MSM 517: Part of a Greater Strategy for Taking Over The World

Jokes:  

May be an image of text that says 'I was walking past a farm and a sign said 'Duck, eggs'. I thought: "That's an unnecessary comma and then it hit me."'

Want to hear a joke about construction?

  • Wait, I’m still working on it

Someone broke into my garage and stole my limbo bar. 

  • Seriously, how low can you go. 

Who built the Round Table?

  • Sir Cumference

I just finished writing an essay on penguins. 

  • It would’ve been a lot easier to on paper.

May be an image of 4 people and text that says 'I'm addicted to buying old Beatles records. Sounds like you need help. No, I already have that one.'

May be a cartoon of text

I’m writing about all the things I ought to do before I die.

  • Yep, it’s my oughtobiography

May be an image of 3 people and text that says 'HI,MS HI, MY NAME IS SIRIUS BUT I WANT TO BE SIRIUS SHIRLEY YOU CANT BE SIRIUS'

May be a cartoon of text that says 'TODAY'S SPECIAL BY MIKE OSTRESH TO HAVE AND TO HOLD FROM THIS DAY FORWARD- TO PLACE YOU BEFORE ME EXCEPT AFTER c ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE. 2018 C WEDDING VOWELS'

Middle School Science Minute  

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

The Great Sunflower Project

I was recently reading the July/August 2021 issue of “Science Scope” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.  In this issue, I read the section “Citizen Science” written by Jill Nugent.  Jill wrote an article entitled “The Great Sunflower Project.”

The Great Sunflower Project launched in 2008 to address questions about pollinator populations across varying habitats including urban, rural, and suburban landscapes.  The project has over 100,000 participants contributing to pollinator citizen science.  For more information, please visit:

https://www.greatsunflower.org

http://k12science.net/the-great-sunflower-project/

Reports from the Front Lines

  • Sept. 11th Anniversary
  • Second week with kids
  • Parent Conferences 
  • Setting up the students for “How We Do Things” becoming the standard.  

The Twitterverse  

Typical EduCelebrity  @EduCelebrity

Good teachers see the weekend as two days of being deprived of the classroom. They mourn the lack of instructional opportunities. If you are glad that it’s the weekend, then people would be glad if you found another line of work.  

MMUKrull  @Krullsworld

This is a dangerous paradigm that encourages tireless self-sacrifice. Good teachers, and good humans, recognize the need for life balance and that time away from work makes you more effective. They need to see this in themselves, so they can also promote it in their students.

Typical EduCelebrity @EduCelebrity

[Read the profile]

Bob Harrison @bharrisonEDU

Teachers need to be just as accurate at deciding when students understand as when they don’t understand. What are the signs that engagement has stopped and confusion has set in?

Matt Miller @jmattmiller

What if we took cues from popular YouTube video styles to create memorable classroom activities? 8 YouTube-inspired classroom video ideas like: The unboxing video. The makeup tutorial. The travel vlogger tour videos. more! https://ditchthattextbook.com/youtube-classroom-video-ideas/

#Ditchbook

#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.  And as Troy says, “The Twitter never stops!” 

Strategies:  

4 Reading Strategies To Retire This Year

Reading logs (and other rote accountability tasks):

  1. Reading logs (and other rote accountability tasks):
  2. Turn-taking oral reading practices:
  3. Awarding prizes for reading:
  4. Overemphasis on reading as a discrete skill:

6 READING APPROACHES THAT WORK BETTER

  1. Reading accountability partners:
  2. Choral reading:
  3. Scaffolded silent reading:
  4. Teacher read-aloud and modeling:
  5. Reading buddies:
  6. Building background knowledge:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/4-reading-strategies-retire-year-plus-6-try-out#annotations:VOkBQg3TEeyTqCvLQ7bkuw

A Close Reading of the Best Opening Paragraph of All Time

 One of my best writing teachers used to ask her class, after finishing a novel, to go back and read the first paragraph for the ways in which it predicted the rest of the text, or in the most skillful cases, taught us to read it.

https://lithub.com/a-close-reading-of-the-best-opening-paragraph-of-all-time/#annotations:DmiIMhAIEeyTFF-puLc9tQ

Resources:  

TOSDR

https://tosdr.org/en/frontpage

Educator Kati Bakradze Talks Teaching

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAamyJzoyealoH3dsugrwSw  (Turn on translation.)  

Slang of the Week

Aggro: A term often used in gaming but in real-life situations too; drawing aggression to yourself through your actions; instigating.

Example: “My mom was majorly aggro this morning when I wouldn’t get out of bed to go to school.”

Web Spotlight:  

A Decade of Expensive Video Lessons for K-16 Math Entrepreneurs

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-12-23-a-decade-of-expensive-video-lessons-for-k-16-math-entrepreneurs#annotations:3NUdXBGnEeyr0UtF8PDlmw

Random Thoughts . . .  

Personal Web Site   

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