Middle School Matters
Middle School News for Middle School Educators who care!
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact
  • Podcast
  • PD
  • Presentations
RSS
Shop on the Run
June 26, 2008

Shop on the Run

Troy / Top Stories /

Duis diam urna, aliquam id mauris nec, tristique ultrices turpis. Nam non ante in nunc euismod rutrum. Cras tristique feugiat neque sed vestibulum.

Greenhouse Plants
June 26, 2008

Greenhouse Plants

Troy / Top Stories /

Duis laoreet tortor magna, sit amet viverra elit dignissim sit amet. Aenean tempor et tortor eget blandit. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Sed aliquam, sapien et tincidunt sodales, risus lectus rutrum turpis.

Morning News
June 26, 2008

Morning News

Troy / Top Stories /

Fusce hendrerit adipiscing diam vitae sodales. Sed faucibus venenatis lectus sed laoreet. Sed in libero ac nisi placerat dictum. Donec dui neque, aliquam non nunc nec, porttitor tempor leo. Maecenas non sagittis neque.

Travel the world
June 26, 2008

Travel the world

Troy / Top Stories /

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam lobortis ac tellus id tempor. Aliquam pellentesque nibh quis justo commodo tristique. Aliquam erat volutpat. Etiam ut justo aliquam, euismod dolor eget, ullamcorper tortor. Aliquam eu ipsum a urna lacinia aliquam id non dui.

How to Shop for Healthy Fruits
June 25, 2008

How to Shop for Healthy Fruits

Troy / Featured /

Mauris varius fermentum velit sit amet varius. Aenean consectetur lacus tellus, sed vestibulum quam. Donec lorem lectus, posuere in pharetra at, vestibulum et magna. Ut viverra, risus eu commodo interdum, nunc ipsum mollis purus, ac varius ante purus sed diam.

10 Travel Tips for Your Summer Vacation
June 25, 2008

10 Travel Tips for Your Summer Vacation

Troy / Featured /

Vivamus in risus non lacus vehicula vestibulum. In magna leo, malesuada eget pulvinar ut, pellentesque a arcu. Praesent rutrum feugiat nibh elementum posuere. Nulla volutpat porta enim vel consectetur.

Are Your Kids Under Stress?
June 25, 2008

Are Your Kids Under Stress?

Troy / Featured /

Nunc et pharetra enim. Praesent pharetra, neque et luctus tempor, leo sapien faucibus leo, a dignissim turpis ipsum sed libero. Sed sed luctus purus. Aliquam faucibus turpis at libero consectetur euismod. Nam nunc lectus, congue non egestas quis, condimentum ut arcu.

How to Stay Connected on the Go
June 25, 2008

How to Stay Connected on the Go

Troy / Featured /

Aliquam erat nulla, sodales at imperdiet vitae, convallis vel dui. Sed ultrices felis ut justo suscipit vestibulum. Pellentesque nisl nisi, vehicula vitae hendrerit vel, mattis eget mauris. Donec consequat eros eget lectus dictum sit amet ultrices neque sodales. Aliquam metus diam, mattis fringilla adipiscing at, lacinia at nulla.

Top 10 Office Entertainment Gadgets
June 25, 2008

Top 10 Office Entertainment Gadgets

Troy / Featured /

Nam risus velit, rhoncus eget consectetur id, Themify.me. Vivamus imperdiet diam ac tortor tempus posuere. Curabitur at arcu id turpis posuere bibendum. Sed commodo mauris eget diam pretium cursus. In sagittis feugiat mauris, in ultrices mauris lacinia eu. Fusce augue velit, vulputate elementum semper congue, rhoncus adipiscing nisl. Curabitur vel risus eros, sed eleifend arcu. Donec porttitor hendrerit diam et blandit.

June 22, 2008

Podcast #38 The Mail Bag Grab Bag: Eclectic discussions this week on Middle Level Education!

Troy / Podcast, Uncategorized / Podcast /

News & Events

1.  Start planning for October’s Month of the Young Adolescent!
2.  Innovative Practices Across the Curriculum, June 24 in Minnesota. 
3.  Institute for Middle Level Leadership.  July 13-16 & 20-23
4.  Best Practices for Student Success.  July 28 & August 6 
5.  NMSA Annual Conference, October 30 – November 1 
6.  Summer Teacher-to-Teacher professional development program registration is open. (free)
7.  Michigan Joint Education Conference, June 25 in Holt, MI.  Integrated Education Conference. 


Reader/Listener Mailbag:
*some parts of the email below were deleted for privacy sake.

