Category: advisory

Jokes You Can Use:

Advisory:

Magic

http://www.lifehack.org/323348/8-easy-magic-tricks-for-you-show-off-parties

The Breathtaking, Life-Altering Power of Being a Dork

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/dork/

Middle School Science Minute  

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

STEAM – TREE GROWTH CIRCLES

I was recently reading the March, 2015 issue of “Science Scope,” a magazine written for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.  

In this issue, I read the article, “Understanding the Art in Science and the Science in Art Through Crosscutting Concepts.”  It was written by Irene Plonczak and Susan Goetz Zwiirn.  The article describes STEAM lessons that mirror real-world processes that have contributed to breakthrough discoveries, incremental improvements or new thinking.  These STEAM lessons are organized using crosscutting concepts from the K-12 Framework and NGSS. In this third podcast in a three-part series the STEAM lesson incorporates measuring tree-growth circles and understanding the concept of pi.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2015/7/23_Middle_School_Science_Minute-STEAM_-_Tree_Growth_Circles.html

From the Twitterverse:  

Strategies:

Annotating PDF’s is a Bad Lesson Plan

I am constantly asked how to annotate PDF’s. This is flat out a question I refuse to answer. Annotating PDF’s is not an engaging lesson plan. Trying to fill out a PDF on a computer is WORSE than just filling it out on paper. We should not be using tech for the sake of using tech.

If the computer can grade it, it should.

“The purpose of being 1:1 is not to be paperless, it is to change the task.”

-Terri Stice (@tstice)

Blended and online is not a substitute for the traditional classroom. It is an opportunity to better engage students, differentiate, have collaboration, provide better and faster feedback and to have students connect in ways that were nearly impossible before.

http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2015/08/29/annotating-pdfs-is-a-bad-lesson-plan/

Self-Paced Learning: How One Teacher Does It

Natalie McCutchen showed us how she has converted her pre-algebra class to a completely self-paced system, where students work on different skills at their own pace, and how she’s gradually introducing self-paced learning in her other math classes as well.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how she does it: For each chapter in their math textbook, students take a pre-test to determine which skills they have already mastered and which ones they still need to learn. For the skills they still need to master, they work independently on lessons (either reading them in the textbook or watching them on videos) and do practice problems until they feel they’ve got the skill down. This is the true self-paced part: Students decide how many lessons they need. They decide how much practice to give themselves.

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/self-paced-learning/

Resources:

Google Sites – Creating a Customized Template

One useful feature that many people do not know about is the ability to create your own custom template pages to use on your site.  This can be nice for several reasons:

• You are going to be creating multiple pages with a similar layout
• You are going to be creating multiple pages with similar content
• You want multiple pages to have the same settings

Or any combination of the above!

http://wafflebytes.blogspot.com/2015/11/google-sites-creating-customized.html

Web Spotlight:

Random Thoughts . . .  

I made it through a book on my reading list . . . “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon” by Yong Zhao.  

Personal Web Site

Jokes You Can Use:

Sign on a plumber’s truck:  A flush is better than a full house . . .

Eileen Award:  

• Twitter: Dan Siepen, Raul Santiago, Sean Beeson, Khushi Shah,

Advisory:

How to argue on the Internet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qb-h0sXkH4

Middle School Science Minute  

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com

STEAM – Representing Hurricanes

I was recently reading the March, 2015 issue of “Science Scope,” a magazine written for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.  

In this issue, I read the article, “Understanding the Art in Science and the Science in Art Through Crosscutting Concepts.”  It was written by Irene Plonczak and Susan Goetz Zwiirn.  The article describes STEAM lessons that mirror real-world processes that have contributed to breakthrough discoveries, incremental improvements or new thinking.  These STEAM lessons are organized using crosscutting concepts from the K-12 Framework and NGSS. In this second podcast in a multi-part series the STEAM lesson incorporates representing a hurricane.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2015/7/16_Middle_School_Science_Minute-STEAM_Representing_Hurricanes.html

From the Twitterverse:  

Strategies:

The best way to learn math is to learn how to fail productively

Students who are presented with unfamiliar concepts, asked to work through them, and then taught the solution significantly outperform those who are taught through formal instruction and problem-solving.

