Author: Troy Patterson

advisory, UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 78: The Importance of Being Earnest: Getting the Girl, Doing the Math, and Graduating on Time!

It had been snowing for hours when an announcement came over the intercom: “Will the students who are parked on University Drive please move their cars so that we may begin plowing.” Twenty minutes later there was another announcement: “Will the nine hundred students who went to move fourteen cars return to class.”

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, he said: “Now, students, if I stood on my head the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I should turn red in the face.”

“Yes, sir,” the boys said.

“Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn’t run into my feet?”

A little fellow shouted, “‘It’s because yer feet ain’t empty.”

Advisory! Advisory! Advisory!
Spread the Word to Stop the Word: Special Olympics is campaigning to get the r-word out of student’s vocabulary. They can take the pledge to not use the word on their website.

From the Twitterverse:

* russeltarr Convert text to a mindmap: http://tinyurl.com/n8nsax
* barbs1 Just found. My story maker. Looks like fun http://tinyurl.com/plhpbp
* russeltarr EdHeads: Great animations/activities for biology lessons (RT @pwhyte): http://tinyurl.com/qdep4a
* russeltarr Fantastic Contraption Game – any use in physics lessons?: http://tinyurl.com/rabl8f (Warning: Can be memory intensive. And addictive . . . 🙂 )
* kchichester Charter schools hires 8 teachers at $125,000 a year My question is how can they afford to expand? Also, little/no tech?
* Griffbuddy RT @shareski: If you ever need an article to send to someone to explain/justify twitter, this might be the one. http://tinyurl.com/pr9qg5
* SimpleK12 Web 2.0 for low-income @ minority students: http://tinyurl.com/aljhy8
* funnelbrain Student generated video flashcards for Environmental Science on FunnelBrain – – A cool way to collaborate.
* cindybrock I HATE when I cry over Accelerated Reader. Really hoping Tech Support can help me copy classes from last year & not have to do it all by hand
* AngelaMaiers 11 yr old difference maker – http://twentyfivedays.wordp…
*

Shout Outs:

Griffbuddy Recommended @MSMatters to @MrTweet ‘ They produce a great weekly podcast for middle school educators.’ http://cli.gs/uQSDgP

News:

Girls worse at math? No way, new analysis shows

Girls can do just as well at math as boys — even at the genius level — if they are given the same opportunities and encouragement, researchers reported on Monday. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contradicts studies showing girls can do as well as boys on average in math — but cannot excel in the way males can. “We conclude that gender inequality, not lack of innate ability or ‘intrinsic aptitude’ But at the top levels, disparities persist and some experts have said this is do to the “greater male variability” theory — the idea that males in general are more likely to score both extremely high and extremely poorly on tests than girls are.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/06/01/girls_worse_at_math_no_way_new_analysis_shows/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Education+news

Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path

A Policy and Practice Brief

Robert Balfanz
Everyone Graduates Center and Talent Development Middle Grades Program

http://www.nmsa.org/portals/0/pdf/research/Research_from_the_Field/Policy_Brief_Balfanz.pdf

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  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. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  8. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  9. 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.
  10. 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!
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  12. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on “Google Search Tips” 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

advisory, Podcast, Tech, UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson, ,

Podcast 77: Wasting Money, Effective Teachers and Google Docs Fu

A school teacher injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. He wore it under his shirt and it was not noticeable at all. On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest class in the school. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. The classroom became a bit unruly and he admonished them. This happened several times. While working at his desk, the strong breeze from the window made his tie flap annoyingly. He kept rearranging and rearranging the tie as the class become more and more unmanageable. Finally, becoming disgusted with the wayward tie, he stood up and took a big stapler off his desk and stapled the tie to his chest in several places. Discipline was not a problem from that day forth.

Advisory! Advisory! Advisory!

A New Zealand man fled with his girlfriend after receiving millions of dollars in a banking error.
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2009/05/its-not-often-that-new-zealand-gets-a-mention-on-the-english-blog-but-heres-a-story-from-the-times-which-would-make-a-good-s.html

From the Twitterverse:

* AngelaMaiers RT@cristama…this year has transformed me (and my teaching) in so many ways. (I feel the same- so much I owe to PLN!)
* shareski Kramer on Openness and Transparency. @courosa you should use this in a presentation http://bit.ly/lV1Bo
* AngelaMaiers RT @Zweibz7 @problogger: if there’s one lesson I’ve learned this week it is – ‘build your network before you need it’.
* paulallison Looking for stories about resilient students in your classroom: First a request, then an invitation. (If you’ve .. http://tinyurl.com/nmvh8f
* AngelaMaiers RT @education_com @BNBuzz – giving free book 2 kids who complete summer reading program http://bit.ly/bU2pj

Shout Outs:
Thanks to our Robert Jackson in Kiev for the link to the Aspire One as Kindle.

