Tech

MSM-85 Taken to Task

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Joke:

This simple page of alleged creative writing quotations gave me multiple chuckles, fueled with snippets like these:

  • “They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.”
  • “John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.”
  • “He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.”

Shout outs:

  1. Todd Williamson:  Audio response. (Visit Todd at http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com )
  2. Dr. Debra Franciosi:

From the Twitterverse:

FeedBack:

I came across this podcast for the first time today, and while significant time has passed, I cannot let this go without comment. While some parts of your program were interesting, I was disappointed in your lack of critical analysis of the reading research. (Yes, I am in a biased position on this, being employed by one of the study treatment companies, but my doctoral work in ed and research came before my latest venture with CRISS, and there is injustice in this!) You (along with an Ed Week reporter, etc) shared that “none of them [treatments] are effective”. The fact is, a null effect or no positive effect in statistical research does NOT mean a treatment is ineffective. It means they didn’t find results — and that can be for a variety of reasons, including faulty research design. Having read the research report and talked to teachers and trainers (for CRISS), I know that the design was flawed, as was the way the researchers grouped the info. CRISS is the only one of the treatments that is a professional development program, NOT a canned curriculum. All four were treated as the same thing. Even if the design wasn’t flawed, the researchers themselves stated that the study demonstrates likely outcomes in a “typical” implementation. In the case of many of the sites CRISS worked with, teachers had NO input into their participation and therefore NO BUY-IN. Some teachers did not show up for the trainings, but the test data was kept in the mix anyway. It makes no sense.
Before I started working for CRISS last September, I taught middle school for 9 years and was the 6-12 Literacy Specialist for 3. We implemented CRISS at the high school and the teachers that participated loved it and used what they learned — and saw positive results. But it takes time (3 years to get teachers fully implementing, with regular support); changing pedagogy isn’t easy.
That said, gentlemen, I ask that you revisit adolescent literacy again — maybe after looking at the report that came out last spring(Ed Week March or April?)that noted that random control/treatment studies done by the IES are consistently coming out with null effects. It appears that education does not fit into that paradigm of research design. Kids aren’t widgets, and you can’t control for all the chaos that human subjects bring to public schools. There ARE concrete things educators can do to improve students’ literacy. No canned program (or professional development, for that matter) required.
Thanks!
Dr. Debra Franciosi

California should fund Music:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/30/EDQ01910HK.DTL

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:
NMSA News:

  1. NMSA’s Annual Conference:  NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.  NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis, IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.  Individual Registration is now open.
  2. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.
  4. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  5. Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  6. NMSA has a new publication on the role of middle grades in drop-out prevention.  You can download it as a pdf file.
  7. Middle Level Promise and Practice Moorhead, Minnesota August 5, 2009
    Speakers: Mark McCleod & Monte Selby

Other News:

  1. ISTE Eduverse Talks are the recorded sessions held on ISTE Island every week.  Join ISTE in their Second Life conference location for their weekly talks on education.
  2. The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI.  MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
  3. Theater Education Opportunity:  Eastern Michigan University’s Quirk-Sponberg Theater has announced their Fall 2009 Season.

    “The Prince, the Wolf and the Firebird”
    By Jackson Lacey
    Directed by Pam Cardell
    December 4, 5, 10, 11 at 7PM
    December 5, 6, 12 at 3PM
    School Matinees: December 9 and 10

  4. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  5. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on “Telling Stories with Digital Threads“ for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  6. Second Life:
    • No Events specified.  Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled.  See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
    • Video:  Educational Uses of Second Life

Podcast 70- Advisory, Water, and Getting FIT!

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How do you get straight A’S?
–by using a ruler
What happened to the plant in math class?
–it grew square roots
What did the dog get when he graduated from school?
–a pedigree
Why did the teacher go to the beach?
–to test the water
Why was the teacher crossed eye?
–she couldn’t keep her pupils straight

Events and Happenings:

