MSM 206: Dry Hands, Warm Heart?
Jokes You Can Use:
Auntie Matilta won’t kiss you with that dirty face!
That’s what I’m hoping.
Girl: I need a new dress
Dad: Why?
Girl: The girl in my class has the same one.
Dad: Why does that mean you need a new dress.
Girl: It’s cheaper than switching colleges.
On Our Mind:
ISTE Noob-ness!
Wrapping up the year yet?
Eileen Award:
- Jeffry Prickett – Facebook & Twitter
- Pamela Schneider – Facebook
Advisory:
How to Use a Paper Towel:
http://www.ted.com/talks/joe_smith_how_to_use_a_paper_towel.html
and
http://creativewealthprinciples.com/archives/285
The Other Side of the World
Olympic Torch Relay Route
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Drying Hands in the Lab.
In the March, 2012 issue of Science Scope, a publication of the National Science Teachers Association, the safety question of the month was “Are there any alternatives to paper towels for students to wash and dry their hands with at the end of lab?”
Ken Roy, director of environmental health and safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in Glastonbury, Connecticut provides a great answer. If you would like more information on science safety, you can purchase Ken’s book, “The NSTA Ready-Reference Guide to Safer Science,” through the NSTA bookstore. Please visit:
http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781933531281
From the Twitterverse:
Diane Ravitch @DianeRavitch If you want your eyes to bulge at the money lavished on charters, go to
http://kenmlibby.com.
|
Clay Shirky @cshirky Kickstart Roominate: Dollhouse kit for girls that includes circuit components:
lights, fans, buzzers, etc. http://kck.st/KtNGho
|
Mental Floss @mental_floss In 2010, 3.9 million 911 calls in New York City were the result of inadvertent
cellphone use. That’s a lot of butt dials. (via @TheWeek)
|
Miguel Guhlin @mguhlin 90+ iPad and iPod Apps For High School | MyWeb4Ed http://dlvr.it/1bCgdy
iPad, apps key to unlocking communication barrier with autistic students | Fox
News http://dlvr.it/1bCfTJ
|
Ron Peck @Ron_Peck Pls help @cybraryman1 get to #ISTE12 by assisting the #istenewbie12 project
-> http://bit.ly/fWRqnh #cpchat #edchat #edcampphilly
|
Jennifer Dorman @cliotech DropKey app encrypts Mac files, free through Sunday http://pulse.me/s/9nM8p
|
Steve 2@learn2 |
Michigan Gov. Signs Cyber School Measure Into Law
|
Distance Education @onlinecourse Are You At Risk of Getting Fired? Seven Signs Your Job is On the Line –
http://dedu.org/aJAx06
|
Ian Jukes @ijukes Homeschool Is the Future http://bit.ly/JpF67N
|
Angela Maiers @AngelaMaiers Here’s Nine Things Successful People Do Differently http://goo.gl/ya77b via
@ScottScanlon
|
Scott McLeod @mcleod New bookmark: Videogames can encourage good behavior in youth http://bit.ly/KiBz7t
|
russeltarr @russeltarr Abandoned Places In The World #geography: http://tinyurl.com/43hzvpd
|
AMLE @AMLEnews MT @middleweb Wonderful reflection by @stephpbader on lurking, stage fright in
connected communities http://bit.ly/LjI9j0 #edchat #midleved
|
internet4classrooms @internet4classr 20 Calming Apps For Stressed-Out Students (And Teachers) http://ow.ly/aYJ0b
#midleved #edchat
|
News:
Homeschool Is The Future
Since the 1970s, public school education scores, stats, and student achievements have been steadily decreasing. From a declining graduation rate to slipping ACT scores, American students are slowly ceasing to measure up on a global scale. Incidentally, also since the 1970s, homeschooling has steadily been on the rise in America. It seems that with America’s public school system in a decline, more and more parents are turning to homeschooling as a solution. The surprising part? When it comes time to perform, homeschoolers are blowing everyone else out of the water. Homeschoolers have begun to show steady achievement in their test scores, graduation rates, and collegiate performance. Homeschoolers also test higher in analyses of maturity, communication skills, and general socializatiion. What does this mean? It means that homeschoolers are getting ready to dominate the future of America.
http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2012/03/09/homeschool-is-the-future/
Dartmouth Researchers Are Learning How Exercise Affects the Brain
Exercise clears the mind. It gets the blood pumping and more oxygen is delivered to the brain. This is familiar territory, but Dartmouth’s David Bucci thinks there is much more going on.
From his studies, Bucci and his collaborators have revealed important new findings:
- The effects of exercise are different on memory as well as on the brain, depending on whether the exerciser is an adolescent or an adult.
- A gene has been identified which seems to mediate the degree to which exercise has a beneficial effect. This has implications for the potential use of exercise as an intervention for mental illness.
http://now.dartmouth.edu/2012/05/dartmouth-researchers-are-learning-how-exercise-affects-the-brain/
Are today’s students truly ‘tech savvy’?
It is difficult to prove that the Generation Y and young people today are not more technologically adapted than their older counterparts.
They may sometimes display an unhealthy level of dependence on their mobile phone, become bored easily when taught in school how to use basic commands in Microsoft Word and be called upon often to fix the problem with the printer, but are all members of this age bracket clued-up and comfortable with technology?
According to the research, there was little evidence that today’s students demand modern technology when entering university that the academic institution cannot provide. Technological integration is expanding, however in terms of study, students may not be as reliant on it to learn as we stereotype them to be.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/are-todays-students-truly-tech-savvy/16147
Congrats to Mike Muir, AMLE President-Elect!
Resources:
iPad Resource Links
http://www.21innovate.com/ipadipod.html
Documentaries On-Line
Watch free documentaries online! Full videos are available. Educate yourself with thousands of good documentaries about diverse subjects. The newest, latest, best and greatest top documentaries online can be watched here for free.
A Twenty-One Protest Song Salute
[Warning to parents and teachers: Some songs contain profanity. Also, Moyers & Company and Public Affairs Television do not endorse any advertisements or promotional links contained within the embedded videos.]
http://billmoyers.com/content/a-twenty-one-protest-song-salute/
Web Spotlight:
iWitness
IWitness is an online application that gives educators and students access to search, watch, and learn from more than 1,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses.
http://iwitness.usc.edu/SFI/Default.aspx
Graduation Speeches
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/06/10/best-commencement-graduation-speeches/
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/18/commencement-speeches-2/
Strategies:
The Graphic Classroom
The Graphic Classroom is a resource for teachers and librarians to help them stock high quality, educational-worthy, graphic novels and comics in their classroom or school library. I read and review every graphic novel or comic on this blog and give it a rating as to appropriateness for the classroom.
http://www.graphicclassroom.org/
Events & Happenings:
Calendar of Events:
Ohio Middle Level Association:
- The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.
AMLE Affiliate Conferences:
- The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.
- The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012
Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
- Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.