MSM 188 20% Project and A Plethora of Words and Resources…

Jokes You Can Use:

Why are so few men with whiskers in heaven?
Because most men get in by a close shave.

What’s the definition of a financial genius?
Someone who can make money faster than the rest of the family spends it.

I know a woman who has cooked so many TV dinners that she thinks she’s in show business!

On Our Mind:

New Year’s Resolutions.
Feedback
PLN sitehttp://rmmade.com

Eileen Award:

  • Happy Birthday to Jeff LaRoux
  • Nicole Woulfe
  • Linda Neville
  • Rachel C.


Advisory:

It has a name you know:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/25-everyday-things-you-never-knew-had-names


Honest Logo

http://m.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/if-logos-were-honest


Middle School Science Minute

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

This middle school science minute is about formaldehyde. In the November, 2011 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication), in the section on “Scope on Safety” a question was asked about what a teacher should do if they find specimens preserved in formaldehyde.  Two very good options are provided.

From the Twitterverse:

*missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡ 21 Things That Will be Obsolete in 2020 vsb.li/702G5F by @MindShiftKQED #edchat
*
missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡ Classroom Guide: Top Ten Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning | @Edutopia | @scoopit vsb.li/40FoQf #edtech #edchat #PBL #edujo
missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡ 15 Fascinating Academic Studies Done on #Twitter | @scoopit vsb.li/DGX93Z by @OC_org #edtech #edchat #SM
Ron_Peck Ron Check out “Goals for the New Year?” on Social Studies Chat: ning.it/zSmBHw #sschat
missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡
LibriVox Audiobooks ..Free PodCasts vsb.li/SdA78d #ESL #EFL #EngChat
deenawarwick Deena Warwick 25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names buzzfeed.com/daves4/25-ever… via @BuzzFeed
DianeRavitch Diane Ravitch How did voucher schools in New Orleans do? educatenow.net/resources/data…
Eduware_Inc Eduware, Inc. Over 1,000 tests have been made in the last week on #WizardTM, with over 91,000 total! Make yours today at goo.gl/7GZVZ
zeitz Leigh Zeitz (@zeitz) 6 Secrets To Overcoming Burnout : Some interesting ideas for the hard working. openforum.com/articles/6-sec… via
JaneBalvanz Jane Balvanz @kimsoutherngirl @DianeRavitch Can you imagine Race to the Top for surgeons? Whoever finishes brain surgery first wins. Ready, set, go!
Ruth_A_Buzzi Ruth Buzzi Sarcasm isn’t nice but it beats killing people.
johnkuhntx John Kuhn @DianeRavitch NL pitchers should be “assigned” the batting avg of another player, since they don’t bat.
jybuell  Lectures Suck | Psychology Today psychologytoday.com/blog/everybody…
MsSandersTHS Beth Sanders 5 Must have Ed Apps in 2012 for the 21st Century Student Centered Class post.ly/4hGbk #evernote #schoology #socrative #voicethread
Bcudly Brent cudly Middle Level Education by @Bcudly on @scoopit

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

News:

It’s Time to Rethink the Hours America Spends Educating
http://www.edutopia.org/time-out

LearnCentral becomes Blackboard Collaborate

http://www.wecollaborate.com/

Novo 7, DroPad A8i and the Aakaash . . .

So you’re thinking about a cheap tablet . . .

Resources:

Documentary Tube

Documentary films are informative motion pictures that are intended to highlight events or issues for posterity. They are meant to bring some realization of a situation to its viewers.They often pose the pros and cons of issues and leave the viewer to make an informed decision. In their early conception, documentaries were usually made for schools or for private release. Today, things have definitely changed, as documentaries are even making it to the big screen.
http://www.documentarytube.com/

Old Television Themes

A vast resource of audio.
http://www.televisiontunes.com/

Sketch in 3D on the Web

About

Remember the old cartoons where hand drawn lines appeared
to vibrate because of differences between frames?

That’s what this experiment simulates. It also adds a third
to your drawings by allowing you to rotate the canvas.
http://hakim.se/experiments/html5/sketch/

Web Spotlight:

The 20% Solution

I recently assigned a new project to my 11th grade English students: The 20% Project. Although it’s called a “project”, that term is merely for student understanding and lack of a better word. This project is based on the “20 percent time” Google employees have to work on something other than their job description. It has been well documented, and Google has exponentially grown as a company while giving this 20 percent time.
http://educationismylife.com/the-20-project-like-google-in-my-class/

The Living Room Candidate

Election video ads. Can be sorted by year, by type, or by issue.

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

10 Funniest Things

http://educationismylife.com/top-10-funniest-things-ever-said-in-education/

MiddleWeb’s New Resources (438)
http://tln.typepad.com/middleweb/2011/12/middlewebs-new-resources-438.html

Urgent call to a medieval Help Desk
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/cyberworld/urgent-call-to-a-medieval-help.html

30 Webtools to Transform a Classroom – LiveBinder
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=259021

Continuing to Learn with the iPad- Storytelling
http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/12/28/continuing-to-learn-with-the-ipad/

Strategies:

5 Awesome Things you can do with an iPad and a projector

http://www.classroominthecloud.net/2011/10/5-awesome-things-you-can-do-with-ipad.html

Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144550920/physicists-seek-to-lose-the-lecture-as-teaching-tool
(Referenced in the Twitterverse:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/everybody-is-stupid-except-you/201201/lectures-suck)    

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

ISTE 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.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:


Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.


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