advisory – Page 14 – Middle School Matters

The National Science Teachers Association has recently announced its Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12. In this podcast we look at three of the books which are very appropriate for students in grades 6 – 8. They are:

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

by Catherine Thimmesh

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

by Richard Paul Evans

Bug Shots: The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly

by Alexandra Siy

From the Twitterverse:

Diane Ravitch ‏ @DianeRavitch

NY state ELA asked deaf students to describe sounds: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/tests_sound_stupid_4hSayWasqE9Yced7Mg20rK
None of today’s Pineapple rage is new. I wrote about it in “The Language Police” in 2003 to show how test publishers censored, revised.
Education is increasingly a race between civilization and a system of accounting that has no brain and no heart.

David Andrade ‏ @daveandcori

11 steps to planning effective Professional Development #edcampnc #edchat
Teacher Evaluations – ideas and lessons from other professions #edtech #edchat #education #edreform

Marlo Gaddis ‏ @mrhgaddis

If PD sucks, you have a moral obligation to your students to tell someone about it. @web20classroom #edcampnc

Steven W. Anderson ‏ @web20classroom

Teaching today like being on Chopped. You have lots in your basket and have to use it all and make it taste good. @mrhgaddis #edcampnc
When it come to learning about tools, teachers want ownership. They need to know the impact in their classroom. #edcampnc

Marlo Gaddis ‏ @mrhgaddis

PLN becomes mentors @bethanyvsmith #edcampnc

Larry Ferlazzo ‏ @Larryferlazzo

How Can We Teach Social Studies More Effectively?

Erik Gunn ‏ @erikgunn

@DianeRavitch My college prof dad scorned student evaluations. He said it would be years B4 students understood value of some classes (more)

Ryan Dore ‏ @britishbuegler

@pisanojm explains our new music teachers fb group. If your not connected join today. #musedchat #pmea12

Terie Engelbrecht ‏ @mrsebiology

5 Ideas to Prepare Students for Success Without Standardized Testing http://goo.gl/o2GcR #edchat #edreform

Nancy Hniedziejko ‏ @NancyTeaches

101 Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers You Should Know About via @TeacherCast | @scoopit

Shawn Avery ‏ @mr_avery

@mbfxc @ncarroll24 @jmsalsich @mrs_hembree Know any teachres who could sign up for Skype in Classroom? Donors Choose is giving away $25 gift

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod

Proposed legislation re: number of days/hours in school year reflects simplistic thinking? #iaedfuture

Liz Kolb ‏ @lkolb

Texting With Teachers Keeps Students in Class http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/04/10/texting-and-cell-phones-keeps-students-in-class.aspx

News:

Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham)

Since the publication of Howard Gardner‘ Frames of Mind in the early 1980s in which he pointed out the many ways that children and adults learn, popularization of “multiple intelligences” in the early 1990s has fused multiple intelligences with teaching to different “learning styles.” Practitioners have glommed onto multiple intelligences and different learning styles. Schools have committed themselves to cultivating multiple learning styles such as the KeyLearning Community in Indianapolis (IN). Willingham challenges the concept of varied learning styles and offers an alternative explanation for how and what children learn–their background, interests, aptitudes, and knowledge they bring to a topic–rather than “learning styles.”

http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/student-learning-styles-theory-is-bunk-daniel-willingham/

The Pineapple Story Tests Us: Have Test Publishers become Unquestionable Authorities?

The New York Daily News has perhaps inadvertently shed some light on why teachers might be hesitant to have a large portion of their evaluations based on standardized test scores. In a rare moment of transparency, one of the 8th grade reading comprehension questions has been published, in a story broken by Leonie Haimson on the New York Parents blog, and it has many people scratching their heads.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/the_pineapple_story_questions.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/20/151044647/the-pineapple-and-the-hare-can-you-answer-two-bizarre-state-exam-questions?sc=tw

Professional Development

Sweating my way through a workout the other day, I stumbled across an article titledGetting Principals to Think Like Managers in the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Considering that nearly every expert on the 21st Century principalship would argue that leading schools is about WAY more than “managing,” the title caught my eye.

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/tempered-radical/04-2012/will-75000-really-change-your-principals-leadership-skills

Earth’s quietest place

They say silence is golden – but there’s a room in the U.S that’s so quiet it becomes unbearable after a short time.

The longest that anyone has survived in the ‘anechoic chamber’ at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is just 45 minutes.

It’s 99.99 per cent sound absorbent and holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s quietest place, but stay there too long and you may start hallucinating.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-worlds-quietest-place-chamber-Orfield-Laboratories.html

Resources:

Block Print

Create any size poster from any size picture.

http://www.blockposters.com/

iSLCollective

Free, printable ESL worksheets by teachers for teachers. Allows a variety of criteria: Level, Student Type, Grammar Focus, Vocabulary Focus, Skill, Material Type, Solution.

http://en.islcollective.com/

WorkFlowy

Easy ToDo list manager.

https://workflowy.com/

National Parks Tour

Provides a virtual tour of various parks: Grand Canyon, Great Smokies, YellowStone.

http://naturevalleytrailview.com/

Positive Thoughts

You might recall a charming antidote: Everything Is Going to Be OK, the lovely pocket-sized anthology of positive artwork. Now, it’s available as equally lovely 20 different note cards, featuring artists like Gemma Correll,Jessica Swift, Danna Ray, and Amy Borrell.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/19/everything-is-going-to-be-ok-cards/

KiKuText

Kikutext is all about parent engagement. We truly believe that an increase in parent engagement will mean an increase in student achievement. Every part of our application is designed to help you easily and quickly communicate with parents more regularly.

Parents can sign up for text messages. Teachers get a proxy phone number – no need to give out your personal cell phone number.

http://kikutext.com/

Web Spotlight:

5 Historical Misconceptions

Warning: Lady Godiva and bare bottom is included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sYzfKiIWN4g

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

April 15, 2012advisory, AMLE, MSM, News, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 202: String this…Sounds abound around Slo-Motion and the SAT

Jokes You Can Use:

A little boy was starting to dig into his dinner. His father gently reminded him that they hadn’t said a prayer yet.

“It’s OK, we don’t have to. Mommy is a good cook”.

On Our Mind:

The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow
8 weeks to go.
ISTE

Eileen Award:

PivotalEllie Ellie Dix
Ron Peck: Thanks for the Twitter answer.

Advisory:

How to Listen to Music

Music has a powerful grip on our emotional brain. It can breathe new life into seemingly lifeless minds. But if there is indeed no music instinct, music — not just its creation, but also its consumption — must be an acquired skill. How, then, do we “learn” music? Even more curiously, how do we “learn” to “listen” to music, something that seems so fundamental we take it for granted?

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/12/elliott-schwartz-music-ways-of-listening/

Body Language Decoder

http://lifehacker.com/5901468/use-this-body-language-cheat-sheet-to-decode-common-non+verbal-cues

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This is a three part feature on outstanding science tradebooks for students in Grades 6 – 8.

Part 1:

The National Science Teachers Association has recently announced its Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12. In this podcast we look at two of the books which are very appropriate for students in grades 6 – 8. They are:

Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature

by Dora Lee

Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 feet Below the Chilean Desert

by Marc Aronson

From the Twitterverse:

AMLE ‏ @AMLEnews

●Fun list for thoughtful conversation with middle schoolers: 50 Amazing

Numbers About Today’s Economy http://bit.ly/HhHOpT #midleved

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod

●Are Education Reforms Causing a Decline in Student Achievement?

http://bit.ly/HCtICn #edreform #iaedfuture #edchat

●Stop #Cyberbullying Your Masters! http://bit.ly/IxKDc1 Schools

backpedal after overreaching, disciplining students #schoollaw

Michelle Baldwin ‏ @michellek107

●@willrich45 would be interesting to see how much revenue “education”

corporations will make off of Common Core. :-/

Will Richardson ‏ @willrich45

●@michellek107 I think we’re already beyond a CCSS “cottage” industry.

Like shooting fish in a barrel for corporations.

●Question: If policy makers think they are making public schools great with

reforms, then why offer vouchers to opt out of reform? #edpolicy

On the ClassroomWall ‏ @FlyontheCWall

●study strategies … i often defer to this site http://www.studygs.net to help

me help the kids #5thchat

●food for thought: How to Learn Without Memorizing http://ht.ly/acjz9

Dan Witte ‏ @danwitte

●Starting our famous person press conference scripts. Link to the handout.

Anything I should add?

http://wp.lps.org/dwitte/files/2012/04/Press-Conference-Script.pdf

#midleved #engchat

Bill Ferriter ‏ @plugusin

●Have I ever showed you the feeds that I give my kids during SSR?

http://www.netvibes.com/wferriter#SSR_Collection #midleved #edtech

Monte Tatom ‏ @drmmtatom

●#QR Codes Explained & Ideas for Classroom Use #fhuedu508 #fhucid

#eLearning http://tinyurl.com/d3qr8tg

Larry Ferlazzo ‏ @Larryferlazzo

●All My Best Resources On Parent Engagement In One Place!

http://bit.ly/HJZiNk

Watch for middle level tweets on Twitter with the hashtag #midleved.

