Category: MSM

Middle School Matters podcast related information

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

Title: Q & the Mysterious!

Jokes:

Wedding Woes
At a friend’s wedding, everything went smoothly until it was time for the flower girl and her young escort to come down the aisle. The boy stopped at every pew, growling at the guests. When asked afterward why he behaved so badly, he explained, “I was just trying to be a good ring bear.”

Sacrifice
Eleven people were hanging on a rope under a helicopter, ten men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one has to drop off, otherwise they are all going to fall. They were not able to choose that person, but then the woman made a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because as a woman she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids, and for men in general, without ever getting anything in return. As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping their hands.

On Our Mind:

Retirement plans change for State of Michigan employees and teachers.  (Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals)
New retirement rules for Michigan

  • Retirement years cap at 30 years of earned time.  Purchased years do not count.
    • If you continue beyond 30 years, your employer will contribute 4% to a defined contribution account and the employee will contribute 3% and may contribute up to an additional 3% for a total of 10% cap.
  • If this goes through there will be an incentive for districts to retain teachers with 30 or more years.  Retirement contributions will go from 19% to about 10%.

Thanks to Dave Bydlowski for the feedback:
Check out his podcast here: http://k12science.net/Podcast/Podcast/Podcast.html

Here is some information from my February 11 — 24 Michigan Science
Matters eBlast:

……………
NASA/USA Today No Boundaries Competition
NASA and USA Today partnered to bring the No Boundaries science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career curriculum and
competition to middle and high school classrooms.  No Boundaries is a
free, eight-week, cross-curricular project that introduces 7th to 12th
grade students to NASA careers in STEM through a cooperative learning
experience.  Students collaborate to gather web-based research on the
variety of career options available with NASA. Students then develop a
fun and creative way to present the opportunities to other students.
Cash prizes will be awarded (up to $2,000) in addition to a “VIP NASA
experience.”  More information and all project resources are available
at the No Boundaries website at:
http://www.noboundaries-stemcareers.com/

……………..
Instill Interest in Biotechnology
The WGBH Educational Foundation recently launched the new Biotechnology
collection on Teachers’ Domain. These digital media resources are
designed to deepen the teaching and learning of biotechnology in middle
and high schools throughout the United States. Digital video and
interactives explore laboratory techniques used in biotechnology for
treating disease and improving diagnosis. Video profiles of
biotechnology scientists and technicians offer students compelling
examples of available career pathways into the field.  Please visit:
http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/biot/

……………….
Climate Change Art Contest for MS Students
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, would like to invite
6th-8th graders residing in Michigan to participate in the U.S. EPA
Climate Change Art Challenge.  The contest will ask students to create a
drawing or a painting that responds to the question, “What is Climate
Change?” on their own – without a teaching prompt from adults.  The
purpose of the contest is to see what 6th-8th graders think climate
change is, based on what they already know. The artwork will be
educational for the EPA, parents, and teachers, showing us what children
are learning about climate change from the media, parents, and in
schools.

Entries must be one-dimensional, must be no larger than 11” X 17” and
must be mailed or shipped (via USPS or FedEx) with completed Entry Form.
To apply, visit the EPA website:
http://www.epa.gov/region5/air/airinfo.html

Winners will be chosen based on the most creative and representative
depictions of climate change. All participants will receive a
certificate of recognition. 1st and 2nd-place winners will receive award
plaques and winning art will be posted on the U.S. EPA Region 5 website
in April 2010.  For more information, please contact Cynthia Meyer at
meyer.cynthia@epa.gov or (312) 886-5868, or Elizabeth McWhorter at
mcwhorter.elizabeth@epa.gov or (312) 353-5069.  All entries must be
received by the EPA, no later than Monday, March 22, 2010.

………………….
STEPS Summer Camp Experience for 7th Grade Girls
For the ninth consecutive summer, the Regional Math and Science Center
and the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing
at Grand Valley State University will hold two sessions of a Science,
Technology and Engineering Preview Summer camp (Sgirls. This year’s camps will be held during the weeks of June 21-24 and
June 28-July 1, 2010.  The deadline to apply is March 15.  For more
information, please visit:
http://www.gvsu.edu/steps/

………………
Go Green
Register for the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, the nation’s
premier sustainability challenge where K-8 students create solutions to
environmental problems in their own backyard.  Simply visit:
http://www.wecanchange.com
to sign up.

