Category: MSM

Middle School Matters podcast related information

advisory, MSM, News, NMSA10, Podcast, Web SpotlightBy Troy Patterson

MSM 148 NMSA 2010: Happy New Year!

Jokes:

On a visit to Chicago
On a visit to Chicago, a woman was eager to visit a posh department store a few blocks from her hotel. Her husband agreeably hailed a cab. “The lady wants to go to Neiman Marcus,” he told the driver. The cabby looked over his shoulder at them. “And the gentleman?” he asked. “Does he want to go to the bank?”

Marriage
“Honey,” said this husband to his wife, “I invited a friend home for supper.” “What? Are you crazy? The house is a mess, I didn’t go shopping, all the dishes are dirty, and I don’t feel like cooking a fancy meal!” “I know all that.” “Then, why did you invite a friend for supper?” “Because the poor guy is thinking about getting married.”

Blood Pressure
When a doctor remarked on a new patient?s extraordinarily ruddy complexion, he said, “High blood pressure, Doc. It runs in my family.” “Your mother’s side or your father’s?” the doctor asked. “Neither,” the patient replied. “It’s from my wife’s family.” “Oh, come now,” said the doctor “How could your wife’s family give you high blood pressure?” He sighed. “You oughta meet ’em sometime, Doc!”

Marriage
The wife saw her husband frustrated reading the Marriage Certificate from top to bottom, flip it over, and then read it again… She asked: “Honey, what are you looking for?” He answered: “Nothing dear, I’m just looking for the expiration date.”

On Our Mind:

Happy New Year!
Resolutions?

Middle School Science Minute

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

Did you Know…..
Ummmmm… Chemistry

Advisory:

2011 Predictions:  http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1101/110101-happy_new_year.html

From the Twitterverse:

*gatorbonBC by DianeRavitch  Corporate Schools vs Public Schools? No Separate is STILL not equal. Wear Red 4 Public Ed Tues Jan 4. #WearRedForEd #edchat @DianeRavitch
*nancyrubin by francesblo  Why Should Educators Blog? Reflective Writing Can Positively Affect Teaching http://ow.ly/3wNf3
*DianeRavitch What you need to know about Finland: http://www.publicpolicyblogger.com/2010/12/before-its-too-late-fifteen-reasons-why.html
*AnthonyCody Battling the “Bad Teacher” Bogeyman: A Teacher takes on Hanushek’s misguided model of improvement: #edreform
*mcleod New post: A hilarious (and scary) tale about standardized testing scoring #edtech
*web20classroom Want More Engaged Students? Give Them A Say:
*web20classroom RT @ransomtech: A good discussion starter: “21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020”
*NCMSA RT @mathematicsprof: 2011 is also the sum of 11 CONSECUTIVE prime numbers: 2011=157+163+167+173+179+181+191+193+197+199+211
*SeanBanville “2011 to Be Best Year Ever” – My latest BreakingNewsEnglish lesson plan – #ESL
*mcleod CASTLE blog post: Virtual Schooling In The News
*sarahhanawald RT @fredbartels: Blaming bad teachers for learning failure in high-poverty areas like blaming bad doctors for high disease rates in slums.
*DianeRavitch LA school that is “least effective” but not really: http://tinyurl.com/2busj8d
*terryfreedman 10 tips for planning the use of technology in lessons: Using educational technology effectively usu.. Pls RT, thx!

NSMA 2010 Session 5:

A five year multi-case study of middle level teachers

Dr. Holly Thornton
thorntonhj@app state.edu
(email her for the presentation)

Teacher Observation:  Caitlyn
A lot of these are self reporting.
It’s a legal can of worms.

Teacher Observation:  Caitlyn

Longitudinal case analysis.

Do these beliefs last over time.

Teacher Observation: Caitlyn

Put on your teacher evaluator hat.

What did they do well and what needs improvement?

Teacher Observation:  Amy

More organized.

Dispositions Observation form.

There is an observation form for this stuff.

Left hand column is responsiveness

Right hand column is technical

Center is Medium level.

The disconnected side sounds like a slam, but it isn’t intended to be so.

Dispositions in Action

Focus is impact on student learning/depth of understanding.

Responsive sees the kids getting learning deeply and technical is seeing the kids getting it correctly (technical details)

Context wasn’t a main factor in this study.

Aligned with Young Adolescent needs.

Responsive are better at teaching this.

Responsive dispositions align more with deeper teaching.  Both are necessary, but Responsive seems to have an advantage.

Manifested in teacher/student interaction.

Discourse analysis

Used to understand how the teachers got the kids to this place

Grounded theory from model middle school analysis

Evaluating Dispositions

Summary Findings Over Time

Young teachers’ dispositions remained fairly consistent over time.

They maintained their dispositions over time.

The testing pieces helped them live out their dispositions, maybe.

Many teachers leave the field because they don’t feel successful in what they choose to do.

What does this imply for us?

Factors that did not

Type of school setting

Content area taught

Testing emphasis

Factors that matter most

School climate

Collaborative time with teacher

School leadership

Principal trust was a huge influence.

Push on testing

Trust that they would do their jobs was important

Testing emphasis

How that emphasis was stressed moved people to the technical side.

Original dispositional orientation.

Can you teach dispositions?

All were dealing with a strong emphasis on standardized high stakes testing via No Child Left Behind.

(Note find teacher quality index)

All were held accountable to these tests and were successful in getting students to do well on them.

However, the young teachers’ dispositions affected how they reacted to the testing focus and how they ultimately defined teaching and learning in their classrooms.

Note:  The more middle school a middle school is the better the test scores.  (Find this study)
Consider as Middle Level Teacher Educators

Responsive teachers may at this time in education feel like they are teaching against the grain.  The question may be what types of dispositions we want our graduates to possess, given the current educational context and challenges.  What serves them best and ultimately what best serves their students and our future society?

The people who will be in the next century are the responsive types, not the technical types.

Look for publications in Teacher Ed Quarterly.

How to manifest it in the classroom.

CEU info:  AA7
2461 Session #
Send her stuff too.

21st Century Skills for students

Session 2
2229
Chad Foster

Teenagers preparing for the real world.
Mostly read by 8th graders. Written at a 7th grade level.
Based off of a 10 day short course.
Reading literacy is the basis.
Business background.

Students spend 15,000 hours in the classroom before graduation. Too many kids don’t know what to do after school. Schools do a good job of educating kids but not preparing them.
Success:

  • Good Friends
  • Reputation
  • Like what they are doing
  • Give back to the community

Need:
Knowledge- must be relevant

What part of the cell provides energy? mitocondri

  • Communication Skills
  • People Skills
  • Technology Skills
  • Time Management Skills

Skills must be learned. They can’t be Googled.
We need to teach the ability to talk to “strangers”.

80% of jobs that are being hired are never posted or advertised. People with networking skills are getting the jobs. In the past, you needed to work hard to stay in contact with others. Today it is easy.

Meet a stranger activity. Too many kids don’t know how to talk to business people. They think that they need lots of complex questions. They need to learn how to ask simple questions, listen and then follow up.

Teach kids to talk about:

  • Family
  • What they do
  • Hobbies

Have kids practice talking to “strangers”. Start with students acting like someone else. Then have adults do the same thing. Then bring in business people.
Have the students contact people who use outside the norm jobs. Students complete interviews and then do a one minute presentation.
Bring in a diverse panel for kids to ask questions.

Have kids write a handwritten thank you cards.

News:

Can Learning to Play the Violin Make you Smarter?

Brenda Brenner, a music education professor at the IU Jacobs School of Music, developed the program after academic research showed students who played string instruments performed better academically than those who did not.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20101224/NEWS04/12240324/1013/NEWS04/Attica-students-part-effort-see-music-improves-minds

Webspotlight:

Google Body
Played with Google Earth?  You know, that website the kids go to to look at their own homes via satellite?  Here’s one for the human body:  http://bodybrowser.googlelabs.com/

Math & Money

Mint.com, the popular personal finance management service, in collaboration with Scholastic has launched a free personal finance curriculum for middle school use. Math and Money is a collection of four short lessons (2 primary lessons and two “bonus” lessons) about personal finance. Lesson one is designed to teach students about wages, taxes, and costs of living. Lesson two is designed to teach students the benefits of saving their money in a bank. The bonus lessons expand the first two lessons. Scholastic hosts printable materials that you can download and use to support the lessons.
http://www.scholastic.com/mint/

Life on Minimum Wage

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/11/life-on-minimum-wage-lesson-in-personal.html

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
advisory, MSM, News, NMSA10By Troy Patterson

MSM 147 NMSA 2010: PISA sir, may we have some more? :-P

Jokes:

ABCs
Little Freddy’s second-grade teacher was quizzing them on the alphabet. “Freddy,” she says, “what comes after ‘O’?” Freddy says, “Yeah!”

Mothers
Miss Jones had been giving her second-grade students a lesson on science. She had explained about magnets and showed how they would pick up nails and other bits of iron. Now it was question time, and she asked, “My name begins with the letter ‘M’ and I pick up things. What am I?” A little boy on the front row proudly said, “You’re a mother!”

On Our Mind:

WOOT!  It’s Christmas Break!  (then 2 weeks ‘till exams after that . . . )
Australian schools got out this past week for their summer break …
Edublog Awards:  Congrats to all the winners!

2nd Runner up:  EdTechCrew
1st Runner up:   LearnEnglish
The 2010 Winner:  PortableRadio.ca

Middle School Science Minute

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

Did you Know…..
Botany facts!

Advisory:

What kids can do
http://whatkidscando.org/

Teaching Strategy:
“Managing Students in the Computer Lab”
Source: Teresa Sutherland, Retired Middle School Teacher

Keep a red plastic cup at each computer. When students need help, have
them place the highly visible cups on top of their monitors.  Students
won’t be calling for help or spending time with their hands raised in
the air!

Here’s an alternate idea:  check your local Dollar Store for mini orange road cones.  The shape works well on thin monitors and they last a long time!

Our addition:
Use 3 cups to monitor group work. Use green cups for groups to self report that they are working fine, yellow for they are starting to struggle, and red for need teacher help.

From the Twitterverse:

*kelalford Delicious is Officially Dead via DEN Blog Network – Please see Wes Fryers’ post ** Delicious Social … http://tinyurl.com/2755dqd
*zeitz Delicious.com not shutting down. Just looking for a new home. See what PC Mag says
*Larryferlazzo New post: “Part Two Of The Best Videos For Educators — 2010”
*mguhlin MGuhlin.org Blogs – Project-Based Learning Video from Common Craft: Video from The Buck Institute for Education ..
*russeltarr 15 Classroom display posters – famous history graduates http://tinyurl.com/q23ecb
*math2go Algebra teacher engages students:
*AngelaMaiers True leaders say: Because it’s possible rather than because I said so..when asked- Why do we have to…. #leadershipchat
*newfirewithin The Unintended Consequences of Incentive Programs in Schools – The Tempered Radical http://ow.ly/3oILL <–YEP!
*mbteach Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!” http://post.ly/1KxX1
*web20classroom The TED Commandments-Rules Every Speaker Should Know:
*newsfromtengrrl How to design thought-provoking interactions | 24 Tips http://hoki.es/gHsnun
*LadyParadis In a snowy park / swings sway / in the wind / abandoned / until spring #gogyohka
*LateralWisdom RT @ErikRees: // The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® – http://j.mp/dEHslf
*russeltarr Using Target Diagrams to scaffold historical understanding #historyteacher: http://tinyurl.com/337e88g
*ccassinelli w00t w00t! Several staff members contacted me today after I shared this list of technology integration ideas #babysteps

NSMA 2010 Session 5:

Getting the Most out of Your Networked World
Todd Williamson

thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com

Tapscott Video

Information Thieves
Miracles.flv
Swedish group has combined several different artists into a new video.
Norwegian Recycling

Caveats of Networked Learning
Native/Immigrant Paradigm
‘Junk” Detection
What the web is good for
Networked Learning

Wes Fryer’s response to Digital Natives:
Digital Refugees – Ignorant or in Denial
Digital voyeurs – Knowing
Digital Immigrants – Participating
Digital Natives – Living
All of the above are digital (tool) specific

Growing up with a computer on your hip….doesn’t make you hip to the use of computers.