Resources:

An Open Letter to Educators

If the message in this video resonates with you feel free to send it to any teachers, principals, professors, university presidents, boards of regents, boards of education, etc. you think should see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-P2PGGeTOA4

TED offers free video lessons for high school and college students

By Lyndsey Layton, Published: March 12

Imagine you’re a high school biology teacher searching for the most vivid way to explain electrical activity in the brain. How about inserting metal wires into a cockroach’s severed leg and making that leg dance to music?

Starting Monday, that eye-popping lesson, performed in a six-minute video by neuroscientist and engineer Greg Gage, is available free online.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/ted-offers-free-video-lessons-for-high-school-and-college-students/2012/03/09/gIQAuw5O6R_story.html

http://www.youtube.com/tededucation

Web Spotlight:

Sound Maps

Use the interactive maps to find recordings of regional accents and dialects, wildlife and environmental sounds, and selected world and traditional music.

Includes dialects, and the Millenium Memory Bank. Also includes Holocaust survivors.

http://sounds.bl.uk/sound-maps

Ultra Slow Motion

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/13/ultra-slow-motion/

What Happens When A 35-Year-Old Man Retakes The SAT?

*Warning – Not Safe for Work language is used.

Shockingly, little about the SAT has changed since I set foot in that classroom. Most students still have to take the test using bubble sheets and a No. 2 pencil, which is insane to me. They’ve managed to digitize VOTING

http://deadspin.com/5893189/what-happens-when-a-35+year+old-man-retakes-the-sat

Strategies:

Seussisms

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/11/seuss-isms/

How Long Is a Piece of String? BBC and Comedian Alan Davies Explore Quantum Mechanics

by Maria Popova

In How Long is a Piece of String?, they enlist standup-comic-turned-physics-enthusiast Alan Davies in answering the seemingly simple question of the film’s title, only to find in it a lens — a very blurry lens — on the very fabric of reality.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/09/how-long-is-a-piece-of-string-bbc/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

April 7, 2012advisory, AMLE, Strategy, Teaching Tip, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 201: Retention, That’s Awkward. . . POST!

Jokes You Can Use:

Joe and Bill met on a street corner.
Joe said, “It’s great to see you again, my old friend”.
Bill responded, “How can you see me when I’m not here?”
Joe was confused: “What do you mean, you’re not here?”
Bill stated: “I’ll bet you $10, that I’m not here. I can prove it”.
Joe: “You’re going to bet me $10 that you’re not here? You’re on”.
Bill: “Am I in Chicago?”
Joe: “No.”
Bill: “Am I in New York?”
Joe: “No.”
Bill “Then I must be somewhere else. If I’m somewhere else, I can’t be here. Pay me my $10.”
Joe: “If you’re not here, I can’t pay you.”

On Our Mind:

Happy Birthday Rick Wormeli

Eileen Award:

Jennifer Applebaum
Liz Kolb: Twitter
Paul Steele

Advisory:

How important is it to be at school, on time?

http://twentytwowords.com/2012/04/06/lady-carries-her-disabled-granddaughter-2-hours-to-school-every-day/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

Tough Climate for Teachers

This middle school science minute is about the difficult situation that teachers face today in the teaching of climate change. In the March 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Inez Lifttig, editor of Science Scope wrote in the Editor’s Roundtable: “A Tough Climate for Teachers.” In the editorial she discusses the hurdles that teachers have today and relates them to the problems that Biology teachers have had in the teaching of evolution. She also points out that the teaching of climate change should not be a cautious approach because the Framework for K-12 Science Education, does not support a cautious approach and in fact emphasizes strongly that human activities impact climate change.

From the Twitterverse:

* Shelly S Terrell ‏ @ShellTerrell

Disciplinary Literacy with the Common Core State Standards #cpchat #edreform

* Rick Wormeli ‏ @RickWormeli

Hey, it’s my birthday today, and I realize how good it is to be in the world. Salsa, guacamole, & chips for everyone!

* Shannon Miller ‏ @shannonmmiller

Preparing Your School for an iPad Implementation http://zite.to/HldgTU

* Miguel Guhlin ‏ @mguhlin

worth reading again! Steve Hargadon: A “Tail” of Two Ed Tech Agendashttp://dlvr.it/1PxFvy
Standardized tests with high stakes are bad for learning, studies show http://dlvr.it/1Px7QP

* Steven W. Anderson ‏ @web20classroom

ePortfolios with GoogleApps http://zite.to/HBLYri

* Erin Klein ‏ @KleinErin

50 Ways to use a document camera in the classroom by grade level. http://pinterest.com/pin/479211835 http://pinterest.com/pin/47921183505150565/

* Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod

RT @plugusin Nodding while reading about consequences of systems that reward obedience http://ow.ly/9X7wY via @joe_bower #edchat

* The Mind Trust ‏ @TheMindTrust

School reform in Detroit: 10 schools to have control over operations and central office providing services for fees http://ow.ly/a8jgN

* WORLD Magazine ‏ @WORLD_mag

Miracles of reconciliation: Witnessing ‘radical forgiveness’ in Rwanda taught this filmmaker to forgive @MarvinOlasky

* Apple Plaza ‏ @ApplePlaza

Chinese teen sells kidney to buy iPhone, iPad; 5 charged http://sns.mx/U4kRy8

* Ron Peck ‏ @Ron_Peck

RT @42ThinkDeep: New post! Primary documents, News Articles, and the #commoncore http://wp.me/p2hsT6-5k #edchat #sschat #ccss #ccchat

* Chan Hsiao-yun ‏ @hychan_edu

Social network for teachers, students a hit http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_786217.html @edmodo #edsg

News:

More States Retaining Struggling 3rd Graders

By Erik W. Robelen

Oklahoma is one of several states that recently adopted new reading policies that—with limited exceptions—call for 3rd graders to be held back if they flunk a state standardized test.
But the policy is still controversial among Florida educators.
“After 10 years, I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s good for kids,” said Doug A. Whittaker, the superintendent of the 16,200-student Charlotte County school district in southwest Florida. “I don’t care how the adults frame it: The people making those decisions forget what it’s like to be 8 years old.”
Mr. Whittaker said he’s not opposed to holding students back, but said such action should not be driven by a test score. “It really should be a team of people that make the decision, including the parents,” he said.
Despite the decline, a recent federal report shows that Florida students represented one-third of all 3rd graders retained in a nationwide data set. (“Data Show Retention Disparities,” March 7, 2012.)
Ms. Emhof points to state data showing that far fewer students now score at the lowest level on the FCAT in reading, dropping from 27 percent in 2001-02 to 16 percent in 2010-11. But the figure has been stuck at about 16 percent for several years.
Although the forthcoming study finds that the benefit “dissipates” over time, co-author Marcus A. Winters, an assistant education professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, says it remains robust into 7th grade, the last year examined to date.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/28/26retention_ep.h31.html?tkn=PQYF7PMVJobJVLws0eMfYkGfp3CJqc4i5cfx&cmp=ENL-CM-NEWS1

Common-Core-Test Group Gives Higher Ed. Voting Rights

By Catherine Gewertz
A group of states that is designing tests for the common academic standards has taken a key step to ensure that the assessments reflect students’ readiness for college-level work: It gave top higher education officials from its leading states voting power on test-design questions that are closest to the heart of the college-readiness question.
“This cut-score thing is going to be a nightmare,” Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington think tank, said at an August 2010 meeting of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP. “I’m trying to envision Georgia and Connecticut trying to agree on a cut score for proficiency, and I’m envisioning an argument.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/05/28parcc.h31.html?tkn=WNTF3nLXUTQZIM4Er2IcBitwRjDIyvbqq2He&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

Resources:

The homework trap and what to do about it

By Valerie Strauss
There are many parents whose major concern is not public policy but what will happen at home tonight. They are not Tiger Moms, but ordinary parents who simply want the best for their children.
The problem starts in elementary school. The notes come home, and the parents get “the call.”
By middle school, there are several teachers, the disciplinarian and the nurse, all fretting over what these children do not do. Their parents feel pressured to oversee their work, as they also feel criticized as if they’ve done something wrong.
The key misconception about homework-trapped children is what I call the “myth of motivation.” These children are viewed as lazy and unmotivated,
Rather, they have “under the radar” learning problems.
The child, who is forced to keep on working without boundaries, will predictably learn how to avoid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-homework-trap-and-what-to-do-about-it/2012/04/05/gIQAJt9YyS_blog.html

My Ten Most Used Apps to Become Fluent on the iPad

It is no secret, that I enjoy my iPad tremendously. I even proclaimed, now and then, that I love it! From the beginning, I approached the iPad with one goal in mind: I wanted to become fluent in using it. There is a distinct difference, in my opinion, between being skilled, literate and fluent in the use of an iPad.
http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&EntryId=4046

Web Spotlight:

The Stanford Education Experiment Could Change Higher Learning Forever

Stanford doesn’t want me. I can say that because it’s a documented fact: I was once denied admission in writing.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/ff_aiclass/all/1

Strategies:

The Dreaded F Word: Fractions

By David Ginsburg on April 1, 2012 7:00 PM

Just hearing the F word can cause kids (adults too) to freak out. And if you think about it, there are lots of reasons students feel flummoxed by fractions. For one thing, there’s the misleading vocabulary, as when we reduce a fraction to lowest terms even though it doesn’t involve a reduction in value. Or when we call a fraction “improper” just because its value is greater than one.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_tips/2012/04/the_dreaded_f_word_fractions.html

Do Students Know Enough Smart Learning Strategies?