News:
Report: Costly plan failed to improve schools
A $100 million investment in Miami-Dade County’s lowest performing public schools failed to boost student achievement, according to the school district’s final report on the program. The School Improvement Zone was a three-year push at 39 elementary, middle and senior high schools throughout the county. Students participated in a specialized reading program and had a longer school day than students at other schools. They also had a longer school year. ”The zone program exhibited at best an inconsistent impact that was limited to the elementary grades,” program evaluators wrote. The report also noted that the extended school year — starting a week early and tacking extra days onto the end — was ineffective.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1049341.html

New CEO: Gates Foundation learns from experiments
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spent billions of dollars exploring the idea that smaller high schools might result in higher graduation rates and better test scores. Instead, it found that the key to better education is not necessarily smaller schools but more effective teachers.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gBfu1Zu7aIsLeH_NGiMaHbc4AEnQD98F58R80

Senate bill supports 21st-century skills
Shelley Pasnik, director of the Education Development Center’s Center for Children and Technology, said she is pleased to see the bill addresses more than simply putting more technology into schools. “Students need to go beyond just learning today’s academic context to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, communications skills, creativity and innovation skills, collaboration skills, contextual learning skills, and information and media literacy skills,” the bill reads.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=58949

School counselors face big workload in Illinois
Bartlett High School counselor Stephanie Fullhart has been keeping track of nearly 340 students this year, an overwhelming caseload in the eyes of many counselors. Of the 10 states with the largest school populations, Illinois’s ratio was second only to California, which had 966 students per counselor in 2006-07. The ratios are calculated by dividing a state’s prekindergarten-to-Grade 12 enrollment by the number of guidance counselors reported to the federal government. There is little public pressure to add counselors. Parents usually pay more attention to the number of students per teacher. “We need to start getting the word out about who professional school counselors are, so administrators see them as pivotal in making school change,” said Christina Nolan, president of the Illinois School Counselor Association and an assistant professor at National-Louis University.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-counselors-west-zone-27-may27,0,3192041.story

Human anatomy for everyone!
You don’t have to leave home to take an interesting class. You don’t even have to pay. By Linda K. Wertheimer

Not all higher education costs a pretty penny. You can peek into some college classrooms around the world, experience lectures in text, audio, or video at any time, and, in some cases, take the final, all without leaving home — and all for free.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2009/05/31/human_anatomy_for_everyone/
Teaching Ideas:
Using Google Docs Spreadsheet for Education:
1. Flash Cards
2. Word Study
3. Word Search
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/05/spotlight-on-developers-educational.html

Twenty Interesting Ways* to use Google Docs in the Classroom(*and Tips)

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft

1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
2. 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.
3. 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.
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. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C. Conference registration info.
8. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
9. 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.
10. 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!
11. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
12. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: This week’s discussion is on “Student Web Radio Broadcasts” 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

advisory, MSMBy Troy Patterson, , ,

Podcast 76 Reading & iPods

  1. Nominate an outstanding teacher for the John Lounsbury Award!  Deadline:  June 1, 2009
  2. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  6. Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  7. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  8. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  9. 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.
  10. 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!
  11. Brainyflix extends their “video vocabulary” contest to May 22, 2009.
  12. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  13. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on “Mathcasts” for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  14. 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.
    • Training on Presentation Tools (part 1) May 16, 2 to 4 pm.

Advisory!  Advisory!  Advisory!

  1. Duct tape a kid to the wall . . .
  2. What’s in a cigarette? http://middleschooladvisory101.blogspot.com/
  3. The Quiz: http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/Quotation-Quizzes/h/Humorous-Quotations-Quiz.asp

From the Twitterverse:

Shout Outs:

  1. Thanks to Jenny Anteau for the mention in her PLN presentation!

Web Sitings:

http://etymonline.com/ Dean Shareski’s blog.
http://www.monteselby.com/

A CRITICAL MISSION:  Making Adolescent Reading an Immediate Priority in SREB States

Nationwide, students in the middle grades and high school are failing to develop the
reading and writing skills they need in order to meet higher academic standards later
in their educational careers.

While most of the 16 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states have seen
recent gains in reading achievement in the early grades, the same cannot be said
of achievement in the middle grades and high school. There is also evidence that
students who struggle to meet academic standards in subjects such as science and
mathematics have poor reading skills.
The good news is clear: We now know how to solve this problem.

Too many students begin to fall behind in reading after they leave the early grades.
By ninth grade, many struggling readers are destined to become high school
dropouts. By college, one in four freshmen must take remedial reading classes —
and few of these students finish a degree.

Students who leave eighth grade with weak reading skills quickly fall behind in
high school. More students in SREB states repeat ninth grade than any other grade,
swelling ninth-grade enrollment by 14 percent in the SREB median states in 2005.
Students who falter in ninth grade are likely to become high school dropouts.