  1. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.
  2. NMSA’s Middle Level Essentials Conference April 23-24, 2009.
  3. NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.  This video spotlight focuses on the building of the technology demonstration classrooms at last year’s Denver Annual Conference.
  4. NMSA ’09 Elections must be in by May 15th.
  5. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event now and hurry to get your presentation proposals in before the deadline!
  6. Any information on the Ontario Middle Level Association?  Their site has gone dark and we hope this does not mean the demise of the Association.
  7. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis, IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.
    • ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus with satellite access for Twittering, Facebooking, and other 21st Century technology access for less than $100.00.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  8. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  9. Free Professional Development through Webinars! NMSA is offering previously recorded webinars for free from their website.
  10. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Screencasting for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  12. Second Life:
    • No Events specified.  Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled.  See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
    • Video:  Educational Uses of Second Life
    • There is a conference being held by ISTE in Second Life, wander over to the auditorium behind the Headquarters to check it out.
  13. From the Twitterverse:
  • From GardenGlen’s blog:  I needed this Zits Teen Translator when my first was 15. I spend WAY too much time asking questions 2 understand meaning:  http://url.ie/1ew8
  • That kid that gets under your skin?  Here’s one for that:  russeltarrRT @quote_daily: Speak in anger and you will hold the best speech you ever regretted.  Winston Churchill.

    • instruisto RT @screamingeagle1:  “Speak when U are angry and U will make the best speech U will ever regret.”— A Bierce (Hmm, interesting . . .)
  • Our poet laureate:  LadyParadis Sunday morning peeks / over my shoulder to see / what I am up to #haiku.
  • instruisto RT @KlKidwell:  There’s a law in TN legisl. wanting to end tenure for new teachers. Boo!! >:( *Do ppl not get the security/$$$ tradeoff?*)
  • rrmurry RT @guykawasaki:  New Bill Would Give Obama Power Over the Internet http://adjix.com/3922 AC. Ummm- YIKES. A national lead controling info? rrmurry RT @guykawasaki:  New Bill Would Give Obama Power Over the Internet http://adjix.com/3922 AC. Ummm- YIKES. A national lead controling info?  (Note: Links to Mother Jones’s website as news source.)
  • instruisto RT @LoriMoreno:  The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly ~G.K. Chesterton
  • geekbert RT:  @WishAponAStar “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genious has its limits.” -unknown

Shout-outs:

Thanks for the additional anonymous evaluation on iTunes!

From our Listeners:

“This is Jack from BrainyFlix .  If I hadn’t done so already, I wanted to thank you for letting your visitors know about our video contest.  We received about 800 video submissions (way more than we had expected!) and you were a big part of that.  Much appreciated.  :]

I was wondering if your visitors would be interested in an update about BrainyFlix .  I ask because the voting for the video contest is coming up next Monday March 30.  Also, we built this new feature called lolcabulary, which lets kids make a flashcard that has a word attached to an image and sentence.  We’ll be running weekly contests to get kids to make flashcards by giving away iTunes to the winners.  We’re thinking we’ll do themes like “make lolcabulary flashcards about ninjas” and then get teachers we’ve met to pick their favorites made that week.”

Web Sightings:

http://www.factmonster.com/ – Fact Monster is an ideal reference site for kids ages 8-14 that provides entertainment and educational resources. It combines the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas, and several almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and historical records. A single search engine allows you to search all these sources at once.
In addition to an electronic database that is continuously updated and expanded, the Fact Monster site includes information from the following reference works:

  • The TIME for Kids Almanac®, edited by Beth Rowen of Fact Monster and published by Time Inc.
  • Selected content from The TIME Almanac, with Information Please®, edited by Borgna Brunner of Information Please and published by Time Inc.
  • The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, published by Columbia University Press.
  • Infoplease Dictionary, based on the Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary
  • The Infoplease Atlas, which includes several hundred maps from Magellan Geographix.

I did find ads on the site.

http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/ – Making Teachers Nerdy

Library of Congress Digital Collection:  http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html

Advisory Ideas:

Life Skill Lessons…how to tie a tie, how to set the table, how to
do anything….celebrate success!!

Q:C:Q: – Quote, Comment, Question…analyze a famous quote, old
or new

Create a Shelter…use newspaper and masking tape to create
shelter the group fits under w/out talking

Tubes and Marbles Race…use half pipes in a race to place a
marble in a bowl on the floor across the room

News:

Structure More Effective In High School Science Classes, Study Reveals

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326114415.htm

http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_086010229.html

Student fitness bill raises questions

FIT Kids Act would require new data tracking for schools
By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

Legislation pending in Congress, called the “Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act” (FIT Kids Act), would update current physical fitness standards in K-12 schools and hold educators accountable for a portion of their students’ health. If passed, the bill would redefine gym class from what it has come to mean for many students and teachers, and the bill also would implement new data tracking and reporting requirements that could necessitate a change in student information system (SIS) software.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=58065

Podcast #67: Cursing the Cursive?

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Breaking News:  The Ohio Middle School Association is now the Ohio Middle Level Associaiton!  OMLA President explains . . .

