MSM 197: Online, Hugs are Value added.

Jokes You Can Use:

Teacher: Why didn’t you brush your teeth this morning?
Student: How do you know?
Teacher: I can see what you had for breakfast.
Student: Really, then what did you have?
Teacher: Eggs.
Student: No I didn’t! That was yesterday.

On Our Mind:

• MACUL
• State wide on-line testing

 

 

Eileen Award:

• Liz Kolb
• Carol Hix of Science Six:  Recommendations:  lulu.com and Edmodo.com, Google Docs, Twiddla, www.mixedink.com.

Advisory: National Geographic ‏ @NatGeo

• Daylight savings time: Why and when does it begin? on.natgeo.com/yr6p1P

 

 

Middle School Science Minute

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

This middle school science minute is about the collaboration that can take place between math and science teachers. In the February 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Karen Charles, J.D. Canales, Angela Smith and Natalie Zimmerman wrote an article entitled: “Exploring the Solar System:? Let the Math Teachers Help!”  They explain how attending a week long academy offered by NASA in their school district encouraged math and science teachers to consider how using models and simulations could expand their repertoire of classroom strategies and engage students more fully in their own context-rich learning.

 

From the Twitterverse:

 

 

News:

American Dropouts: Part I

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/03-2012/american-dropouts-part-i

 

A Lesson in Teaching to the Test, From E.B. White

White’s wonderful book about a mute swan given voice by a trumpet stolen for him by his father, “The Trumpet of the Swan,” contains the following passage that in a few paragraphs beautifully evokes the elementary-school classroom of yesteryear – and, we should all hope, of tomorrow. (The episode is at the close of the chapter entitled “School Days.”)
In light of current controversies around testing and teacher evaluation, let’s do a little thought experiment. How would Miss Snug have handled this lesson if it were occurring just before a round of standardized testing? Would she not have had to interrupt the children’s speculations and instructed them that actual circumstances in word problems must be completely disregarded, because the point is to arrive at the answer the test designers have in mind?
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/03/07/a-lesson-in-teaching-to-the-test-from-e-b-white

 

School Communities Wrecked by “Value-Added”: Two Must-Reads

Top-notch reporter Bill Turque at the Washington Post dropped this barnburner article today about Sarah Wysocki, a DCPS teacher who received praise from everyone she worked with… and then got fired over test scores. The whole article is a must-read, but the thing that leaped most off the page to me was how likely it seems that Wysocki, a fifth grade teacher, was the victim of a sinister consequence of high-stakes testing: cheating.
Would you want your child’s teachers working within this system— one ready to dole out public humiliation over the most arbitrary, minute stat movements?
Who is being educated— and what are they really learning from this?
http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/get-fracas/03-2012/school-communities-wrecked-value-added-two-must-reads

Resources:

Mixed Ink

MixedInk’s collaborative writing platform allows groups of any size to weave their best ideas and language into a single text. Cutting-edge government agencies, news organizations, advocacy groups, and businesses use MixedInk to gather meaningful input and give their communities a voice.
http://www.mixedink.com/

 

K20Alt – Authentic Teaching and Learning

K20alt allows educators from around the country the opportunity to collaborate, dialogue, engage in lesson study and creation, and acquire content-specific PD all at the touch of a button through Virtual Communities of Practice. These groups are meant to engage and empower educators by providing a means by which they can share expertise, create content, and improve pedagogy. The free services that are provided within these Virtual Communities of Practice are outlined below.
http://k20alt.ou.edu/

 

10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should)

This week, the OCW Consortium is holding its annual meeting, celebrating 10 years of OpenCourseWare. The movement to make university-level content freely and openly available online began a decade ago, when the faculty at MIT agreed to put the materials from all 2,000 of the university’s courses on the Web.
But as open educational resources and OCW increase in popularity and usage, there are a number of new resources out there that do offer just that. You probably already know about:Khan Academy and Wikipedia, for example. But in the spirit of 10 years of OCW, here’s a list of 10 cool OER and OCW resources that you might not know about, but should know:
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/05/10-open-education-resources-you-may-not-know-about-but-should/

 

CloudFTP

Create a wireless document server with CloudFTP and your own personal flash drive.  Bypass the district network altogether!  Avoid those nasty “I forgot my password!” comments in class.  Get a Cloud (FTP)!
http://www.hypershop.com/CloudFTP-p/cftp-black.htm  

Web Spotlight:

Stop Taking Pictures of the Whiteboard

http://www.edsocialmedia.com/2012/02/stop-taking-pictures-of-the-whiteboard/

GenoChoice

Good for web site evaluation.
http://genochoice.com/

 

Inside-Out Your Mind

Derek Sivers made a lot of money in the online music business and now lives in Singapore. He’s an entrepreneur, and when he gives talks, he shows his audience how different cultures think, well…oppositely.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/03/02/147825237/inside-out-your-mind?ft=1&f=1130

 

The Civil War, Part 1: The Places

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, a milestone commemorated by The Atlantic in a special issue (now available online). Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. As brother fought brother and the nation’s future grew uncertain, the public appetite for information was fed by these images from the trenches, rivers, farms, and cities that became fields of battle. Today’s collection is part 1 of 3, covering the places of the Civil War: the battleships, prisons, hospitals, urban centers, and rural pastures where history was made. Tomorrow’s installment features some of the people involved in the conflict, and on Friday I’ll be sharing some of the amazing three-dimensional stereographs of the war. Keep in mind, as you view these photographs, that they were taken 150 years ago — providing a glimpse of a United States that was only 85 years old at the time.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-1-the-places/100241

 

Old Maps Online

http://www.oldmapsonline.org/#bbox=-110.3125,-51.774806,119.609375,72.104237&q=&datefrom=1000&dateto=2010

 

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

• The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.  
• MAMSE Exhibitor Form
• MAMSE Registration Form

• MAMSE Presentation Form
• MAMSE Conference Program Book (2011)
• The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012
• Conference Brochure  
• Presenter’s Application
• Who They Are . . .
• This year’s sessions . . .
• Ohio Middle Level Association:

• The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

• OMLA Registration Form
• OMLA Presentation Proposal Form

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

• Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.