Although formal reading instruction stops after the early grades for most public
school students, many researchers and educators now realize that it should continue
through high school. Reading skills do not advance automatically, even for students
who read at grade level when they begin the middle grades. While most students
continue to develop speaking skills naturally, they do not develop advanced reading
skills on their own — particularly the ones they need for success in high school and
college.

“Most [teachers] devote little, if any, class time to showing students, explicitly, what
it means to be a good reader or writer in the given subject area. And most students
engage in very little discussion of what they have read,” according to a 2007 Alliance
for Excellent Education report.

Across the country, states have an obligation to take immediate action to improve
students’ reading and writing skills. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that
each state set policies that will lead to improved practices at the state, district and
school levels. These policies should call for each state to:

  • define the specific reading skills students need in order to master each key subject.
  • identify the best teaching strategies to help middle grades and high school students develop their reading comprehension skills in each subject.
  • ensure that these strategies are applied statewide in all public schools by including them in professional development for current teachers and in preparation and licensure for new teachers.
  • provide the extra help that struggling readers need, so that all students read at grade level in the middle grades and high school.

http://www.sreb.org/publications/2009/09E01_Critical_Mission_Reading_.pdf

Reading Programs Found Ineffective

A federal study intended to provide insight on the effectiveness of programs for reading comprehension has found that three such programs had no positive impact, while a fourth had a negative effect on student achievement.

In other words, the conclusion is that none of the four programs studied—Project CRISS, ReadAbout, Read for Real, and Reading for Knowledge—is effective.

They concluded that Project CRISS, developed by Creating Independence Through Student-Owned Strategies; Read About, produced by Scholastic Inc.; and Read for Real, created by Chapman University and Zaner-Bloser, had no effect on reading comprehension. In addition, they found that Reading for Knowledge, created by the Success for All Foundation, had a negative impact on the composite test scores and the science-comprehension test scores for students using that curriculum.

http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/education/selectsupplreading.pdf

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson,

Podcast #75 – Coercive Science of the Twitter!

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  2. NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.
  3. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis, IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.  Individual Registration is now open.
  4. 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.
  5. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  6. Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  7. NMSA ‘09 Elections must be in by May 15th.  (Vote for Jeff LaRoux! No NMSA campaign funds were used in this endorsement.)
  8. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  9. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  10. 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.
  11. 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!
  12. Brainyflix extends their “video vocabulary” contest to May 22, 2009.
  13. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  14. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the preparation for NECC 2009 for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  15. 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.
    • Training on Presentation Tools (part 1) May 16, 2 to 4 pm.

Shout Outs:

  1. Thanks to ERyan S, and Mrs. C in FL for their reviews on iTunes!
  2. Big thanks to Teresa S. for the kind comments at yesterday’s meeting!

iTunes:

We’re at 10 comments, we are throwing down the gauntlet to make it to 15 comments.

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory Idea:

  1. StickK.com:  Here’s a tech based way to help your students modify their behavior.  StickK.com is a website that helps you establish a goal you want to achieve, develop a plan to get there, and provide some motivation along the way.  Students can put in a goal, establish a person as a Referee that monitors their progress toward that goal and inputs that information into the StickK.com website.  The student can designate other StickK members as their friends to help them along the way with encouragement and co-participation.  There is a second part to the site as well, but only for credit card holders.  You can make it a financial motivation by inputting your credit card, designating an amount, and if you don’t reach your incremental goal, $10 is charged to your credit card that week.  At the end of the challenge the money is sent to a charity you have designated in your name from the StickK site.  The contract/financial motivation is optional.
  2. Build self-confidence and help students get to know each other: Paper Bag Self.
    The students decorate the outside of a paper bag with pictures and words that represent their “outer selves,” such as favorite color, sport, food, etc. Then, they put a word or picture inside their bag that reflects a personal concern, such as health, divorce, peer problems, grades, etc. As a way of introducing themselves to the class, students share the outside of their bag. If they feel comfortable, they are welcome to share the inside of their bag privately with their peers or advisor.
  3. Another advisory group activity that creates the feeling of “family” and focuses on the individual as part of a whole is a puzzle activity. Each member of the class, including the advisor, is given a large cardboard puzzle piece to decorate. The puzzle piece features their name and artwork that reflects their uniqueness. When the pieces are complete, they are joined together to form a puzzle that represents a united advisory group.

Letters:

From: Jenny McAvoy-Anteau:
(Lots & Lots of information, here’s just a snippet):

Western Michigan University (WMU)_ researchers have discovered no significant advantage to teaching students through experimenting instead of teaching them through direct instruction.
www.physorg.com/news153990337.html (the summary includes this — “The data, while marginally favoring inquiry, really show that as long as the instruction is good either way, the two approaches (inquiry vs direct instruction) lead to no significant difference- at least as far as science content understanding is concerned”  William Cobern of WMU’s Mallinson Institute for Science Education).