Fellow Teachers

There is a disturbing trend happening in school technology education in New Jersey. From my experience as a middle school computer teacher, it appears that school districts think technology can be thrown-in as an add-on to academic subjects like Language Arts or Math. I’m seeing the addition of laptop carts as a way to integrate technology into the classroom, but having more hardware and software at student’s fingertips does not provide proficiency any more than additional textbooks on a classroom shelf. My previous school district decided that teachers can be trained to add computer skills into their curriculum allowing the elimination of computer rotation in exploratory arts. While I agree that computers are a wonderful tool for student learning, and laptops provide flexibility and limited time-wasting, the technology that they represent is extremely content laden unto itself. Technology education in not an ACADEMIC ACCESSORY any more than teaching is a FALL-BACK PROFESSION.

When I began teaching computer technology, I was too naive to realize that many teachers viewed specials as a chance for their prep time and for kids to relax their brains for REAL education later in the school day. Therefore, I included things such as tech-specific vocabulary, quizzes, tests, hands-on projects, independent research and collaborative learning. I held kids accountable for CONTENT, and I handled my grades 5 through 8 as if they were any other academic class. I did my best to connect the dots, from simple to complex, word processing to page layout,  bitmap painting to multi-layered vectors and pixels, single-use programs to software suites and acronyms of WWW to GIF, TIFF and JPEG. And we were just scratching the surface. Podcasts, Blogs, Websites and Video were to come as we partnered together, students and teacher, and grew the program to another level. How can all of this possibly be integrated into the already overburdened schedule of academic teachers whose main function is to please administrators with student proficiency demonstrated on standardized testing?

Shortsightedness is described as “lacking imagination or insight.” The bigger picture was very clear to me. As we provide the opportunity for students to grow in their hands-on skills, and we continue ongoing training for teachers to be on-level with their students, integration of technology in the classroom comes through the assignment of projects that utilize these very skills. The Social Studies teacher wouldn’t expect me to teach the kids about ancient Mesopotamia, so why would I expect them to teach paragraph vs. line breaks, document formatting, or picture editing techniques?

Technology in NJ, as of 2007, is now subject to scrutiny at the 8th grade level by the state. We as teachers needed to assess students and show an acceptable level of proficiency, and my guess is that some type of structured test is to come. Is now the time to cut back our training and content? Aren’t we going in the wrong direction, or am I just missing the point?

Thanks
Ron
New Jersey


First….thanks for the shout-out to the hard working folks down here in Lacey, WA.  Out of curiosity, why?  I hope it has to do with the great many listeners you get from our area.  (Ed. Note:  It does.)

I just finished listening to podcast #37 and I had a couple of thoughts (and maybe future topics).  I was wondering if you could talk about creative scheduling to meet the needs of students that don’t learn.  For instance, in our school next year, we are implementing a seventh period flex-class (30 minutes) everyday except our early-release Wednesdays.  The time is dedicated to reaching non-learners, but not necessarily the intentional non-learners.  There are built-in incentives to push kids to take more responsibility for their learning, etc.  What are some other things that have been tried?

Personally, I am an eighth grade math teacher (Pre-Alg & Alg) in a building that has a teaming model.  I feel that I am at a crossroads in my teaching because our principals have taken away many of the “fun things” that kids look forward to during the school year and in many ways have changed us into a results-oriented staff.  While I endorse the standards movement, I wonder how you (and your audience) feel about the move to focus on the content standards instead of the process standards. 

Our building also got rid of football and baseball several years ago due to a double-levy failure and 1 part of the fallout is our buildings losing some of their spirit and personality.  What have you seen done to pump-up the spirit level in your buildings?


Ron
Lacey, WA

Shawn & Troy had lots to say about the letters. Now we need your input.

  • How do you feel about technology? should it be integrated or taught separately?
  • How do we address content standards and process standards?
  • How do you integrate technology into your class? Why?
  • What would you like to do in integrating technology? What is holding you back?
  • How do we address students needing extra opportunities for learning?

Your thoughts? Please add to the comments or drop us an email.

«< 64 65 66 67 68 >»

Get Email Updates:

Loading

Contact Us

Hypothes.is – (Bookmarking & Annotations)
Email
Twitter
Facebook

Listen to the Show (Subscribe)
iTunes
Google Podcasts
Stitcher
TuneIN
Podvine

Recent Posts

  • MSM 572: That’s Great . . . Until You Get the Humans Involved!
    February 4, 2023
  • MSM 571: Industrial PD Day!
    January 28, 2023
  • MSM 570: Drop A Little NOLEJ on Yourself
    January 21, 2023

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007

Listen on TuneIn…

↑

© Middle School Matters 2023
Powered by WordPress • Themify WordPress Themes