There is a difference between what they do and what we want them to do.

Junk Detection:
“If it’s on the Internet, it must be true”.
California Velcro Crop by Ken Umbach (1993)
dHMO.org
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
Additional Bogus Websites:  http://publish.uwo.ca/~floyd/general/boguswebsites.htm

Information=Danger?

We need to ask better questions. Questions that can’t be “googled”.

The illiterate of the future won’t be those that can’t read or write, it will be those that can’t learn, unlearn and relearn. Allan Tofler.

Filter failure vs Information overload. Clay Shirkey.

3 Things that we can do with Technology:
Create
makebeliefscomix.com
avairy.com

Communicate
Skype
Skype an author Network
Contact Experts in the Field you study
Other Classrooms: SkypeInSchools Wiki
Edmodo- private Facebook-style network for education.

Collaborate
•MSP2 – Middle School Portal 2 – Math & Science Pathways
Learn from a network a PLN

What I know/ infinity

Networking Tools….New and Old
Conferences
Workshops
Teacher’s Lounge
Journals
Listserves
Twitter
Blogs
Social Bookmarks
Podcasts
Facebook

“You don’t learn to swim by sitting beside the pool. You can’t learn about networks without diving in either.”

Smartr portal
Developed for students – science and math oriented.

Reading Lists:
Rethinking Education in the age of technology. Allan Collins & Richard Halverson.

Shawn’s SoundNote Notes from this session:
SoundNote Recording created November 5, 2010 7:28 AM:

Todd Williamson
Twitter:  @twilliamson15
http://www.multi url.com/1/3Kz
Backchannel:  www.todaysmeet.com/twilliamson (12/18/2010:  This is now expired.)

How does technology fit in to what I do?
Check out his blog for information on the presentation.
Video on “this generation”.
-Don Tapscott
Norweigan band that rips off a number of other bands.

Caveats of Networked Learning
Native/Immigrant Paradigm
“Junk” Detection
What the web is Good For
Networked Learning

Native/Immigrant Paradigm
Marc Prensky reference.
Dangerous dichotomy of Native vs. Immigrant
Wes Bryer:  Digital Landscape
1.  Digital Refugees
2.  Digital Voyeurs
3.  Digital Immigrants: Participating
4.  Digital Natives:  Living in the zone.
Growing up with a computer on your hip, doesn’t make you hip to the use of computers.
We need to teach them how to use the tool.
Crap Detection
California Velcro Crop
Dihydrogen Monoxide dhmo.org
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
We need to help our students and teachers develop a filter to determine good and bad information on the web.
Information = danger?
The Power of the web for today’s students
It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure.  – Clay Shirky
3 Things that the Web is good for.
Create
Screentoaster
Glogster
Animoto
MakeBeliefsComix.com
edublogs
Aviary
Communication tools
Skype
Skype an Author Network
Contact Experts in the Field you Study
Other classrooms:  SkypeInSchools Wiki
Edmodo – private Facebook – style network for education.
Tools
MSP2
PBWorks
Google docs
Wallwisher
ePals
It’s not about knowing all the tools.  The important thing is that you have a toolbox full of opportunities ready to meet a specific task.
Learn from a Network
He knows nothing, proven mathematically.
The network is smarter than the node.
What I know – Infinity divided by what I know becomes zero.
Learning Network names
PLN – Personal Learning Network
PLN –
NIHCTTAR – Network I Have Come To Trust And Respect
Networking Tools … New and Old
Conferences
Workshops
Twitter
Blogs
Social Bookmarks
Podcasting
FaceBook
You don’t learn how to swim sitting beside the pool.  You can’t learn about networks without diving in either.
Smartr* portal  smartr.edc.org
Designed for students to get in and build some of their learning.
Dead Tree resources
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, by Will Richardson
Rethinking Education In the Age of Technology, Allan Collins and Richard Halverson.

Contact Info:  twilliamson15@gmail.com
Twitter:  @twilliamson15
http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com

CEU:  PK8

News:

Put PISA in Perspective

By Walt Gardner on December 8, 2010 7:05 AM
PISA measures learning that has taken place since birth, but not necessarily what students have learned during their previous year in school.
About 5,100 students only from Shanghai were chosen. But Shanghai is hardly representative of China because it is an industrialized center with scores of modern universities.
According to a study in the International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership in April 2008, the relationship between student achievement rankings on international assessments of reading, mathematics and science and a nation’s future economic growth is untenable and not causal.
None of the above seems to sink in. In fact, any explanations are immediately labeled as excuses. This attitude effectively cuts off a rational discussion because it puts the other side on the defensive.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2010/12/the_astonishing_illiteracy_about_pisa.html

NMSA on the Tube
http://www.nmsa.org/Advocacy/OtherResources/tabid/327/Default.aspx
NMSA members were featured guests covering a variety of critical achool and home issues for 10- to 15-year-olds on The Parent-Teacher Corner, on the Lifetime Television morning show, The Balancing Act.

Dr. Betty Greene-Bryant named NMSA Senior Director of Professional Services

“Betty comes to NMSA from the Maryland State Department of Education where she coordinated the Maryland State Improvement Grant (MSIG), a U.S. Department of Education OSEP Professional Development Grant. Previously she has served in the roles of director and assistant director for other U.S. Department of Education grants. Betty served as the first principal in residence at the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and director for professional standards at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and has served as a middle and high school principal for more than 10 years. Her other work in the field has been that of a college instructor in the area of school administration and teacher training at American University and Coppin State University.” – From the NMSA website.

Taking Teacher Evaluation to Extremes

By Kenneth Mitchell
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/12/17/15mitchell.h30.html?tkn=TLOFwiP0tsOnR6JT3k/eb9Op9p6gM3PcMctB&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

New words of the Decade:
Video is 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2010/12/time-video-new-words-born-this-decade.html

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
MSM, News, NMSA, NMSA10, PodcastBy Troy Patterson

MSM 142 NMSA 2010 Follow up 1, RTI, Summarizing and More….

Jokes:

Women’s Rights
A girl involved with the women’s libertarian group boarded a crowded bus and one man rose to his feet. “No, No, you must not give up your seat. I insist,” she said. The man replied; “You may insist as much as you like, Lady. This is my street where I get off.”

Initials
Mr. R.B. Jones applied for a position with the government and was accepted. On his first day, the personnel dept processed his records. When asked what the R.B. stood for, he informed the clerk that they stood for nothing. His parents had named him with the initials only. The clerk informed him that his records could not show initials only so they typed his name as R. (only) B. (only) Jones. He got his first paycheck made out to Ronly Bonly Jones!

Barbershops
The reading material at the barbershop consisted entirely of murder stories, mysteries, thrillers, and ghost tales. When Peter asked the barber if he wanted to terrify his customers, he replied, “No. Peter. These books make the customers’ hair stand up and then it becomes easier to trim and cut.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
Chemistry Facts. Cool and useful. Did you know……?

From the Twitterverse:

*gcouros Let Them Speak – Why Student Led Conferences are the Right Choice
*coolcatteacher Vicki Davis
“Education ranks 55th out of 55 industries surveyed in the US” in the use of technology. Bob Wise
*web20classroom Steven W. Anderson
Using Wikis To Strengthen Vocabulary:
*francesblo Fran Lo
How To Get Early Access To ‘Skype Education’ Right Now edudemic.com/2010/11/how-to… via @edudemic #midleved #elearning
*
elemenous Learning: Is there an app for that? http://ow.ly/37Uit
*
shannonmmiller The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness…Great Math Resources http://ow.ly/329S9 #vanmeter
*
shannonmmiller Glogster and Gloster.edu as an alternative to PowerPoint http://ow.ly/329re
*
Larryferlazzo Elect.io is an easy way to find candidate positions in any US election http://www.elect.io/

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Waiting to hear back from Infamous40000 . . .

NSMA 2010 Session 1:

How to Implement a highly effective RTI Model

Kristin Heckt
Sara Malinoski
Jennifer Webb

Timothy Edwards in Connecticut
1100 kids. 30 kids on Tier 3.

SRBI- Scientifically Researched Based Interventions

Must be Multi-Tiered.

  • Tier 1 is 80% of students – this applies to all students.
  • Tier 2 is 20% of 6th grade. Becomes less in 7th & 8th grade.
  • 74% of kids coming at “Goal”
  • 95% at goal at the end of 7th grade.

Highly successful model. By 8th grade, no students are below basic.

Focus on academic interventions.

  • Vision
  • Clarity
  • Coherence
  • Courage

See “What Needs to be in Place?” –

  • Curriculum
  • Standarts-based
  • Understanding by Design

Data

  • Universal Screens
  • CFA’s
  • Diagnostic
  • Progress Monitoring
  • Use for Tier identification

PD
Embedded- into the course of the day. Team meeting everyday.  Moved from compliance issues to PLC practice.

  • Literacy
  • Technology
  • Research based Instructional design
  • Instructional coaches do PD weekly

Communication
DDDM at grade level
Students & Families – students monitor their own progress.

Support
Schedule – Flexible block schedule – kinda. Music is crucial to the district. Tier 2 or 3 comes out of encore periods. Needed flexibility from teachers as the kids would come and go throughout the year. Some kids would come out of Social Studies or Unified Arts (life skills, tech ed).
Administration
Personnel – 4 teams at each grade level. Down to 3 grade by grade level. 108 teachers for 1100 students.  Reorganized teachers to include some interventionists as well as the core areas. 6 Intervention Teachers.
Reallocated Resources

Programming
3 Tier Approach
Research based programs
Interdisciplinary teams
PLC’s

Special Education referrals have dropped considerably. Data shows that progress is being made. This leads to fewer students being identified. They went from a discrepancy model to the RTI model.

Including special education teachers now. They were just using interventionists. Special education and regular education teachers are both included into the intervention classes.

45 kids in Tier 2 & 16 in Tier 3 per grade level – approximate.

Email Kristin for her schedule. Teachers cover lunch. kheckt@swindler.k12.ct.us

Topics for embedded PD
Understanding by Design
Literacy
Technology
PLC
Data Driven Decision Making & Data Teams
High Yield Instructional Strategies
Common formative & Summative Assessments
Differentiation
Standards Based Grading

Book study. Change in culture.
Instructional Rounds is next. They want teachers to do the instructional rounds.

PLC/Data Team Structure
Interdisciplinary Teams – includes encores. 6 teachers per team level. Unified Art is “core class”. Encore is PE, music and health.