So far, teachers have mixed reactions. They recognize that the approach is good but they worry about efficiency and standardized tests: will kids fall on high-stakes national and international tests?

Kapur uses the research to make his case. Students get more output (deeper learning) for the same input (hours of instruction), which presents another problem: teachers have to get out of the way. “They [teachers] say it’s stressful to teach this way,” he says. “It’s easier to tell them [students] what you know.”

In fact, Kapur theorizes in one of his studies that direct instruction might close students’ minds. Once a teacher presents a solution, students may no longer see the possibility of other solutions, or more creative approaches.

http://qz.com/535443/the-best-way-to-understand-math-is-learning-how-to-fail-productively/

http://141.14.165.6/CogSci09/papers/596/paper596.pdf

Resources:

What Parents Should Know about Tumblr

Tumblr is an unending streaming scrapbook of text, photos, videos, and audio clips. It pioneered the vibrant, graphic-rich, full-screen design that kids love (which is one reason Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion 2013).

Tumblr is unique because of the wide variety of content that users can post from their phones or computers. Not only can they text and post photos, they also can offer up quotes, links, music, voice messages, and videos. It all shows up on a member’s page along with a stream of posts from people they’re following. This ability to post instantaneously can be a risk for impulsive teens (or any teens, really), so if your kid likes Tumblr, it’s a good idea to talk about thinking before you post.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/facebook-instagram-and-social/what-should-parents-know-about-tumblr

Helping Students Navigate the World of Texting

Texting offers some interesting challenges for middle school students as they develop and practice social and emotional interactions with one another.

Starting a classroom conversation about texting can help students share and learn together the best ways to navigate the world of texting. Teachers could

• Have students discuss texting in “pair shares”
• Visit with students asking for pros and cons from every student (if you have a small enough group)
• Include as an essay topic the things students like or don’t like about texting

http://www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/549/Helping-Students-Navigate-the-World-of-Texting.aspx

Wabbit Calculator

Wabbitemu, the best Z80 TI emulator available. For regular users all that is required is the exe file (either 32 or 64 bits depending on your OS). The DLL is used to provide a COM interface into the wabbitemu core allowing developers to use it in their own applications

Available for PC, Mac and Android

http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/thompson/departments/Mathematics/Documents/wabbit%20instructions.pdf

AM I FAILING THE INTROVERTS IN MY CLASSROOM?

There are constant opportunities for checking in with partners.  Group conversations are the norm rather than the exception to the rule.  Projects are always done in pairs — and they happen all the time.  My lessons are fast-paced and full of energy and there’s few moments set aside for genuine introspection.

Sometimes I feel like I am competing with a thousand sources of entertainment that rest a few clicks away for today’s kids.  If every lesson isn’t filled with heaping doses of whiz-bang, I figure I’m going to lose an audience that has learned to hit the reset button the moment something doesn’t go their way.  Pauses are interruptions to the impatient, aren’t they?

The simple truth is that finding space for introspection in days that are straight slammed and in schools that prioritize action over reflection won’t be easy to do.  But I can promise to stop judging the “quiet kids” in my classroom.  Instead of seeing them as disengaged, I’m going to force myself to remember that learning doesn’t have to be loud and messy to be meaningful.

http://blog.williamferriter.com/2015/10/19/am-i-failing-the-introverts-in-my-classroom/

Writing Prompts – Toasted Cheese

http://www.toasted-cheese.com/calendar/

Teach your students to code with Code.org’s free resources

Here is a list of free Code.org tools, resources and sources of inspiration to help you get started:

https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=516

Zoom In!

Zoom In is a free, Web-based platform that helps students build literacy and historical thinking skills through “deep dives” into primary and secondary sources.