The Middle School Matters Calendar:

  1. Happy Pi Day!
  2. Book sale!  NMSA is having a clearance sale until March 31st.
  3. North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference will be March 16-17 in Pinehurst, NC.  Keynote speakers include Bill McBride and Rick Wormeli.  Ron Williamson from Eastern Michigan University will also be speaking at the conference this year.
  4. NMSA’s Middle Level Essentials Conference April 23-24, 2009.
  5. NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.  This video spotlight focuses on the building of the technology demonstration classrooms at last year’s Denver Annual Conference.
  6. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event now and hurry to get your presentation proposals in before the deadline!
  7. Any information on the Ontario Middle Level Association?  Their site has gone dark and we hope this does not mean the demise of the Association.
  8. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis,  IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.
    • ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus with satellite access for Twittering, Facebooking, and other 21st Century technology access for less than $100.00.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  (Some of you thought I was going to say something else!)  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  9. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  10. Free Professional Development through Webinars! NMSA is offering previously recorded webinars for free from their website.
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  12. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Moodle for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  13. Second Life:
    • No Events specified.  Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled.  See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
    • Video:  Educational Uses of Second Life
  14. From the Twitterverse:

Vote on iTunes!

Letters from our Listeners:

Hey guys

In a conversation with another teacher in a K-8 building, I mentioned that cursive may no longer be relevant in our schools. Now I’m sure this statement flies directly in the face of readin’, ritin’, rithmatic’ purists whose cursive alphabet adorns the space just above the blackboard in a typical elementary classroom.  And I’m not suggesting that we abandon the teaching of cursive letterforms. But I gave some thought as to when I actually use this practice, and I realized that I never use cursive unless writing a signature. Everything I ever write can be successfully accomplished by either printing or typing. As a matter of fact, I see a growing practice of electronic signatures being used in lieu of any writing at all. This is more prevalent due to documents making their way to intended destinations via email, electronic forms, etc.

This raises a question about how much time we dedicate to the practice of pen to paper versus fingers to keyboard. I facilitate a professional development workshop for teachers that describes the use of good typography as a tool to better reading engagement and comprehension. As a former graphic designer before becoming a teacher, I had to know the “hook” factor of type on a page. If kids (or adults) don’t like the way it looks, they are less likely to read at all. And if they do read, they are less engaged, with less comprehension of the text, when improper type practices are followed. Therefore, the proper use of font, style, placement, and spacing have been shown through research to impact the effectiveness of the message.

My point is this: word processing, keyboards, and digital technologies are not going away. We are moving more quickly every day to a world of electronic communication. Just take a look at the Amazon Kindle or the Apple iPhone as examples. Even text to speech software has now reached an over 95% level of accuracy. And none of these trends point to the use of cursive. So do we abandon the analog form of pen on paper for the tapping of keys with our fingers, or in some cases, thumbs? It certainly won’t be anytime soon. But we do need to consider dedicating more time to teaching students necessary skills with technology, such as proper keyboarding within work processing, that is certainly critical to their future achievement. Now is the time to embrace and support our K-8 technology teachers and not give any credence to the alarming trend of cutting or limiting their programs.

Keep up the good work, and I appreciate your open-mindedness to the “bigger picture” in education.

Ron

News:

High schools may be in for big change

Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to radically transform the way Indiana teens are taught by converting all of the state’s high schools to a hands-on, high-tech approach by the time he leaves office. In every class at a New Tech high school, students work in groups to solve challenges and work on projects rather than learning through lectures. A teacher may present only one or two lessons a week.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090310/NEWS04/903100357/1013/NEWS04

Algebra-for-All Policy Found to Raise Rates Of Failure in Chicago

Findings from a study involving 160,000 Chicago high school students offer a cautionary tale of what can happen, in practice, when school systems require students to take algebra at a particular grade level.Findings from a study involving 160,000 Chicago high school students offer a cautionary tale of what can happen, in practice, when school systems require students to take algebra at a particular grade level. The Chicago school district was at the forefront of that movement in 1997 when it instituted a mandate for 9th grade algebra as part of an overall effort to ensure that its high school students would be “college ready” upon graduation. “It’s not surprising that you’re going to see an increase in [failure] rates if you raise the instructional requirements and you don’t raise the supports,” said Michael Lach, the director of the school system’s office of high school teaching.
The researchers calculate that, for a school that saw an increase of 20 percentage points in algebra enrollment due to the requirement, for example, the percentage of 9th graders failing math would increase by 3 percentage points for students in the lowest-ability quartile, 3.5 percentage points for students in the next quartile, and 8.9 percent for students in the quartile of students who were labeled to be of “average” ability.