Tier 1:

  • Universal assessments
  • Comprehensive & differentiated instruction informed by scientific research.
  • Ongoing, embedded PD
  • Instructional & Human resources.
  • PLC’s / Data Teams
  • Material and instruction at instructional levels.

The Assessment Process:

  • Screening – identifies students for targeted intervention – 3x a year.
  • Diagnostic – Pinpoint instructional needs
  • Progress monitoring – Shows whether the instruction is effective and impacting student skill development.

Tier 1 Assesment Questions:
Why is the student not performing at the expected level?
What skills does the student need to learn to be a skilled reader?

See Tier 1 Literacy Intervention Plan

Tier 2

  • Small group instruction – never more than 8 kids at a time.
  • Additional support (4x out of the 6 day rotation – 45 minutes)
  • Homogenous grouping. (Use Read Naturally).
  • Interventions are short term.

Literacy Example:
Work Your Way Back: (See handout).

AIMS web norms.

Keeping students aware is a big part of the process.

Tier 3: Customized and Intense.

Programs:

  • Word warm ups
  • rewards
  • Let’s Read

Individual or small group (4 or less).
Homogenous groups.
Interventions require a high degree of expertise on the part of the teacher.

Fidelity of the Program:

  • Master teachers
  • Scientifically researched-based programs
  • Adherence to protocols:
  • Time
  • Setting
  • Grouping
  • Progress Monitoring
  • Communication

LW5

NMSA 2010:  Summarization in Any Subject
Part One:
Rick Wormeli, 2010  (Handout provided)
email him if we want the Powerpoint presentation of this if we want it.
Break at 10:00 am and the water is behind him.
Housekeeping done
Summarization
College websites have pages and pages of advice that should have been taught in elementary and middle school.
He started teaching in 1981.
Real learning has little to do with instruction.
Learning happens two ways:
They have to use it outside your classroom.

They need to summarize their learning in the middle and at the end of their learning.

Summarizing and debriefing.
What you teach is irrelevant.  It’s what the kids carry forward that matters.
Lectures chunked with summarization increases learning.
It’s revitalizing to do summarizing.
Summarize the brown slide article selection:
Text from the presentation (Courtesy Rick Wormeli):
Take a look at the NMSA’s This We Believe materials, Turning Points 2000, or the on-line research at www.nmsa.org: middle level students are in prime exploration mode.  They require ample opportunities to wrestle with ideas, not have those ideas spoon fed to them.  They should feel safe and invited to experiment and fail in the middle of class or at home as they learn new material.  Unfortunately, the way we’ve set things up in many middle schools, students consider academic struggle as being weak when it could be used as a launching pad for more effective learning instead.
Let’s make it okay to fail in the pursuit of learning.  One of the most vivid ways we can do this is to model it.  We set up real situations in which we do not know answers or how to solve problems – ‘really not know something, not just faking it — then find the answer or solve the problem constructively in front of students so they see what it looks like to not know something, to handle it wisely, and to remain a respected individual in the community.  Many middle school students do not push themselves to explore different talents or new thinking because they are focused on protecting their reputations as the persons who always get the right answers.  What potential is lost because a student needs to protect his personal status quo?
My summarization:
Prime exploration mode for middle school students.
They need opportunities to wrestle with ideas of their choosing.
They need to feel safe to experiment as they learn.  (Free to fail.)
Schools are not set up that way unfortunately.
Policy:  make it ok.
Model it for them.

Construct sandboxes to experiment it.  It helps protect them in the social of transescent learning.

“Share deodorant zones” and tell your neighbor why it is a good summarization.
Person listening:  agree or disagree, but tell why you agree or disagree.
Most of probably did well.  Most kids haven’t done it and so they struggle with it.
What makes a summarization good?
Is it comfortable to share under the scrutiny of others?
Problem/solution structure
Using one’s own words.
Give them a chance to language play to build vocab to summarize.
Jeremy ate pizza.
Embellish as needed.  Give me 10 ways to say a sentence.

Writing process terms:  they have to describe what they are doing/have done with the clay.

“Great books are rewritten.”
It captures the text accurately.
Could our neighbors get all the information in the topic from our summarization?
1.  Read it.
2.  Read it again.
3.  Look for key terms that are critical for understanding.
4.  Find key terms:
Nouns & Verbs
Words that without them, the sentence or passage wouldn’t make sense.
Topic sentence
Things that answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Chris Tovani, “I read it but I don’t get it.”
How was it to give advice on how well someone did on their summarization?
When we defend our thinking, we move into our internal editor.
They’ll remember it for much longer.
Kids will have to be taught on how to critique each other’s summarizations.
Gettysburg Address example
1.  Go sentence by sentence.
2.  Do a compressed poem.
3.  Guided reading.
4.  Visualization:  Draw a picture.
5.  Provide context to the document.
6.  Ask students what their experience is with death and cemeteries.
7.  Read aloud.
Yes, but by someone who knows the context and background.  Don’t read it cold.
8.  Define difficult words.
Rick’s method:
Pull out some phrases and then add them back in to reduce overloading.
Highlight contrast words:  Now/ago for example
One strategy won’t work:  You need 5 or 6 together to make it work.
Poetry Example:  “With hocked gems financing him . . . ”  (Dooling and Lachman, 1971)
•    With hocked gems financing him our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter that tried to prevent his scheme
•    Your eyes deceive, he had said, an egg, not a table, correctly typifies this unexplored planet
•    Now three sturdy sisters sought proof, forging along sometimes through calm vastness, yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys
•    Days become weeks, as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge
•    At last from nowhere, welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying momentous success
-Christopher Columbus
Students must have a frame of reference to understand the metaphor:  “He flozzled his website.”
Is this a good or a bad thing?  Add more context information to add clarity and creating background where there is none.
Tell the story of the Code of Hammurabi before discussing the Magna Carta.
Before studying the detailed rules of baseball, play baseball.
Before reading about how microscopes work, play with microscopes.
“In terms of standards, maybe  a standard for exposure to exploring…”  -A summarization of Bill Ivey and Rick Wormeli.
Before reading the Gettysburg Address, inform students that Lincoln was dedicating a cemetery.
Before reading a book about a military campaign or a murder mystery with references to chess, play Chess with a student in front of the class, or teach them the basic rules, get enough boards, and ask the class to play.
Primary-Recency Effect
See Graph:    (Courtesy Rick Wormeli)
Frontload and backload the hour.
Makes a difference
The bell work is always related to the stuff we’re doing that day.
Stop 7 minutes early and have them summarize what they learned in the hour.  (Gotta do this one!)
Make these cycles with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Free fact:  If you’re not a good student, put your paper under a poorer student’s paper and you’ll get a better grade.
Definition:  Summarization is restating the essence of text or an experience in as few words as possible or in a new, yet efficient, manner.
Sprenger’s Suggestions for Long Term Retention  (How to Teach So Students Remember, ASCD, 2005)  (Preview of the inside of the book:  http://books.google.com/books?id=z5ipcWRLCPYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22How+to+teach+so+students+remember%22&source=bl&ots=fyqpgsXxJ8&sig=VOVU5LOBWF4-gZPA9CNtyzf0o_o&hl=en&ei=swTeTIfEHsbPnAe4_YSvDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false )
Reach:  on an emotional level.
Reflect:
Recode:  put it in terms of their own life
Reinforce:  graphic organizer
Rehearse:
Review:
Retrieve:
Remember who’s doing the learning.
Break Here for Next Show:
Whomever responds to the students/classmates is doing the learning.  Make sure the majority of the time it’s the students responding and summarizing, not the teacher.
Teachers ask 80 questions each hour on average, while students ask only two during that same hour.  (Betty Hollas)  Students learn more when they ask questions.  Find ways to make question-asking so compelling and habitual they can’t escape it.
Have a conversation (with Wormeli) using only nouns.
First one to utter a verb loses.
Prime the brain prior to asking students to do any learning experience.
Priming means we show students:
1.  What they will get out of the experience (the objectives).
2.  What they will encounter as they go through the experience (itinerary, structure)
Avoid Confabulation
The Brain seeks wholeness.  It will fill in the holes in partial learning with made-up learning and experiences and it will convince itself that this was the original learning all along.  To prevent this:
Deal with misconceptions:  Students should summarize material they already understand, not material they are coming to know.
Recall success with individual, unrelated items:

Age of Student
# of Unconnected, Individual Items Successfully Recalled
(plus or minus 2, Wolfe, 2001)

5    2

7    3

11    5

15+    7
Courtesy Rick Wormeli’s PowerPoint.
Summarization tips:
Create or activate personal background.
Prime the brain.
Plan according to the Primacy-Recency Effect.
Use varied summary formats – written, artistic, oral, physical, musical.
Use summary experiences before, during, and after lessons.
Teach students to recognize familiar text structures .
Teach students to recognize familiar writing structures.
Use analogies.
Chunk text and experiences.

Courtesy Rick Wormel’s PowerPoint.
Reading Math

Math books have more concepts per sentence and paragraph than any other type of text.

There is little redundancy in math text.
Words as well as numbers and other symbols are used throughout the text.
Eyes travel in different patterns than traditional left-to-right.
They often have distracting sidebars.

In most text there’s a topic sentence or key idea followed by detailed supports.  In math, we get the details first then the topic sentence – the key idea is given in the form of a question or a task at the end.  Students ahve to read the text agian after seeing this key idea and figure out what material in the text is important and unimportant.

Word Morphology
Teach prefixes, roots and suffixes!
See the list in his handout.
Kids who know their roots and suffixes, can summarize.
Latin is Fun!  – Book example.
Break
Part Two
Summarization Strategies:
Reading Notations
Annotated text is one of the best things we can teach according to research.
(Check Mark)           I agree with this.
X                I disagree with this.
??                I don’t understand this.
!!                Wow!  (‘Elicits a strong emotion)
CL                General Claim
EV                Evidence for the Claim
(These can be numbered to indicate their sequence, too:  EV1, EV2, EV3…)

News:

Oregon School Addresses English Language Learners

http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=128942579843364600

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
MSM, News, NMSA10, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 140 NMSA 2010, Math & Reading Resources!

Jokes:

Proper Grammar
The teacher wrote on the blackboard, “I ain’t had no fun all summer.” “Now Paul,” she said. “What shall I do to correct this?” “Get a boyfriend.” Paul replied.

Dressing Rooms
A lady walked into a boutique and asked the sales lady, “May I try on that cute dress in the window?” The sales lady replied; “Sure, but wouldn’t you be more comfortable in a dressing room?”

Birthday Presents
The parents of a difficult boy were discussing what to give him for a birthday present. The mother said, “Let’s buy him a bicycle.” “Well,” said the father, “maybe but do you think it will improve his behavior?” “Probably not,” said the mother, “but it will spread it over a wider area.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference (If you’re going, contact us. We have a great link for you).
Keep in mind that new flight rules take effect on Nov. 1st.

Middle School Science Minute

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

Dave is looking for an excellent Earth Science Middle School Teacher.

From our Listeners:

As far as the testing discussion goes, I am blown away by states that test the previous year’s material at the beginning of the following year. That just doesn’t make sense to me (not that I agree with all of NC’s testing program either). Here in NC, we administer EOG (End-of-Grade) tests about 3 weeks before school is out for the summer. Admin get the scores back about 5 hours after the last test is finished, and teachers usually get scores the following day. Scores are released to students before going home for the summer. The past couple of years, we have had a retest program for students who did not score at proficient levels.

