MSM 625: The Final Throes

Summary:

Shawn and Troy talk about the end of the year. Dave counts the caterpillars. 

Jokes:  

Regarding spelling, some people are loosing it.


Always do right.  This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

— Mark Twain


Why didn’t the number 4 get into the nightclub? 

  • Because he is 2 square.

My sea sickness comes in waves.


I bought a new trimmer today.

  • It’s cutting hedge technology.

I’ll tell you what often gets over looked… garden fences.


What type of fabric softener does iron man use?

  • Downey

I’ve been reading all about the concept of infinity and I feel like it’s never going to end.


Why do Norwegians put bar codes on their ships?

  • So when they dock, they can Scandinavian.

I was at the beach and I heard a man in the water yelling “Help, shark! Help!”

I thought to myself that shark isn’t going to help him.


I’ve just been diagnosed with a chronic fear of giants.

  • Fefiphobia.

The Swiss must’ve been pretty confident in their chances of victory if they included a corkscrew in their army knife.



Middle School Science Minute  

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

K12Science Podcast:  Caterpillars Count

I was recently reading the May/June 2024 issue of “Science Scope,” a publication of the National Science Teaching Association.

In this issue, I read the “Citizen Science” section written by Jill Nugent.  She wrote an article entitled, “Caterpillars Count.”

Caterpillars Count is a citizen science project to monitor the seasonality and abundance of arthropods (including caterpillars) on foliage.  To learn more about this citizen science project visit their website at:

https://caterpillarscount.unc.edu

http://k12science.net/caterpillars-count/

The World from A to Z – 

Reports from the Front Lines

  • The Final Throes
  • Flow
  • Genius Week
  • PowerSchool University
  • List of Shawn’s Free Jobs
    • PCT Course
      • Added an Oncology Communications Module while Troy played with AudioHijack this morning.  
  • Moodle Upgrade

The Social Web

Dr. Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755 on lots o’ platforms) @jbf1755

Quote:  Kierán Suckling  @KieranSuckling

Who thought memorializing the Donner Party with a picnic area was a good idea?

Revolving_Door_Admin  @RAD_is_awesome

With only two days remaining in the school year, I think it only makes sense to do some walkthroughs to make sure that teachers are following our bell-to-bell instruction mandate.

Clive Thompson@clive@saturation.social

In 1963, Bruce McAllister was a high school student …

… whose English teacher insisted that authors filled their stories with symbols …

… and it was the job of the reader to notice and decode these symbols

He thought this was nonsense

So he sent a letter to 150 well-known authors asking if they did this

Fully 75 replied! Ray Bradbury, Saul Bellow, Ayn Rand

Wouter de Jong @drakenvlieg@mastodon.education

To be most effective, retrieval must be repeated again and again, in spaced out sessions so that the recall, rather than becoming a mindless recitation, requires some cognitive efforts.

Solstice School@SummerSchool

We are limiting the Conference to 20 presentations so the earlier the submission the better. Submissions open June 15th and close the 30th! Solstice School will occur July 22-August 4

https://solsticeschool.scholar.social/2024/presenters

Historic Vids  @historyinmemes

Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West on The Wizard of Oz, appeared on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1975 in an effort to convince children there was nothing to fear.

Susie Dent @susie_dent

Etymology of the day is ‘tawdry’, meaning cheap, sordid, or in poor taste. It began as ‘St Audrey’s lace’: ribbons worn as necklaces to honour a 7th-century saint of Ely. Thanks to their often shoddy quality, ‘tawdry laces’ became linked to cheap or disreputable behaviour.

Matt Miller   @jmattmiller

So, make this make sense … “In order to streamline the number of apps educators need to use in their classroom …”  @MIcrosoftFlip  is taking an app available to anyone via web and mobile … and locking it inside of Microsoft Teams. To streamline the number of apps.  

Strategies:  

Make An AI Notebook

https://wondertools.substack.com/p/notebooklm

GET A CLUE: THE SOLO TAXONOMY

https://blog.tcea.org/get-a-clue-the-solo-taxonomy

Resources:  

AXIS The Culture Translator

Slang of the Week

“That’s OP”

While some slang has nebulous origins, it’s pretty clear “that’s OP” comes from the gaming community. “OP” is short for “overpowered,” a way of saying something is too strong, unfair, or unbalanced in a game. “That’s OP” can be used outside of games though, whether it’s to describe a new strategy in a sport, a different way to flirt, or as a reaction to anything that seems, well, overpowered.

Meet ALDO: The Amazing Lesson Design Outline

https://mglinks.org/2024/06/03/meet-aldo-the.html

Video:  Commercial for Beans

It’s that time of the year and you need a short video to capture your kids attention and perhaps imagination.  Try Haynes:  https://youtu.be/eZgD89VYkVc  

Web Spotlight: 

Document: The Symbolism Survey

In 1963, a sixteen-year-old San Diego high school student named Bruce McAllister sent a four-question mimeographed survey to 150 well-known authors of literary, commercial, and science fiction. Did they consciously plant symbols in their work? he asked. Who noticed symbols appearing from their subconscious, and who saw them arrive in their text, unbidden, created in the minds of their readers? When this happened, did the authors mind?

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/12/05/document-the-symbolism-survey

AI Bias in Beauty

  • Despite the growing profusion of AI image generators, they all had remarkably similar responses when The Post directed them to portray a beautiful woman.
  • DALL-E shows thin, ethnically ambiguous women in heavy makeup. Sixty-two percent have a medium skin tone.
  • Midjourney’s women are dressed in flowing gowns, most with low-cut tops. Nearly nine in 10 are light-skinned.
  • Stable Diffusion also shows thin women in flowing attire. Its representation of dark skin tones is highest — at just 18 percent.
  • Asked to show “normal women,” the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin. Midjourney’s depiction of “normal” was especially homogenous: All of the images were thin, and 98 percent had light skin.
  • To see how AI tools handle different body sizes, The Post used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to prompt DALL-E 3 to show a “fat woman.” Despite repeated attempts using explicit language, the tool generated only women with small waists.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/ai-bias-beautiful-women-ugly-images

Chat GPT For Educators

Cost: $39

Modules: 5

CPE Credit Hours: 12

Embark on an enlightening adventure with our “ChatGPT for Educators” course, a treasure trove for teachers eager to harness the capabilities of ChatGPT AI. This self-paced online course is a beacon for those seeking to enrich their teaching methods, offering a blend of foundational knowledge and advanced techniques. As you delve into the world of ChatGPT, you’ll evolve into a skilled prompt engineer, adept at crafting prompts that revolutionize lesson planning, rubric creation, and assessments. The course is a wellspring of time-saving strategies, empowering you to leverage mega prompts for educational efficiency.

https://tcea.org/courses/chatgpt-for-educators

Random Thoughts . . .  

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