Whether similar sorts of algebra mandates­—or efforts to teach algebra at even younger ages—would have the same impact in other locations, however, is unclear, said Leland S. Cogan, a senior researcher at the Center for Research on Math and Science Education at Michigan State University in Lansing.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/03/11/24algebra.h28.html?tmp=671127371

Poverty and Potential:  Out-of-School Factors and School Success

David C. Berliner , Regents’ Professor Arizona State University

The U.S. has set as a national goal the narrowing of the achievement gap between lower income and middle-class students, and that between racial and ethnic groups. This is a key purpose of the No Child Left Behind act, which relies primarily on assessment to promote changes within schools to accomplish that goal. However, out-of-school factors (OSFs) play a powerful role in generating existing achievement gaps, and if these factors are not attended to with equal vigor, our national aspirations will be thwarted.

Therefore, it is recommended that efforts be made to:

  • Reduce the rate of low birth weight children among African Americans,
  • Reduce drug and alcohol abuse,
  • Reduce pollutants in our cites and move people away from toxic sites,
  • Provide universal and free medical care for all citizens,
  • Insure that no one suffers from food insecurity,
  • Reduce the rates of family violence in low-income households,
  • Improve mental health services among the poor,
  • More equitably distribute low-income housing throughout communities,
  • Reduce both the mobility and absenteeism rates of children,
  • Provide high-quality preschools for all children, and
  • Provide summer programs for the poor to reduce summer losses in their academic achievement.
http://epicpolicy.org/files/PB-Berliner-NON-SCHOOL.pdf

NMSA08

Motivating Underachieving Students
Instruction in Support of Success with Every Child
Mike Muir
3:45-5:00
Meaningful Engaged Learning

http://www.mcmel.org/workshops/

Click on Workshops for presentation

9 Essential Elements of Meaningful Engaged Learning:
4 Categories:
Relationship – the single most important place to start.
“I won’t learn from a teacher who doesn’t like me!”

Don’t judge them too quickly.
Don’t think of kids as bright, dumb, etc but rather Hard to Teach & Easy to Teach
This can change by class too. A student who is easy to teach for one teacher may be hard to teach in another class.

We should judge the success of our schools not on the easy to teach students, but on the hard to teach students.

What gets in the way of hard to teach students?

Enthusiasm & Humor:
Treat them “As If”
They are smart
You like them
You must be the grown up. Even if they don’t “deserve” the as if……

1.Relationships
2.Feedback – Helping students succeed
1.Unimportant to kids
2.The most influential
3.Assessment FOR learning
3.Hands-on Active Work
1.Our brains were not designed to be in school, our brains were designed to experience things (Patterns & Schema).
Schema – “Eating in Fancy Restaurant” we know how this works and how it is different from fast food, etc. Allows for efficiency. We don’t have to remember everything, but just a few details.
2.More hands on can lead to more reading not less. The reading becomes more meaningful.
4.Variety and
1.Think of Multiple Intelligences. Which two do most people have has a strength?
Bodily/Kinestic, Visual/Spacial
Which two are most commonly taught? Verbal/Linguistic & Mathematical/Logical
Bodily-Kinestic – Parts of Speech – Do the gesture whenever we get to a specific part of speech (eg. pat their head whenever they got to a noun).
5.Motivation:
1.Take responsibility
2.Should do it
3.It’s their job
4.

Why would they want to? This is an important question.
Learning is like whales feeding. Everything goes in and we keep what we want. Party analogy of having a good conversation and not hearing the background noise until something specific catches your ear.
5.Our Mistake: “Just in case education”
Tie Into Student Interests
Making it Interesting.
Adjectives in a bag. Something is in a bag. The kids pair up and only that pair can look at it. The students then use the sense only to write descriptive words to get the rest of the class to guess.
6.How can Extrinsic Motivation be as powerful as Instrinsic Motivation?
Avoid Bribery Rewards.
There are good extrinsic motivations. We do things for a variety of reasons, some of them are extrinsic. (eg. paychecks)
Bribery (rewards) has temporary desire effect.Shuts down learning. Leads to people doing the minimum, goal shifts to reward (killing the interest).
Random rewards are good. Pizza example. Done after the fact and they don’t know that it is happening. Don’t make it a pattern.  Bad for cognitive effect but OK for behavior.
7.Give students Choice (Autonomous Supportve Strategies)
This can be external motivation that is as powerful as instrinsic
Not “Do What you want” but limited to choices.