Granted, there are issues with this system as well. Testing that far in advance of the end of school leads to a “Why are we still here?” attitude from some of the kids after the test. I think that makes much more sense than not being able to start the year covering relevant grade-level material.
Todd Williamson
Note:  We’re hoping there will be a ton of folks at his presentation on Friday at 7:30 am in Baltimore this coming week.  If you’re going to NMSA and willing, please consider his presentation in Room: 339 (Baltimore Convention Center)
Audience: Community Leaders, Media Specialists/Librarians, Pre-service teachers, Teachers, Technical Coordinators
Presentation Level: Intermediate
Presentation Description:  Students today live in a highly networked world—from email to text messaging to online gaming and social networking. Teachers, meanwhile, often express concerns about staying one step ahead of technology savvy students. Learn about the rationale for using social media in the classroom along with strategies for navigating the new media landscape with your students. Also featured will be the SMARTR portal, a STEM portal of youth- focused Math and Science virtual learning experiences developed for and by students!

From the Twitterverse:

*BernajeanPorter by ipadeducatorsRT @cnansen: @BernajeanPorter One of the most useful sites I have run across in the last month-Dot Voting http://www.dotvoting.org/ #edchat
*AngelaMaiers The Complete Facebook For Educators! | Tech the Plunge http://ow.ly/2ZYRd
*CBrannon In a meeting. They gave me a laptop and want me to pay attention….I will…In a minute….
*kylepace 100 incredibly useful YouTube channels for teachers: #edtech
*jybuell How Allies Used Math Against German Tanks | Autopia | Wired.com wired.com/autopia/2010/1…
*Curriki “Quoth the Raven, Nevermore…” and nevermore will you be without great Halloween lesson plans! http://ow.ly/2ZlIX #english #history
*stevehargadon Recording posted of interview with Diane Ravitch on How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education http://icio.us/z3fkbn
*DanielPink Memory decline accompanies earlier retirement, study finds . . . http://nyti.ms/9efpih (via NY Times)
*drmmtatom My Brainshark – Easily Narrate and Share Presentations #fhuedu508 http://tinyurl.com/39n6csk

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :

Hero Machine: Design your own superhero: http://tinyurl.com/olzc3a
Uber-Mongo-Important assignment for operative Infamous40000:  Design a superhero and share the experience with us.  Call us at (262) 724-6653 and send us a copy of your superhero!

Tech Tools:

AlternativeTo:

Great way to find new software.
http://alternativeto.net/software

Wiggio

Set up your group in under a minute.
Add people to your group by pulling them in from your email or Facebook contacts. They never need to sign up. As soon as you add, you can start communicating.
Each feature is designed to be straightforward and self-explanatory. No training. No learning curve.
Keep up with your group on-the-go. You can text message and email into your group, and receive group communications to your cell phone, email and Facebook.
All the tools you need packaged together.

http://wiggio.com/

Math Open Geometry

Great geometry resources.
http://www.mathopenref.com/index.html

Microsoft Academic Search

Looks to be technically oriented. Some good possibilities though. Conferences are included.
http://journalogy.com/

One Word

Interesting idea for a writing assignment.
http://oneword.com/

News:

Robots in the classroom?  They’re here!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/22/south.korea.robot.teachers/index.html

Political Peril for the Common Core?

How to Assure Continued Progress

By Michael D. Usdan
Could the backlash against large governmental programs (like healthcare) effect the implementation of Common Core Standards?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/27/09usdan_ep.h30.html?tkn=QMZFzckQpU3lROPtxOCXWM%2FnuCM2CsPo6oqD&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

Google Search Tools

“Secret” codes to make your google searching even better.
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators.html

Big East Career Fair

Could this be the start of a new way of finding a job?
http://www.bigeastcareerfair.com/

Teacher Jotter

Social Network for Teachers.
Build professional relationships, share resources, exchange ideas and opportunities.
http://www.teacherjotter.com/

Reading Slowly

Interesting thoughts on reading.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/0621/Should-your-child-be-learning-the-art-of-slow-reading

Collaboration Video

Does this look like collaboration at your school?
http://www.tuttlesvc.org/2010/10/planning-collaboratively.html

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
Conferences, MSM, News, NMSA10By Troy Patterson

MSM 139 Testing, Conferences & Tools

Jokes:

Ailments
A man was feeling terribly out of sorts and decided to go to the doctor so he made an appointment and showed up the next day. After the doctor examined the man, the doctor invited him into his office for the consultation. The doctor came into the room with three different bottles of pills. The doctor told the man to take the red pill in the morning with a big glass of water, the blue pill in the afternoon with a big glass of water and the green pill in the evening with a big glass of water. The man, terribly shocked at the amount of pills he had to take, asked the doctor what in the world was wrong with him. The doctor replied, “You aren’t getting enough water.”

On Our Mind:

Testing Relief
Conferences
Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy’s Take on Conferences.

Middle School Science Minute

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

Human Body Systems Facts

From the Twitterverse:

* Twilliamson15 Todd Williamson:  @Frideswidel haha, thanks…I’ll stick with hoping enough folks show for a decent conversation
* drmmtatom Monte Tatom Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Co-Host TEACH Town Hall w/ A&E Network @ Temple University | U.S. Dept. of Ed http://tinyurl.com/2esmcml
* drmmtatom Monte Tatom  Action Research: What Do We Know About Learning in the Cloud? #fhuqep http://tinyurl.com/2dw7ww3
*appleplaza Apple Plaza Angry Birds Halloween Edition Comes to Apple iOS Devices http://sns.ly/AEq59
* AngelaMaiers Angela Maiers Chalk Talk 10/22/10
*ktenkely ktenkely Animation Chefs will teach your students how to create their own stop motion animations #edtech #edchat
* lthumann Lisa Thumann Web 2.0 apps from the afternoon session with @edutecher and I http://thumannresources.com/2010/10/22/tltechforum/ #tltechforum
(Call us if you try any of these websites at (262) 724-6653)
*timoreilly Tim O’Reilly  Rule #1: Have Fun. Summary of my talk on innovation at Greenbiz Innovation Forum:
*mcleod Scott McLeod  Can a student bully a teacher? Do these videos constitute teacher bullying? @russgoerend

Advisory:

Famous Partners

Place the names of famous couples on index cards, mix them up, have students match up. (http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/List_of_famous_pairs/)

Life Raft

Students stand on top of shower curtain and flip it over without anyone stepping off.

Life Skill Lessons

How to tie a tie, how to set the table, how to do anything….celebrate success!!

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :
Animation Chefs:  Learn how to animate from these three chefs!

Tech Tools:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
http://nlvm.usu.edu/

TestMoz
http://testmoz.com/

Google Fusion Tables

Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online.
http://www.google.com/fusiontables/public/tour/index.html

News:

Charter school first in county to switch to four-day week

A Palm Beach County charter high school plans to switch to a four-day school week beginning in January. Students would be in school for a total of 902.4 hours this year, above the 900-hour minimum state requirement, according to a calculation received by the district, Edwards said.
It’s pitched as an opportunity for students to have more time for part-time jobs, school activities, and dual-enrollment programs that enable students to earn college credit. Daniel also described it as a way to decrease “discipline issues and student absences.”
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-four-day-school-week-20101021,0,6276565.story

Moving Forward With the Common Core
By Sarah Fine

If there remains any doubt about the momentum of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, let it be abandoned once and for all. Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia, which collectively educate three-fourths of all school-age children in this country, have pledged to adopt the core. Intellectual gatekeepers have given the standards a resounding pass. Plans for implementation have begun. For better or worse, the boulder is on its way down the mountain, gathering strength and speed as it goes.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/20/08fine.h30.html?tkn=LYXFpDDbwWg77mw9AnpIQPhrrQpBWyZw4y%2Fk&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

Virtual Pumpkin Carving

A, um, virtual pumpkin to carve.
http://www.ncs-tech.org/pub/carve_pumpkin.swf

The Fisch Flip

Colorado teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams were some of the first educators I learned about who are leveraging the power of podcasting, screencasting, and video sharing to “flip” the traditional model of lecture in class and homework at home which predominates in many schools today.
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/10/20/the-fisch-flip-in-michigan-dale-eizenga-on-flipping-traditional-lecture-and-homework-routines/

ISTE 2010:  Google Apps in Education

For full online presentation, go here:  http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd4wqj5_406gwcsdnf4
Connecting Education.com
New Approaches for the 21st Century
www.connectingeducation.com
alt:  www.schoolinfo.ca
Waiting for initial slide . . . .

Side note:  look for Googletrekers
I’ve so got to check out TodaysMeet
Telling us a little about Skoodat
•  Similar to Salesforce.com
•  Large toolset to work with.
•  Very scalable.
•  www.skoodat.com

Roger Nevin
“School is becoming irrelevant.”  – Student Quote
Bridging the gap
•  Connecting education with how young people use digital technology in their personal lives.  This web site has the following mandate when recommending technologies:
•  it must improve learning
•  it must engage students
•  it must be based on best practices and research
•  it is free and sustainable
•  we have tested it successfully
… and one more

Using Google Apps Education Edition to Improve Learning.
Presentation content
•  Challenges of traditional uses of computers in schools
•  Paradigms of cloud computing and the 2009 Horizion report
•  And many more  ……
Teacher Comments
•  Students worked in groups.
•  Students were engaged.
•  Students who liked music were into podcasting.
•  Every student worked and collaborated on the group wiki.
•  Students were engaged.
– Jackie Anderson, Teacher
Despite our success with using technology there were still challenges
•  Audacity
•  “Microsnot” Office
•  Corel

