MSM 203: Crazy after 45 minutes.

Jokes You Can Use:

“Doctor, will I be able to read with these new glasses?”

“Of course, perfectly. Why?”

“Because, I couldn’t read before”.

 

When I got a bill for an operation, I found out why they wear masks.

Eileen Award:

• Gr8t Lakes Teacher:  Thanks for the feedback on iTunes!

Advisory:

Book Spine Poetry

Stack books up so that the Titles on the spine form a poem.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/tag/book-spine-poetry/

 

Odd Advertisements

NSFW:  Prescreening required

http://oddstuffmagazine.com/funniest-advertisements-ever.html

 

11 “Modern Antiques” Today’s Kids Have Probably Never Seen 

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/122762

 

Middle School Science Minute  

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

 

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

 

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

by Catherine Thimmesh

 

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

by Richard Paul Evans

 

Bug Shots: The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly

by Alexandra Siy

 

 

From the Twitterverse:  

Diane Ravitch ‏ @DianeRavitch NY state ELA asked deaf students to describe sounds: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tests_sound_stupid_4hSayWasqE9Yced7Mg20rK None of today’s Pineapple rage is new. I wrote about it in “The Language Police” in 2003 to show how test publishers censored, revised. Education is increasingly a race between civilization and a system of accounting that has no brain and no heart.

David Andrade ‏ @daveandcori 11 steps to planning effective Professional Development http://bit.ly/GSc5N0 #edcampnc #edchat Teacher Evaluations – ideas and lessons from other professions http://bit.ly/JfPWgC #edtech #edchat #education #edreform

Marlo Gaddis ‏ @mrhgaddis If PD sucks, you have a moral obligation to your students to tell someone about it. @web20classroom #edcampnc

Steven W. Anderson ‏ @web20classroom Teaching today like being on Chopped. You have lots in your basket and have to use it all and make it taste good. @mrhgaddis #edcampnc When it come to learning about tools, teachers want ownership. They need to know the impact in their classroom. #edcampnc

Marlo Gaddis ‏ @mrhgaddis PLN becomes mentors @bethanyvsmith #edcampnc

Larry Ferlazzo ‏ @Larryferlazzo How Can We Teach Social Studies More Effectively? http://bit.ly/HVQSWr

Erik Gunn ‏ @erikgunn @DianeRavitch My college prof dad scorned student evaluations. He said it would be years B4 students understood value of some classes (more)

Ryan Dore ‏ @britishbuegler @pisanojm explains our new music teachers fb group. If your not connected join today. #musedchat #pmea12

Terie Engelbrecht ‏ @mrsebiology 5 Ideas to Prepare Students for Success Without Standardized Testing http://goo.gl/o2GcR #edchat #edreform

Nancy Hniedziejko ‏ @NancyTeaches 101 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers You Should Know About via @TeacherCast | @scoopit http://bit.ly/H850t7

Shawn Avery ‏ @mr_avery @mbfxc @ncarroll24 @jmsalsich @mrs_hembree Know any teachres who could sign up for Skype in Classroom? Donors Choose is giving away $25 gift

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod Proposed legislation re: number of days/hours in school year reflects simplistic thinking? http://bit.ly/HJ4wHY #iaedfuture

Liz Kolb ‏ @lkolb Texting With Teachers Keeps Students in Class http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/04/10/texting-and-cell-phones-keeps-students-in-class.aspx

 

News:

Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham)

Since the publication of Howard Gardner‘ Frames of Mind in the early 1980s in which he pointed out the many ways that children and adults learn, popularization of “multiple intelligences” in the early 1990s has fused multiple intelligences with teaching to different “learning styles.” Practitioners have glommed onto multiple intelligences and different learning styles. Schools have committed themselves to cultivating multiple learning styles such as the KeyLearning Community in Indianapolis (IN). Willingham challenges the concept of varied learning styles and offers an alternative explanation for how and what children learn–their background, interests, aptitudes, and knowledge they bring to a topic–rather than “learning styles.”

http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/student-learning-styles-theory-is-bunk-daniel-willingham/

 

The Pineapple Story Tests Us: Have Test Publishers become Unquestionable Authorities?

The New York Daily News has perhaps inadvertently shed some light on why teachers might be hesitant to have a large portion of their evaluations based on standardized test scores. In a rare moment of transparency, one of the 8th grade reading comprehension questions has been published, in a story broken by Leonie Haimson on the New York Parents blog, and it has many people scratching their heads.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/the_pineapple_story_questions.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/20/151044647/the-pineapple-and-the-hare-can-you-answer-two-bizarre-state-exam-questions?sc=tw

Professional Development

Sweating my way through a workout the other day, I stumbled across an article titledGetting Principals to Think Like Managers in the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.  Considering that nearly every expert on the 21st Century principalship would argue that leading schools is about WAY more than “managing,” the title caught my eye.

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/tempered-radical/04-2012/will-75000-really-change-your-principals-leadership-skills

 

Earth’s quietest place

They say silence is golden – but there’s a room in the U.S that’s so quiet it becomes unbearable after a short time.

The longest that anyone has survived in the ‘anechoic chamber’ at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is just 45 minutes.

It’s 99.99 per cent sound absorbent and holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s quietest place, but stay there too long and you may start hallucinating.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-worlds-quietest-place-chamber-Orfield-Laboratories.html

Resources:

Block Print

Create any size poster from any size picture.

http://www.blockposters.com/

 

iSLCollective

Free, printable ESL worksheets by teachers for teachers. Allows a variety of criteria: Level, Student Type, Grammar Focus, Vocabulary Focus, Skill, Material Type, Solution.

http://en.islcollective.com/

 

WorkFlowy

Easy ToDo list manager.

https://workflowy.com/

 

National Parks Tour

Provides a virtual tour of various parks: Grand Canyon, Great Smokies, YellowStone.

http://naturevalleytrailview.com/

 

 

Positive Thoughts

You might recall a charming antidote: Everything Is Going to Be OK, the lovely pocket-sized anthology of positive artwork. Now, it’s available as equally lovely 20 different note cards, featuring artists like Gemma Correll,Jessica Swift, Danna Ray, and Amy Borrell.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/19/everything-is-going-to-be-ok-cards/

 

KiKuText

Kikutext is all about parent engagement. We truly believe that an increase in parent engagement will mean an increase in student achievement. Every part of our application is designed to help you easily and quickly communicate with parents more regularly.

Parents can sign up for text messages. Teachers get a proxy phone number – no need to give out your personal cell phone number.

http://kikutext.com/

Web Spotlight:

5 Historical Misconceptions

Warning: Lady Godiva and bare bottom is included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sYzfKiIWN4g

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:  

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

• OMLA Registration Form
• OMLA Presentation Proposal Form

 

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 . . .

 

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

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