MSM 238: Don’t Snooze, Read This, Teach This, Do This

Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.

Jokes You Can Use:

A man was telling his neighbor, “I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it’s state of the art. It’s perfect.”

“Really,” answered the neighbor. “What kind is it?”

“Twelve thirty”

 

Steven Spielberg was busy discussing his new action adventure about famous classical composers. Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were in the room. “Who do you want to play?” Spielberg asked Bruce Willis. “I’ve always been a big fan of Chopin,” said Bruce. “I’ll play him.”

“And you, Sylvester?” asked Spielberg. “Mozart’s the one for me!” said Sly.

“And what about you?” Spielberg asked Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I’ll be Bach,” said Arnie.

 

Eileen Award:

 

  • Google+: Corivida Raven

  • eMail:  Robert Jackson

  • Diigo: Rob Belprez

 

Advisory:

Family Research

The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The “Do You Know?” scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/the-family-stories-that-bind-us-this-life.html

 

Snooze

Do your students use the snooze button?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P6zcSFA7ymo

Middle School Science Minute

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

 

Meaningful Science

I was recently reading the March, 2013 issue of Science Scope, a magazine for Middle School Science Teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.  Inez Liftig, Editor of Science Scope writes a column entitled “The Editor’s Roundtable.”  In this month’s column, she wrote on the topic of making science meaningful.  Here are her four suggestions:

1.  Get to know your students.

2.  Use authentic tasks to build conceptual bridges between school and everyday life.

3.  Design tasks at the right level.

4.  Give students choices.

 

 

From the Twitterverse:

* Larry Ferlazzo ‏@Larryferlazzo

March Madness In The Classroom – Teaching With Tournament Graphics http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/march-madness-in-classroom-teaching.html … via @theASIDEblog

* Rich Kiker ‏@rkiker

Some Tips You Must Learn If You Get A New Google Chromebook http://www.businessinsider.com/google-chromebook-tips-2013-3 …

* Sean Banville ‏@SeanBanville

“South Korea ‘bans’ miniskirts” A 26-page + 30-online-activity lesson – #esl #efl #twinglish #esol  

* Rebecca Davies ‏@becdavies00

Why iPads are better than netbooks in the classroom – a teacher’s perspective http://innovateeducate.edublogs.org/2013/03/20/why-ipads/ … #ntchat #vicpln #edtech

* Will Richardson ‏@willrich45

In case you missed it, we’ve launched Raising Modern Learners, a newsletter for parents. http://willrichardson.com/post/45833469604/announcing-raising-modern-learners … Spread the word!

* Scott McLeod ‏@mcleod 11m

My new video… (Education in a digital world [VIDEO] | Dangerously Irrelevant) http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2013/03/education-in-a-digital-world-video.html …

* Todd Bloch ‏@blocht574 22m

AMLE Twitter Event March 28,2013 #MLEM13 http://wp.me/p1Jl35-6P

* Sean Junkins ‏@sjunkins 53m

Instead of teachers evaluating teachers, we use something we call Idea Bandit – visit a classroom and ‘steal’ a great idea. #edcampomaha

* Karle Rewerts ‏@KarleRewerts

What else should I add to this LiveBinder of #MACUL13 resources? http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=837423 …

* Monte Tatom ‏@drmmtatom 22 Mar

Studies of #iPad Use in Education http://flip.it/Kvium  #mLearning #fhucid #fhuedu642 ~ for @MSMatters followers

* Monte Tatom ‏@drmmtatom 20h

The 8 Elements Project-Based Learning Must Have http://flip.it/MuAPS  #fhuedu320 #fhuedu508

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.

 

Resources:

Open Sankoré

Since its inception in 2003, the Open-Sankoré, known at the time as Uniboard, was conceived of for and with teachers/users. With the help of a team made up of professors from the University of Lausanne, specialists in communications, neuropsychologists, and IT developers, Uniboard came to being in the form of a computer tool with the main goal of being as easy to use as a traditional blackboard.

The Open-Sankoré program is a program that combines the simplicity of traditional teaching tools with the advantages that teaching ICTs bring. It works as well on an interactive screen (graphic tablet, PC tablet) as on any other digital interactive table or simply on your personal computer for preparing your presentations.

An integration tool, this combination of a video projector and PowerPoint lets you benefit from the essential contribution of handwriting, while adding the possibility of displaying visuals, images, graphics, videos, or even browsing the internet. These supports can then be commented on or added to at any time, with passages highlighted or commented on in your handwriting using the pen. In the end, class tables are auto-saved and archived in your document library.

http://open-sankore.org/

 

 

Teach This

I created Teach-This.com in order for teachers to share ESL/EFL teaching activities, lessons, worksheets, articles, games and ideas for free. I hope this website can help both new ESL/EFL teachers, and more experienced teachers improve their teaching skills and knowledge.

 

This website is a place where ESL/EFL teachers can come to download the latest teaching materials for use in the classroom. We have teaching activities for all ages and levels. We also have a large variety of ESL games and teaching tips to help you get the most out of teaching. Teach-this.com is aimed at being a hassle-free website without any subscriptions or limitations.

 

I am looking for English teachers who wish to share the ESL/EFL resources they have created. This is vital to the website. The more teachers who submit their teaching activities the bigger and better the site will become. I hope that you will join me in making teach-this.com one of the best ESL/EFL resource sites on the net. Not only will you get to see your resource used by teachers all over the world, but you will also be entered into our monthly competition. If you would like to share, please submit your materials in PDF or Word format on the submit page. You can also email them directly to me at the email address below. Your resources will then be uploaded and shared among our users.

This is a new website, so I would be happy to hear any suggestions or feedback from you to make this website better. I have spent many months creating this website, and I look forward to sharing my teaching knowledge with you. The website is being continually updated, and I thank you for taking the time to view my website.

 

http://www.teach-this.com/

 

 

http://www.opusmath.com/

Web Spotlight:

http://thisisnthappiness.com/post/43964027331/james-baldwin-illuminated

 

 

John Hattie – Educational Research

Part 1 & 2 of edited highlights of a talk given by John Hattie who has led a team at Auckland University, New Zealand which compares the effect on learning of over 100 classroom interventions.

This section looks at methods with negative, or very low effect sizes. Hattie points out that most educational debate is about things which do not really work well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sng4p3Vsu7Y&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pD1DFTNQf4

 

iPad:

Makayama Movie Mount for iPad 2nd, 3rd, 4th Gen

Movie Mount  (See also Show 176)

iPad Video Production

With the Movie Mount, you get 10 new features for your iPad (beware that the additional equipment is not incuded):

 

  1. Attached a tripod for stable shots, pan & tilt camera movements. Standard screwfitting.

  2. Use 37 mm conversion lenses, such as wide angle and zoom*. Such as: US / EU

  3. Slide on-the-fly between the built-in lens and the conversion lens.

  4. Use shotgun microphones for better sound (requires splitter cable). Such as: US / EU

  5. Use an optical viewfinder to shoot in bright sunlight. Such as: US / EU

  6. Use a video light for better performance in low light. Such as: US / EU

  7. Easier iMovie editing, with a 9 degrees working angle.

  8. The mount allows your iPad to stand upright and be used as monitor.

  9. The free Movie Mount iPad app allows you to manually control video recording

  10. Fully compatible with Smart Cover.

http://www.makayama.com/moviemount.html

 

 

Half-Baked Ideas . . .

Are conferences better if they are free or paid?