What do you do if…
•  Jason arrives to school with is World Issues ISU essay on a USB key.  He tries to open it at school but it is unable to because of . . .
•  Maria creates a presentation for her Law class on a Mac computer at home.  Unfortunatelly she can’t open it at school.  (NOTE:  This is not necessarily accurate.  Macs can save it so that it can be opened on a Windows machine.  I included it because it was part of the presentation.)
•  You have assigned a group presentation in your ENG 4UI class.  In one group . . . .
•  You are teaching a grade 12 history course and the final June essays are due.  One of your students loses the assignment.
•  You have asked your Grade 10 Science class to do their class presentations using Power Point. .  . .
Cloud Computing
•  You are already using cloud computing
•  Data is held on internet servers.
•  Programs which run the email service are on Internet servers.
Research & Best Practices
•  The 2009 Horizon Report “introduces six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use in learning-focused organizations within horizons over the . . .
Cloud Computing
•  Which means …
•  You only need a browser to access both programs and data.
•  Google has servers on ships.
•  Accessed by any computer or PDA through an Internet Connection.
•  Main apps
•  email, chat, talk
•  Images – Draw
•  Calendar
•  Word processer
•  Spreadsheet – forms
•  Can make online tests.
•  Presentation Software
•  Wiki/Web Page
•  Video
UNDER ONE PLATFORM
•  site:  http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=?
•  Google Apps Education Edition is Free! and Ad Free!
•  Why is it Free?
•  This is their version of Charity Donations
•  Secondary School in New York Video
•  Teachers and Principals talk about Google Docs
•  What do you get?
•  7 gigs of space for students to save podcast and video assignments
•  Gives users a virtual drive that can be used to uplad and download any file up to 200MB to a total of 2GB
•  Spam/Virus Checkers
•  It is a paperless solution
•  Saves printing costs.
•  Documents are never lost – saves automatically
•  Do not have to worry about the correc software version
•  Can both upload and download documents off of your hard drive
•  Quick setup
•  Easy to administrate
•  Ability to share assignments, documents
•  Student to student
•  Student to teacher to student
•  Teacher to teacher to administration
•  Communicate using documents to parents
•  Prevents plagiarism
•  Improves learning
•  On-line tests and surveys
•  Private or public
•  Can record names
•  Can automatically mark tests
•  practice for EQAO Literacy Test
•  Surveys (student, parent, staff)
•  Example:  Adam Scott:  adamscott.ca
•  Administrator power
•  Can disable services
•  Have precise control of who has access to what.
•  Students keep their login and all account data for their entire school career and further.
•  Challenges
•  Need Internet Access
•  However you can save documents off line as a word, ppt, rtf, open office document
•  PDAs can access most features – but not all
•  Your data is stored in another country (maybe)
•  Patriot Act allows the US government to access your data
•  However … there is not document cast where any government tapped into students or faculty google apps documents or emails.
Google Apps – Postini
•  July 2009 Google added Postini security suite
•  Audit emails
•  Filtering
•  High level virus and spam checker.
Selling Apps to Admin.
•  Realize that many IT departments are not in favor of Google Apps
•  Use applications such as bitstripsforschools which use the cloud.
•  Start smaller with Google Apps Standard Edition
•  Say, “This is a pilot project.”
•  Use Google Standard Edition.
•  Set up a formal meeting or presentation.
•  Google Apps and the cloud is supported by leading research (Horizon Report)
•  Is Secure
•  Easier to administer
•  Saves lots of $$$$$
•  Easy for teachers to learn and allows them to be more productive
•  Improves learning while teaching 21st Century Skills
•  Promotes the school
•  Is Green.
•  Everything you make in google docs is searchable text.
Setting up Google Apps (easy)
•  Get a domain (godaddy is good) – Cost is $10-15 per year
•  Go to google
•  Simple form to fill out (showing admin approval)
•  Set MX records on the domain you registered and use forward feature from your domain to redirect your domain to the Google Apps Site
•  Get a text file of students with first name, last name, login and password (could use pseudonyms)
Administration
•  Less than one hour per week spent on it per 1000 students
Implementing Google Appls
•  Use “buy in” approach (if you are not a schol administrator)
•  Start with a few classes
•  Must be successful from the beginning
•  Teach both the students and the teacher – Helps to have (Yellow highlighting white words)
•  Create an ? where the students have to create both a shared document and a web page where they images of the video.
Google Apps Activity One
Google Apps – Quote
“Everyone saw the benefits of share . . . .”
The Did You Know Video 4.0
Free Netbook program a success at Milton High School
•  The price of netbooks is coming down.
•  Lightweight
•  Google is bringing out their own operating system.
•  Kids prefer the net books
•  Portability and connectivity
connectingeducaiton.com:  Presentation site.
Presentation:   http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dd4wqj5_406gwcsdnf4

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM- 136 Making Google Stuff Work For You.

Jokes:

Wrong Ends
A contractor hired two brothers to install home siding. He demonstrated the process and sent them off to their first job. Things were going smoothly when the older brother saw that his younger brother was throwing nails away. He asked, “Why are you throwing those nails away?” The younger brother replied, “The heads are on the wrong end.” The older brother laughed, “Those are for the other side of the house.”

Languages
A Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting. “Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen” he asks. The two Americans just stare at him. “Excusez-moi, parlez vous Fracais?” he tries. The two continue to stare. “Parlare Italiano?” No response. “Hablan ustedes Espanol?” Still nothing. The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted. The first American turns to the second and says, “Y’know, maybe we should learn a foreign language.” “Why?” says the other. “That guy knew four languages, and it didnt do him any good.”  (If you liked that one . . . try this!)

What did one math book say to the other?  I have so many problems . . .

On Our Mind:

NMSA is a month away . . .

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski

From the Twitterverse:

** shannonmmiller  Need inspiration for your career? icould includes 1000 films of personal career stories, across all occupations. http://ow.ly/2JFYR
** willrich45  Need examples…schools/teachers that intentionally help students publish online with full names to prepare for global interaction. Anyone?
** paulawhite  RT @mikecrain: Want to teach your students about plagiarism? Here’s a Youtube video: http://youtu.be/Mwbw9KF-ACY
** kevcreutz  Resources for teachers who are new to twitter
** brasst  Math teachers – great Order of Operations shirt on Woot® today – shirt.woot.com – especially if you like smores 🙂
** shannonmmiller  Super Teacher Tools http://ow.ly/2JLmq #vanmeter
** shannonmmiller  Make your own magazine – OpenZine.com http://ow.ly/2JLeb
** kellyhines  RT @joevans: 20 Google Doc Templates for use in Science and Math Classrooms http://ow.ly/2JLnb
** web20classroom  The Teacher’s Guide To Everything Google Sketch Up:
**web20classroom Blogging With Middle Schoolers-First Steps and Frontloading: <-Good tips for any level
* appleplaza  Report: Slimmer Apple iPad with Mini USB, Camera in 2011 http://sns.ly/stZ53
* gtoppo  RT @MarcusLeaver: Today is the 568th anniversary of the first printed book. Thanks Mr. Gutenberg.

Advisory:

Small Spaces

What if everything that you needed had to fit through a small space?

This would be a discussion centered around the trapped minors. The focus of the conversation could be around what it would be liked to be trapped for months.

  • What is the difference between a need and a want?
  • What can you “make do” with?

The link has a visual of the size of the whole which everything must pass to get to the minors.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/13/back-story-think-of-the-miners.html

Quadruple Amputee Swims Across English Channel

Philippe Croizon, who lost his limbs in an electrical accident, swam across the English Channel. Nice story about what determination can do. The video is 1 minute and 40 seconds long. It includes quotes from Philippe. (Could also discuss the difference between a quad amputee and a quadriplegic).
http://www.newsy.com/videos/quadruple-amputee-swims-across-english-channel/

Tech Tools:

Educate
Educate helps you keep track of student data on your iPad.
http://www.ikonstrukt.com/educate.php

ManyEyes

Data visualization. Great for those who see in pictures.
http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/

Webspotlight:

YouTube Channel: RobbWorld’s Channel

Many people are unaware that YouTube has “channels”. Channels are essentially the videos from a particular user. At least one trick is that these can be subscribed to. That means that you’ll get notification when a new video is uploaded.
Mr. Robb’s Math Videos is all about, well, math. Most of the videos are around 5 minutes.

DocsTeach

Great site from the National Archives Experience. Includes both Activities and Primary Resources.
http://docsteach.org/

26 Keys to Student Engagement

by Angela Maiers.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37782099/26-Keys-to-Student-Engagement

WorldMapper

Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.
There are now nearly 700 maps. Maps 1-366 are also available as PDF posters. Use the menu above to find a map of interest. To learn a little more about this and other map projections read this: Worldmapper and map projections.
We recently added a new series of maps of the world’s population using a new mapping technique: Worldmapper Population Atlas
http://www.worldmapper.org/

Schoolwork

by Nicholas Lemann
An interesting article about education. A different perception than we are used to.
“We have a lot of recent experience with breaking apart large, old, unlovely systems in the confidence of gaining great benefits at low cost. We deregulated the banking system. We tried to remake Iraq. In education, we would do well to appreciate what our country has built, and to try to fix what is undeniably wrong without declaring the entire system to be broken. We have a moral obligation to be precise about what the problems in American education are—like subpar schools for poor and minority children—and to resist heroic ideas about what would solve them, if those ideas don’t demonstrably do that.”
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/09/27/100927taco_talk_lemann

Creating self Graded Google Forms

by Mark Wagner
“For this video I cut right to the chase and did my best to explain the IF formula for beginners… while keeping under a 5 minute time limit. I hope it’s helpful for you and your colleagues and I hope you’ll let me know what you think.”
http://edtechlife.com/?p=2600

Listener Question for Troy via Twitter:  From @Mthman: @MSMatters Help me to understand a procedural Q…do the teachers in your building need guidance w/advisory lesson plans? Mine do!!!  (Listen to the show for the answer!)

News:

MAMSE 2011

2011 Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Presenter’s Application now online.  Propose early!  Propose often!

Other presentation opportunities:
North Carolina Middle School Association:  Presenter Application

ISTE 2010:  Steve Hargadon’s “Birds of A Feather” Session

Website for this session:  www.tinyurl.com/iste10crb and http://tinyurl.com/isteclassrom2-0
Note:  It looks like the links are broken …
Format:
Ask a question, take two or three answers from the audience.
Show a site or something online that you like.
Posterous will upload anything for free.
Pearson will sponsor a NING, but it’s limited and you’re tied to the vendor.
Topos will transition stuff from NING to another site.
Site Show Off:
Scientists Space (NING)
Click on members
Kids took on the persona of a scientist and they worked on the project in groups of three.
They could use any number of Web 2.0 tools to show their understanding of the content.
Wordle
Graphics
Music
Kid who posted it is below grade reading level.
These were SPED kids who put together the Mendeleev page.
Question:  For the scientist site:  They’re using a gmail hack (cheat).  Use a gmail account with a + but all the email account escheats+(scientist name)@gmail.com
Web demo:  TypeWithMe  (www.typewith.me)

Web demo:  WallWisher
Post a question and get responses.
Is there a way to merge the stickies?
It’s designed to be strictly online.
Software:  Microsoft Mouse Mischief
Instead of the wall wisher website.
Does work with wired mice.
Highest number mentioned so far has been six mice at a time.
Site Show Off:  www.historyplace.com/speeches
Use with www.wordle.net
Tagxedo is a Wordle in a picture/art work form.
Note:  Tagxedo is a pay site.
Just for fun:  Copy and paste a school policy into Wordle …
Jen Wagner is posting a puzzle called “Guess the Wordle”
jenuinetech.com/gtw
Put people’s tweets in there to see what their interests are.
General Question:  How do you avoid teacher burnout?
Look at what you are teaching first and then look to apply the tool.
Quizlet.com
General Question:  How do you define Web 2.0?
Ask Todd Williamson
Website:  www.voki.com
Create characters that talk.  Speaking avatar for everyone (free).
Site Show Off:  National Lab Day
Scientists commit to help out for a day.
e.g. Civil war Sally
e.g. Madame Curious (Madam Curie) and sent her around the world to different scientists and had them use the “doll” like Flat Stanley.
Site Show Off:  Adobe Connect Now
Polling system.
Twitucate:  designed for classrooms.
Edmodo
Global Education Conference.com   www.globaleducationconference.com

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
MSM, PodcastBy Troy Patterson

MSM- 133 It’s Constitution Day!

Jokes:

A beginner rider at the stables was trying to saddle a horse. “Excuse me,” said the old hand, “but you are putting that saddle on backwards.” “How do you know,” snapped the student. “You do not know which way I’m going.”

On Our Mind:

First week back to school . . .
Constitution Day Resources . . .
Cybrary Man:  http://cybraryman.com/constitution.html

Listeners:

Thanks to @Mthman & @rushtheiceberg for the recommendation on Twitter!
Best wishes to Kevin at Honey Grove on his new blog!

