Podcast #31 – Middle School Blogs And You

News & Events:  The “Datey Thingys” 

NMSA Annual Conference (NMSA08) October 30-November 1
Denver, Colorado
Hotel information coming soon on the website. 
Conference focus on Technology this year. 

Grade Configuration:  Grade configuration was a hot topic early in the school year and is likely to come up again as we move into the summer and as next year’s schedules are being developed.  Here is a link to research on grade configuration courtesy of NMSA.

What Makes Middle Schools Work: Some research out of New York Public Schools on their top ten performing middle schools and what elements can be replicated to produce success in other middle schools.

NMSA Calendar of Events


Innovative Practices Across the Curriculum Workshop


Ohio Middle School Association Annual Conference:
Kalahari, Sandusky, OH.
February 21-22, 2009 

First Annual Schools to Watch Conference
May 7, 2008
Mount Pleasant, MI

Michigan Joint Education Conference
June 25, 2008
Holt High School
Holt, MI 

Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Grants – $1000.00
June 30 is the deadline for application. 

Teaching Moments has a new goal setting presentation that is FREE! 

eSchoolNews:
ATT – $100 million grant to stem dropouts. The AT&T Aspire program will distribute the $100 million over four years through a competitive grant process, said Eric Hausken, a spokesman for AT&T.

Why do we teach middle school?
1.  We get to see our names carved into various places with colorful adjectives attached.
2.  Up to date with current fashion trends. 
3.  Easier to teach those who know everything already.
4.  Hormone therapy without the prescription. 
5.  Also qualifies for CIA spy training, FBI interrogation training, and local or State Police crime lab training. 
6.  With all the comments heard on hall duty and student responses, it would qualify as research for the next Broadway comedy show.
7.  FREE PENCILS ON THE FLOOR IN THE HALLWAY! 
 

Cool quote from the NMSA website:  “Maybe the biggest reason some teachers love middle schoolers is the gap between what they know and what they do.”
—Nancy Feigenbaum, More Than I Ever Imagined

Mr. Devore’s Do-Over

Some Education Blogs from around the web:

Learning is Messy::Roll up your sleeves and get messy
http://learningismessy.com/blog/ – 

The Dream Teacher:
http://thedreamteacher.blogspot.com/

Cool Cat Teacher:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ – Teaching content with new tools, enthusiasm and the belief that teaching is a noble calling!

Mathematical Musings:
http://mathmusings.blogspot.com/Thoughts of a middle school math teacher who is re-discovering technology.

Teaching in the 408:We must reject the ideology of the “achievement gap” that absolves adults of their responsibility and implies student culpability in continued under-performance. The student achievement gap is merely the effect of a much larger and more debilitating chasm: The Educator Achievement Gap. We must erase the distance between the type of teachers we are, and the type of teachers they need us to be.
http://roomd2.blogspot.com/   –


The Blurb: The Blurb is a daily, weekly or sometimes monthly news show created and maintained by some seriously motivated students living in cyberspace! Check out our news and views regularly.
http://guysread.typepad.com/theblurb

Weblogglearning with the read/write web 
Really liked the article titled Believe What You Want to Find.

Teacher Magazine Blogboards: Compilation of blogs with a teacher eccentric viewpoint.