8.Meaning
1.What are two most frequently asked questions?
1.Why do we have to learn this?
2.When are we ever going to use this?
9.Context (Rigor & Revelence)
Velcro Brain
Drama
Metaphors & Examples
Bloom’s Taxonomy Revised
Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate
Create
Psychology says that we need to start at the upper level of Bloom’s. You need to create in order to remember, understand, etc.
10.Learn in Context & Real World
Isolated Islands of Learning (kids do better taking tests in the class that the learned it).
Paragraph example:
Warning: Simple but not easy.
TV Repair man example. (The repair costs $100. The buyer asks what was wrong. Replaces a .05 screw. The guy complains. The repairmen explains, the screw costs .05 cents. Knowing which screw was $95.95)

MSM Podcast #63 This discussion is anything but Academic

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Items, Events, Calendar, Eclectic Stuff (truc et chose)

  1. Book sale!  Clearance prices!
  2. NMSA’s Middle Level Essentials Conference April 23-24, 2009. Robert Balfanz will be keynoting.  He has done a bunch of research on 6th grade transition factors that has been cited by NMSA.

    • “Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the Talent Development Middle and High School Project, which is currently working with more than fifty high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. His work focuses on translating research findings into effective reforms for high-poverty secondary schools.

      Balfanz has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. Recent work includes Locating the Dropout Crisis, with co-author Nettie Legters, in which the numbers and locations of high schools with high dropout rates are identified.  He is currently the lead investigator on a middle school-dropout-prevention project in collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund, which is supported by the William Penn Foundation.

      Balfanz received his PhD in education from the University of Chicago.”

  3. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video
  4. Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference March 12 & 13 at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township.  Mr. Ron Clark will be keynoting. Approximately 20 days left for the early registration discount.
  5. Ohio Middle School Association’s Annual Conference will be February 19-20 in Sandusky, OH.  Keynote speakers this year include Mr. Mark McLeod and Mr. Ty Sells.
  6. North Carolina Middle School Association‘s Annual Conference will be March 16-17 in Pinehurst, NC.  Keynote speakers include Bill McBride and Rick Wormeli.  Ron Williamson from Eastern Michigan University will also be speaking at the conference this year.    
  7. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  8. Teacher Preparation Symposium information at NMSA.
  9. Free Professional Development through Webinars! NMSA is offering previously recorded webinars for free from their website.
  10. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  11. NECC is coming this summer!  Here’s an excuse to travel to Washington D.C.
  12. If Mr. Berckemeyer dawdles on getting us the Kindles, soon we’ll want these from Plastic Logic.  “Did you bring pencil, eraser, and epaper with you to class today?”
  13. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  “The topic this Saturday (February 7th) is “Using Tags” with special guest Jennifer Dorman, author of the blog “Cliotech”, will join us to talk about using tags to save links and resources in Diigo and why it is so important to do so. More information and log-on details at http://live.classroom20.com.”  Archived content is available.
  14. From the Twitterverse:
  15. Second Life:
    • 1/31 Basic Skills Workshop:  Appearance (ISTE Island 3)
    • 2/10   ISTE Speaker Series (TBA) (Watch the board on the island for the Thursday Socials)
    • Video:  Educational Uses of Second Life

Shout outs:

  1. Paul Nichols, a great for twitterverse links.
  2. Gardenglen
  3. Scott Merrick
  4. The Library of Congress

10 Bad Signs for Good Teachers…

Teachers are trained to watch for signs: signs that the students are learning something, that the students aren’t learning anything, that the students are onto something, that the students are up to something. There are some signs that teachers have not been taught to watch for: signs that could spell disaster. Here is a list of 10 such bad signs – if you happen to see one of them, beware!

