MSM-154 Throwing Cadbury Creme Eggs at Cyberbullying.

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Jokes You Can Use:

Languages
A mother mouse and her three children crept out of their hole into the kitchen and began feasting on some delicious bits of food. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Mother Mouse saw a cat slinking toward them. The cat was between the mice and their hole. The mother muse puffed up her lungs and went, “Woof! Woof!” The cat turned tail and ran. With that, the mother quickly led her children back to safety in their hole. When they were settle and breathing normally, Mother Mouse said to her children. “Now, what’s the lesson from that experience?” “We don’t know,” the baby mice squeaked. “It is this,” said Mother Mouse. “It’s always good to know a second language.”

On Our Mind:

Snow Days – Part 2
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_721287.html

From our Listeners:

The Eileen Award:  It’s a great hands-on project being sponsored by the International Year of Chemistry for all elementary school and high school students, and according to the IYC there is little to no cost to perform the experiments.  They are trying to make it a World Record for largest chemistry experiment ever! I found more information about the experiment itself at http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2010/3205/3_wright.html .  From my understanding teachers just go to the website and sign up if they want to participate, and they can get lesson plans/walkthroughs right there.
-Alan

Advisory:

Jeopardy Archive
Just place your mouse over the dollar value for the question to reveal the “answer”.

Middle School Science Minute

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

Check out Dave’s Science Explosion Channel on YouTube.

From the Twitterverse:

*cybraryman1 My Glogs (Glogster) page (a fun approach to learning): http://bit.ly/96FzVg
*AngelaMaiers Just got my invite 2 greplin.com (Thnx @gsiemens ) What do you think of it greplin users?
*ApplePlaza Google may buy podcaster Next New Networks http://sns.ly/o4b9y9
*CraftTestDummy This could be dangerous!RT @jenjentrixie: Did you know you can make a homemade version of the Cadbury Creme Eggs. Yum! http://fb.me/szfl279V
*hasai Spending Money on your Honey {Picture} http://bit.ly/gjg6aC
*HeyLeeAnn MI State Board of Ed votes 2 raise MEAP cut scores. Projected that %age schools not making AYP could jump from 14% to 66%. Yikes!
*pammoran James Paul Gee vid- on grading w/ games …. challenges status quo thinking http://bit.ly/ejAbwn (Shift from knowledge/fact based to creativity and innovation based schools.)
*leoniehaimson Ruling:D.C. teachers fired by Rhee must be offered jobs, back wages | | DC | Washington Examiner: http://bit.ly/dEdqVO
*Learngamer Tug-A-War sentence maker-write topic on paper strip, lay on floor, use rope/towel, players pull, touch paper must write http://ow.ly/3S8Fd
*shannonmmiller Create self grading tests Forms in Google Docs http://ow.ly/3S8DG #vanmeter
*Ron_Peck For those of you eagerly anticipating the #sschat archive from tonight’s chat…wait no more! http://bit.ly/fAUJRV

News:

Schools Tackle Legal Twists and Turns of Cyberbullying

High-profile incidents put legal, policy issues in the spotlight but lack of clarity remains
By Michelle R. Davis
School leaders across the country are dealing with more-routine cases daily and often feel they have little legal advice or precedent to guide them in their decision making.
Case law regarding student speech, particularly off-campus speech, is outdated, many legal experts say. School leaders say it’s unclear just what actions they can take in some cyberbullying cases. And recent rulings in cases that have dealt with some forms of cyberbullying haven’t clarified the matter.
Schools should have no qualms about taking action when cyberbullying affects the school setting, causing a safety issue either to other students or to faculty members, says Francisco M. Negrón Jr., the general counsel for the National School Boards Association, based in Alexandria, Va.
But the legalities surrounding how schools can respond in less clear-cut cases of cyberbullying are bewildering, to say the least, says Thomas E. Wheeler, the chairman of the Council of School Attorneys, a group affiliated with the NSBA, and a partner in the Indianapolis law firm of Frost Brown Todd LLC. “It’s beyond murky. It’s contradictory,” he says.
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/02/09/02cyberbullying.h04.html?intc=DD2.11EM

Resources:

DrawIsland
Easy to use on-line drawing program. Nothing to download. You can download images once done.
http://drawisland.com/

Science Animation Gallery
takes what can be difficult to understand concepts, and animates them in a way that breaks down the concept into manageable parts.
http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=3637
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animation.html

Filibustery
Welcome to Filibustery, a website devoted to making the filibuster — and the proposals in the U.S. Senate to reform it — more understandable.
http://filibustery.com/

Reading Concepts
3 resources on teaching reading available to download.:

  • How to Generate Interest So Reading Comprehension Improves
  • Four-Ply Vocabulary Plan
  • LINKING THE LANGUAGE-A Cross-Disciplinary Vocabulary Approach

http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/library_browse.php?type=author&id=75

Planet Foss
Share pictures of science.
http://www.fossweb.com/planetfoss/index.html

TopicMarks
Summary any text
http://topicmarks.com/

SPENT
If you were unemployed, what would you do?
http://playspent.org/

Web Spotlight:

Interdisciplinary Lessons in a Time of Testing

By Anthony Colucci

As the items on the agenda roll by, we wait to find out what buzzword, billionaire reformer, or babbling politician has created a new mountain of work for us.
Let’s also not forget that some people will only judge our students, our schools, and our teaching abilities based on the results of whatever standardized test is given at a particular grade level. What’s tested becomes the priority in this over-scheduled environment, and other important knowledge and skills—like the history of our country or its location on the Earth—are very likely to get left behind.
By stressing connections across the curriculum, learning becomes more meaningful and engaging to our students. Additionally, interdisciplinary teaching can revitalize us by increasing instructional time, promoting more collaboration within our professional communities, and giving us the satisfaction of knowing that we are acting in the best interests of our students, while simultaneously addressing standards that otherwise might be brushed over or ignored altogether in the mad rush to get ready for the Test.
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/02/09/tln_interdis.html?tkn=MMCCEsbljhQJM1zKm5tfb2BhoBNuDlL9x4+s&cmp=clp-sb-ascd

SciTable
We hope that you have enjoyed the high quality resources we’ve published for you in Scitable  – eBooks in cell biology, genetics, readings in ecology, and special modules on scientific communication and career planning.   Now we’d like to ask you to do something to help us achieve our mission of expanding Scitable across all of the sciences.
The more classrooms that use Scitable, the more traffic we have, and the faster we can afford to expand our library.  So please let your fellow faculty know about Scitable.
You can tell your colleagues in your own department, post to listserves, speak about it at conferences…there are dozens of ways to spread the word.
Whichever way you choose, please take a few minutes today to tell your colleagues.

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.
    • The ISTE Special Interest Group:  Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 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