MSM-126 Title: China Test and Creativity KIPP Shoots, KIPP Scores, KIPP Kicks Kids Off of the Island!

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Jokes:

Waiters
A man walks into a restaurant and is shown to his seat by the hostess. The waiter approaches and asks, “Would you like to try our house special? The man replies, “No, just bring me a steak, and make it lean”. The waiter, somewhat puzzled, looks at him and replies, “which way?”

Important Tasks
A doctor got a phone call from one of his colleagues. “We need a fourth for poker,” the voice on the phone said. “I’ll be right over,” replied the doctor. As he was putting on his overcoat, his wife asked, “Is it serious?” “Oh yes, quite serious,” he said gravely. “They’ve had to call in three other doctors as well.”

On Our Mind:

Catching Up or Leading the Way
Yong Zhao

Listeners:

Comment:
Thank you for keeping us updated. I incredibly enjoy it and discover all the information really useful.
Krav Maga

Hi guys,
I am at the Technology Integration and Instruction for the 21st Century Learner conference in Storm Lake, Iowa at Buena Vista University.  I listen to your podcasts (and have given you the 4 stars on i-Tunes).  Love the links, discussion and your thoughts.  It gives me time to reflect, something we do not do enough of.  I do have a suggestion, and this is on the technical side of the the podcast production.  Please moderate the theme music, it is so loud that it drowns out the voice and is much louder than the volume of the spoken word.  I have to quick reach for the volume on my i-pod, or computer so it does not wake my daughter or wife in the next rooms as I listen to you late at night when everyone is in bed.  I know through using garage band that the volumes can be adjusted.  It is way worse than the increase in volume of commercials on TV.
Thanks again for your great work,

Craig Cadman
Middle School Science

From ASCD:
Middle-school students create podcasts as part of place-based learning
Middle-school students at an Oregon charter school created podcasts as part of their study of a local streetcar line that used to operate near their school. Educators say the streetcar project and the podcasts are a form of place-based learning, which includes studying the history of neighborhoods, communities and buildings under the umbrella of environmental education. The student recordings are posted on the website of the regional transportation planning agency, which is considering reviving the original line.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/06/southwest_charter_school_stude.html

David Bydlowski

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Remember that origami stuff we talked about before?  Here’s a website that illustrates it:  http://www.en.origami-club.com/others/index.html

Tech Tools:

Doodle – Collaborative Scheduling

http://doodle.com/

DabbleBoard –

Dabbleboard is an online collaboration application that’s centered around the whiteboard. With a new type of drawing interface that’s actually easy and fun to use, Dabbleboard gets out of your way and just lets you draw. Finally the whiteboard enters the digital age!
http://dabbleboard.com/

Free Web Pages
http://pageeasy.com/

Webspotlight:

Interesting world view:
http://timemaps.com/history/

Top 100 technology blogs for teachers

Posted on Jun. 17th 2010 6:23 PM by alexis

(This article is a continuation and combination of two previous lists: “The Top 25 eLearning Blogs,” and “The Top 20 Teacher Blogs“)


http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-100-technology-blogs-for-teachers/

News:

Report finds KIPP students outscore public school peers

The study, which KIPP commissioned, comes as the Obama administration is promoting the spread of strong charter schools as a strategy to improve urban education. 
Skeptics say that the program benefits from highly motivated parents seeking alternatives to ineffective public schools and that KIPP often winnows out students who don’t fit its program. 
Read more… 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/22/AR2010062200009.html

Prince George’s bans student cellphone use during school day

There is an epidemic of under-the-desk text messages during class, a virtual economy of exam pictures posted to Facebook, a trade in school fight videos on YouTube, they say. To combat it, the county school board voted Thursday to ban cellphones and other electronics during the school day, even as many school systems across the country are loosening their rules.

Nor will students be allowed to post photos and videos shot on school property on the Web, which would include such sites as Facebook and YouTube.

“We know for a fact that the use of cellphones on school property around this country has led to a number of problems around safety,” said Board of Education Chairman Verjeana M. Jacobs (At Large), citing issues of explicit text messages and videos of fights posted online — one case of which happened just last week at Bowie High School.

Read more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/18/AR2010061804420.html?wprss=rss_education


Carpe Data: In Defense of Common Standards

By H. Ogden Morse III

For me, the epiphany came on a Tuesday in September two years ago. I was sitting around a small conference table with our assistant superintendent, principal, and English chair, as we tried to determine whether we should be concerned about the reading and writing capabilities of some of the students in our senior class. Before us, across paper and laptop screen, were various pieces of data—an SAT score here, some classroom grades there—intended to aid us in making this determination.

Only they weren’t. Instead, I grew increasingly perplexed as I realized that the four experienced educators sitting around that table were engaged in a comparison of apples and oranges that was proving, well, fruitless.

Read more…
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/06/25/36morse.h29.html?tkn=RVSFiEEZ47gbiUHMUSM5DK9Da1ygfd6HtbYj&cmp=clp-edweek

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:


NMSA News:

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.
    • ISTE 2010 June 27-30, 2010 (Formerly NECC) in Denver, Colorado. 
      • June 19:  ISTE Denver Metaverse Meeting 4:00 – 5:00 in Second Life ISTE Island
        • Experience a virtual learning experience sim as the ISTE folks take you on an authentic silver mine tour.  Meet at the Denver Convention Lobby. 
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 16 – 18, 2011.
  • Second Life:
    • Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.  Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week. 
    • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life