What’s the key to effective learning? One intriguing body of research suggests a rather gnomic answer: It’s not just what you know. It’s what you know about what you know.
Research has found that students vary widely in what they know about how to learn, according to a team of educational researchers from Australia writing in this month’s issue of the journalInstructional Science.
Teaching students good learning strategies would ensure that they know how to acquire new knowledge, which leads to improved learning outcomes,…
Students can assess their own awareness by asking themselves which of the following learning strategies they regularly use (the response to each item is ideally “yes”):
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/03/do-students-know-enough-smart-learning-strategies/

Fun Failure: How to Make Learning Irresistible

Failure is a positive act of creativity,” Katie Salen said. Scientists, artists, engineers, and even entrepreneurs know this as adults. But in schools, the notion of failure is complicated.
Any practice – athletic, artistic, even social – involves repeatedly failing till one gets the experience or activity right. We need to “keep the challenge constant so players are able to fail and try again,” she said. “It’s hard and it leads to something rewarding.”
But the opposite is true in school, Salen said. School usually gives students one chance to get something right; failing grades work against practice, mastery, and creativity. To keep kids motivated, learning needs to be irresistible, Salen said.
Here’s what she learned in terms of gaming principles that can be applied to education:

Don’t shoot the player while she’s learning.
Learning is social.
A strong sense of community creates safety.
Learning that empowers the learner helps make it irresistible.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

March 24, 2012March 24, 2012advisory, AMLE, ConferencesBy Troy Patterson

MSM 199: MAMSE Can you Hear us & a Major Announcement!

Jokes You Can Use:

What do you get when you cross a porcupine with a sheep?
An animal that knits it’s own sweaters.
What do you get when you cross a chicken with an elephant?
I don’t know, but Colonel Sanders would have trouble dipping it in batter.
If a dog loses his tail, where does he go?
To the retail store.

On Our Mind:

MAMSE
Major Announcement

Eileen Award:

John Bernia
Todd Bloch
Jeff Pelich

Advisory:

Even Disney Makes Mistakes:

Disney is a prolific company with its name on a great many successes, and it likes to hide its missteps and failures. The process of doing so sometimes helps those mistakes become things of legend. Song of the South, with its politically incorrect and racist portrayals of certain characters, is likely the most famous example. Another example might be The Sweatbox, a very rarely-seen documentary about the failed making of an animated film called Kingdom of the Sun, which eventually morphed into The Emperor’s New Groove. (Pictured above.)
The Sweatbox filmmakers John-Paul Davidson and Trudie Styler were given unprecedented access to Disney’s process and the resulting film painted the executives in such a negative light, they more or less made sure the film would never been seen in public.
Until now. For a little while at least. After the jump, you can watch the rarely seen 2002 documentary The Sweatbox.
http://www.slashfilm.com/watch-rare-disney-documentary-called-the-sweatbox/

Paper Toys

All kinds of paper projects. You could have the kids make a “scene” or use it.
http://papertoys.com/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This middle school science minute is about the misconceptions that middle school students have about light. In the February 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Amber Haslag and James P. Concannon wrote an article entitled: “Reflecting on students’ misconceptions about light: Using research to guide assessment and instruction” They begin by sharing data on a study done through Michigan State University, which identifies the misconceptions that students have about light. They then developed a two-day 5E lesson that helps students to clarify their misunderstandings. After the lesson, they evaluate the students on their understanding of light.

From the Twitterverse:

* Angela Cunningham ‏ @kyteacher
More of my social studies LiveBinders: #edcampss

* International Center ‏ @RigorRelevance
RT @lmsahistory: I used to host Tedtalk Tuesdays at my school for staff and students. Watch one talk during lunch and discuss it. #edcampss

*Ron Peck ‏ @Ron_Peck
RT @sjunkins: Teaching History with the Silent Film Director app http://goo.gl/Fi7M8 #edcampss #sschat

Aaron Eyler ‏ @Aaron_Eyler
My Socratic seminar page: #edcampss http://www.aaroneyler.com/-the-roundtable

* Ron Peck ‏ @Ron_Peck
Socratic Seminar activity instructions: and I’ll find the other forms a little later. #edcampss #sschat

Distance Education ‏ @onlinecourse
Bad Habits Mean Bad Grades: Seven Habits That Could Be Hurting Your GPA. – http://dedu.org/9ZrrXD

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod
New bookmark: Questioning Culture and Technology: Students’ Stories at DML Conference

Terie Engelbrecht ‏ @mrsebiology
Problem and Project Based Learning Activities: #edchat #pblchat #midleved #elemchatOverview of standards-based grading rationale: #edchat #midleved #elemchat

Holly Pate ‏ @hollyeduc8r
Think-Pair-Share Variations http://ow.ly/1J3xt1 #edchat #edtech #edfocus

George Couros ‏ @gcouros
RT @justintarte: “What makes a great middle grades principal?” – Nice list here! #edchat #cpchat #midleved

* Terie Engelbrecht ‏ @mrsebiology
Seven Literacy Strategies That Work: #edchat #midleved #elemchatRT @Edu_Thompson: Tips for Writing Instructional Objectives – Bloom’s Taxonomy Job Aids #edchat #midleved #elemchat

* AMLE ‏ @AMLEnews
Web 2.0 Collaborative Projects in the Middle School RT @JillBromen #midleved #edchatSeeking student art for the front cover of Middle School Journal http://bit.ly/AexZ6A #midleved

* Scott Eveslage ‏ @LeeVegas20
Video Tutorial on Using Flipsnack – Make your pdf’s into an interactive flip book: http://h30411.www3.hp.com/posts/1080357-VIDEO_Interactive_flip_books?mcid=Twitter #SetHU15 #midleved #cpchat #sschat

* pipoclub ‏ @juegospipo

20 Ways to Use Edmodo: http://slidesha.re/vMyxiN #edchat #edtech #midleved #elemchat RT @mrsebiology

MAMSE 2012

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment.
Fowlerville and Flatrock have also implemented this.

MDE and Measured Progress

Self reflection
Goal Setting
Prior Knowledge

Formative Assessment Toolbox ( A really thick binder – 4″, I do believe)

Non-negotiables
Rationale
Explanation
Ways to Incorporate
Grading Scale – How do we grade? Why? Chose a 13 point scale.

ZAP – Zero’s Aren’t Permitted

Students are ZAPPED for lunch and after school. 3 Zaps in a week=after school.

Principal is heavily involved. Counselors are used to follow up with the student. The counselor does the scheduling of the student with the parent for after school ZAP.

This is also combined with the after school programs for support for students who are struggling.

This is more immediate than Saturday school. The issue with Saturday school was the delay.

They use Advisory for communication. They rely on the relationship development through Advisory to support the ZAP.

Collaborative Team work

Touch the numbers in order. 30 seconds to touch them in order. Then pair up. One person touches, the other helps.

Shows that you are more effective in a group. They usually get farther.

Wordles:
Group works together. Combine different groups.
When done, give out the answers, then process.
Teacher takes notes on what happens: groups talk things out. The teacher role is to observe and then help the students process.

Trying these out, the students respond genuinely.

IZZI:
8×8.

Resources:

Zopler

Zopler is a social network where writers, authors and students can easily collaborate on writing stories together as a group.
http://zopler.com/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

Tagline:

March 17, 2012March 17, 2012advisory, AMLE, Lesson Plan, MSM, News, Podcast, Strategy, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 198: Advisory, Abolition and the War on Teachers in 53 Hours.

Jokes You Can Use:

Boy: Will you marry me?
Girl: No, but I’ll always admire your good taste.

Girl: I’m telling you for the last time- you can’t kiss me.
Boy: I knew that you’d weaken!

