MSM 90: Digital Learning: Get those 1’s and 0’s in order!
Jokes:
I’m failing geometry because I refuse to believe that pie are squared.
The school board decided to remove speech and debate from the course schedule; there was no argument.
Today in Art class we were going to paint a nude model, but the teacher sent her to the office for violating dress code.
How does a blind skydiver know they’re nearing the ground? The leash goes slack . . .
From the Twitterverse:
- DigMo Anyone interested in the competition, slow to get started this one 🙁 very easy too iStopMotion 2 would appreciate it
- kentmanning Just blogged about one of those “teacher moments” in a busy week. http://tinyurl.com/yesbxvb We’ve all had them. Looking forward to more.
- bruingeek No, Honey. With the GPS we don’t have to ask directions. And NO, GPS is not the acronym for General Purpose Shopping. *blondejoke*
- zemote RT @tvanderark How will digital learning replace print? Here’s 7 (sic) change forces
- russeltarr How to Green Screen Using iMovie ’09: http://tinyurl.com/rdvzkn
- stevehargadon New Weebly for education is awesome. Great for both teachers & students to building their own web presence. http://education.weebly.com
- russeltarr Creativity in the Classroom, Innovation in the Workplace (by @sirkenrobinson): http://tinyurl.com/q45hfy
- russeltarr 70 Authors to Follow on Twitter (good for literature students?): http://tinyurl.com/plkkrj (Note: mostly for you, some for your students.)
- eduinnovation PLC that confuses talk for action, confuses meeting for getting results, confuses time together for benefiting students…..just confused.
- russeltarr Formal Education will make you a living; Self education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn.
- jonbecker Standby efforts failed. Gonna be at JFK for a few hours. Keep me company?
- stevehargadon RT @jonmott Great summary of DoE meta-study concluding that online learners perform better than others.
- AngelaMaiers “Habitudes” of Professional Learning Communities http://digg.com/u1DX4W Great stuff from @eduinnovation
On Our Mind:
Clocks. Is it necessary to know how to read an analog clock?
MEAPs coming up, state mandated testing. Do you put the pressure on or do you soft-shoe it into the testing period?
DropBox
http://www.getdropbox.com/iphoneapp
Advisory:
Return to the overview:
During the first month of school have every student take a piece of string and place one end under their shoe then stretch the string so it reaches the top of their head. Cut the string and fold it up. Place a piece of masking tape with the student’s name around the folded piece of string. Put all of the strings into a bag and do not open it until the last week of school. Then have them take their string and see how much they have grown over the last year. Many of your students will be amazed at how much they have grown.
A way to show what adolescents stand for is to have them outline their foot and then list all of the things they believe in inside the outline.
http://www.nmsa.org/portals/0/pdf/publications/On_Target/advisory/advisory_8.pdf
October is MOYA! www.nmsa.org/moya
Webspotlight:
Educon 21 at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA.
http://educon21.wikispaces.com/
Stumbleupon
http://www.stumbleupon.com (or in Troy’s universe: stumbleupon.com)
VUE 3.0- The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research. VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information.
http://vue.tufts.edu/
News:
Surfing the Net with kids: Phonics
Phonics is a widely used method of teaching children to read. It is based on connecting sounds of spoken English with the letters that represent those sounds. Today’s websites stand at the intersection of education and recreation, using games to reinforce phonetic concepts.
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2009/10/02/surfing_the_net_with_kids_phonics/
House Panel Targets Teacher Distribution, Pay
Differing opinions about incentive-pay programs, the role of test scores in pay and evaluation, and how prescriptive the federal government should be in seeking to boost teacher effectiveness were aired at a House hearing.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/02/06teach.h29.html?tkn=XLXF2b3tQQks2uYCPFvfd64lCGoFEfUQJLwE
Online education expanding, but awaits innovation
The online education sector grew 13 percent last year, but it had been growing at about 20 percent in previous years, Reuters reports — leading some to suggest that online learning is starting to plateau until further innovations are introduced.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/around-the-web/index.cfm?i=61047
Events & Happenings:
Calendar of Events:
NMSA News:
- NMSA’s Annual Conference: NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video: Indianapolis, IN Conference November 5-7, 2009. Individual Registration is now open. September 30th early registration deadline is approaching (Use MAMSE09 as your source code.)
- Video Competition: NMSA is looking for student based videos for the transitions between events at their annual conference. Information is at their website.
- Indiana schools may apply for a waiver and send their staff to the Friday sessions as a professional development day.
- Steps to obtain waiver request
- Franklin Community Schools Request (example)
- NMSA teacher session sheet (Note: It only has four, so if you’re not part of the Indiana crew, you’ll want to print one off for each day of the conference.)
- NMSA follow up sheet. (Note: This is geared to the Indiana group. I would suggest simplifying this for your own group.)
- Steps to obtain waiver request
- ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall. Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus. With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference? There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love: our students. Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless. Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details. Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
- Dan Pink is keynoting the conference. Here’s a teaser at TED.
- NMSA 09 Housing Information now available. Some hotels are nearing full if not so already. Special housing rates end October 5th.
- NMSA 09 Conference Connection: Stay connected before, during, and after the conference! Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
Other News:
- ISTE Eduverse Talks are the recorded sessions held on ISTE Island every week. Join ISTE in their Second Life conference location for their weekly talks on education.
- The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
- The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI. MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
- The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
- Theater Education Opportunity: Eastern Michigan University’s Quirk-Sponberg Theater has announced their Fall 2009 Season.
“The Prince, the Wolf and the Firebird”
By Jackson Lacey
Directed by Pam Cardell
December 4, 5, 10, 11 at 7PM
December 5, 6, 12 at 3PM
School Matinees: December 9 and 10 at 10:00 am. Tickets $4.00 for students and every 15 students gets a chaparone in for free. - Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
- Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available. This week’s session: “Interesting Ways to Use a Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom“.
- Second Life:
- No Events specified. Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
- Video: Educational Uses of Second Life