……………….
Inspire Environmental Preservation
Action For Nature’s International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the
individual accomplishments of young people (aged 8–16) whose personal
actions have significantly improved the environment.  Action For Nature
will award cash prizes of up to $500 to young Eco-Heroes whose
individual initiatives will inspire others to preserve and protect the
environment.  The deadline to apply is February 28, 2010.  Please visit:
http://www.actionfornature.org/eco-hero/

MathCounts
MathCounts is seeing a drop off in participation in our area.  Check it out.  It might be a neat enrichment class idea or an Advisiory component to your middle school.

To secure America’s global competitiveness, MATHCOUNTS inspires excellence, confidence and curiosity in U.S. middle school students through fun and challenging math programs. With the generous support of all MATHCOUNTS sponsors and volunteers, and leadership of the National Society of Professional Engineers at the local and state levels, MATHCOUNTS is providing today’s students with the foundation for success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.

MATHCOUNTS is a national enrichment, club and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory.

Currently in our 27th year, MATHCOUNTS is one of the country’s largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. President Barack Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald W. Reagan have all recognized MATHCOUNTS in White House ceremonies. The MATHCOUNTS program has also received two White House citations as an outstanding private sector initiative. Particularly exciting for our Mathletes® were the hour-long ESPN programs on each of the National Competitions from 2003-2005.

MATHCOUNTS offers two unique programs to middle school teachers and students:  The MATHCOUNTS Competition Program and the FREE MATHCOUNTS Club Program.

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Be Lucky (Richard Wiseman):

  • After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.
  • The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.
  • Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
  • Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people’s ability to notice the unexpected.
  • unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else.
  • My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
  • In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:
    • Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell – a reason to consider a decision carefully.
    • Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.
    • Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to-learn.html

Webspotlight:

‘Algebra-for-All’ Push Found to Yield Poor Results

By Debra Viadero
Quite a bit of disagreement over the value of teaching algebra to 8th graders. Apparently the results are mixed (feign surprise here).

Among the newer findings:

• An analysisRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader using longitudinal statewide data on students in Arkansas and Texas found that, for the lowest-scoring 8th graders, even making it one course past Algebra 2 might not be enough to help them become “college and career ready” by the end of high school.

• An evaluation of the Chicago public schools’ efforts to boost algebra coursetaking found that, although more students completed the course by 9th grade as a result of the policy, failure rates increased, grades dropped slightly, test scores did not improve, and students were no more likely to attend college when they left the system.

• A 2008 paper by the Brookings Institution suggested that as many as 120,000 students nationwide were “misplaced” in algebra programs, meaning they had test scores on national exams that put them about seven grades below their peers in algebra classes. Further, it said, states with a high proportion of students taking algebra in 8th grade didn’t necessarily outperform other states on national math assessments.

Just putting students in Algebra doesn’t seem to work. Students who are adequately prepared for it seem to do well. However, those students who are far behind struggle. 8th grade is considered the pivotal year. Some opine that the low level courses are absolutely worthless. Chicago tried “double dosing” those students who were prepared. There seems to some finger pointing in terms of research technique, data analysis and data collection. There’s also discussion about whether or not what is taught in Algebra class is really Algebra.

An as of yet unpublished study from Michigan State University shows students who were enrolled in Algebra did better than those who weren’t.

Some are wondering about the difference between causal and correlative data. Does Algebra really help prepare kids for college or is it that kids who were taking Algebra were going to college anyway. The point is made that one size doesn’t fit all. There is also that issue of students who are doing well in math. Those students have benefited from tracked classes. More students entering into Algebra may have a derogatory effect on their achievement.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/02/10/21algebra_ep.h29.html?r=327944615

Blue Ribbon Middle School

A team of researchers hired by the U.S. Department of Education is spending much of this week at Sherwood Middle Academic Magnet School in Baton Rouge trying to learn what makes that school tick.