1. The principal smiles at you. This is a very bad sign. It means the principal is up to something, and that something somehow involves you. It could mean the principal is about to ask you to volunteer to be the new coach for the girls’ soccer team, or to write his two-hour speech for the Mothers’ Club, or to accept three new students from the local home for delinquent children. If the principal not only smiles but asks, “How are you doing?” that’s even worse. And if he or she then adds, “Could I please see you in my office for a minute at your convenience?” – run for your life!
2. Things are going well for you in the classroom. Many inexperienced teachers take this for a good sign, but more seasoned educators know it means things are going to go bad for you-very bad and very soon. Maybe you are about to change to another class, or smitten by a rare tropical disease, or your classroom is about to be invaded by a herd of wild plastic-eating termites. I know several teachers who believe in this bad omen so firmly that they have peace only when things are going horribly in the classroom.
3. Your classroom is completely equipped with audio-visual aids. If you walk into your room and see a record player, an overhead projector, a tape recorder, and a movie projector-that’s bad. It’s a sure sign that none work-because if they did, they would have been “borrowed” long before this. Just in case you test the equipment and discover that everything does work (you realize, of course, that the chances of this happening are one in a million), that’s still a bad sign. It means that you have just been put in charge of maintaining all the audio-visual equipment for the entire school.
4. Your students tell you that you’re their favorite teacher. If this happens, brace yourself. It means the kids want something. That something could be something relatively small: “Let’s not talk about colons and semicolons today. Let’s talk about football.” Or your students could be bargaining for something bigger: “Let’s not have any homework this year, okay?”
5. You are prepared for all your classes for the coming week. Any teacher who does this is only asking for trouble. You cannot tempt Fate so blatantly without expecting dire consequences. And what could some of those consequences be? Maybe you will be struck with the five-day flu on Sunday evening, or there will be a battery of psychological tests this entire week.
6. You have all your report cards finished a day ahead of schedule. This sign, closely related to #5, simply means that the administration has just introduced a new kind of report card, and the old kind (127 of which you have just finished filling out) is now obsolete.
7. Your students do poorly on your test. This is a bad sign- or at least the administration interprets it as a bad sign-which makes it so for you. It means you are an incompetent teacher who ought to be booted out of the classroom as soon as possible. If your students do poorly on a test sh-h-h!-don’t tell anyone, not even your students. Destroy the tests, give a retest, and hope and pray that the kids do better-but not too much better. (See the next sign.)
8. Your students do very well on your test. This too is a bad sign. in fact, it’s a worse sign than #7. It can only mean one of three things: 1) the test was too easy; 2) you are a stupid teacher; or 3) the kids cheated.
9. You have a few free minutes to yourself after school. If this happens, one of the following events is bound to occur: 1) another teacher will report you to the principal for not having enough to do; 2) some kid will come in and ask if he or she could talk to you for a minute and stay 2 hours; or 3) the principal will ask if you could give the janitor a hand with cleaning the bathrooms after school.
10. You receive positive feedback from a parent. Although this sign rarely occurs, it portends trouble. You can be sure that if one parent is praising you, another one is already initiating legal proceedings to have you removed from the classroom. When all is said and done, it’s a better sign to receive no parental feedback than any kind at all.

WebSpotlight:

http://www.nmsa.org/Advocacy/AdvocacyToolstoUse/FundamentalsPresentation/tabid/793/Default.aspx

News:

Powerhouse School District Reaches Beyond the Elite

After decades of grooming a handful of high school students in an exclusive research class to succeed in the elite national Intel Science Talent Search, school administrators this year, for the first time, required every seventh grader to do original research. With similar goals in mind, the district has added honor societies in English, art and music — for a total of seven — to recognize students whose overall grades may keep them out of the National Honor Society. Since 2003, it has expanded its menu of Advanced Placement courses to 25 subjects and opened them to students who previously would not have qualified. And it instituted a policy prohibiting students from being cut from the orchestra, band and most sports, adding “junior varsity 2” teams to accommodate extra players. The district’s unusual focus on these average students in recent years has pleased many but has also drawn criticism that A.P. classes have become less rigorous, students have been coddled, and music groups and sports teams saddled with marginal players.

Students in A.P. classes say that some teachers, now required to accept students who did not pass a qualifying exam or get a teacher’s recommendation, have been known to weed out the weak with heavy reading loads, daily pop quizzes, and zeros on biology labs.

Joe Barrett, 17, a senior, said his United States history teacher went to the opposite extreme in the 2007-8 school year, presenting “elaborate PowerPoints with music videos to keep people interested.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/nyregion/06middle.html?_r=1

Palo Alto superintendent: Achievement gap can’t be eliminated

When it comes to closing the achievement gap, Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly says educators are deluding themselves. And he dares to say what’s become almost unspeakable publicly:

“It’s just not possible for the average kid who comes to this country in seventh or eighth grade, or even third grade, without a word of English and parents with little formal education, to match the achievement levels of kids whose mom has a Ph.D. in English from Stanford and can afford to stay home and spend time supplementing the education of her kids.”