Zoom In’s online learning environment features 18 content-rich U.S. history units that supplement your regular instruction and help you use technology to support students’ mastery of both content and skills required by the new, higher standards:

• Reading documents closely and critically
• Identifying author’s point of view and purpose
• Engaging in higher-order, text-based discussions
• Writing explanatory and argumentative essays grounded in evidence

http://zoomin.edc.org/

Web Spotlight:

Ex Teacher of the Year Resigns

Ann Marie Corgill is a nationally certified educator and a published author with more than 20 years of experience who was selected as a finalist for national teacher of the year in 2014-2015. So when she was told she wasn’t qualified for her new position teaching fifth grade at a federally funded low-income school, she was more than a little frustrated.

Corgill said Friday that she fired off a resignation letter out of frustration, but that she is now trying to work out the issue with the school system, and will “continue to give my life to the profession.”

“Every child I teach and learn from is a part of me,” Corgill said. “I love them and work to give them my best. The wall of bureaucracy I encountered trying to straighten all of this out with my employer led to my writing the letter.”

Corgill was teaching at an elementary school in Mountain Brook, one of the South’s most affluent communities, when she was named the state 2014-2015 teacher of the year. She was also one of four finalists for national teacher of the year.

It was then that it was pointed out to her that Corgill didn’t meet the definition of “highly qualified” that is required for such Title 1 Schools because her current state certification allows her to teach only up to the third grade. Corgill has a national certification to teach children up to age 12. But that does not supersede the state certification requirement, said Alabama Department of Education spokeswoman Erica Pippins Franklin.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2015/10/30/teacher-year-alabama-unqualified/74890480/

Does a shorter week help kids with their learning?

How would you react if you were told that your local public school planned to change the schedule from the traditional Monday-through-Friday model to a schedule that contained four longer school days? Would you worry about long days for young children, their academic accomplishments and, of course, childcare?

Our results, based on fifth grade mathematics scores, generally show that achievement rises after the introduction of a four-day week. We found that, even after we take into account the variations due to different socioeconomic levels, the four-day school week is associated with an increased achievement.

These results naturally led to speculation on the mechanisms that drove the results.

Could teachers be using alternative instruction methods that enhance learning?

Maybe students on a four-day schedule miss fewer days of school; a number of prior studies have pointed to attendance being a factor in achievement. Or, is it that teachers miss fewer days of school on the alternative schedule?

https://theconversation.com/does-a-shorter-week-help-kids-with-their-learning-48210

Random Thoughts . . .  

Area Code: is it dead?

Moodle Theme updating.

Personal Web Site

Jokes You Can Use:

Ray had just reached his 150th birthday. Surrounded by reporters, he was asked, “Excuse me, sir, but how did you come to live to be 150?”

Ray answered, “It was easy. I just never argue with anyone.”

One reporter shot back, “That’s crazy! It had to be something else — diet, exercise, or something. Just not arguing won’t keep you alive for 150 years!”

The old fella stared hard at the reporter for several seconds. Then he shrugged and said, “Hmm. Maybe you’re right.”

As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his cell phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife’s voice urgently warning him, “Herman, I just heard on the news that there’s a car going the wrong way on I-280. Please be careful!”

Herman replied, “It’s not just one car. It’s hundreds of them!”

“One of the hardest decisions in life is when to be middle-aged.” — Rob Loach

Practical Jokes for Co-Workers/Future Pranksters . . . on You:

You can paint a bar of soap with clear nail polish, let it dry, and then put it where someone is likely to try to use it.

Here are several food-related pranks. You can replace the cream filling in some Oreos.

You can shoot some mustard into the end of a toothpaste tube for a little surprise when the next person gives the tube a squeeze.

Although April is not prime season for caramel apples, you could prepare some anyway, along with a caramel onion or two.

The next one would involve some expense, unless you already have an air horn on hand.

Bathrooms are great places for some pranks. Here are some that are fairly innocent.

You could leave a note for your family or friends in the toilet paper roll.