From the Twitterverse:

  • * topedutweets  Teachers to take online professional development courses – study says improves instruction & student achievement http://ow.ly/2yAwX
  • * math2go   Survival Kit for New Teachers:
  • * Twilliamson15  have done podcasting with my students to cover the hundreds of human body systems topics we can’t fit into class. #scichat
  • * gcouros  Focus on results can make children do worse, study finds
  • * Larryferlazzo  Oxford English Dictionary May Never Be Published Again
  • * cybraryman1  Have students do a What if? and then have them make a map. For example if Americans lost Am Revol. #sschat
  • * drmmtatom  RT @NMHS_Principal: How Do You Measure the Effectiveness of Professional Development? by @snbeach
  • * shareski  Great story about integrity and sports from this teen from Wisconsin via@rmcdonald17
  • * ipadeducators  An interesting discssion of iPad project in eighth grade classrooms – what do you think?:
  • * cybraryman1  My Constitution page (Constitution Day – Sept 17th):
  • * DoTheMathBooks The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones. John Wooden #quote

Advisory:

NMSA Video Contest

“Showcase your students’ video production talent as they share how they are making a difference!
NMSA is accepting video submissions to be played at its 37th Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, November 4-6, 2010. More than 7,000 educators from around the world will view the winning videos and see them recognized on the conference website, SchoolTube, and the conference program book.
Challenge your students to use their 21st century technology and communication skills to showcase how they, their class, or school have been innovative, creative, or inspiring.”
http://www.nmsa.org/annual/AbouttheConference/VideoContest/tabid/2264/Default.aspx

Tech Tools:

ThoughtAudio:

As the world moves toward more complex interactions, one of the most fundamental aspects of humanity is to enjoy its thoughts and its great works. Our journey has always been one of making classic literature available to anyone willing to listen, and now in this next phase, to expand our scope to include more thinkers, writers and essayists. Although thinking may not seem as relevant today, with advancing technology providing alternative vehicles of entertainment, we are committed to bringing a small part of intellectual enjoyment to the globe.
http://www.thoughtaudio.com/

Reading Logs
Reading Logs gives students a better way to track reading, create vocabulary cards and practice spelling. Learning material is uploaded by teachers and is accessed online by students in their class.
http://www.readinglogs.com/

How Safe is your password?
http://howsecureismypassword.net/

Voki:  Animated avatars
Education application form for the animated avatar app.
From the website:  “Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.”

Webspotlight:

TheApple is a diverse community of aspiring and current educators that want to support each other and advance their careers. Think of it as social networking with great career resources. We have a very active group of members from the veteran teacher, career changer, and even the pre-college student. Mentoring and career building is a good part of what we do. Let me be the first to invite you to become an active part of TheApple

http://theapple.monster.com/

47+ Alternatives to YouTube:
Some excellent educational content can be found on YouTube. However, many teachers cannot access YouTube in their classrooms. That is why I originally wrote what became one of the most popular posts to ever appear on Free Technology for Teachers, 30+ Alternatives to YouTube. That post is now fourteen months old and I’ve come across more alternatives in that time. Also in that time span some of the resources on the list have shut down. So it’s time to update the list.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/09/47-alternatives-to-using-youtube-in.html

News:

California testing iPads as Algebra Textbook Replacements

A pilot project in four California school districts will replace 400 students’ eighth-grade algebra textbooks with Apple iPads in an attempt to prove the advantages of interactive digital technologies over traditional teaching methods.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/117625-california-testing-ipads-as-algebra-textbooks

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-130 Super Sized, Open Textbooks and the iPad!

Jokes:

Business Plans
Two women were comparing notes on the difficulties of running a small business. “I started a new practice last year,” the first one said. “I insist that each of my employees take at least a week off every three months.” “Why in the world would you do that?” the other asked. She responded, “It’s the best way I can learn which ones I can do without.”

Friends
Pete and Larry had not seen each other in many years. They had a long talk trying to fill in the gap of those years by talking about their lives. Finally, Pete invited Larry to visit him in his new apartment. “I got a wife and three kids and I’d love to have you visit us.” “Great. Where do you live?” “Here’s the address. And there’s plenty of parking behind the apartment. Park and come around to the front door, kick it open with your foot, go to the elevator and press the button with your left elbow, then enter! When you reach the sixth floor, go down the hall until you see my name on the door. Then press the doorbell with your right elbow and I’ll let you in.” “Good. But tell me, what is all this business of kicking the front door open, then pressing elevator buttons with my right, then my left elbow?” “Surely, you’re not coming empty-handed.”

Mosquitoes
Two young men were camping out in the forest one night. But the mosquitoes were so fierce that the boys had to hide under their blankets to keep from getting bitten. Then one of the boys saw some lightning bugs. “We may as well give up,” he told his friend. “Now they are coming at us with flashlights.”

On Our Mind:

Gearing up for the school year.
iPads in the classroom.
Eric’s Shirt.

Listeners:

Guys,

I hope you are having a super fantastic summer.  Yes, during my 6 days in the States, I picked up an iPad. I was very skeptical at first, but WOW!  This thing is amazing.

My question is about the practical use of the iPad in the class. I see that Apple just upgraded iBooks to allow videos and audio within the epub format. This means that textbooks could have audio/video boxes that support the main text or apply material in a cross curricular presentation. My question is this – who is creating the open source etexts that we can use in class, and how can I help?

Robert

Sent from my iPad

Related links we sent Robert:
http://open-education.org/
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000027.html
http://www.opentextbook.org/about/
http://web.me.com/mcgirr/Summer_PD_Notes__ISTE__MiJEC____MSC_/pages/20.html

From the Twitterverse:

  • courosa OpenScholar looks like a useful (and free) tool for academics. http://is.gd/dZcsi
  • drmmtatom Technology Tools for Learninghttp://tinyurl.com/2wv463s
  • willrich45 Open source textbooks a viable option? Der. http://nyti.ms/97f6GB
  • akipta Copyrights for Educators: Everything you wanted to know, but didn’t ask. http://goo.gl/fb/kiQyo
  • marynabadenhors Very cool Numeracy teaching notes (downloadable) http://billsteachingnotes.wikispaces.com/Numeracy+Teaching+Notes #kedu #elemchat #vicpln
  • NMHS_Principal Vodcasting: Education of the Future #edtech
  • kellyhines RT @kcollazo: Several Google Form templates so I didn’t have to figure out the formulas to auto grade! Yes! http://trunc.it/9zp6w
  • kiwicarol 15 Mind Blowing Thins [sic] about the Internet via Jane Hart
  • samharrelson This is up there with “we didn’t land on the moon” craziness for me. 8th grade is still “hard” folks. No worries 🙂
  • Larryferlazzo  US Dept. of Ed prepares to launch “2010 National Education Technology Plan 1.0”
  • GuyKawasaki  The blurry rules of plagiarism for college students http://idek.net/2uW5
  • kusdiva  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder & it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid/misinformed beholder a black eye. ~Miss Piggy
  • eduinnovation  Teacher- “Stop networking, searching, creating with your cell phones now. Put them away. I am going to teach U the skills for future!”
  • web20classroom   RT @gcouros: 70 Ways to Keep Students Engaged Some great ideas here!

Advisory:

Is “What you see, What you get?”
Here are 5 optical illusions that you could share with your students (or class). Good lead in to discussion about perception, point of view, etc.
http://mashable.com/2010/08/01/optical-illusions-videos/

Stats on Soft Drinks
http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/softdrinks/  (Link removed at the request of www.onlineschools.org.  Search their site for update link.)

TED Talk:  The Art of Choosing:  http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html

Tech Tools:

Teacher’s First

TeachersFirst is a rich collection of lessons, units, and web resources designed to save teachers time by delivering just what they need in a practical, user-friendly, and ad-free format. We offer our own professional and classroom-ready content along with thousands of reviewed web resources, including practical ideas for classroom use and safe classroom use of Web 2.0. Busy teachers, parents, and students can find resources using our subject/grade level search, keyword search, or extensive menus.
http://teachersfirst.com/index.cfm

Vanilla Forums

Vanilla Forums is an open-source, standards-compliant, customizable, modern, community-building discussion forum.
http://vanillaforums.org/

KnoteBooks

http://knotebooks.com/

Webspotlight:

Firing the Wrong Teachers?

http://hechingered.org/content/firing-the-wrong-teachers_1801/

Teacher inspires students to work through adversity

By Donna Vickroy
Juanita Lopez understands adversity – and the rewards of overcoming it.
“Believe it or not, the kids seem to work harder, to have more respect when they see you as a real person, with real struggles,” she said. “I have fewer discipline problems in the classroom because of it, too.”

http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/vickroy/2551488,080110vickroy.article

Tiering Lessons
http://help4teachers.com/samples2.htm

News:

Minnesota rejects National Standards

The U.S. Education Department is offering about $350 million to help develop tests — but only for states that adopt the national standards by the end of 2011.
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_15655121?nclick_check=1

5 Developing Themes at ISTE ‘10

By Henry Thiele
I attended EduBloggerCon, the Constructivist Consortium, the opening events, and more at ISTE ’10, and through my interactions there, I have begun to see some themes developing in the conference:
1 It has been a rough year. Between budget cuts, leadership challenges, and the increasing responsibilities associated with technology in schools, everyone was mentally exhausted heading into the conference. Excitement about changing practices and adding resources to schools has been tempered by budget concerns.
2 We have some pretty big decisions looming about how we are going to handle an influx of personal mobile computing devices into our society. With the iPad, the new iPhone, Android devices, and the continued growth of netbooks, there are a lot more discussions of how we are going to respond to this trend as schools. These conversations center on network infrastructure, policy, instructional strategies, and preparing teachers for this change.
3 Digital divide. The changes described in number 2 are starting to show how ugly the digital divide is becoming. The gap between those able to have the world’s information in their hands and those unable to is a growing social problem. When connectivity is factored in along with access to hardware, the difficulty becomes greater and more complex.
4 Assessment: Many educators are struggling more with assessment and its design. It seems that most agree with attaching some form of accountability to assessment. But nobody has quite figured out how to do it. It is becoming apparent, however, that technology will have to be involved in whatever solution does present itself, if for efficiency if nothing else.
5 Personalizing education: More people are talking about making teaching and learning more personal, saying that education has to be tailored to each individual. There is a lot of frustration and confusion about how to make this happen when we are still working in an environment designed to “press out parts” rather than create individual masterpieces.
http://www.techlearning.com/article/31550

ISTE 2010

CEO’s presentation.
Panel discussion begins at 18:08
Three agendas
New global citizenship
Global citizenship first and national citizenship second.
New skills agenda
New learning teaching and education technology agenda.
– Jean Francois Rischard
21st Century Learning in the new global classroom.
This is an activist agenda.
Table
See pic
21st cent skills
Karen C.
We need to change the focus and flip the conversation in the classroom.
Shaun Koh
Standardized testing kills dreams.
Use technology to inspire the dream in each student.
The teacher is more of a shepherd. (paraklete principle).
He wishes he had been taught interdisciplinarily and how subjects interact.
Jennifer is a nut.
Look up Tony Wagner as an author.
Karen Cantor says outright that national assessments are worthless.
But we’re on the train and can’t stop to fix the wheels.
We’re asking schools to make three changes taw once and the curriculum doesn’t give much leeway.
“Dictatorship of the Curriculum”.
Why don’t schools do “FedEx” days?
How do we learn to learn?
Denmark lets seniors use Google on their Senior exams.
How to grow a global citizen?
Stop teaching US History.
Teach problem solving.
Think multiculturally.
“Raised in Singapore, grew up on the Internet”
Get your culture from TV and the Internet.
National technology plan.
Need to download.
Why are educational systems so slow to change?
The Charles TED Talk.
It’s not enough
Side Notes:
The hostess was perky and covering for JFR’s shortcomings.
Jennifer was way to much of an advocate for “one world government” as was the other Canadian and JFR.
The University of Michigan kid has learned his subject, but hasn’t learned how to live.  He’s rudderless and lacks a grounding philosophy.
Tony Wagner Books:
Global Achievement Gap:  Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach The New Survival Skills Our Kids Need.
http://www.amazon.com/Global-Achievement-Gap-Survival-Need/dp/B003P2VC02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278627763&sr=8-1

Reinventing Americas Schools

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Grade-Reinventing-Americas-Schools/dp/0415927625/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278627763&sr=8-4

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM 129- “The Exquisite Corpse . . .”