Yet totally eliminating the gap would be “the triumph of hope over experience,” said Skelly, who came from San Diego 19 months ago to take the helm of Palo Alto’s 17 schools. When educators set that lofty goal, “we’re not being honest, and it’s to our detriment,” he said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_11613034?source=rss

‘Capturing Kids Hearts’ is goal of more West Michigan school districts

by Beth Loechler | The Grand Rapids Press

Bobbie Fletcher, a science teacher at Chandler Woods Charter Academy in Belmont, is part of a growing trend at area districts where teachers and other school staff put an emphasis on “Capturing Kids’ Hearts.”

Fletcher believes that even the greatest teachers won’t get through to students unless they establish a personal connection with each and every one.

“It’s not just what we teach, it’s how we teach,” she said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/02/bobbie_fletcher_a_science_teac.html

Academic debates fall short on Twitter

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3601/on-twitter-academic-debates-fall-short
Remember how we were always told that the three things to remember in Real Estate were location, location, location?  Well evidently in the Twitterverse its more about timing than anything when it comes to having an academic discussion on a topic.

Podcast #60: Team Building, Online, and Socratic Circles (NMSA08)

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Math Problem:
If your father gets $300 and gives your mother half, what does she have?
Why did the student tell his parents that low grades in January weren’t a problem?
What did Paul Revere say at the end of his ride?
The plural of man is men. What is the plural of child?
What is a synonym?  (It’s like the Rats of Nymh … The Sin O’Nym … ?)

Items, Events, Calendar, Eclectic Stuff (truc et chose)

  1. NMSA’s Middle Level Essentials Conference April 23-24, 2009. Robert Balfanz will be keynoting.  He has done a bunch of research on 6th grade transition factors that has been cited by NMSA.
  2. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video
  3. Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference March 12 & 13 at White Pine Middle School in Saginaw Township.  Mr. Ron Clark will be keynoting.
  4. Ohio Middle School Association’s Annual Conference will be February 19-20 in Sandusky, OH.  Keynote speakers this year include Mr. Mark McLeod and Mr. Ty Sells.
  5. MIT Vocab Contest!:  Have your students produce a video defining standard SAT vocabulary words.  For every 5 videos uploaded one iTunes download will be awarded up to 1000 downloads per the event in total.  In other words, get ‘am in early and often if you’re looking for the iTunes motivator.  Only 1000 available for the entire WORLD!  Oh, and check out the website.
  6. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  7. NMSA is accepting presentation proposals to their Annual Conference in Indianapolis next year.
  8. Interested in a Science Quiz show online and in a virtual game show environment?  Try The Second Question.
  9. NECC is coming this summer!  Here’s an excuse to travel to Washington D.C.
  10. If Mr. Berckemeyer dawdles on getting us the Kindles, soon we’ll want these from Plastic Logic.  “Did you bring pencil, eraser, and epaper with you to class today?”
  11. Saturday, January 17th, 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm GMT: “Google Forms.” The Newbie Question of the Week will be: “What is a feedreader and why do I need one?” Information on how to watch or join in at http://live.classroom20.com.
  12. Second Life notices:
    • 1/22 ISTE Island Social:  Data Visualization- using graphs in SL to visualize data.
    • 1/25 ISTE Island Tours.  Travel with ISTE and see the SL world.

Web Spotlight
http://www.teampedia.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

News:
Pasco schools say virtual ed’s a real budget breaker
As Pasco schools look to the future of education, online courses for kindergarten through eighth grade rate high on the priority list. “I’m not being funded to do it. I’m just being told I have to do it,” said Fiorentino, who is leading a statewide effort to get a reprieve. “We just can’t afford doing it this year.” She said her staff has estimated the startup costs for the program — including such things as curriculum development and infrastructure — could run as high as $1-million. Although over time it would be expected to become self-sufficient, the school’s initial price tag looks too steep when the district can’t even afford employee raises, she added.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article967362.ece

Hard times cut state cyber school enrollments
The state’s 11 cyber charter schools — online, at-home alternatives to traditional public schools — are the latest victims of the recession. Facing the threat of layoffs or mortgage foreclosures, some parents are sending their children back to brick-and-mortar public schools because a stay-at-home spouse had to get a job, said Joe Lyons, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School in Norristown, second-largest in the state.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_606700.html

Davis sixth-grader’s science experiment breaks new ground
By Niesha Lofing

University of California, Davis, scientists are redirecting their research after a professor’s son discovered that a major agricultural pest prefers pistachios over other nuts.