Girl: Do you love me?
Boy: Yes, dear.
Girl: Would you die for me?
Boy: Um….mine is an undying love.

Ask me what I had for lunch on March 15th. Go ahead, ask me.

On Our Mind:

MAMSE Conference

Eileen Award:

Debbie Silver – Happy Birthday
Ashley Kurth
Diigo Groupees: Karen Chopra & G2One Networking
Diigo Posters: Steve Davis & Ron King

Advisory:

Are you a risk taker?

National Geographic has an article on why teens take risks. Worth a read but I think the picture essay that goes with it is more valuable for the discussion it could generate around the classroom.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/risk-quiz
Viewing Teens Positively: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/teenagers-video
Pictures: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/cahana-photography#/10-getting-tongue-pierced-670.jpg

Should I raise my hand?

http://twentytwowords.com/2012/03/15/should-you-raise-your-hand-in-class-a-flowchart/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This middle school science minute is about the topic of what drives public opinion. In the March 2012 issue of Science Scope, within the Scope’s Scoops section, there is a news article entitled “What drives public opinion on climate change?” The article cites a study by Robert Bruelle and colleagues from Drexel University who set out to identify the informational, cultural and political processes that influence public concern about climate change. Their conclusion was that the driving factor that most influences public opinion on climate change is the mobilizing efforts of advocacy groups and elites. It seems that that information-based science advocacy has had only a minor effect on public concern.

From the Twitterverse:

Richard Byrne New post: Calameo – Free Multimedia Publishing to iPads and Morehttp://goo.gl/fb/q0p8W

* Kyle Calderwood ‏ @kcalderw
Navigating Apple’s Discount App Program for Educators | #ipaded #edtech #edadmin http://goo.gl/tR2np

* Teachnology.com ‏ @TeachnologyNews
A teacher who is not dogmatic is simply a teacher who is not teaching. Gilbert K. Chesterton

*Daniel J. Lewis ‏ @theRamenNoodle
Top of the Irish to you and luck of the morning! #DyslexicLeprechaun #pointlesshashtag

* HEIDI HAYES JACOBS ‏ @HeidiHayesJacob
#AASSA2012 http://edge.ascd.org/_SOCRATES-FAILS-TEACHER-EVALUATION/blog/5822005/127586.htmlCan’t go to #ascd12 in Philadelphia? ASCD is streaming 22 sessions virtually. More at http://ascd.social27.com #ascdvc12

* Nancy White ‏ @NancyW
Why My Six-Year-Old Students Have Digital Portfolios | Getting Smart http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2012/03/why-my-six-year-old-students-have-digital-portfolios/ via @Getting_Smart #edchat #edtech

* Lisa Thumann ‏ @lthumann
We’re talking about using #ibooks to replace textbooks in our admin roundtable #wetech12 anyone doing this already?

* dave mcquaid ‏ @davemcquaid
It’s the last day to sponsor me on my 90-mile, 5-hour, and hopefully rain-free quest. Any takers?

* Vicki Davis ‏ @coolcatteacher
This free tool let’s you apply Bloom’s in your classroom http://vsb.li/6A9aNq #teaching #edtech – (May not work in Safari. Works fine in Firefox and Chrome)

* Virtual Nerd ‏ @VirtualNerd
Don’t let decimals get in the way of your long division fun! Check out how to handle decimals in long division:

* Amanda Dykes ‏ @amandacdykes
This would be so fun to have in my classroom. Its like a photo booth that takes onstage am pics. http://instaprint.me/

* Terie Engelbrecht ‏ @mrsebiology
Ideas for Podcasting in the Classroom: #edchat #edtech #midleved #elemchatBloom’s Taxonomy Web 2.0 Livebinder: Digital resources by level #edchat #edtech #midleved #elemchat

* Richard Byrne ‏ @rmbyrne
Smart Tools for Your Android Device http://ow.ly/9Fe01

* Rich Kiker ‏ @rkiker

Middle Schoolers Flash Mob for Reading

* Edmodo ‏ @edmodo
EdmodoCon 2012 is coming this summer Planning committee selection in April — @betsywhalen will be updating with details! #edmodo

* russeltarr ‏ @russeltarr
A collection of my favourite IPad resources #edtech

Watch the hashtag #midleved for daily tidbits.

News:

Why the Ed Department should be reconceived — or abolished

Over time, the Department of Education has become increasingly bureaucratic and invasive, and has formulated its policies on questionable information that appears to emanate from hunches, anecdotes, whims, and fads, buttressed by corroborating evidence from ideologically friendly think tanks and media blowhards.
Arne Duncan is only the latest, although probably the most test-obsessed, person to occupy the seat of U.S. secretary of education. A lot of people trace the testing movement that he currently enforces with a vengeance back to Rod Paige, George W. Bush’s first secretary of education and architect of the Houston Miracle.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-the-ed-department-should-be-reconceived–or-abolished/2012/03/09/gIQAHfdB5R_blog.html

The war on teachers: Why the public is watching it happen

All over the nation, teachers are under attack. Politicians of both parties, in every state, have blamed teachers and their unions for the nation’s low standing on international tests and our nation’s inability to create the educated labor force our economy needs.
In New York State, where teacher evaluations were just released to the press, the state Legislature just passed — and the governor signed — a bill that exempted police and firefighters from having their evaluations released to the public. What better symbolizes the way teachers have become “fair game” for public demonization?
There is another more insidious consequence of the attack on teaching. Every time you undermine the job security, working conditions, and wages of one group of workers, it makes it easier for employers to undermine them for all workers. This is why, during the Depression, many unemployed people organized in support of workers on strike, even though anybody with a job in that era was relatively privileged. They believed in the concept of solidarity — the idea that working people could only progress if they did so together, and if one group of workers improved their conditions, it would ultimately improve conditions for all.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-war-on-teachers-why-the-public-is-watching-it-happen/2012/03/11/gIQAD3XH6R_blog.html

Survey: Teachers work 53 hours per week on average

Teaching is a much talked about yet often misunderstood profession. Educators frequently hear well-meaning comments from parents and friends like “It must be so sweet to spend your days with children” or “How wonderful to be done for the day by three o’clock.” Are they serious?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/survey-teachers-work-53-hours-per-week-on-average/2012/03/16/gIQAqGxYGS_blog.html

A South Carolina Teacher’s Been Suspended for Reading ‘Ender’s Game’ to His Class

A middle school teacher who read to his students from Ender’s Game is on “administrative leave” because a parent complained to the school that Orson Scott Card’s classic novel is “pornographic.”
Children’s advocacy group Commonsensemedia.org has recommended Ender’s Game for children aged 12 and up — and the child whose mother complained to the school and to the police was aged 14.
But at the same time, the school has a policy requiring teachers to “preview” any supplemental material they present in class, so school officials can check for offensive ideas or themes, and the unnamed teacher did not do that in this case.
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/03/16/446431/a-south-carolina-teachers-been-suspended-for-reading-enders-game-to-his-class/?mobile=nc

Resources:

AudioViator

What is AudioViator?

AudioViator is a collaborative project among internet users. With AudioViator you can create and download audioguides in several languages and share your knowledge with people while they visit monuments, cities, nature reserves and anything else you can imagine! We know it’s just not the same to visit a city or a museum if you have to read large texts and carry heavy guides. It’s much better when you can listen to the history and explanations of the best spots and their details. This is why AudioViator wants to spread culture with your collaboration.

Creating your own:

It’s very easy! You only need to sign up to have all the necessary files for editing the audioguides. You can register in three easy steps. And rest assured, AudioViator will never use your email for advertising purposes! Then, start to edit your audioguide by filling in its main characteristics, giving a general description, and attaching a map or other image where you can plot the different points for the audioguide tour.
Next, you need to complete the informational text for each point. Later, you can choose the background music and the kind of the voice, a male or female one. Then, we dub all the texts and the audioguide will be available on the web. You will receive an e-mail when its ready for download.

How Can you Use the Audio Tours?

You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work under the conditions set on http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by AudioViator. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.. With these audioguides, you can

listen to them on your mp3 when you travel
share them with your friends
help people to get to know your city
insert them in a blog
teach with them in schools and universities
. . .

http://www.audioviator.com/en/

Web Spotlight:

11 Peculiar Meetings Between Famous People

You’d expect famous people to know other famous people. But maybe not these famous people.