The federal agency has in the past issued “best practice” reports drawn from a selection of Blue Ribbon schools, but this year the plan is try a multimedia approach.

“This is the first time we’re trying to do this with audio and video,” said Carol Keirstead, a senior research associate with RMC.

Keirstead said the team is looking at six aspects of Sherwood: teacher leadership; the rigor of the curriculum; the quality of professional development; transition help for incoming sixth-graders; use of classroom technology; and the school’s culture.

Sherwood is a magnet school in which students need a 2.5 GPA to enroll. Even so, teachers there say some of the students enter well behind their peers and the school has to work hard to catch them up.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/84098087.html?index=1&c=y

Math comes to YouTube at Palmyra Area Middle School

By BARBARA MILLER, The Patriot-News

It’s the first such use of YouTube in the district, said Collene Van Noord, assistant superintendent, although there are other sites, such as TeacherTube, a similar service for teachers. Since YouTube is blocked at school, students have to view Binkley’s videos at home.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/02/math_comes_to_youtube_at_palmy.html

Q-Matrix

Get your kids to generate questions with a Q-Matrix.
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/assessment/files/pages/strategies/Question_Matrix.pdf

Marble

Marble is a Virtual Globe and World Atlas that you can use to learn more about Earth: You can pan and zoom around and you can look up places and roads. A mouse click on a place label will provide the respective Wikipedia article.

Of course it’s also possible to measure distances between locations or watch the current cloud cover. Marble offers different thematic maps: A classroom-style topographic map, a satellite view, street map, earth at night and temperature and precipitation maps. All maps include a custom map key, so it can also be used as an educational tool for use in class-rooms. For educational purposes you can also change date and time and watch how the starry sky and the twilight zone on the map change.

In opposite to other virtual globes Marble also features multiple projections: Choose between a Flat Map (“Plate carré”), Mercator or the Globe.

The best of all: Marble is Free Software / Open Source Software and promotes the usage of free maps. And it’s available for all major operating systems (Linux/Unix, MS Windows and Mac OS X).
http://edu.kde.org/marble/

FCC Expands Broadband Access at Schools
http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CTECH/ntechnologyNews_uUSTRE61H6ZR20100219

Essentially, the bandwidth not being used by schools during school hours will be open to the community.

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 Ohio Middle Level Association Annual Conference February 2011, Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, OH.
  • Second Life:
MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-108- An Interview with Dr. M. Monte Tatom

We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. M. Monte Tatom. Dr. Tatom is a university professor who teaches upcoming teachers and administrators. Dr. Tatom also presented at the NMSA annual conference this past November. He has a long history in education and is especially tuned to middle school kids. He has taught middle school, been an assistant principal and a principal as well as working at the central office level. We hope that you enjoy the interview.

advisory, MSM, PodcastBy Troy Patterson

MSM – 107- I’m a Wall Wisher

Podcast 107:  I’m a WallWisher, I’m a WallWisher watchin’ Walls Go By . . . .

Jokes:

Gifts…
Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really pissed. She told him “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE !!” The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, and brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale. Bob has been missing since Friday.

Only Three Doors
A group of middle school students went on a field trip. They were staying overnight. In the morning, 3 students were missing. The teachers went up to the room. They opened the door and found the three of them sitting in the middle of the room. The teacher asked: Why didn’t you guys come down. “There are only three doors in here,” they sobbed, “one is the bathroom, one is the closet, and one has a sign on it that says ‘Do Not Disturb’!”

On Our Mind:

MAMSE
www.mamse.org

From the Twitterverse:

Shout Out:

Thanks Alex for the feedback!

Advisory:

Project Implicit
Discover the bias within.

Stupid Inventions:
http://students.ou.edu/R/Basil.G.Rayan-1/

Webspotlight:

Word Clouds, Student Writing and Ownership

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/02/word-clouds-student-writing-and.html

Doodle for Google

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/doodle-4-google-tell-us-what-you-would.html
Example:  http://www.google.com/doodle4google/2009/images/us_doodle4google2009.gif
Competition
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/index.html

World Maths Day

This year features an exciting new format with multi-levels for all age groups. Teachers, parents and media are invited to participate for the first time. Can we beat last year’s world record of 2 million students from 204 countries correctly answering 452,681,681 questions?
http://www.worldmathsday.com/2010/Default.aspx?