Jokes:

Danger
One night a husband and his wife were sleeping and suddenly the wife woke up. “Dear, there’s a burglar eating the cake downstairs!” said the wife. “So should I call the police or the ambulance?” asked the husband.

Circles
During basic army training, a sergeant was telling his group how a submachine gun sprayed bullets. He drew a circle on a blackboard and announced that it had a 260 degree angle. “But, sergeant, all circles have 360 degrees,” called out a conscript. “Don’t be stupid,” the sergeant roared. “This is a small circle.”

Tee Time
Two men were talking about golf. One of them said, “I shoot in the 70’s.” The other replied, “That’s great!” The first one said, “Yeah, if it gets any cooler than that, I go to the clubhouse.”

On Our Mind:

PLNs enforced by administration.
http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/great-pln-backlash-of-2010/

Listeners:

To Eric:  Thanks for the email!
To reviewer #28 thanks for the stars on iTunes!

From the Twitterverse:

  • WESatD2L  The six levels of Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as found in Pirates of the Caribbean
  • russeltarr  e-Textbooks: Feasible or Futile? http://tinyurl.com/njpxaf
  • web20classroom  RT @gcouros: 70 Ways to Keep Students Engaged Some great ideas here!
  • mcleod  Coach Brown: “Bad prof devt is a monumental waste; can’t remember good use of prof devt within my own district.” http://goo.gl/M2wS
  • Curriki  Popular this month: Teaching Understanding By Design http://ow.ly/2fJhV
  • markbarnes19  How do you Teach Creativity? | ISTE Connects – Educational Technology http://ow.ly/2fQ8U
  • erinmisegadis  User guide for Edmodo – http://www.edmodo.com/guide
  • rmbyrne  Screenjelly – Quick and Easy Screencasting via Free Technology for Teachers – Screenjelly is a free … http://tinyurl.com/33evthh
  • web20classroom  Educational Grants For The 2010-2011 School Year:

Advisory:

Library of Congress:  The Exquisite Corpse . . .
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-library-congress-the-exquisite/id374009707

Tech Tools:

Gradebook:

LearnBoost’s product allows teachers to manage their classroom by offering an amazing gradebook and software for managing and creating lesson plans, tracking attendance, maintaining schedules, integrating calendars including Google calendars, seamless tagging of Common Core State Standards, and so much more.
Manage your gradebook, lesson plans, calendars, scheduling, and more from one place: LearnBoost.
Once you switch, you’ll wonder what life was like before LearnBoost.
Sign up for your free account!
Standards Supported
The majority of states have announced support for the Common Core Standards. We’re the first to fully support and integrate these leading standards across our gradebook and lesson plan software.
You’ll love how we let you “tag” standards to your lesson plans, gradebook, and more.
http://www.learnboost.com/

LearnPort

A National Online Library of Professional Development Resources Compiled to Help Bridge Research, Policy and Practice.
Across states, national organizations and technical assistance investments, an extensive amount of professional development material is available. This library provides local educators with easy access to an array of resources that can be used or customized to meet their needs.
http://www.learningport.us/

Survey Tools:

Free Tech 4 Teachers:
A wonderful write up of 9 tools that you can use to create surveys. Interesting. The list does NOT include Google Forms, which is most commonly used survey tool.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/07/nine-survey-tools-for-teachers-and.html

Webspotlight:

Schoolwide
Videos useful for Professional Development.
The Schoolwide Network was created in response to the lack of quality video (and print) resources available on the Internet today. With all of the rich media now available via the Internet and mobile technologies, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information being pushed toward us and our children every day.

Schoolwide believes, however, that it is quality—not quantity—that defines any successful educational practice or professional development enterprise. Since our inception, quality has always been at the core of our educational efforts, from the very first Student-Run Bookstore that got us started to the thousands of Fundamentals Units of Study we have sold to school districts across the country.

Schoolwide also believes that with so much information just a keystroke away, never before has the need for practical and useful professional development resources been more paramount. To this end, our primary objective is to provide educators with the tools and resources to help them be better teachers for their students—not only with the quality content we provide but also in the way we present, organize, and provide educators access to this information.
http://www.schoolwidenetwork.com/?search_type=grade_9

Tiering Lessons
http://help4teachers.com/samples2.htm

Shout out:

To Eric. It’s on the way.

ISTE 2010

ISTE 2010:  Virtual Schools

Virtual School Initiative:  21st Century Learning and Teaching
Dr. Kathy Hayden:  Assistant Professor of Educational Technology, California State University, San Marcos khayden@csusm.edu
Stacey Campo via Skype (teacher):  Poway Unified School District

  • Stacey is an Apple Professor at Cal. State.
  • Path to Growth
  • This developed out of a book they read.
    • Does your district offer online courses?
  • Articulating the Vision
    • “Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”
  • Articulating the vision:  Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …
  • Summit feedback:  The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:
    • On-going staff development in online pedagogy.
    • Teacher Union/Administrative Counseling suport.
    • Curriculum alignment with PUSD and CA standards.
    • Technical Support
    • Sufficient, sustainable technical resources.
    • Competition was a driving force.
  • Modeling and embedding principles of effective learning and teaching.
    • Tier 1:  Basic integration
    • Tier 2:  Integrated practices.
    • Tier 3:  Thought Leaders
  • Professional Development
    • 1.  Directly engage staff
    • 2.  Leverage technology
    • 3.  Create alternative evaluations
    • All of this comes with a pay raise.
  • TLC:  Teaching and Learning Cooperatives
  • Partnership:  Poway USD and California State University
    • Distinguished Professor in Residence Grant
    • 360 Hours of support
    • Professional expertise and experience
  • Polling question:  Should teachers be certified to teach online?
    • Audience answer:  25% yes.
  • Health is one of the first things that high schools take online.
  • “Learning Point Portal” on the screen now.
  • Teacher Pay
    • $2500 to develop the course.
    • If they teach the course, they get a fractional pay for it.
    • Additional pay if they are teaching outside their content area.
    • Site to check out:  http://floridaitunesu.org
  • Find interesting ways to have conversations in an on-line settng.
    • INACOL: Standards (not a perfect match)
    • Essential Elements:  Concord Consortium
    • PUSD Virtual School
    • Discussion Forums
      • It is important that these kids talk.
      • It led to kids reconnecting with kids they had been friends with at other schools.
    • Scaffolding for success
      • Constant communication in multiple mediums.
      • If they fell below the 70% line, parents were called by the grading software.
        • ConnectEd messages.
      • Real-world thinking
      • Decision-Making
      • Authentic Learning
      • Engaged the teachers and students in project based learning.

ISTE 2010:  10 Essential Technology Leadership Components (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/iste2010)
This session is filled with folks.  Standing room only.  10 mins. to go to presentation too!
“Very quick and inappropriate video”. Old lady sets off airbag. Very funny.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bBVJAFrN0U

Sponsor info:
www.skoodat.com
Chris O’Neal, University of Virginia Professor.

Storm the stage. Alternate title.
Chris.wikispace.com
Ten Considerations for Technology Leadership
Equity of access. (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/equity)
This should include access at home.
We should have this between 8 & 3:30
We should not use tech as a reward but as a tool.
Our problem is not enough tech to use in the classroom.
Understanding and Using Data.   (http://pewinternet.org/)
Rigor and relevance.
Effective Professional Development.  (http://www.nsdc.org/)
Think individual schools and individual grades.
Walk the walk, talk the talk.  (http://www.edutopia.org/)
We have to model the tech we want people to use.
Vision: collaborative and authentic:  http://tinyurl.com/istelead
Using a google survey/form in a faculty meeting.
Establish a Common Vision  (http://profilerpro.com/)
Does everyone speak the same language and work toward the same ultimate goals?  Does everyone see where technology can take us?
Reward and encourage innovation.  (http://www.iste.org/)
Do we encourage, praise, reward those who move forward, innovate, show growth?  Are some of your non-techies at this conference?
Look for the ASCD survey on rewards
Genuine Reflection  (http://docs.google.com/)
NSD says that reflection is critical to integrating PD.
Student-driven technology  (http://genyes.com/)
Get student managers.  They are less likely to disengage if they’re able to offer expertise on issues.
PLN. (http://www.twitter.com/ #edchat)
Do you rely on only yourself or journals?
Your topic is …?
Why is that important?