1. Nikita Khrushchev & Marilyn Monroe

2. Samuel Beckett & André the Giant

3. T.S. Eliot & Groucho Marx

4. Federico Fellini & Stan Lee

5. James Brown & Alfred Hitchcock

6. The Beatles & Elvis Presley

7. Elvis Presley & Richard Nixon

8. Edgar Allan Poe & Charles Dickens

9. Orson Welles & Adolf Hitler

10. Bob Dylan & Woody Guthrie

11. Steve Jobs & Andy Warhol

http://www.worldsstrangest.com/mental-floss/11-peculiar-meetings-between-famous-people/

Strategies:

Failure Is an Option

Children may perform better in school if they are told that failure is a normal part of learning, rather than being pressured to succeed at all costs, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
The students who were told that learning is difficult performed significantly better on the working memory test, especially on more difficult problems, than the second group or a third control group who took the working memory test without doing the anagrams or talking with researchers.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/03/13/for-better-learning-failure-is-an-option/35920.html

Little Free Library

http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/index.html

The Challenge of Challenging Text

How is reading complex text like lifting weights? Just as it’s impossible to build muscle without weight or resistance, it’s impossible to build robust reading skills without reading challenging text. The common core state standards in language arts treat text difficulty as akin to weight or resistance in an exercise program.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/The-Challenge-of-Challenging-Text.aspx

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

March 10, 2012March 10, 2012advisory, Conferences, MSM, News, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 197: Online, Hugs are Value added.

Jokes You Can Use:

Teacher: Why didn’t you brush your teeth this morning?
Student: How do you know?
Teacher: I can see what you had for breakfast.
Student: Really, then what did you have?
Teacher: Eggs.
Student: No I didn’t! That was yesterday.

On Our Mind:

MACUL
State wide on-line testing

Eileen Award:

Liz Kolb
Carol Hix of Science Six: Recommendations: lulu.com and Edmodo.com, Google Docs, Twiddla, www.mixedink.com.

Advisory: National Geographic ‏ @NatGeo

Daylight savings time: Why and when does it begin? on.natgeo.com/yr6p1P

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This middle school science minute is about the collaboration that can take place between math and science teachers. In the February 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Karen Charles, J.D. Canales, Angela Smith and Natalie Zimmerman wrote an article entitled: “Exploring the Solar System:? Let the Math Teachers Help!” They explain how attending a week long academy offered by NASA in their school district encouraged math and science teachers to consider how using models and simulations could expand their repertoire of classroom strategies and engage students more fully in their own context-rich learning.

From the Twitterverse:

Dr. Phil @DrPhil“Everything in my life that’s been really important to me … has come because all my plans failed.” bit.ly/wL5BNx

Richard Byrne @rmbyrne“@dwarlick: “If you’re going to write I want it to be in a way that I can interact with you..” Ken Shelton – #ncties #ncties12”

* MACUL ‏ @MACUL

Here’s a fun way to show off just a tiny bit of the Twitter Stream from #macul12 using @visibletweets visibletweets.com/#query=%23macu…
The back channel continues. Check the #macul12 hashtag often in the next few days/weeks for more insight.

* Ben Rimes ‏ @techsavvyed

Hey #macul12 people! Come write poetry with your students everyday in April with me and @poetry4people poetryforpeople.net #engchat

* Marialice BFX Curran ‏ @mbfxc

Ability to record audio while taking notes! Notes Plus – bit.ly/mIPUxq #ne121 >>Now wondering if @Livescribe has an app?

* Dr. Justin Tarte ‏ @justintarte

5 Tell-Tale Signs You’re Becoming a Teacher Leader flpbd.it/lQO6j #edchat #leadership

* Angela Anderson ‏ @AnAnderson7

Students did research on a honorable person, and created a PowerPoint. #peru552
http://www.readwritethink.org A lot of resources for professional development, classroom tools, and resources for parents. #peru552

* Teachnology.com ‏ @TeachnologyNews

Need a back to school letter for students? Print one now: teach-nology.com/worksheets/mis…

* Mike Wendland ‏ @pcmike

What to do with your old iPad and other tech gear- PC Mike’s Tech and Gadget Blog ht.ly/9zD78

*Diane Ravitch ‏ @DianeRavitch

Rhee’s IMPACT system is meaningless but used to fire teachers: gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/the…

Hide media

* Will Richardson ‏ @willrich45

YouTube Finds Way Off Schools’ Banned List nytimes.com/2012/03/10/edu… #edchat

* National Geographic ‏ @NatGeo

Daylight savings time: Why and when does it begin? on.natgeo.com/yr6p1P

News:

American Dropouts: Part I

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/03-2012/american-dropouts-part-i

A Lesson in Teaching to the Test, From E.B. White

White’s wonderful book about a mute swan given voice by a trumpet stolen for him by his father, “The Trumpet of the Swan,” contains the following passage that in a few paragraphs beautifully evokes the elementary-school classroom of yesteryear – and, we should all hope, of tomorrow. (The episode is at the close of the chapter entitled “School Days.”)
In light of current controversies around testing and teacher evaluation, let’s do a little thought experiment. How would Miss Snug have handled this lesson if it were occurring just before a round of standardized testing? Would she not have had to interrupt the children’s speculations and instructed them that actual circumstances in word problems must be completely disregarded, because the point is to arrive at the answer the test designers have in mind?
http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/03/07/a-lesson-in-teaching-to-the-test-from-e-b-white

School Communities Wrecked by “Value-Added”: Two Must-Reads

Top-notch reporter Bill Turque at the Washington Post dropped this barnburner article today about Sarah Wysocki, a DCPS teacher who received praise from everyone she worked with… and then got fired over test scores. The whole article is a must-read, but the thing that leaped most off the page to me was how likely it seems that Wysocki, a fifth grade teacher, was the victim of a sinister consequence of high-stakes testing: cheating.
Would you want your child’s teachers working within this system— one ready to dole out public humiliation over the most arbitrary, minute stat movements?
Who is being educated— and what are they really learning from this?
http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/get-fracas/03-2012/school-communities-wrecked-value-added-two-must-reads

Resources:

Mixed Ink

MixedInk’s collaborative writing platform allows groups of any size to weave their best ideas and language into a single text. Cutting-edge government agencies, news organizations, advocacy groups, and businesses use MixedInk to gather meaningful input and give their communities a voice.
http://www.mixedink.com/

K20Alt – Authentic Teaching and Learning

K20alt allows educators from around the country the opportunity to collaborate, dialogue, engage in lesson study and creation, and acquire content-specific PD all at the touch of a button through Virtual Communities of Practice. These groups are meant to engage and empower educators by providing a means by which they can share expertise, create content, and improve pedagogy. The free services that are provided within these Virtual Communities of Practice are outlined below.
http://k20alt.ou.edu/

10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should)

This week, the OCW Consortium is holding its annual meeting, celebrating 10 years of OpenCourseWare. The movement to make university-level content freely and openly available online began a decade ago, when the faculty at MIT agreed to put the materials from all 2,000 of the university’s courses on the Web.
But as open educational resources and OCW increase in popularity and usage, there are a number of new resources out there that do offer just that. You probably already know about:Khan Academy and Wikipedia, for example. But in the spirit of 10 years of OCW, here’s a list of 10 cool OER and OCW resources that you might not know about, but should know:
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/05/10-open-education-resources-you-may-not-know-about-but-should/

CloudFTP

Create a wireless document server with CloudFTP and your own personal flash drive. Bypass the district network altogether! Avoid those nasty “I forgot my password!” comments in class. Get a Cloud (FTP)!
http://www.hypershop.com/CloudFTP-p/cftp-black.htm

Web Spotlight:

Stop Taking Pictures of the Whiteboard

http://www.edsocialmedia.com/2012/02/stop-taking-pictures-of-the-whiteboard/

GenoChoice

Good for web site evaluation.
http://genochoice.com/

Inside-Out Your Mind

Derek Sivers made a lot of money in the online music business and now lives in Singapore. He’s an entrepreneur, and when he gives talks, he shows his audience how different cultures think, well…oppositely.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/03/02/147825237/inside-out-your-mind?ft=1&f=1130

The Civil War, Part 1: The Places

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, a milestone commemorated by The Atlantic in a special issue (now available online). Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. As brother fought brother and the nation’s future grew uncertain, the public appetite for information was fed by these images from the trenches, rivers, farms, and cities that became fields of battle. Today’s collection is part 1 of 3, covering the places of the Civil War: the battleships, prisons, hospitals, urban centers, and rural pastures where history was made. Tomorrow’s installment features some of the people involved in the conflict, and on Friday I’ll be sharing some of the amazing three-dimensional stereographs of the war. Keep in mind, as you view these photographs, that they were taken 150 years ago — providing a glimpse of a United States that was only 85 years old at the time.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/02/the-civil-war-part-1-the-places/100241

Old Maps Online

http://www.oldmapsonline.org/#bbox=-110.3125,-51.774806,119.609375,72.104237&q=&datefrom=1000&dateto=2010

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

February 25, 2012advisory, MSM, News, Podcast, Strategy, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 195: Conversion, Collaborate, and Smell.

