MSM 202: String this…Sounds abound around Slo-Motion and the SAT

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Jokes You Can Use:

A little boy was starting to dig into his dinner. His father gently reminded him that they hadn’t said a prayer yet.

“It’s OK, we don’t have to. Mommy is a good cook”.

On Our Mind:  

  • The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow
  • 8 weeks to go.
  • ISTE

Eileen Award:

  • PivotalEllie Ellie Dix
  • Ron Peck:  Thanks for the Twitter answer.

Advisory:

How to Listen to Music

Music has a powerful grip on our emotional brain. It can breathe new life into seemingly lifeless minds. But if there is indeed no music instinct, music — not just its creation, but also its consumption — must be an acquired skill. How, then, do we “learn” music? Even more curiously, how do we “learn” to “listen” to music, something that seems so fundamental we take it for granted?

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/12/elliott-schwartz-music-ways-of-listening/

 

Body Language Decoder

http://lifehacker.com/5901468/use-this-body-language-cheat-sheet-to-decode-common-non+verbal-cues

 

Middle School Science Minute  

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

 

This is a three part feature on outstanding science tradebooks for students in Grades 6 – 8.

Part 1:

The National Science Teachers Association has recently announced its Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12.  In this podcast we look at two of the books which are very appropriate for students in grades 6 – 8.  They are:

Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature

by Dora Lee

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 feet Below the Chilean Desert

by Marc Aronson

 

From the Twitterverse:  

AMLE ‏ @AMLEnews

●Fun list for thoughtful conversation with middle schoolers: 50 Amazing
Numbers About Today’s Economy http://bit.ly/HhHOpT #midleved

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod

●Are Education Reforms Causing a Decline in Student Achievement?
http://bit.ly/HCtICn #edreform #iaedfuture #edchat
●Stop #Cyberbullying Your Masters! http://bit.ly/IxKDc1 Schools
backpedal after overreaching, disciplining students #schoollaw

Michelle Baldwin ‏ @michellek107

●@willrich45 would be interesting to see how much revenue “education”
corporations will make off of Common Core. :-/

Will Richardson ‏ @willrich45

●@michellek107 I think we’re already beyond a CCSS “cottage” industry.
Like shooting fish in a barrel for corporations.
●Question: If policy makers think they are making public schools great with
reforms, then why offer vouchers to opt out of reform? #edpolicy

On the ClassroomWall ‏ @FlyontheCWall

●study strategies … i often defer to this site http://www.studygs.net to help
me help the kids #5thchat
●food for thought: How to Learn Without Memorizing http://ht.ly/acjz9

Dan Witte ‏ @danwitte

●Starting our famous person press conference scripts. Link to the handout.
Anything I should add?
http://wp.lps.org/dwitte/files/2012/04/Press-Conference-Script.pdf
#midleved #engchat

Bill Ferriter ‏ @plugusin

●Have I ever showed you the feeds that I give my kids during SSR?
http://www.netvibes.com/wferriter#SSR_Collection #midleved #edtech

Monte Tatom ‏ @drmmtatom

●#QR Codes Explained & Ideas for Classroom Use #fhuedu508 #fhucid
#eLearning http://tinyurl.com/d3qr8tg

Larry Ferlazzo ‏ @Larryferlazzo

●All My Best Resources On Parent Engagement In One Place!
http://bit.ly/HJZiNk
Watch for middle level tweets on Twitter with the hashtag #midleved.

 

 

Resources:

An Open Letter to Educators

If the message in this video resonates with you feel free to send it to any teachers, principals, professors, university presidents, boards of regents, boards of education, etc. you think should see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-P2PGGeTOA4

 

TED offers free video lessons for high school and college students

By Lyndsey Layton, Published: March 12

Imagine you’re a high school biology teacher searching for the most vivid way to explain electrical activity in the brain. How about inserting metal wires into a cockroach’s severed leg and making that leg dance to music?

Starting Monday, that eye-popping lesson, performed in a six-minute video by neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage, is available free online.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/ted-offers-free-video-lessons-for-high-school-and-college-students/2012/03/09/gIQAuw5O6R_story.html

 

http://www.youtube.com/tededucation

Web Spotlight:

Sound Maps

Use the interactive maps to find recordings of regional accents and dialects, wildlife and environmental sounds, and selected world and traditional music.

Includes dialects, and the Millenium Memory Bank. Also includes Holocaust survivors.

http://sounds.bl.uk/sound-maps

 

Ultra Slow Motion

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/13/ultra-slow-motion/ 

 

What Happens When A 35-Year-Old Man Retakes The SAT?

*Warning – Not Safe for Work language is used.

Shockingly, little about the SAT has changed since I set foot in that classroom. Most students still have to take the test using bubble sheets and a No. 2 pencil, which is insane to me. They’ve managed to digitize VOTING

http://deadspin.com/5893189/what-happens-when-a-35+year+old-man-retakes-the-sat

Strategies:  

 Seussisms

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/11/seuss-isms/

 

How Long Is a Piece of String? BBC and Comedian Alan Davies Explore Quantum Mechanics

by Maria Popova

In How Long is a Piece of String?, they enlist standup-comic-turned-physics-enthusiast Alan Davies in answering the seemingly simple question of the film’s title, only to find in it a lens — a very blurry lens — on the very fabric of reality.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/09/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string-bbc/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

 

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Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.