Podcast 121: Common Core Motivation
Jokes:
Ugly Suits
When the store manager returned from lunch, he noticed his clerk’s hand was bandaged, but before he could ask about the bandage, the clerk had some very good news for him. “Guess what, sir?” the clerk said. “I finally sold that terrible, ugly suit we’ve had so long!” “Do you mean that repulsive pink-and-blue double-breasted thing?!” the manager asked. “That’s the one!” “That’s great!” the manager cried, “I thought we’d never get rid of that monstrosity! That had to be the ugliest suit we’ve ever had! But tell me, why is your hand bandaged?” “Oh,” the clerk replied, “after I sold the guy that suit, his seeing-eye dog bit me.”
On Our Mind:
Thanks for the ratings. We’ve added to the iTunes rating and really appreciate that.
School year is coming to a close.
From the Twitterverse:
gardenglen “Google Apps highlights” http://is.gd/ckuWA Gr8 ideas 4 those migrating 2 Google Apps #EdTech
hrmason 137 Tech Resources For Teachers and Students http://bit.ly/dmVoe1
andymanj micromobs: Real time messaging for your groups – Feedmyapp http://bit.ly/bKoh6l
andymanj Need a #free temporary webpage for anything at all? Here’s a Free Temporary Web Page Builder – http://bit.ly/djTNNQ
cybraryman1 Teachers can get free or inexpensive supplies for classrooms at http://bit.ly/4cyxFb Contact Chamber Commerce #gno #BingLearn
cookp RT @clifmims: “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” — Josef Albers
SirKenRobinson Disciplines evolve as tools and techniques evolve. If Shakespear had a movie camera he’s write for it. And he’d probably blog. #artsed
mthman Awesome..thinking my middle school could learn from this! RT @Pags21 @Parentella: Beautiful story by @NMHS_Principal. http://icio.us/33ekof
russeltarr Why Don’t Teens Tweet? We Asked Over 10,000 of Them.:
joe_bower The shelf life of grading and the factory model http://ow.ly/17q1Vw
http://tinyurl.com/na8mvhAngelaMaiers Free Technology for Teachers: Google Wave Opens to Everyone – Now It’s Useful http://ow.ly/1NslU
shareski Education vs. Employment http://bit.ly/cJrpd0
russeltarr 3-dimensional cubes for you to construct with a picture on each face: http://tinyurl.com/oartux
hshawjr Grading simply stated is a teachers belief of the work a student did for that teacher, nothing more & nothing less 🙁 #edchat
blairteach In countless mtgs, I am SPARTICUS! seen how little info grades communicate; often indicate degree of student compliance, not learning. #edchat
Advisory:
Ad Hoc idea: Info Please/ChaCha – Here’s an idea to let your kids use those smart phones in school. Grab some worksheets from your teammates and hold a surprise review quiz in Advisory. They can use two resources to help them find the answers: Info Please and ChaCha. Info Please is a reference site put together by Pearson. Tons of resources at the ready. Not enough computers in your Advisory classroom? Fine. Let the kiddos pull out their cell phones and get the answers from ChaCha, a cell phone based search engine.
Try these:
1. Who is Jeff LaRoux?
2. How many feathers are in a peacock?
3. What is the average flight speed of an African Swallow?
Tech Tools:
Gpanion:
Gives you an online dashboard to your Google Apps and life.
http://gpanion.com/
Timeline tools:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/05/five-ways-for-students-to-build.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29
XTimeline
TimeGlider
Time Toast
TimeRime
Dipity
Facebook search engine:
Openbook draws attention to the information Facebook makes public about its users via its search API. Facebook exposed this service on April 21st, 2010.
Our goal is to get Facebook to restore the privacy of this information, so that this website and others like it no longer work.
Anybody can search, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. However, if you are logged into your Facebook account, you’ll see full profile pages when you click on a user.
http://youropenbook.org/
AutoMotivator
AutoMotivator is for making printable motivational posters or parody demotivational posters. You choose the picture, colors, and text, and we make your poster.
You can put the poster on your website, or even get a print for just $9.95. A giant, 36″ wide print is just $19.95!
http://wigflip.com/automotivator/
e.g.: Mistakes Poster http://site.despair.com/images/dpage/mistakes03.jpg
Webspotlight:
Net Generation:
Downloadable information revolving around the Federal Government and its IT capabilities. Also has sections on Net Generation, use of web 2.0 tools, etc.
http://www.slideshare.net/DepartmentofDefense/net-generation?from=embed
News:
Common-Standards Draft Excludes ELL Proficiency
The writing teams for common standards have sought the advice of researchers on English-language learners, but the organizations that are coordinating the venture don’t plan to produce a set of English-language-proficiency standards to go with the common standards.
Education officials may scrap MCAS test
Massachusetts education officials are quietly putting together a proposal to scrap the controversial MCAS exams in English and math and replace them with new tests they are developing with about two dozen other states.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/articles/2010/05/20/education_officials_may_scrap_mcas_test/
Are We Really Teaching Them How To Fish (by Jennifer Wagner)
Teaching teachers to fish instead of simply relying on PLN’s for all the answers.
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/29850
Opportunity: Knowledge For Teaching Study
http://www.ets.org/Media/Campaign/13700/
What makes a good teacher? Here’s a study to find out and a chance for you to participate in a study that is designed to find out those very things.
Events & Happenings:
Calendar of Events:
NMSA News:
- NMSA is looking for an Assistant Executive Director.
- National Conference: Thursday, November 04, 2010 —Saturday, November 06, 2010 Baltimore, Maryland
- Need a letter to your administrator explaining the benefits of attending NMSA? How about this one?
- Registration forms are now on the website:
- Promotional Materials:
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 17-18, 2011 in Coopersville, MI. Coopersville Middle School is a National Schools to Watch School. (Phone: (616) 997-3400))
- Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
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- Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.
- Second Life:
- Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
- Video: Educational Uses of Second Life