Ideas for Middle School Science.
http://fc.dc-grimes.k12.ia.us/~gklocke/Class%20notes – Eighth-grade science teacher Gary Klocke shares his teaching materials, including lesson plans, templates for class notes, review and practice sheets, and PowerPoint presentations at the above link.

Students have been given cell phones loaded with educational software as part of a project at Trinity Meadow Intermediate School in Keller, Texas.
www.ur.umich.edu/0809/Feb16_09/04.php (in story — “5th graders recieved phones containing “Mobile Learning Environment” software developed by University of Michigan scientist Elliot Soloway and Cathleen Norris, a regents professor at the University of North Texas.  The software turns the phones into computers that can do almost everything a laptop can for a fraction of the price claims Soloway.  Students use the phones  to map concepts, animate drawings, surf “relevant” sites on the internet and integrate material into their lessons.  The phones also have mini versions of Microsoft Word and Excel.  The school district will examine whether listening to recordings of texts enhances at-risk student’s reading comprehension and will assess student’s technological savvy before and after the project.)

Web Sitings:

Press Kit for promoting the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference.   http://www.nmsa.org/annual/AbouttheConference/PromotionalTools/tabid/1882/Default.aspx
Edublogs Live :  Video recorded Elluminate education discussion events.  Sue Waters, an Australian educator, hosts these discussions.
Fancy Talking Blocks:  http://siftables.com/
NMSA’s Al Summers is posting his own blog about the NMSA 2009 Annual Conference in the run up to the big event.  This from that blog:  “NMSA is currently looking for “tech savvy teachers” to feature. We would like to highlight especially those who are doing project-based learning with a community and/or global impact. If you know of any teachers doing cutting edge work like this through technology, please e-mail me information—PLEASE DON’T POST IT ON THE BLOG. My e-mail is asummers@nmsa.org”
NASA is Twittering from Space to increase its face time with readers & taxpayers here on Earth.
Obama Administration is cutting the Educational Technology budget by 63%.  The money budgeted goes from $163 million dollars to $100 million dollars.  I’m not sure I could even wrap my head around spending $100 million dollars just by myself.
Make A Video For Mom:  It is what it is.  Enjoy.  🙂
Get your Cursive Handwriting App from the iTunes Store! Learn Cursive Today!
Future of Education (.com)  Michael Horn of Distrupting Class will be on their podcast coming up.

Comic: www.xkcd.com

Books We’re Reading (or going to):

  1. The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles:  Walt Whitman meets Baseball.  Good story for kids.
  2. The Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck
  3. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky
  4. Moodle Teaching Techniques & Moodle by William H Rice IV
  5. MindSet by Carole Dweck
  6. The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey

News:

My Coercive Classroom

By Cossondra George

When we become adults, life itself is coercive by nature. Most everything we do, we do with some amount of coercion present, in one form or another.
My curriculum is coercive. But while I often complain that the guidelines set forth by the state limit what I can and must teach students, I also know that – in the larger scheme – without those grade-level content expectations, students would be left to the whims of individual teachers as to what they are taught in school.
However, I think it’s unreasonable to hope for unfettered freedom in our current K-12 public education system.

It seems only fair to my students that I keep my classroom coercive. I want kids to leave the learning environment we’ve shared for a year knowing a lot more about math than when they arrived. I want to be satisfied that we have maximized our time together. I want them to learn, to grow, and to leave wanting to learn and grow even more—carrying with them the core math skills they’ll need in the grades and years to come.

If that takes a little arm twisting on my part, then so be it.
http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2009/05/06/050609tln_george.h21.html?r=881287244

Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson, ,

MSM #74 – You Swine & The Mighty-Morphing Middle School!

The school board decided to remove speech and debate from the course schedule; there was no argument.

The best part of going back to school is seeing all your friends. The worst part is that your teachers won’t let you talk to them.

School is where you always try to do your best-except when your friends are watching.

Teacher: I told you to stand at the end of the line ?
Pupil: I tried, but there was someone already there !

Walking through the hallways at the middle school where I work, I saw a new substitute teacher standing outside his classroom with his forehead against a locker. I heard him mutter, “How did you get yourself into this?” Knowing that he was assigned to a difficult class, I tried to offer moral support. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Can I help?” He lifted his head and replied, “I’ll be fine as soon as I get this kid out of his locker.”

One morning I was called to pick up my son at the school nurse’s office. When I walked through the main entrance, I noticed a woman, curlers in her hair, wearing pajamas. “Why are you dressed like that?” I asked her. “I told my son,” she explained, “that if he ever did anything to embarrass me, I would embarrass him back. He was caught cutting school. So now I’ve come to spend the day with him!”

