Einstein is a real person.
- I thought he was a theoretical physicist.
I passed all my courses except for Greek mythology.
- That has always been my Achilles’ elbow.
Choices over escalators or elevators reflect a difference in upbringing.
“I’d like to sit by the window, please.
- I’m here for a light breakfast.”
The tobacconist was replaced by an apparel shop.
- Clothes, but no cigar.
What was a more important invention than the first telephone?
- The second one.
I walked down a street where the houses were numbered 64K, 128K, 256K, 512K and 1MB.
- That was a trip down memory lane!
Do you think Neil Young still sings “Old man” ?
- And if so, who is he singing to?
Tub of hummus: serves ten
- Me: challenge accepted
What do you call a really fast escalator?
- – An escasooner…
I went to a specialist shop the other day and bought some binoculars, but they cost a fortune.
- I think they saw me coming.
I’ve often heard that icy is the easiest word to spell.
- Looking at it now…
I
see
why.
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
K12Science Podcast: Water for Life
I was recently reading the March – April 2025 issue of “Science Scope”, a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.
In this issue, I read the section, “Scope on the Skies,” written by Bob Riddle. He wrote an article entitled, “‘Water Bound: Part I”
Space missions that search for water are important because they could add to our understanding of the origin and evolution of life on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system and beyond. Finding the presence of water is an important aspect of the search for life beyond the confines of our planet.
http://k12science.net/water-for-life/
Reports from the Front Lines
- Testing Season
- PSAT
- Data Structure
The Social Web
I’m not sure what was going on in the 16th-century imagination, but this is at least a reminder that ‘to steal someone’s thunder’ originated with an event in 1709, when one theatre company nicked a thunder-making machine from another to use in their own play, leading the wounded
Quote:
The OED @OED
OED #WordOfTheDay: rounce robble hobble, n. The sound of a clap of thunder; a sound
resembling this. View the entry: https://oxford.ly/4cmZztu
Dublin City University @dublincityuni.bsky.social
Crisis in the classroom: burnout and stress amongst Irish teachers. Piece by DCU’s Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons, Dr Pia O’Farrell and Professor Catherine Furlong @dcucreate.bsky.social, for @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social. Read here: launch.dcu.ie/43Iojdm #RTEBrainstorm
DCU Library @dculibrary.bsky.social
How noisy is it in the library today? Look out for our noise thermometers at the entrance of each library. Play your part to keep the library nice and quiet! Noise monitors will update the scale depending on noise levels, which library will be the quietest space?!
Kane Murdoch @ccguerilla.bsky.social
Seen on campus today. They seem like a real go getter, an entrepreneurial type.
Strategies:
Hexagonal thinking: Creating connections in the classroom
Hexagonal thinking is all about creating connections. Imagine each idea, concept, or term as a hexagon on a board. As students arrange these hexagons, they’re essentially building a web of interconnected thoughts. The beauty of this method lies in the discussions it fosters because students must explain and justify their connections, which leads to deeper understanding and critical thinking.
https://ditchthattextbook.com/hexagonal-thinking
Spaced Retrieval Made Easy
On day one, I prepare three questions; two either multiple choice or fill in the blank questions and one short answer question. I will task my classes with answering these three questions from the first lesson of this unit before we even begin the first lesson. It may seem somewhat odd to ask students questions about a topic we haven’t covered, but there is growing evidence that pretesting has beneficial effects on student learning.
The next day (day two), instead of just answering three questions at the beginning of class, they will now answer six; the same three from the previous day (so now they’ve attempted to answer those questions three times) and three new questions from today’s lesson.
At the end of day two, depending on how much time we have, I may have them answer just that day’s three questions again or I may have them attempt all six again.
On day three, I drop the three questions from day one and students attempt the three questions from day two (spacing out that retrieval) and then pretest them on the questions for day three…and this pattern continues for the entirety of the unit.
Now, the real magic in this is that they are seeing the very concepts and terms they will be tested on during the unit summative assessment several times before they even consider studying for that test.
https://theeffortfuleducator.com/2025/04/09/spaced-retrieval-made-easy/
Resources:
AXIS The Culture Translator
On the Scent
What it is: For teenagers, the hottest trends in fragrance smell like bakery items and spice rack staples.
Why they’re selling so well: In a piece for Vox, Kyndall Cunningham outlines some basic reasons why sugary scents are selling out. First, since a lot of fragrance purchasing now happens online, a scent with notes of marshmallow, brown sugar, or vanilla is easy enough to imagine. There’s also the TikTok factor: influencers and celebrities, most of whom are being paid to shill these scents, make hefty claims about how much passers-by love the smell of these perfumes.
A Minecraft Movie
What it is: Teens are clapping and cheering so enthusiastically during A Minecraft Movie that theaters are requiring chaperones and/or calling the police.
Why it’s not what the internet predicted: When trailers for A Minecraft Movie first started coming out in 2024, people were horrified at the movie’s CGI renderings of sheep, villagers, and other game elements. (Plus, why was Minecraft’s main character, Steve, rendered as a human, but other game characters weren’t?) And yet between audience nostalgia (and/or an ongoing love of the game), Jack Black’s sheer ridiculousness, and so many inside jokes about game mechanics, the movie has been a big hit—at least with teen boys. In fact, the movie made more money on its opening weekend than any Warner Bros. movie since 2023.
YouTube AI Music Rollout
Got the students making videos? Wish they had some Intro/outro or underlying music? YouTube is rolling out an AI that will generate that very thing. Check out the TechCrunch article for details: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/10/youtube-rolls-out-a-free-ai-music-making-tool-for-creators/
Web Spotlight:
Hard work feels worth it, but only after it’s done – new research on how people value effort
When deciding if something is worth the effort, whether you’ve already exerted yourself or face the prospect of work changes your calculus. When you consider a future effort, more work makes the outcome less appealing. But once you’ve completed the work, more effort makes the outcome seem more valuable.
Not everyone responds to effort the same way. Our study also uncovered striking individual differences. Four distinct patterns emerged:
- For some people, extra effort always subtracted value.
- Others consistently preferred items with more work.
- Many showed mixed patterns, where moderate effort increased value but excessive effort decreased it.
- Some experienced the opposite: initially disliking effort, then finding greater value at higher levels.
…people, and even animals, often prize things that require hard work for no additional payoff?
In health care, starting an exercise regimen feels overwhelming when focusing on upcoming workouts, but after establishing the habit, those same exercises become a source of accomplishment.
The average college student today
Bouncy Balls
Control noisy classrooms with bouncing balls!
A fun and free noise management tool.
https://help.classroomscreen.com/article/31-sound-level
https://www.hmhco.com/blog/free-online-noise-meters-for-classroom
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