Interview Of The Month: Marvin Marshall On Positive Classroom Management

from Larry Felazzo:

Marvin Marshall, author of the influential education book “Discipline Without Stress, Punishment or Rewards” and the newer book “Parenting Without Stress.”
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/02/02/interview-of-the-month-marvin-marshall-on-positive-classroom-management/
See also:  Responsible Thinking Process by Ed Ford.

16 Ways to Use WallWisher
http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_436f8kscmdc

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-106 iPad, Do You?

Jokes:

Most problems can be
Ignored. The more difficult
Ones can be slept through.

I don’t mind being
Teased, any more than you mind
A skin graft or two.

My brain: walnut-sized.
Yours: largest among primates.
Yet, who leaves for work?

Your mouth is moving;
Up and down, emitting noise.
I’ve lost interest.

There’s no dignity
In being sick – which is why
I don’t tell you where.

On Our Mind:

Dropbox:

  1. Free
  2. Backup no matter where you are
  3. Constant access (Computer always has a copy, Access from anywhere with web connection)
  4. Sync
  5. No Flashdrives
  6. Sharing
  7. Cross Platform

Apple’s iPad

Net Safety
http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/net-cetera.aspx

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Tongue Twister:

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See’s saw
Before See sawed Soar’s seesaw,
See’s saw would not have sawed
Soar’s seesaw.
So See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See’s saw sawed
Soar’s seesaw!

Webspotlight:

Multiple Intelligences Survey
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm

Scribble Maps:
http://scribblemaps.com/#

Origins
http://www.originsonline.org/dd_classroom.php?resource_type=148

Seven Places to find Free e-books:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/01/seven-places-to-find-free-ebooks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29

Dance Rules:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0126102dance1.html

Graph paper:
http://www.printfreegraphpaper.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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:
advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-105 The Revolution in the Classroom

Jokes:

An advanced society has figured how to package basic knowledge in pill form. A student, needing some learning, goes to the pharmacy and asks what kind of knowledge pills are available.

The pharmacist says, “Here’s a pill for English literature.” The student takes the pill and swallows it and has new knowledge about English literature!

“What else do you have?” asks the student. “Well, I have pills for art history, biology, and world history,” replies the pharmacist.

The student asks for these, and swallows them and has new knowledge about those subjects. Then the student asks, “Do you have a pill for math?”

The pharmacist says, “Wait just a moment,” and goes back into the storeroom and brings back a whopper of a pill and plunks it on the counter.

“I have to take that huge pill for math?” inquires the student. The pharmacist replied, “Well, you know… math always was a little hard to swallow.”

In his day, Michael Jordan made over $300,000 a game. That equals $10,000 a minute, at an average of 30 minutes per game.

With $40 million in endorsements, he made $178,100 a day, working or not.

If he slept 7 hours a night, he made $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums danced in his head.

If he went to see a movie, it cost him $9.50, but he made $18,550 while he was there.

If he decided to have a 5 minute egg, he would have made $618 while boiling it.

He made $7,415/hr more than minimum wage.

He’d made $3,710 while watching each episode of Friends.

If he wanted to save up for a new Acura SLX (about $90,000) it would have taken him a whole 12 hours.

If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have had to do it at the rate of $2.00 every second.

He’d probably payed around $200 for a nice round of golf, but was reimbursed around $30,000 during that round.

Assuming he put the federal maximum of 15% of his income into a tax deferred account (401k), he would have hit the federal cap of $9500 at 8:30 a.m. on January 1st.

If you were given a penny for every 10 dollars he made, you’d be living comfortably at $65,000 a year.

He would have made about $19.60 while watching the 100 meter dash in the Olympics.

He would have made about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.

While the common person was spending about $20 for a meal in his trendy Chicago restaurant, he would have pulled in about $5600.

In his last year, he made more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

… However…

… If Jordan had saved 100% of his income for the next 250 years, he’ll still have less than Bill Gates had right then.