Events and Happenings:

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  2. NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.
  3. NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis, IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.  Individual Registration is now open.
  4. 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.
  5. Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  6. NMSA ‘09 Elections must be in by May 15th.  (Vote for Jeff LaRoux!)
  7. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  8. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  9. 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.
  10. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform will be holding their annual conference in June.  See the flyer at their website for details.
  11. Brainyflix extends their “video vocabulary” contest to May 22, 2009.
  12. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  13. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Copyright and Creative Commons for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  14. 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.

iTunes:

We’re at 8, we are throwing down the gauntlet to make it to 10.

From the Twitterverse:

Listener’s Letters:

Gents,

Again, I can’t tell you how much I enjoy your show.  Once a week, I get up early with the birds, make a cup of coffee and listen to your podcast in silent reverence.  Actually, scratch that.  I get up with my two little ones, plug in my headphones as I run around trying to get ready for the day…but your show does have a Zen quality that calms me down and gives me confidence to face the day with my MS students.

I do have a question…next year, I am implementing a 1:1 notebook program with our middle school students.  What resources would you recommend as I start staff training in using moodle and notebooks in the classroom?  I know this is a huge question…but to whom else can I turn in my time of need?

Thanks guys and keep up the good work.

Robert Jackson
Kyiv International School

We also discussed New Tech High School.

advisory, PodcastBy Troy Patterson, ,

Podcast #73 Award Award Assembly Conundrum!

Why were you late ?
Sorry, teacher, I overslept.
You mean you need to sleep at home too !

Teacher: Class, we will have only half a day of school this morning.
Class: Hooray
Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon!

Teacher: You missed school yesterday didn’t you ?
Pupil: Not very much !

Teacher: I’d like to go through one whole day without having to tell you to stop talking.
Pupil: You have my permission !

Be sure that you go straight home
I can’t, I live just round the corner !

Events and Happenings:

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  2. NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.
  3. NMSA ‘09 Elections must be in by May 15th.  (Vote for Jeff LaRoux!)
  4. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  5. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  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.
    • Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  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. Brainyflix extends their “video vocabulary” contest to May 22, 2009.
  10. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Copyright and Creative Commons 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.

iTunes:

We’re at 8 reviews on iTunes, we are throwing down the gauntlet to make it to 10.

From the Twitterverse:

Listener’s Letters:

Hello famous iTunes podcasters

Just for fun, I googled the words “student award certificates” and received 481,000 relevant entries. Certainly I know as a teacher the importance of celebrating the success of our students. And providing the incentive for recognition at an awards assembly can be a motivator for some. But there are two things I question, from what I have seen, on which you might have opinions.

Observation #1: At an awards assembly in a 5-8 middle school, the principal asked the 300+ student body to hold up and wave any awards they had received during the presentation. As I glanced around the bleachers, it seemed that everyone had something to show for their accomplishments. But I wonder if this is too much. If everyone is rewarded, how effective an incentive can recognition be? At college graduation ceremonies, academic excellence awards such as Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude are marked individually with sashes or cords of various colors. And you don’t tend to see the entire graduating body displaying this accomplishment. And yet, they have all met the undeniably outstanding goal of a college education. They are beaming with self-esteem regardless of whether they were displaying the adornments of high academic success.

If we are truly preparing students with authentic content and experiences, shouldn’t we be clear on the reality that everyone does not earn honors, an award, or a certificate for doing what is already expected of them as students? Every single child is a winner just by virtue of them learning both academic content and life skills as they attend school each and every day throughout the school year. Shouldn’t we be stressing self-management and recognition of worth instead of tying it so heavily to extrinsic displays of pomp and circumstance?

Observation #2: Following streams of students receiving one certificate after another, I would have expected to see recognition for a teacher’s success as well. From the students’ view, one would believe that teachers are neither striving for nor attaining success on a regular basis in their own lives. Yet, how many teachers during a marking period or school year attend seminars and workshops or pursue ongoing academic fulfillment in graduate courses? If we are acting as role models to our students, don’t we need to do a better job reflecting our commitment to ongoing education and love of learning? What role does our school administration have in this process?

As intelligent and experienced educators, this good work that you do is expected. But even though I provide no certificate, ribbon or award, I’m sure you are self-motivated by the intrinsic satisfaction received from your website and podcast success. Itunes ratings cannot compare to your internal mechanisms that generate the love of learning and sharing with others. It is appreciated.

Web Sitings:

Press Kit for promoting the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference.   http://www.nmsa.org/annual/AbouttheConference/PromotionalTools/tabid/1882/Default.aspx
Differentiated Classroom:  Characteristics and reference for the classroom.
tuesdays with Karen:  An educator’s blog.
EdTech Conference on iTunesU.
MyRead http://www.myread.org/
NMSA’s suggestions for how you can spend your Education Stimulus money!
Math and Technology Comics.