Jokes You Can Use:

Fred met a friend that he hadn’t seen a while. They exchanged some pleasantries. Fred then inquired about the old friend’s wife.
“She’s in heaven now”.
“Oh, I’m so sorry”, said Fred. He immediately realized that this was not the best possible answer and could be misconstrued.
“I mean, I’m glad” he stammered.
Then he realized that might be even worse. He tried again.
“Well, what I really mean is, I’m surprised”.

Paraprosdokians

I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.
You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather, not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, why do some people have more than one child?
Hospitality: making your guests feel like they’re at home, even if you wish they were.
Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.
Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it.” — Groucho Marx
I can read minds, but I’m illiterate.
“I haven’t slept for ten days, because that would be too long.” — Mitch Hedberg
The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

On Our Mind:

Zamzar vs Convert-online

Eileen Award:

Ron King: Diigo contributions.

Advisory: Jason Eifling ‏ @jeifling

What School Lunches Look Like In 20 Countries Around The World buzzfeed.com/mjs538/what-sc… via @BuzzFeed

Building Relationships Through Tools of Communication

Chris Klein is a graduate of Hope College, and is the driving force for Clay Vessel Inc (http://www.clayvesselinc.org ), a not-for-profit resource for assistive technology. Chris was born with cerebral palsy, and uses augmentative communication to help support his work with Clay Vessel, be a Motivational Speaker, be an active member of his community and local church, and live independently in Holland, Michigan. Chris strives to live his life to the fullest.

This video was produced by Chris Klein and David McNaughton as part of the work of the AAC-RERC (http://aac-rerc.com ). The AAC-RERC is funded by NIDRR under grant #H133E080011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dupabkw46Qk

Pictures from Around the World

In 1909, millionaire French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn decided to enlist the era’s burgeoning photographic technology in a mission far greater than aesthetic fetishism, and set out to use the new autochrome — the world’s first true color photographic process, invented by the Lumière brothers in 1903 and marketed in 1907 — to produce a color photographic record of human life on Earth as a way of promoting peace and fostering cross-cultural understanding.
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/23/the-dawn-of-the-color-photograph-albert-kahn/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

Eww, that smell. Can’t you smell that smell?!

This middle school science minute is about safety in the classroom. In the January, 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Ken Roy answered a question about foul odors found in some of the sinks in the back of a classroom. He shares some possible solutions and some possible causes.

From the Twitterverse:

Steven W. Anderson ‏ @web20classroom

Just Posted On The Ol’ Blog-What Do You Mean @Evernote Could Get Better? More Resources For Evernote: bit.ly/wlsO1U #edchat

Diane Ravitch ‏ @DianeRavitch

@ctseymour @conncan @ctmirror Conservative economist Eric Hanushek found teachers account for 10-15% of score change, family=60%
NYC data is bunk. Uses state scores from 2007-2009, which state admits were bogus. 35 point margin of error. Why shame teachers w/this junk?
(Craig Westover) @drgwbrown @DianeRavitch Can’t find in my Constitution where POTUS has authority to be involved in education. Help?
@CraigWestover @drgwbrown It’s not in Constitution. Education is supposedly a state and local function. Duncan doesn’t know that.

* Luann Lee ‏ @stardiverr

Nicely done. “@mikeklonsky: Teachers reject ed award – Connecticut Post bit.ly/A1FgfV “thanks but no thanks” to corp. reform group”

Kevin Creutz ‏ @kevcreutz

Heart Rap – A Rap Explanation of How the Heart Works bit.ly/ywqIl4 via @rmbyrne #edtech

Ruth Ayres ‏ @ruth_ayres

We are not expecting students to read as much as they are capable of reading. @donalynbooks #dublit12

Scott McLeod ‏ @mcleod

New bookmark: The Curfew
New bookmark: A test for politicians on education (with cheat sheet) http://t.co/NywhDDnv

John Norton ‏ @johncroftnorton

RT @MrMatthewRay: An Absence of Journalistic Integrity: Data Without Context: wp.me/pKVbi-Ao @teaching2030 @thejlv @teachingquality

View media

Larry Ferlazzo ‏ @Larryferlazzo

What Students Hear Is Sometimes Different From What Teachers Say bit.ly/ylnOlR fun comic

pammoran ‏ @pammoran

The National Library of Ireland for your classroom j.mp/xXd2dl via cesi.ie – great resource #cesi12

Michelle Nebel ‏ @mnebel

RT @MarzanoResearch: Education Week: Educators in Search of Common-Core Resources ar.gy/.9a #ccss #atplc #ednews

* Steve ‏ @2learn2

Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock #teaching 02/24/2012 goo.gl/Jvr3O

* ABC News ‏ @ABC

Professor Uses Racy Photos To Advertise Class abcn.ws/zlD1tf

News:

Why don’t top private schools adopt corporate-driven reforms?

By Valerie Strauss
This was written by Bruce D. Baker, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This first appeared on his School Finance 101 blog.
By Bruce D. Baker
Really… if running a school like a ‘business’ (or more precisely running a school as we like to pretend that ‘businesses’ are run… even though ‘most’ businesses aren’t really run the way we pretend they are) was such an awesome idea for elementary and secondary schools, wouldn’t we expect to see that our most elite, market oriented schools would be the ones pushing the envelope on such strategies?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-dont-top-private-schools-adopt-corporate-driven-reforms/2012/02/17/gIQACrL3KR_blog.html?wprss=answer-sheet

Resources:

Looking for an image?

Try http://jpg.to/ . This site will return one image based upon your search criteria. This can be really handy if you want to find an image quickly without getting overly distracted.
http://jpg.to/

Collaborative Whiteboard

Mark up websites, graphics, and photos, or start brainstorming on a blank canvas. Browse the web with your friends or make that conference call more productive than ever. No plug-ins, downloads, or firewall voodoo – it’s all here, ready to go when you are. Browser-agnostic, user-friendly.
http://www.twiddla.com/

The iPad as…..

Over the past few months, iPads have exploded throughout schools and classrooms. Their flexibility, versatility, and mobility make them a phenomenal learning tool. In webinars and blog posts, we have talked about the iPad as….

Reader
Creator
Student Response System
Classroom Manager
Study Tool
Organizer
Differentiator

http://edtechteacher.org/index.php/teaching-technology/mobile-technology-apps/ipad-as

Transforming Education

For more than 150 years, the public school system in Connecticut has been successful at providing children with access to a quality education. But that’s no longer enough. Thanks to the dawn of the Information Age, the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and the development of a global economy, a new system is needed to best prepare our children to succeed in 2011 and beyond.

In short, our public education must be transformed. With effective leadership and the help of every citizen in Connecticut, CAPSS truly believes that’s possible. This report recommends exactly how we can benefit all students in our state.

http://www.ctnexted.org/pdfs/CAPSS_0101-FullReport.pdf

Web Spotlight:

Woolly Mammoth Video

Last week, a new video surfaced claiming to show a live woolly mammoth — an animal scientists think has been extinct for at least four millennia — crossing a river in Russia.
The video became an Internet sensation, making headlines around the world. Some Bigfoot believers and Loch Ness Monster lovers murmured their tentative approval, hoping it proved that large unknown (or assumed extinct) animals still exist in Earth’s remote wilds.
Good opportunity to show hoaxes. This site includes both videos (the “woolly mammoth” and the original).
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0213/Shocker-Video-of-live-woolly-mammoth-not-entirely-authentic-videos

Science & YouTube

From: Richard Byrne (Free Tech for Teachers)
The Spangler Effect is a new YouTube channel from Steve Spangler Science. Unlike his popular Sick Science videos which are no more than short demonstrations of science experiments students and parents can do at home, The Spangler Effect videos offer longer (15 minutes or so) explanations of science experiments. The Spangler Effect videos explain the science of do-it-yourself experiments and how you can recreate those experiments at home or in your classroom.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/spangler-effect-experiments-and.html

Bullying Strategies That Don’t Work

Via: Scott McLeod
In a review of bullying-reduction programs, Farrington and Ttofi (2009) found that interventions that involve peers, such as using students as peer mediators or engaging bystanders to disapprove of bullying and support victims of harassment, were associated with increases in victimization! In fact, of 20 program elements included in 44 school-based programs, work with peers was the only program element associated with significantlymore bullying and victimization. (In contrast, there were significant and positive effects for parent training and school meetings in reducing bullying.)
http://www.minddump.org/bullying-interventions-that-involve-student-p

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

February 18, 2012advisory, MSM, News, Podcast, Strategy, Teaching Tip, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 194: Para What? Para Dice? Para Pants?

Jokes You Can Use:

Customer: This food isn’t fit for a pig.
Waiter: I’m sorry. I’ll bring you some that is.

PARAPROSDOKIANS: (Winston Churchill loved them.)
Here is the definition:
“Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous situation.”
“Where there’s a will, I want to be in it,” is a type of Paraprosdokian.