On Our Mind:

Head on over to iTunes. We’re looking for some feedback.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=261383649

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Exciting individuals telling their personal stories from the front lines of social and environmental change.
changents.com

MultiTask
Think you or your students can multitask well?  MultiTask challenges you to play multiple games to test your multitasking ability.  It introduces one game at a time and one error will cause you to lose.

Webspotlight:

Sweet Search

Every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by our research experts.
Visit our Web Links for teachers and students, organized by subject and academic level.
http://www.sweetsearch.com/index.html
http://www.sweetsearch.com/weblinks/categories/middle-school/students.html

Dabble Board-

Dabbleboard is an online whiteboard that will help you visualize, explore and communicate ideas. The best way to learn more about it is to view the video below. See the Top 10 Reasons to use Dabbleboard.
http://www.dabbleboard.com/

Cosketch-

What is CoSketch.com?

Do you have an idea, a problem or just a cool picture that you quickly want to show a friend?

CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images.
Simple sharing
• Anything you paint will show up for all other users in the room in real time.
• One click to save a sketch as an image for embedding on forums, blogs, etc.
Zero hassle
• Runs in all common browsers without plugins or installation.
• No registration
Now with Google Maps support!
• Use google maps as the background for your sketches to show directions or share trips.
Read more or just create a sketch and try for yourself.

Google Resources for Education

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/29YqS3/www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/10/25/100-google-tricks-that-will-save-you-time-in-school/

Revolution in the Classroom

by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn

President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s flagship idea for reforming education—a competition among states over a total pot of $4.35 billion known as the “Race to the Top Fund”—is a bold move to use scarce resources to coerce states into adopting big, potentially controversial strategies for education reform. It aims to achieve four stated goals:

– Develop common, internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments

– Improve the effectiveness of teachers and principals

– Use data to inform decisions

– Turn around the lowest-performing schools.

As details of the competition emerge, states vying for funds could simply opt to check off the boxes, suggest some novel-sounding strategies, and implement a few tweaks to the way things are already being done. But doing so would miss a genuine opportunity. In order to transform our factory-era schools into a truly student-centric system fit for the 21st-century, the funds should be used to innovate disruptively. And the best way to do that is by implementing online learning – an approach that’s constantly improving in its ability to deliver personalized, high-quality learning experiences to students from all walks of life, regardless of geography, special needs, or socioeconomic background.

Putting New Standards Into Practice a Tough Job

Challenges Loom on Curricular and Teaching Fronts

Todd Clark remembers his “aha” moment when Florida began rolling out the next generation of state academic-content standards to its teachers in 2007.
“I had a 5th grade teacher come up to me and say, ‘Mr. Clark, I can cover all of these objectives by December,’ ” he recalls. “The way she saw it was that there was only enough material for her to cover half a year.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17practical.h29.html?tkn=QLUFv6tltIiniJxnW3ZjCGFnpX0FvCKmEj6T

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:
  • Google Teacher Academy for Administrators: “We’re very excited to announce our first ever Google Teacher Academy for Administrators.  Since many of you have been asking for a GTA for Admins for a while, we’ve decided to host the first one immediately preceding the ASCD conference, on Friday, March 5th in San Antonio, Texas.  As you might know, the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and learn how to apply examples from our innovative corporate environment.  Potential applicants include educational leaders or decision makers including (but not limited to) school principals, assistant principals, state, county or district superintendents, technology directors or coordinators, and CTOs who actively serve K-12 teachers and students.  For more information, please check out:  http://www.google.com/educators/gtaforadmins.html
    OR
    Apply before midnight, January 25th here:  https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dE1lYmFfTU4zN1RQWDBpX20wb3BsWXc6MA
advisory, MSM, NMSA09, PodcastBy Troy Patterson, , , ,

MSM-104-The Terrible 2’s (There are 52 weeks in a year . . . well, you get it.)

Jokes:

Buddaist Monk walks into a restaurant. What can I get you?
Make me one with everything.
Thanks Steven

On Our Mind:

Thanks to you, we’re a Top 20 podcast in K-12 education. Please help us by voting on iTunes.