Shout Outs!

  1. Karen C. Seddon, thanks for the review on your blog!
  2. Teresa Sutherland & Jenny McAvoy-Anteau for their shout-outs on Twitter this week!

News of the Weird:

News:

Superintendent Thinks Small in Plan to Revamp Middle Grades

“If you haven’t got them by the end of their eighth-grade year, you’re going to lose them,” Summers said.
Under Sherman’s plan, George Washington Middle School, which has 950 students, would be divided into two schools. Hammond Middle School, which has 1,350 students, would be split into three.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041603943.html?hpid=sec-education

MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 72: The Twitterverse, Jail??, and Free Stuff!

Events and Happenings:

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  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. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.  Conference registration info.
  6. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  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.  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. Brainyflix extends their “video vocabulary” contest to May 22, 2009.
  11. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  12. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Digital Storytelling 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
    • There is a conference being held by ISTE in Second Life, wander over to the auditorium behind the Headquarters to check it out.

iTunes Reviews:

We’re at 8, we are throwing down the gauntlet to make it to 10.

From the Twitterverse:

Web Sitings:

Letters

“Troy and Shawn,
Great show this week.  I liked the idea about decorating classroom doorways.  I think we’ll try it this September as an ice breaking activity.
Two questions:  1) I am trying to come up with an all school middle school read for the summer.  My school is mainly boys.  Any suggestions?  2) I would like to assign a book to the teachers for the summer as well.  Any suggestions for us teachers?
Keep up the great work!  Maybe I’ll have all the teachers listen to all 70 some-odd MSM podcasts over the summer. It’s worth it.”

Book Ideas:

  • For the kids:
    • What if . . .
      • You tied in a historical fiction piece to your social studies curriculum?
      • You tied in a piece of local biography or state/local history?
      • You then had them present their stuff in some format when they returned from summer break?  Learning Contracts?
      • You made it a fundraiser through Barnes & Noble where the kids could purchase off of a preselected list?  This gives you control over the choices, but still gives them a choice.
  • For the teachers:

Izzit.org

“FYI

http://teachertechblog.com/izzitorgquality-articles-and-discussion-questions-for-current-events-free/79/

Beth Wellington said:

I’m not sure of the excellence of the [izzit.org] teachers guides. Looking a recent one on pay caps for executives who receive bailout money, for instance, while there are two articles w. differing views, the discussion questions have a conservative skew. My suspicions were aroused further by the fact that there is no staff page, nor a funding page, which you will find at many non-profits.
Anyone know who the funders are for this site? The staff? The The email to teachers offering a free video on how sun spots cause climate change came from Kara Glaven, who lists her title as “Teacher Support.” When I looked her up on LinkedIn, however, her title was “Marketing/Customer Service at Palmer R. Chitester Fund.”

Rob Levine’s Media Transparency profile says

The Palmer R. Chitester Fund was created…with startup money from the Bradley Foundation, to create right wing “popular” media, and lately has taken to selling educational materials based on the error-prone reporting of ABC TV’s arch-conservative correspondent John Stossel. Its Idea Channel distributes “intellectual” videotapes on conversations between mostly members of the right wing movement on topics ranging from political science to economics to history.”

Beth Wellington?

Izzit Staff page.
Kara Glaven presents at the Ohio Council for the Social Studies.
Kara Glaven on another teacher resource page.
Kara Glaven cited in the newspaper.
Kara Glaven marketing videos.
Kara Glaven marketing more videos.
Rick Platt presents at the Florida Council for the Social Studies.
Rick Platt presents awards.
Rick Platt also works for Free To Choose Media (a PBS series).
Rick Platt works with Good Neighbor Law to fund inner-city trips for kids.  (“Throughout the whole presentation, students and teachers were asked to generate their own questions for further discussion.”)
Rick Platt‘s post in Businessweek.
Candy Mead
Dawnn Warner ‘s Linkedin page.
Dawnn Gilbert Warner‘s production credit page.

Persons referenced in Izzit.org’s videos:
Host Scott Bakula’s political contributions.
Drew Carey’s political contributions.
David Robinson references.
Milton Friedman’s Bio.  His Facebook group page.
Leonard Read’s Bio and his essay referenced in one of the videos.

John Stossel was at one time directly affiliated with Izzit.org.  He has his own video distribution network.  His site is linked to Izzit.org.
Stossel’s political essays.
Praise & Criticism
New York Times Articles
ABC video
Conservative Watchdog Report on Stossel
Liberal Watchdog Report on Stossel

News:

Let’s just put them all in jail 24/7

“…and let’s face it, we’re talking about nothing less than institutionalizing “child labor” to satisfy a failed belief that higher standardized test scores will reliably lead to a stronger economy, more prosperous citizens, and a vibrant democracy.”

Anyone who can master something that he or she is passionate about,

Can learn anything!

