MSM 253: King Me or Pin Me, the Odds Aren’t Good.

Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.

Jokes You Can Use:

Do you know what happens to quarterbacks when they reach the ends of their lives?

They just pass away.

 

A woman went to her dentist to have her dentures adjusted for the fifth time.

She said they still didn’t fit. “Well,” said the dentist “I’ll do it again this time, but no more. There’s no reason why these shouldn’t fit your mouth easily.”

“Who said anything about my mouth?” he woman answered.

“They don’t fit in the glass!”

 

This police officer sees an old lady driving and knitting at the same time so after driving next to her for awhile he yells to her,”PULLOVER”. She replies,”No, a pair of socks”.

 

A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable at all. On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took the desk stapler and stapled the tie to his chest. He had no trouble with discipline that term.

Eileen Award:

  • Twitter: Sharon Kea, Michelle Davis, kelboe, Laura Blanchard

  • Diigo (aka ScoopIt for some show hosts): Kaylen Miller

 

Advisory:

 

Can you trust your eyes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZflIMBxyIak#t=114

 

What are the Odds?

 

What Are The Odds?

by sofyay.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

http://visual.ly/what-are-odds

Middle School Science Minute

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

Respect the Web

I was recently reading the April/May, 2013 issue of “Science Scope,” an magazine for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.  The theme of this issue is biodiversity.  In the Editor’s Roundtable, Inez Liftig, writes about the need to respect food webs, food chains, and energy pyramids.  This is because students often think they are “above” nature, not “part of” nature.  We need to help our students understand that our human existence is inextricably linked to the maintenance of Earth’s biodiversity.

From the Twitterverse:

* Cristina Milos ‏@surreallyno

‘”Classroom routines and consistency are far more important in the long run than gimmicks.” @LearningSpy Marathon vs sprint – good analogy.

* Jon Samuelson ‏@ipadSammy

5 Brilliant iPad Educational Apps For Design Learning | @LearnPal http://sco.lt/6rzdgH  #edcampatl #udlchat

* EDTC@UTB ‏@EDTECH_UTB

RT @steinman: Stanford flips the #flipclass model with impressive results http://shrd.by/5w2rH6  #edtech #edchat

* Miguel Guhlin ‏@mguhlin

We Are Teachers http://zite.to/17RLYTo

* Richard Byrne ‏@rmbyrne

Create Mind Maps and Flow Charts With Lucidchart for iPad http://ipadapps4school.com/2013/09/12/create-mind-maps-and-flow-charts-with-lucidchart-for-ipad/ … via @feedly

* Larry Ferlazzo ‏@Larryferlazzo

Fun Cartoon For English Teachers: “A Tense Situation” http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/09/13/fun-cartoon-for-english-teachers-a-tense-situation/#.UjRS8hgTar0.twitter …

* Scott Shelhart ‏@KD9SR

Google and Raspberry Pi join forces to create Coder http://gigaom.com/2013/09/13/google-and-raspberry-pi-join-forces-to-create-coder/ … via @gigaom

* Mark Dunk ‏@unklar

Frogs in space: NASA snaps the ultimate photobomb | Fox News http://fxn.ws/1eIqvRZ  via @fxnscitech

* amhistorymuseum ‏@amhistorymuseum

Today in 1814: Soldiers at Ft McHenry raise huge American flag that inspired National Anthem. Visit the flag: – http://ow.ly/oPxQv

* Tra Hall ‏@tra_hall 1h

Four instructional moves to get kids talking in math class http://zite.to/19Qi4jQ  #txed #fundamental5

Miguel Guhlin ‏@mguhlin 2h

The Post-Lecture Classroom: How Will Students Fare? http://zite.to/1gbrvfi  #flipped

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

 

Resources:

After the Deadline

After the Deadline helps you write better by adding spell, style, and grammar checking to web applications. You can learn more on our features page.

After the Deadline is available as:

You can also find it as:

  • A plugin option for the IntenseDebate comment system

  • Your proofreader on WordPress.com

For developers we provide plenty of tools to help After the Deadline spread far and wide.

http://www.afterthedeadline.com/

http://www.polishmywriting.com/

 

14 Profound Quotes From The Harry Potter Books

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/profound-quotes-from-the-harry-potter-books

Web Spotlight:

Why are you working on that?

I’m astounded at how often my children do things for class without understanding the bigger reasons behind WHY they’re doing those things.

http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2013/09/why-are-you-working-on-that.html

 

The Two Things Teachers Focus on Most….Instead of Learning

Written by Mark Clements

It’s accidental really. You start off with every intention of making your classroom entirely focused on learning.

Trouble is there are two things teachers frequently “focus” on by accident.

Many teachers spend an exuberant amount of time stressing and punishing kids in the name of “teaching responsibility”.

Behavioral expectations on steroids aren’t the only thing that can cause a classroom teacher to lose focus either.

If you REALLY want to push the boundaries of this “Focus on Learning” thing, then consider you’re your grades actually reflect. Do they reflect student growth? Student knowledge? Or are they some conglomeration of responsibility, task completion, knowledge and skills.

Accurate grading is essential, as is developing a “growth mindset” where students are more interested in improving their knowledge and skills than in simply jumping through the teacher’s hoops.

Teachers believe they are forced to give busy work assignments, grade everything, take off points for late work and give completion points as a means of controlling students.

Instead, teachers should lesson plan and be prepared every day to give quality assignments that only reflect student understanding of a content objective.

 

http://edunators.com/index.php/becoming-the-edunator/is-my-classroom-focused-on-learning/the-two-things-teachers-focus-on-most-instead-of-learning

 

Rick Wormeli: Redos, Retakes, and Do-Overs, Part One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM-3PFfIfvI

Why I Hated Meredith’s First Grade Teacher: An Open Letter to America’s Teachers

And then, somehow, without me even realizing, Meredith’s small hand moved from mine to Ms. Miner’s and she was gone. She was swallowed up by the sheer joy this other woman brought into her classroom, into learning, and into my child’s life. “I guess I’ll be going now,” I said to Meredith who was busy putting school supplies away in her desk. “So, I’ll be just around the corner at our house,” I said blinking hard to keep away the tears.” I think she nodded. Perhaps she even paused to wave. My feet couldn’t move and Ms. Miner gently helped me and a few other moms out of the classroom. “She’s really shy,” I said to Ms. Miner just as Meredith sped by holding a new friend’s hand showing her “all these hooks where we can hang our backpacks.”

 

http://kylenebeers.com/blog/2012/08/20/why-i-hated-merediths-first-grade-teacher-an-open-letter-to-americas-teachers/

Be Sure To….

Strategy to help kids reflect.

 

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-goal-setting