– A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
– Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put ‘DOCTOR.’
– You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

On Our Mind:

“The ‘Good’ Kids Are Compliant, The ‘Bad’ Kids Are Defiant, And Nobody Is Engaged”
(Daniel Pink via http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/superintendent/bookclub.aspx )

Eileen Award:

Anabelle Maillard Morgan
Jamie Cruikshank
Congrats to Todd Williamson on his new position as Head Techie in his school district!

Advisory:

Touching “Arigato” (Thank You) Video From Japan

(via Larry Ferlazzo)
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2012/02/12/touching-arigato-thank-you-video-from-japan/
YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SS-sWdAQsYg

MistakeVille

Try the Job Interviews gone wrong.
http://www.mistakeville.com/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

Transforming Field Trips
This middle school science minute is about transforming field trips. In the January, 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Rebecca Morris wrote an article entitled, “Transforming a Field Trip Into an Expedition: Supporting Active Research and Science Content Through a Museum Visit.” Rebecca shares the methods that she used with her 6th grade students. She developed the museum field trip into a short-term, active research project assignment.

From the Twitterverse:

nancyflanagan @nancyflanagan

Parallels between The Hunger Games and Race to the Top:schoolecosystem.blogspot.com/2012/02/hunger…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/jon-stewart-tries-to-talk-to-arne-duncan/2012/02/16/gIQATPNVJR_blog.html
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-february-16-2012/arne-duncan

Terie Engelbrecht @mrsebiology

CASES Online: bit.ly/z8KacZ Search for inquiry-based units (must sign up for free account) #edchat #pbl #midleved #elemchat
Leading Project-based Learning Wiki: Nice Modules Section #edchat #pbl #midleved #elemchat

Rich Kiker @rkiker

Support for Teachers: Simulated Classrooms, Online Networking and More bit.ly/yawbWb #edchat

The Dennys @DoTheMathBooks

Your Education is worth what You are worth. -Anon #quote

Jeff Johnson @iLEADCommunity

iPad literacy data emerges! loopinsight.com/2012/02/17/ipa… #kinderchat #ipaded #cpchat #edchat #abed #finned #edtech

Scott McLeod @mcleod

New bookmark: Virtual Jamestown
New bookmark: The Past, Present and Future of Badges for Learning

Don’t forget to join #midleved chat on Twitter at 8:00 pm EST!

News:

Common Core Standards and Impact on Achievement

“A final word on what to expect in the next few years as the development of assessments tied to the Common Core unfolds. The debate is sure to grow in intensity. It is about big ideas—curriculum and federalism. Heated controversies about the best approaches to teaching reading and math have sprung up repeatedly over the past century.18 The proper role of the federal government, states, local districts, and schools in deciding key educational questions, especially in deciding what should be taught, remains a longstanding point of dispute. In addition, as NCLB illustrates, standards with real consequences are most popular when they are first proposed. Their popularity steadily declines from there, reaching a nadir when tests are given and consequences kick in. Just as the glow of consensus surrounding NCLB faded after a few years, cracks are now appearing in the wall of support for the Common Core.
Don’t let the ferocity of the oncoming debate fool you. The empirical evidence suggests that the Common Core will have little effect on American students’ achievement. The nation will have to look elsewhere for ways to improve its schools.”
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2012/0216_brown_education_loveless/0216_brown_education_loveless.pdf

The Opportunity Cost in Education

What does “paperwork” cost to a school district?
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2012/02/count-opportunity-cost-of-teacher-tasks.html

Resources:

Quadratic Equations – The Main Ideas

To help pupils see the bigger picture in topics I have decided to experiment with some conceptual card sorts. I worry sometimes that pupils just learn methods and can’t see the links between them. Teachers I know encourage their pupils to ‘build a map’ in their minds of topics and ideas so that when they are faced with a maths problem they can ‘navigate’ to the correct section of their mind map and start using the skills they know. I love this idea but do think it is a perhaps a bit too challenging to ask pupils to do this with no support. My aim in producing the conceptual card sorts it to help pupils in their categorisation and organisation of maths concepts in their minds.
http://www.greatmathsteachingideas.com/2012/02/16/quadratic-equations-the-main-ideas-a-card-sort-to-support-conceptual-understanding/

Mission US

Mission US is a multimedia project that immerses players in U.S. history content through free interactive games.
Mission 1: “For Crown or Colony?” puts players in the shoes of Nat Wheeler, a printer’s apprentice in 1770 Boston. They encounter both Patriots and Loyalists, and when rising tensions result in the Boston Massacre, they must choose where their loyalties lie.
In Mission 2: “Flight to Freedom,” players take on the role of Lucy, a 14-year-old slave in Kentucky. As they navigate her escape and journey to Ohio, they discover that life in the “free” North is dangerous and difficult. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act brings disaster. Will Lucy ever truly be free?
Other missions are planned for release in 2013 and 2014.
Join the conversation and get updates about Mission US on Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit the Help page. To share your feedback, email us via the contact form on this site. Thanks for playing!
http://www.mission-us.org/

Web Spotlight:

Microsoft Partners in Learning Apply today US Forum

The US Forum is a celebration of innovative teaching practices and innovative schools. It is a unique experience open to all K–12 U.S. educators and school leaders to share what they’re doing in the classroom, exchange ideas and collaborate to inspire their professional practice.
How to Apply:
If you are an innovative educator, we would love for you to share your ideas! Simply click “apply to the forum” below and complete the application. The application will allow us to understand a little more about your school, classroom, and how you are impacting students.
https://www.facebook.com/partnersinlearning?sk=app_368381589844161

Strategies:

What’s Your Story

Welcome to the third annual What’s Your Story? video contest from Trend Micro. With so many amazing submissions in years past, we can’t wait to see what inspiring, informative and original videos you create this year!
What’s it all about? Sharing photos, downloading music, texting, doing schoolwork, keeping in touch with friends — with more people spending more time online, it’s more important than ever to know how to do it safely and responsibly.
That’s why you’re invited to join our contest. Submit and share a short video to help others stay safe, smart and responsible online and you could win $10,000, or other cash prizes.

What’s the deal?

Prizes: One $10,000 USD grand prize; six cash category prizes (three awarded to schools per entry category and three awarded to individuals per entry category). Prizes are in US Dollars or equivalent in Canadian Dollars at contest closing date.
Deadline: Upload by 11:59:59 PM US Pacific Time on April 3, 2012
Content: Your video must address one of these topics:

Take action against bullying
Keep a good rep online
Be cell smart

Eligibility: All residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) and the US, 13 years of age and older.

http://whatsyourstory.trendmicro.com/internet-safety/Home.do

National Archives Digital Experience

Create Posters, Videos and/or Pathways revolving around the material in the National Archives. Easy to use.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/02/create-videos-and-posters-on-us.html
http://www.digitalvaults.org/#/create/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

February 11, 2012advisory, AMLE, Conferences, MSM, News, Podcast, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 193: A Whole “Latte” Stuff in This Show!

Jokes You Can Use:

Mom: Were you a good boy today?
Son: Yep. You can’t get in too much trouble standing in the corner.

I wouldn’t say the restaurant was suspicious, but there were 3 shakers on the table: Salt, pepper and alka-seltzer.

Eileen Award:

Jamie Cruikshank
Steve Collis

Advisory:

Best Ad Campaigns of All Time.

http://www.englishblog.com/2012/02/infographic-best-ad-campaigns-of-all-time.html

A Short History of Calendars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kzprsR2SvrQ

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This middle school science minute is about writing lab reports. In the January, 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Fred Enge wrote an article entitled, “Not Another Lab Report.” Fred shares his ideas on helping his 8th grade students improve on their lab reports. Two important factors came into play:
1. Relevance
2. Guidance

From the Twitterverse:

Monte Tatom @drmmtatom

Six Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning | Edutopia #fhuedu508 tinyurl.com/7dsv85w

Character Scrapbook – A Tool for Student Reflections on Stories #fhuedu508

baldy7 Tony Baldasaro

Speaking Up Is Hard to Do: Researchers Explain Whyon.wsj.com/ysY3kG via @WSJ

@rmbyrneRichard Byrne

Hot Apps for Higher Order Thinking. ow.ly/8TYrB

Jerry Blumengarten @cybraryman1

#edcampchicago #edcampstl #bbedcamp Please send me your Smackdown link to add on My Smackdown pg: tinyurl.com/4by2uxk TY

Distance Education @onlinecourse

Seven Tips for Writing Strong Grant Proposals – dedu.org/aWNxvY

Library of Congress @librarycongress

Happy 165th Birthday Thomas Edison! “The Sneeze” is the earliest surviving copyrighted film. 1.usa.gov/sAfw3

* Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo

Nice PBS News Hour Story On Teaching English Slang bit.ly/x0OyAE

CooLHeadS @CooLHeadSInc

Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.