Bring passion back into education — and kick out the standards!

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Virginia Mobile Learning Apps Development Challenge

http://www.lwbva.org/applications.cfm

Virginia to use iTunes U in new education initiative

http://www.macworld.com/article/139969/2009/04/virginia.html?lsrc=rss_main

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 71- Grading, Bad Segues, and Advisory

When you hear the toilet flush and the words “uh oh”, it’s already too late.

Funny Faces Joke #1:
Finding one of her students making faces at others on the playground, Ms. Smith stopped to
gently reprove the child.
Smiling sweetly, the Sunday school teacher said…
“Johnny, when I was a child, I was told if that I made ugly faces, it would freeze and I would
stay like that.”
Johnny looked up and replied…
“Well, Ms Smith, you can’t say you weren’t warned.”

Funny Faces Joke #2:
“I don’t know where you got your face from, but i hope you have the receipt”.

Teacher…
“What a glum face, what would you say if I came to school with a face like yours?”
Pupil…
“I’d be too polite to mention it!”

A little boy came running into the kitchen…
“Dad, dad,” he said, “there’s a monster at the door with a really ugly face.”
“Tell him you’ve already got one,” said his father.

“My teacher’s got a pretty face if you can read between the lines.”

“You’ve got a face like a million dollars!”
“Have I really?”
“Yes – it’s green and wrinkly!”

Events and Happenings:

  1. The National Middle School Association is looking for an editor for their Research in Middle Level Education Journal (RMLE).
  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. Schools to Watch Conference June 25-27, Washington D.C.
  6. Educational Technology Leadership Conference, June 24th at Holt High School, Holt, MI. Register for the event.
  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.  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 Screencasting 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
    • There is a conference being held by ISTE in Second Life, wander over to the auditorium behind the Headquarters to check it out.

From the Twitterverse:

  • AngelaMaiers World Digital Library Aims to Be “Unrivalled Educational Tool” http://tinyurl.com/clxese.
  • sharon_elin Working on report of survey results: “What’s blocked at your school?”; hope to share it this weekend. Mom’s surgery interrupted the process!
  • cookp For those of you with 1:1 laptop programs, please share your districts main reasons for the models you chose. Looking at Apple over Dell.
  • LadyParadis the only sound heard / in the silence of the night / a beetle scratching #haiku
  • cathyjo RT @hollybounds: Do you think teachers should use Twitter as a way to comm w/ parents? Or do you like the whole “send a note home” routine?
  • willrich45 Reading Nat’l Coun Soc Stud Position Statement on Media Literacy. http://tinyurl.com/cw9cpc Some interesting analysis of the times.
  • deangroom Twelfth Night in Second Life http://tinyurl.com/dahlln Anyas great post and images!
  • liteNup RT @DouglasStuart: Amateurs wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work. http://jijr.com/hxNI
  • LadyParadis “By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day” ~Robert Frost

Shout-outs:

  1. Congratulations to David Virtue the new editor of the Middle School Journal!

From our Listeners:


WOW!  Now the pressure’s on … 🙂

Web Sightings:

http://www.uri.org/kids/world.htm – Welcome to the United Religions Initiative, a growing global community working to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings. From its beginning, URI has been a vision and an invitation. The vision is that people from all different faiths can work together to make the world a better place for everyone. The invitation is to everyone in the world – boys and girls, women and men – to help make this vision a reality.

World Library goes online April 21, 2009

From the above Twitter post:  Warning Label Generator

Advisory Ideas:

4 Corners..Agree A Little, Disagree, Agree, Disagree A
Little…use any topic to discuss points of view
Debate/Opinion Topics

http://www.dosomething.org/

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/29/a9/6e.pdf

Advisory Resource: Gossip Girls and Boys Get Lessons in Empathy (Letters to the Editor about the article)

News:

Senate passes teacher contract bill

BOISE, Idaho – The Senate voted 26-8 to let school districts modify contracts to reduce teacher pay in financial emergencies.
http://www.theolympian.com/northwest/story/813714.html

Plano considers alternative grading policy for middle schools

Cheat on a test, get a zero. Turn in a late assignment, the grade suffers. They are the long-established rules of engagement in school.

Recent research shows that assigning grades by themselves, without teachers providing consistent and specific feedback, doesn’t aid student progress, he said. He supports policies such as the one Plano is considering.

PLANO ISD’S PROPOSAL
Plano schools have begun considering a new grading policy for middle schoolers. School officials hoped to roll out the new policy next school year but are delaying to collect more feedback and input from teachers and principals. Here are highlights from the proposal:
Situation Current practice Recommended middle-school policy
Late work Teachers deduct points for late assignments. Some late work would not result in lost points.
Cheating An assignment receives a zero or a failing grade. School officials would assign a consequence other than a grade reduction.
Nonacademic behavior Students are docked points for disorganization or being off-task. Students would receive conduct grades but not overall grade reductions.
Homework Homework is graded for completion or accuracy. Some homework wouldn’t be graded.
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040809dnmetplanograding.3f3fbb8.html

Student responsibility needs to be nurtured

Whose responsibility is education? Some days it seems that our students view responsibility as a burden, some horrendous task that they are forced to take on. So often, responsibility for just about everything is projected by our students onto someone else.

