MSM 158 MAMSE, DropBox, Latin, and Facebook!

/ , , , , , , , /

Jokes You Can Use:

A man wrote a letter to the IRS: “I have been unable to sleep knowing that I have cheated on my income tax. I understated my taxable income and have enclosed a check for $200.00. If I still can’t sleep, I will send the rest.”

THE CAT:
One day, a cat dies of natural causes and goes to heaven, where he meets the Lord Himself.
The Lord says to the cat, “You lived a good life, and if there is any way I can make your stay in heaven more comfortable, please let me know.”
The cat thinks for a moment and says, “Lord, all my life I have lived with a poor family and had to sleep on a hard wooden floor.”
The Lord stops the cat and says, “Say no more,” and a wonderful, fluffy pillow appears.
A few days later, six mice are killed in a tragic farming accident, and all of them go to heaven.
Again, the Lord is there to greet them with the same offer.
The mice answer, “All our lives we have been chased.
We have had to run from cats, dogs, and even women with brooms.
Running, running, running; we’re tired of running.
Do you think we could have roller skates so that we don’t have to run anymore?”
The Lord says, “Say no more” and fits each mouse with beautiful new roller skates.
Week later, the Lord stops by to see the cat and finds him snoozing on the pillow.
The Lord gently wakes the cat and asks him, “How are things since you got here?”
The cat stretches and yawns, then replies, “It is wonderful here.
Better than I could have ever expected. And those ‘Meals On Wheels’ you’ve been sending by are the best!”

On Our Mind:

MAMSE

Troy gets an Award and a Surprise!
Competition with MACUL
Great folks at Coopersville Middle School
Congrats on being recognized as a National Schools to Watch school.

Eileen Award

Robert Jackson

Advisory:

Latin motto generator: My younger students had great fun with this when designing Medieval Shields – http://bit.ly/h44Be

Middle School Science Minute

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

April EarthKAM project for MS students utilizing the International Space Station.  Pretty cool 🙂

From the Twitterverse:

*russeltarr Latin motto generator: My younger students had great fun with this when designing Medieval Shields – http://bit.ly/h44Be
*Frankwspencer Why Arguing Improves Students’ Reasoning Skills healthland.time.com/2011/03/17/why… via @TIMEHealthland
*OCESS Applications for Stanford’s Middle School Teachers’ Summer Program in Nanotechnology (July 19-23) due 5/1. http://cot.ag/cHlFKr @egfi
*theresawhite RT @local4news: This just in! judge has given Emergency Financial Manager academic control of #Detroit Public Schools: http://bit.ly/eB2Wc8
*willrich45 Donate your 1G iPad to a school in need: http://bit.ly/gGU0Uz Nice idea.
*rmbyrne RT @shannonmmiller: How to create a Digital Publishing Culture…creating ePubs with students http://ow.ly/4hOVH
*kconners09 Why #geography education matters. http://ow.ly/1scl8R #sschat #edchat Amazing short vid on population.
*missnoor28 RT @kbkonnected: FaxZero – free internet faxing http://goo.gl/fb/UHDSe by @daveandcori #edtech #edchat
*DianeRavitch Is subjectivity a problem in evaluation? http://shankerblog.org/?p=2170
*kevcreutz Ice Breaker Tags – Creative Name Tags http://bit.ly/gdomd8 via @rmbyrne #edtech
*marinmacteacher SnipSnip.it – Share a clip of a Youtube Video by start/end time: http://bit.ly/h3ukIC
*ktenkely ktenkely
I’ve come to realize that standardized tests serve mostly to make dreadful forms of teaching appear successful. -Kohn http://j.mp/hvTMCf
*CoachB0066 http://bit.ly/fFbGCn 10 Great websites for principals via ISTE #cpchat
*NCMSA Over 45 presentations now posted on the wiki!!! Still plenty of time to have your #NCMSA11 posted. Directions at http://bit.ly/hIvmj7 .

News:

 

Feds requiring principals to monitor students’ Facebook and other social media during lunch times and after school.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/16/fed-instructs-teachers-to-facebook-creep-students/

“Education Department officials are threatening school principals with lawsuits if they fail to monitor and curb students’ lunchtime chat and evening Facebook time for expressing ideas and words that are deemed by Washington special-interest groups to be harassment of some students.”

School of One

“The School of One is based on the premise that, in a regular school, … there are basically three or four math classes that are going on in any given period,” explains Christopher Rush, the program’s co-founder and chief product officer, who is in charge of the project’s analytics. “So why don’t we take all the kids from those math classes, and all of the teachers from those math classes, and try to use those resources more strategically?”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/03/17/25schoolofone.h30.html

Resources:

TimeToast

Easy to create timelines. Free
http://www.timetoast.com/

Urli.st

Create and share a list of links.
http://urli.st/

Web Spotlight:

Adults with college degrees.
http://chronicle.com/article/Adults-With-College-Degrees-in/125995

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 at The Easton in Columbus, OH.
  • 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

Contact Us:

Call Us at (262) 724-6653 (Google Voice)

Diigo Group:  http://groups.diigo.com/group/middle-school-matters

email:  middleschooleducators@gmail.com

Twitter:  @MSMatters

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Middle-School-Matters/348279537549