Or using permanent marker, you could float a note in the toilet.

Make sure stomach flu season is past before doing this next one.

For the next one you would need to put water only in the cups closest to the doors. The rest could be empty.

This last one is fun if your office or home has had some bugs recently.

A guy walking down a street one afternoon passes an old man sitting on the side of the road with a large sack.

The younger guy says to the old man, “Watcha got in the sack?”

The old man responds, “I got some monkeys in that there sack.”

The younger man asks, “If I guess how many monkeys you got in the sack, can I keep one?”

The old man replies, “Son, if you guess how many monkeys I got in this sack, I’ll give you both of ’em!”

Advisory:

Learn Chinese:  Chineasy TED Talk

http://chineasy.org/films/ted-talk.aspx

Ever look at a piece of chinese text and say to yourself, “It’s Greek to me”?  Well it’s not. It’s Chinese!  This TED Talk on Chineasy shows students 8 symbols to begin understanding Chinese.  If it’s this easy to learn something new in an Advisory class, how hard can the rest of the day be?

Book Review this week.  

101 (More) Amazing Facts – mental_floss on YouTube – List Show (307)

May need to edit the first couple. As always, watch first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdfaafOJhOo

French School Deems Teenager’s Skirt an Illegal Display of Religion

PARIS — A secondary school in northeastern France has sent a 15-year-old student home twice in the last two weeks for wearing a long skirt that the principal judged was “an ostentatious sign” of the girl’s Muslim faith.

Could tie in well with a school uniform discussion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/world/europe/french-school-teenagers-skirt-illegal-display-religion.html

What are Girls Good For

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-girls-are-good-for-happy-birthday.html

Future Me

Email to be delivered in the future.

https://www.futureme.org/

Middle School Science Minute

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

MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE MINUTE-WRITING IN SCIENCE

I was recently reading the February, 2015 issue of “Science Scope,” a magazine written for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association.

In this issue, I read the article, “Reading and Writing Alignment Across Content Areas” written by Susan Merten.  In the article she explains how her school reached their goal of improving student expository writing overall in every written response, extended or brief, and in all subjects, especially science.

http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Entries/2015/5/7_Middle_School_Science_Minute-Writing_in_Science.html

From the Twitterverse:

Resources:

Deekit

Collaborative Whiteboard

Sign in using Google, Facebook or MicroSoft Account. Click on tools to reveal more options.

https://www.deekit.com/

Ultimate Guide to Taking Notes in Class

PictoGraph Creator

http://primaryschoolict.com/pictograph/

Topographical Maps

http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/history.html

Web Spotlight:

The School That Silicon Valley Thinks Will Save Education

On one side of the glass is a cheery little scene, with two teachers leading two different middle school lessons on opposite ends of the room. But on the other side is something altogether unusual: an airy and open office with vaulted ceilings, sunlight streaming onto low-slung couches, and rows of hoodie-wearing employees typing away on their computers while munching on free snacks from the kitchen.

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/altschool/

Principals: Are you brave enough to ask for staff feedback?

To get a full, clear picture of how well you’re doing, ask questions that prompt teachers to consider your performance from different, specific angles, while allowing them to also provide more open-ended feedback. The following are some suggested survey items.

http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/faculty-staff-survey-form/

President Obama on His Teacher

I credit my education to Ms. Mabel Hefty just as much as I would any institution of higher learning.

When I entered Ms. Hefty’s fifth-grade class at Punahou School in the fall of 1971, I was just a kid with a funny name in a new school, feeling a little out of place, hoping to fit in like anyone else.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/04/29/email-president-obama-my-fifth-grade-teacher

Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, New Teachers Are Staying on the Job

Despite previous reports that new teachers are ditching their professions in record numbers, new federal data suggest that a grand majority of novice classroom instructors are showing up for work year after year.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/contrary-to-conventional-wisdom-new-teachers-are-staying-on-the-job/391985/

John Oliver on standardized testing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k

Random Thoughts . . .

Personal Web Site