Reading Test Dummies (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/opinion/23hirsch.html?_r=1)

“Let’s imagine a different situation. Students now must take annual reading tests from third grade through eighth. If the reading passages on each test were culled from each grade’s specific curricular content in literature, science, history, geography and the arts, the tests would exhibit what researchers call “consequential validity” — meaning that the tests would actually help improve education. Test preparation would focus on the content of the tests, rather than continue the fruitless attempt to teach test taking.”

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson, , ,

Podcast 70- Advisory, Water, and Getting FIT!

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

advisory, MSM, PodcastBy Troy Patterson, ,

Podcast 69 – Current Cursive, Current Events, & Leftovers from Last Week.

Today’s Quiz:
http://712educators.about.com/library/quizzes/blteacher_personality.htm

Events and Happenings:

  1. Book sale!  NMSA is having a clearance sale until March 31st.
  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. 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!
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  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. Free Professional Development through Webinars! NMSA is offering previously recorded webinars for free from their website.
  9. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  10. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on the uses of Moodle for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  11. 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.
  12. From the Twitterverse:

Shout-outs:

iTunes shoutouts:  AK Jenny, Tsutherland, and Wirededucator!  Thanks for posting reviews on iTunes for us.   WeFollow:  Thanks to all the folks following us on Twitter & WeFollow.  We’re number one in the middle school category.

From our Listeners:

Vo-tech was always a place where less academic students found refuge and a career path, turning them into productive mechanics, electricians, hair dressers, and such.  Things are changing nowadays, though, and, in some instances, the door is closing on the traditional vo-tech student. Take New Jersey where 27,766 students are enrolled in 21 county-run vocational school […]
Readable handwriting still matters when computers stop working — but folks who get down on their knees before cursive ought to consider this:

Research shows that the fastest and most legible handwriters avoid cursive. Highest-speed, highest-legibility handwriters join some, not all, letters — making the easiest joins, skipping the rest — and tend to use print-like forms of those letters whose printed and cursive forms “disagree.”

Even signatures don’t legally require cursive, and never have. (Don’t take my word for this: note the legal material in the “signatures” area of the FAQ list on my web-site, HandwritingThatWorks.com )

Kate Gladstone
Founder and CEO, Handwriting Repair/Handwriting That Works handwriting instruction/improvement service
Director, the World Handwriting Contest

Web Sightings:

  1. www.zombo.com Absurd, but fun.  Just sit, watch, and enjoy.
  2. http://www.nextvista.org/ – An online library of free videos for learners everywhere – find resources to help you learn just about anything, meet people who make a difference in their communities, and even discover new parts of the world. And Next Vista for Learning wants to post your educational videos online, too. Everyone has an insight to share and yours may be just what some student or teacher somewhere needs!

Advisory Ideas:

  • Don’t Judge a Bag by Its Cover…stuff gift bags with unknown items, students select one, discuss why
  • Life Raft…students stand on top of shower curtain and flip it over without anyone stepping off
  • Tinker Toys…create exact same structure while seated back to back

News:

Going in circles puts students on path to better choices

So maybe there was a little drama between you and another ninth-grader, you know, some problem.

You could get suspended for that at a lot of schools, three days or until your mom or dad comes in and has a conference with the principal or somebody like that.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/41350367.html

Joining the national trend, metro-area schools are using yoga to help students relax and focus

http://www.twincities.com/ci_11901500?nclick_check=1

D.C. Schools Chief Turns To Rookie Teacher Corps

Michele Rhee, the District of Columbia’s public schools chancellor, has done a lot to shake up schools in the nation’s capital. In other words, Rhee is looking for a “new breed” of teachers, mostly 20-somethings fresh out of college, who may not have majored in education but are drawn to teaching; so Rhee is intent on attracting young teachers who aren’t vested in some of the provisions of teachers’ union contract.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102021880

Fix the 9th Grade Problem in PreK

The achievement gap is a deep-seated, long-standing, hard-to-solve issue that isn’t going away unless we use a strategic approach to solve it, Vanderbilt University Professor Joseph Murphy told ASCDers in his session entitled “Leadership Lessons for Closing the Achievement Gap.” His recent research points to some “big-picture conclusions,” including that tackling the problem in high school is often too late.
http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/03/fix-the-9th-grade-problem-in-prek.html

It’s OK. You Can Let Go.

It’s OK. You Can Let Go.