DeeAnna Nagel @TherapyOnline

The Whens, Whats and Hows of iPad 3 shar.es/fUgMn

Richard Byrne @rmbyrne

Want People to Return Your Emails? Avoid These Words [INFOGRAPHIC] feedly.com/k/yHVD9R

Ron Peck @Ron_Peck

RT @web20classroom: An Educators Guide To Evernote: bit.ly/yrpq5I #edtech

Steven W. Anderson @web20classroom

Some pretty neat ways to use Audacity (and audio) with students: bit.ly/i8nuQA

Terie Engelbrecht @mrsebiology

Cube Creator by ReadWriteThink-make biographies, mysteries, or stories bit.ly/dksZjI #edchat #midleved #elemchat #edtech

News:

ISTE Island

ISTE Island has been a resource for many educators over the years. February 28th the Island goes into LOST mode (vanishes completely) as ISTE will no longer make payments to Linden Labs to maintain the island. There’s a party on the 27th and all are invited to attend.

Resources:

Algebra in the Real World Movies

Videos to help show how algebra is used in the real world.
http://www.thefutureschannel.com/algebra/algebra_real_world_movies.php

Latte

Latte is a Mac OS X application that uses such Web engines asCodeCogs and Google Chart to typeset formulas written in LaTeX. Formulas can be dragged to other applications (e.g. Keynote, Pages) and, in the case of PDF formulas, scaled to an arbitrary size. Both the LaTeX input and the rendered output can be saved onto your local disk, making it easy to build a library of formulas.
http://olivierlabs.com/latte/index.html

Text to Speech

Mac Only. Extends the functionality of the built-in Text to Speech.

http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/10/daily-mac-app-text2speech-lets-hear-what-you-write-in-record-ti

Web Spotlight:

English Slang

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2012/02/10/nice-pbs-news-hour-story-on-teaching-english-slang/

Solve for X

A forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.
Somewhat similar to TED.
http://www.wesolveforx.com/

Strategies:

AMLE 2011:

Mastery and How to Assess It

Rick Wormeli
This is based on Fair is Not Always Equal.

Has a discussion guide, participant study guide, and videos

Define Mastery

Can use it and apply it in another context?

Must incorporate it later in the year . . .

Final exams given over last 2-3 weeks and never for a long period of time/sitting.

What evidence will you tolerate?

Sit down with your team/department and decide.

What exemplars?

What are teachers putting on their tests?

“Agree on a commonly accepted definition of mastery.”

What is the difference between proficient in the standard/outcome and mastery of the standard/outcome?
What does exceeding the standard mean?

Common Assessments

Written by local teachers

Given when the kids are ready to take them.

Do a variety of them.

They don’t count a huge amount on the report card.

Ask him for the article on Clarifying the Curriculum.

Feedback vs. Assessment

Feedback: holding up a mirror to students, showing them what they did and comparing it to what they should have done – There’s no evaluative component!

Assessment: Gathering data so we can make a decision.

Greatest impact: Formative Assessment.
Be clear: We mark and grade against standards/outcomes, not the routes students take or techniques teachers use to achieve those standards/outcomes.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

February 5, 2012advisory, MSM, News, Podcast, Strategy, Tech, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 192: Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. (Sorry, Guy).

Jokes You Can Use:

There are only two ways of handling a woman – nobody knows either one.

Girl: “Too bad you flunked the test. How far away were you from the right answers?”
Boy: “About 2 seats.”

Boy: “I just had a date with Siamese twins”
Girl: “Did you have a good time?”
Boy: “Yes and no”.

On Our Mind:

Why don’t teachers nominate colleagues for awards?

Eileen Award:

Dave Bydlowski

Advisory:

http://gullible.info/

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)

This middle school science minute is about Nature Journaling. In the January, 2012 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication) Janita Cormell and Toni Ivey wrote an article entitled, “Nature Journaling: Enhancing Students’ Connections to the Environment Through Writing.” Janita describes how she shared her passion for nature with her sixth-grade students through nature journaling and how her students gained a better understanding of the natural world.

From the Twitterverse:

*EdTechUofA EdTech Services UofA RT @mrsebiology Web-based Digital Storytelling Tools/Online Interactive Resources: bit.ly/hthC4X #edchat #edtech #midleved #elemchat

* EduSum Summer Charlesworth “@DoremiGirl: RT @justintarte: “Mining the middle school mind” bit.ly/zwasQl #midleved” cc @MYSA_Australia

* russeltarr russeltarr Google to retire Blogger & Picasa brands tinyurl.com/77z3gyo

*rmbyrne Richard Byrne Connected Mind – A Free Mind Mapping App in the Chrome Web Store ow.ly/8Rqht

* russeltarr russeltarr The slave who spoke from beyond the grave #historynews tinyurl.com/7zy2nvq

* jybuell Jason Nice group of questions from Federal Way. How to talk to your student/teacher about standards based grading schools.fwps.org/lakedolloff/20… #sbar

*missnoor28 Miss Noor ㋡ RT @ashley: STOP Teaching Tech! vsb.li/NqBvyZ

* 2learn2 Steve A baker stopped making donuts after he got tired of the hole thing. #stevec

* Ron_Peck Ron The Jerusalem Archaeological Park su.pr/1MkQQV #sschat #historyteacher

* cybraryman1 Jerry Blumengarten Friday Chats: #midleved (Middle School) #D5chat bit.ly/avnj3b #ConnectedPD First Friday Feb. 3 9am PST with guest Steve Hargadon

* aimeewhitbread Aimee Whitbread @mthman Any plans to resurrect #midleved Fri night chat? I’d be happy to help moderate if you’d like.

* mrsebiology Terie Engelbrecht Formative Assessment Ideas: scr.bi/yOsiUA #edchat #midleved #elemchat

* BarbBlackburn Barbara R. Blackburn Very sad news about Gordon Vars, one of the founders of the #midleved movement. bit.ly/wlMD46 #highered He will be missed.

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

iBooks Author update

News:

Reed-Custer District seeks balance in ‘friending’ students

Marney Simon – Staff writer
So what is a school district to do when technology advances faster than school policy?
Dr. Butts said that there may very well be educational value to social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other sites, the district has to find it and be able to encourage the use of it appropriately.
School board members noted that finding a balance for how Facebook and other social media is used in relation to the schools is difficult.
“Used appropriately it’s an after hours reach-out, I don’t want that to be taken away,” Speed said. “I just want us to say, hey, if you’re going to have it, it has to be maintained in a professional manner. Lead by example. That’s why we’re here.”
http://www.braidwoodjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=143&ArticleID=8490

Resources:

Going Paperless as a Teacher – Part 1

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/01-2012/going-paperless-teacher-part-1

Web Spotlight:

What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind

What happens when children reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? The answer is: a good deal of teenage weirdness.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

The Amazing Educational Jargon Generator

http://www.sciencegeek.net/lingo.html

Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong

By Garth Sundem

Taking notes during class? Topic-focused study? A consistent learning environment? All are exactly opposite of the best strategies for learning.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/everything-about-learning/

This is What our Sun will Look Like When It Dies

In a few billion years, our dear Sun will look like this, a beautiful glowing eye of spent starstuff trash in the shape of Sauron’s Eye.
http://gizmodo.com/5881048/this-is-how-our-sun-will-look-when-it-dies-yes-its-the-eye-of-sauron

The Faculty Project

The best Professors from the world’s leading Universities are coming together to teach online
FOR FREE!
http://facultyproject.com/

Strategies:

“WE PENALIZE KIDS FOR GETTING DISTRACTED FROM BORING STUFF AT SCHOOL”

by DAVE CAOLO
Spot-on. Brilliant observations by Sir Ken Robinson. You might have seen this before.
It’s both exhilarating and depressing. I’m nodding my head in agreement yet feel sorry for our broken educational system which, in my opinion, won’t ever change. I was bored to tears as a student and still consider myself a marginally-functional idiot, bereft of any particular talent or skill.
I distinctly remember handing an art project to my 6th-grade teacher. It was a watercolor of a man standing outdoors. She took the painting from me, opened a black marker and drew an outline around the man to “finish” it. So, the painting I made was “wrong.”
Worse, my 8-year-old already dreads school because “it’s so boring.”
http://52tiger.net/we-penalize-kids-from-getting-distracted-from-boring-stuff-at-school/

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

ISTE News:

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.

The ISTE Special Interest Group: Virtual Environments is holding meetings on Mondays from 4:00 – 6:00 pm (SLT) on ISTE Island.

Ohio Middle Level Association:

The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference.

AMLE Affiliate Conferences:

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 2012 in Warren Woods, MI.

The North Carolina Middle School Association’s Annual Conference March 13-15, 2012

Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.

Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog: Archived content is available.

Second Life:

Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details. Check frequently this week as the ISTE Annual Convention is this week.
Video: Educational Uses of Second Life