The sixth-grader’s experiment showed that female navel orangeworms preferred to lay their eggs in pistachios rather than almonds or walnuts, and researchers now are trying to use the information to better control the pests, according to the California Farm Bureau.

http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1530953.html

Economy brings reprieve to teacher shortage
http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_11408218?source=rss

Fair Isn’t Always Equal
http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=8982&r=sb090112b&REFERER=
First Chapter Free

Net threat to minors less than feared.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10142096-238.html?tag=mncol

Unexpected Twist: Fiction Reading Is Up
Survey Shows Reversal Of Longstanding Trend
For the first time since the NEA began surveying American reading habits in 1982 — and less than five years after it issued its famously gloomy “Reading at Risk” report — the percentage of American adults who report reading “novels, short stories, poems or plays” has risen instead of declining: from 46.7 percent in 2002 to 50.2 percent in 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011102337.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Socratic Circles presentation (Ballroom 3)
Mary Dooms, Marge Strand of Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois
email:  marge.strand@lz95.org  and  mary.dooms@lz95.org
Book:  Socratic Circles by Matt Copeland
Overview
Rooted in Socrates’ philosophy that critical thinking and reason skills ar enhanced when the learneer begins to question.
Questioning continues the though process while answers stop it.
Purpose
Develop critical thinking skills
Construct meaning
Deepen understanding
Shift responsibility for group discussion from the teacher to the student
Practice reading strategies
Build vocabulary
Improve verbal and written expression
Enhance listening skills
Practice civility and respect.
Socratic Circle Process Overview
Step One:  Text selection is read and critically annotated.
Step Two:  Students question reading based on:
Fact
Interpretation
Evaluation
Step Three:  Students meet in two concentric circles.
Inner circle discusses text.
Outer circle observes dialogue.
Step Four:  Concentric circles are reversed.
Debrief:  What did you notice here?
What was the best question asked here?
What was the best answer here?
Step Five:  Written reflection pieces are completed.
Keys to a successful circle
Teacher preparation – assume nothing!
Select the reading/media for analysis
Determine the essential question(s)
Determine the behaviors to be assessed (rubric here)
Find a good video of a Socratic circle to teach them how to behave and how to make it work.
Who looks engaged and who looks on task?
Who looks at others?
Prepare the students
Model process of annotating text and developing insightful questions.
Discuss assessment criteria and expectations using Looks Like/Sounds Like T-Chart (Frayer Model)
Inner Circle Engaged/On Task
Looks Like
Eyes focused on speaker
Leaning In
Pens moving
Pages turning to refer to text
Sounds like
“Based on what you said, I’m not thinking …”
“I had trouble understanding why …”
“I agree/disagree with what you say because …”
Put it on chart paper and pull it out during the year.
Teach the behaviors that allow them to engage in conversation with each other respectfully.
Inner Circle Encourages Participation – Let’s complete a T-chart
Looks Like:
Turn towards the person
nonverbal cues
Hand touching arm of another student
Eyes on a non-participant as verbal invitation to participate is given
Gentle smile of encouragement
Sounds Like:
“Looks like Joe has something to say …”
Do you want to add something?
Outer Circle Observation Mode
Looks Like:
Pens moving on paper
Eyes on group
Leaning in
Sounds Like
Pens moving across the page
Silent voices.
Outer Circle Feedback Mode
Looks Like
Eyes on ourter circle speaker
Patiently witing turn by sitting still.
Sounds Like:
“When Ben asked the question …., the discussion shifted from … to …”
“Claire’s pen tapping was a bit much.”
“The group compared … to, and that made the reading easier to understand. ”
A Socratic Circle on the novel The Book Theif:  A group of 7th graders meet to gain a deeper understanding of the book.  (Emmit Till:  the book)
Always stop it short of completely talking about the topic.
Lets run a Socratic Circle
… on the Pledge of Allegiance.
Handout:
The Pledge of Allegiance:  “I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
This pledge is something that we say every day in school.  Yet, it is something we do not analyze very often.  Consider the following:
Choice of words
What exactly is being said?
Why is there controversy about saying this in school?
Do students have the right not to say the pledge?
Wy would someone object to saying the pledge?
Mock Circle Debriefing
Observations and feedback from the outer circle
Audience critique (+/-)
Assessments
Rubric
Scorecard
Reflection on Content form
Reflection on Performance form
Socratic Circle Feedback form.
Suggestion
Use Kagan gambit chips to engage in conversation and regulate the number of times a student participates
Examples for the Teaching Process
Pledge of Allegiance
“Born in the U.S.A.” lyrics
The Gettysburg Address