Chris.wikispaces.com
Web 2.0 for Leaders
onealchris on Twitter.  onealchris@gmail.com  http://chris.wikispaces.com
Technology Leadership by Modeling
NETS-A Based
Google Apps for Education http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/index.html
Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Wordle  http://www.wordle.net/
Delicious  http://delicious.com/
Wikis  http://www.wikispaces.com/
Creative Commons  http://creativecommons.org/
Skype  http://www.skype.com/
Challenge to Leaders for Summer 2010:  Play around over the summer.  Build a few “back to school” faculty meetings:
Model a new, relevant technology (His suggestion:  Animoto)
Lead higher-order conversations about technology.  (http://tpck.org/)
Ensure classroom-level digital equity.  (http://leaders.wikispaces.com/equity)
Ten Web 2 Apps for Leaders
Google Apps:  Google Docs Education Version  (http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/)
Blogging:  21 Classes or Edublogs  (http://21classes.com/)
Wikis:  Wikispaces for Education  (http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers)
Social Bookmarking:  Delicious  (http://delicious.com/edleadersonline)
Copyright:  Creative Commons  (http://creativecommons.org/)
Social Presentations:  http://www.slideshare.net/)
Free audio & video chat:  Skype  (http://www.skype.com/)
Audio recording and Podcasting:  Audacity  (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
Social Video – the Education Version:  SchoolTube  (http://www.schooltube.com/)
Microblogging:  Twitter  (http://www.twitter.com/onealchris)
Web 2.0 questions/issues to consider
Student engagement
Student safety
Curricular worthiness
Reliability of tool
Cost
Technical issues (storage, bandwidth)
Professional Development and/or Support needs.  (http://prodev.wikispaces.com/)
Other Web 2 Sites to Explore:
School 2.0: http://school2.wikispaces.com
Educator’s Social Network: http://classroom20.ning.com
Wikicommons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Librivox: http://www.librivox.org
Learn Out Loud: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video
Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com
Glogster: http://www.glogster.com/edu
Animoto: http://animoto.com/education
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/
Netvibes: http://www.netvibes.com
Gliffy: http://www.gliffy.com/
Government/Policy:
ISTE’s Advocacy and Policy:  https://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Advocacy
United States Department of Education:  http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
State Departments of Education:  http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/ccseas.asp
21st Century Skills
Edutopia:  http://www.edutopia.org
Partnership for 21st Century Skills:  http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
Organizations
ISTE:  http://www.iste.org
CoSN:  http://www.cosn.org
ASCD:  http://www.ascd.org
VASCD:  http://www.vaascd.org
VSTE:  http://www.vste.org
Multimedia Archives:
Internet Archive:  http://www.archive.org/
Teacher Tube:  http://www.teachertube.com/
Google Video:  http://video.google.com/
Zamzar:  http://www.zamzar.com/
Blogs/Podcasts:
Assorted Stuff:  http://www.assortedstuff.com/
21st Century Collaborative: http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/
Technology Times Live Podcast: http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/podcasts/TechnologyTimesLive.xml
The List at elearnspace.com: http://www.elearnspace.org/edutechblogs.htm
Principals/Administrative Blog: http://www.leadertalk.org/
Dangerously Irrelevant: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
Sharing/Utility:
Box.net: http://www.box.net
SendSpace: http://www.sendspace.com/
Backpackit: http://www.backpackit.com/
TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/
ThinkFree Online Office Suite: http://www.thinkfree.com
Furl: http://www.furl.net
Open Source Software:
Open Source Assistive Technology: http://www.oatsoft.org/
SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/
SchoolForge: http://www.schoolforge.net/
Online Professional Development:
Edutopia George Lucas Videos on iTunesU (link will launch iTunes): http://tinyurl.com/3wwkus
Virginia’s iTunes University (link will launch iTunes): http://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browsev2/vdoe.brpbs.org
Get a Free Education Online: http://tinyurl.com/lkgsq
Microsoft’s Education Competencies: http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetencies.mspx
PT3 Now!: http://www.pt3now.org/
Netfiles: http://www.netfiles.org
Annenberg Media: http://www.learner.org/
Internet Safety:
NetSmartz: http://www.netsmartz.org/
SafeKids: http://www.safekids.com/
Buying Stuff:
ZDNet: http://review.zdnet.com
CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com
Educational Leadership Readings:
UbD and Technology
Change and Leadership
Marzano’s Classroom Instruction that Works
Presenters:
Chris O’Neal:  http://www.edleadersonline.org
Karen (?):  http://www.ivyrun.com
ISTE 2010 Site for this presentation:  http://leaders.wikispaces.com/iste2010

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-128 Pirate T-Shirts for all the listeners! (Well, as many as Promotion’s budget will allow…)

Jokes:

Counting
A man rushed into a doctor’s office, jumped on his back, and started screaming, “One! Two! Three! Four!” “Wait a minute!” yelled the doctor, trying to get free. “What do you think you’re doing?” The man said, “Well doctor, they did say I could count on you!”

On Our Mind:

ISTE 2010 Swag!

Listeners:

Letter 1:
“Hi guys,
I listened to the June 26 podcast today while driving to my summer job, (a teacher with a summer job?!).  Thanks for the moderation of the the theme music.  I enjoyed the discussion and your thoughts.  I teach at a fairly small rural school and our cell phone policy is pretty simple.  You can have it.  You can use it with permission in class, it sits on the desktop, off, no ringer, no vibrate. I find that you are using it, without permission,  you have lost it for 24 hours, or until the next time class meets, (don’t get caught on a Friday!) you can use it at passing times and at lunch.
The high school was pretty good with this policy, it was a group of HS students that convinced our principal to adopt this policy.  The MS kids had a harder time with it, there were a small number  that just could not follow these simple rules.  I am not sure where we will be with this policy next year.  We are going to 1 to 1 computers (MacBook) in 6-12 next year so there will be a lot of changes in the next school year.
Keep up the good work, summer is about over, argh!!! ;)”

Craig

Letter 2:
Shawn and Troy~~

I wanted to share how much I enjoy your podcasts.  They actually make me look forward to my daily exercise when I have to opportunity to listen.  I have just started listening and I am catching up on old ones.

Your topics and enthusiasm give me a refreshed outlook for the school year.  I have been spending the last 2 hours reviewing your webpage and found so many interesting links.  In a time that can be very negative toward education, you have given me a reason to continue my positive outlook and remind me each time I listen why I got into teaching.

Thanks so much~~

Kerry

Letter 3:
From AK Jenny:  http://www.conquercollegewithld.com/

Letter 4:
Dear Shawn & Troy,

On behalf of the stakeholder and partner organizations of the Michigan Joint Education Conference (MIJEC), I want to express my appreciation to you for sharing your expertise with the attendees of last month’s conference at Thurston High School in South Redford.

By sharing your best practices with other educators, you enhanced our conference and helped to further the professional development of our attendees.

I hope that you will consider presenting next year’s Michigan Joint Education Conference, which will be held on Wednesday, June 22.  Watch the MIJEC website for announcements concerning our call for presenters.

Thanks again for your participation in the 2010 Michigan Joint Education Conference.

Sincerely,
Ric Wiltse, MACUL

From the Twitterverse:

  • WhiteheadsClass  RT @JamiePortman: 15 ways to foster a love of learning. Great stuff!!
  • thart74  Video: STUDENTS use tools to assess the effectiveness of instructional strategies and teaching techniques.
  • thart74  Catching Readers Before They Fall – instructional strategies,PD guide, group activities. Preview entire book online!
  • brasst  Apps for interacting with US govt resources – APPS via www.diigo.com/~brasst
  • elemenous  If you’re interested in finding more apps, try Appolicious http://tinyurl.com/mof69f #psls
  • getschooled  Even with rising #collegecost, 4 year degree is still important to earn more than your parents http://ow.ly/29msV
  • posterous  I’ve started using http://NutshellMail.com to manage my Facebook and Twitter accounts through one simple email.
  • johnrwoodman  Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. – Perry Marshall
  • hrheingold  Participative Pedagogy for a Literacy of Literacies http://tinyurl.com/5rct2w about 9 hours ago via Seesmic
  • SMART_Tech  New! SMART Certified Interactive Teacher program available. Be the first to be Certified in your school!
  • getschooled  Men may earn less today than in 1979 if they don’t have a college degree. http://ow.ly/29fJe
  • ngcbrown  #clcs10 try gamesalad for Mac. Bit like scratch but glossier. Can make itouch/phone games with it
  • russeltarr  The 15 most inspiring teachers in films (would be an interesting vote during a staff training day!): http://tinyurl.com/muco5f
  • drmmtatom  ISTE Unplugged Recordings Now Available http://tinyurl.com/289a3xs
  • russeltarr  Collection of Free Mathematics Classroom Posters: http://tinyurl.com/2vucuqp
  • moodlenews  interested in the #Blackboard acquisition? Read this now: #moodle @cytochromec
  • lesliefisher  I learned that the staff at the Apple Store can only sit down when you do, so, when you like the person, sit down! If not, run in circles!
  • russeltarr  AutoMotivator is for making printable motivational posters or parody demotivational posters.: http://tinyurl.com/ksfqum
  • cmtoy  ‘You’re racing toward our old model!” Chinese educator to American educator. Who the heck is leading us and why are they taking us there?
  • solennial  Teachers in Pender Co. can’t be Facebook friends with students WECT.com – Wilmington, NC news and weather –
  • WhiteheadsClass  More than a million creative writing prompts at
  • .FakeAPStylebook  hacker – Anyone who knows anything at all about computers beyond e-mail/web browsing, and therefore is a troublemaker.

Advisory:

8 Ways to get to know a new class:
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_650dvtj3dgk

Tech Tools:

SnagIt for Mac (beta)

http://www.techsmith.com/snagitmac/

Book Suggestion engine
Uses Amazon and LibraryThing
http://bookseer.com/

SlideSix
Allows voiceover of uploaded powerpoint, keynote, OpenOffice presentations.
http://slidesix.com/

ISock
www.guppiesinthedark.com
http://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/isock-de-pratende-sok/id346782860?mt=8

Webspotlight:

Big Thinkers:  T. Barry Brazelton on Parents as Partners in Education

Scientists answer the question of which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?
http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2010/07/newsy-video-chicken-or-the-egg-question-finally-solved.html

Should we require educators to use RSS?
http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/07/should-we-require-school-employees-to-have-rss-readers-part-2-more-questions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dangerouslyirrelevant+%28Dangerously+Irrelevant%29

Schoolwide
http://www.schoolwidenetwork.com/?search_type=grade_9

Shout out:

Kerry, Craig and Jenny thanks for the feedback!

News:

ISTE 2010:  Virtual Schools

Virtual School Initiative:  21st Century Learning and Teaching
Dr. Kathy Hayden:  Assistant Professor of Educational Technology, California State University, San Marcos khayden@csusm.edu
Stacey Campo via Skype (teacher):  Poway Unified School District

  • Stacey is an Apple Professor at Cal. State.
  • Path to Growth
  • This developed out of a book they read.
    • Does your district offer online courses?
  • Articulating the Vision
    • “Our district goal that every student is using technology to engage in learning customized to their needs, master rigorous content which develops 21st century literacy skills and culminates in college readiness.”
  • Articulating the vision:  Support learning activities delivered from a shared knowledge of principles of effective learning with multiple opportunities …
  • Summit feedback:  The online learning summit participants recognized that a successful launch of a PUSD Virtual High School will require:
    • On-going staff development in online pedagogy.
    • Teacher Union/Administrative Counseling suport.
    • Curriculum alignment with PUSD and CA standards.
    • Technical Support
    • Sufficient, sustainable technical resources.
    • Competition was a driving force.
  • Modeling and embedding principles of effective learning and teaching.
    • Tier 1:  Basic integration
    • Tier 2:  Integrated practices.
    • Tier 3:  Thought Leaders
  • Professional Development
    • 1.  Directly engage staff
    • 2.  Leverage technology
    • 3.  Create alternative evaluations
    • All of this comes with a pay raise.
  • TLC:  Teaching and Learning Cooperatives
  • Partnership:  Poway USD and California State University
    • Distinguished Professor in Residence Grant
    • 360 Hours of support
    • Professional expertise and experience
  • Polling question:  Should teachers be certified to teach online?
    • Audience answer:  25% yes.
  • Health is one of the first things that high schools take online.
  • “Learning Point Portal” on the screen now.
  • Teacher Pay
    • $2500 to develop the course.
    • If they teach the course, they get a fractional pay for it.
    • Additional pay if they are teaching outside their content area.
    • Site to check out:  http://floridaitunesu.org
  • Find interesting ways to have conversations in an on-line settng.
    • INACOL: Standards (not a perfect match)
    • Essential Elements:  Concord Consortium
    • PUSD Virtual School
    • Discussion Forums
      • It is important that these kids talk.
      • It led to kids reconnecting with kids they had been friends with at other schools.
    • Scaffolding for success
      • Constant communication in multiple mediums.
      • If they fell below the 70% line, parents were called by the grading software.
        • ConnectEd messages.
      • Real-world thinking
      • Decision-Making
      • Authentic Learning
      • Engaged the teachers and students in project based learning.

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News:

Other 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.
  • The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 17 – 18, 2011.
  • 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