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Masters of Disaster:


http://www.redcross.org/preparedness/educatorsmodule/ed-cd-6-8-main-menu-1.html

Try this with your Advisory:
tremellino Three Swedish switched witches watch three Swiss Swatch watch switches. Which Swedish switched witch watch which Swiss Swatch watch switch?

Webspotlight:

A National Yardstick for Gauging Math Progress

States Show Uneven Performance; Even Top Achievers Fall Short

By Christopher B. Swanson

To complement Quality Counts 2010’s exploration of reinvigorated interest in common standards and assessments on the national stage, the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center conducted an original analysis intended to help ground these dynamic debates in a firm understanding of state performance in one core academic area.

Geography matters. Where a student lives affects his or her chances of benefiting from known correlates of achievement and attainment. Those would include exposure to a middle school curriculum that places students on track for advanced coursetaking during high school, as well as the opportunity to learn from experienced and well-qualified math teachers.
For example, only one out of five students nationally attends a school where taking algebra by the 8th grade is the norm. However, the index shows tremendous cross-state variability in this opportunity indicator, with virtually no 8th graders attending such schools in some states, compared with more than half in California.
A closer investigation of Math Progress Index data reveals that states where poor students have more-equal access to experienced math teachers also tend to post significantly smaller math-achievement gaps. This is, just to be clear, correlation and not causation.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17math.h29.html?tkn=R[MF4Qzo6orsW67cZxBzNGAHZdia9LvSag4Z
http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2010/17overview.h29.math.pdf

Debunking the Case for National Standards

By Alfie Kohn

I keep thinking it can’t get much worse, and then it does.
A decade ago, many of us thought we had hit bottom—until the floor gave way and we found ourselves in a basement we didn’t know existed. Now every state had to test every student every year in grades 3-8, judging them (and their schools) almost exclusively by test scores and hurting the schools that needed the most help. Ludicrously unrealistic proficiency targets suggested that the federal law responsible was intended to sabotage rather than improve public education.

  • Let’s be clear about this latest initiative, which is being spearheaded by politicians, corporate CEOs, and companies that produce standardized tests. First, what they’re trying to sell us are national standards. They carefully point out that the effort isn’t driven by the federal government. But if all, or nearly all, states end up adopting identical mandates, that distinction doesn’t amount to much.
  • Second, these standards will inevitably be accompanied by a national standardized test.
  • Third, a relatively small group of experts—far from classrooms—will be designing standards, test questions, and curricula for the rest of us.

Advocates of national standards say they want all (American) students to attain excellence, no matter where they happen to live. The problem is that excellence is being confused with entirely different attributes, such as uniformity, rigor, specificity, and victory.

…common-core-standards Web site, don’t bother looking for words like “exploration,” “intrinsic motivation,” “developmentally appropriate,” or “democracy.” Instead, the very first sentence contains the phrase “success in the global economy,” followed immediately by “America’s competitive edge.”

Yes, we want excellent teaching and learning for all—although our emphasis should be less on achievement (read: test scores) than on students’ achievements. Offered a list of standards, we should scrutinize each one, but also ask who came up with them and for what purpose. Is there room for discussion and disagreement—and not just by experts—regarding what, and how, we’re teaching and how authentic our criteria are for judging success? Or is this a matter of “obey or else,” with tests to enforce compliance?
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17kohn-comm.h29.html?tkn=WXUFzMageZQH55f62llSx04pEy9h1dTAV7g0

Walnut school adds iPod touch to three Rs

By Caroline An, Staff Writer

With their headphones and iPod Touch machines on, Beatrice Azanza’s 20 third grade students were geared up for an afternoon of reading and math.
After a lesson on addition and subtraction, Azanza’s students can get on the iPod Touch, launch the Basic Math application, and test how quickly they can solve a set of problems. The fun, Azanza said, is endless.
In September, Azanza’s class was chosen for a pilot program to gauge if students’ English comprehension and fluency improved with daily use of the iPod Touch. Oswalt Academy is already using technology in the classrooms, having implemented a One to One Laptop Learning Program two years ago. Currently, fifth through seventh grade students use computers with pre-loaded textbooks and other applications, said Astrid Ramirez, Oswalt’s principal. Oswalt was recently named one of eight schools in California as an Apple Distinguished School.

Azanza said to help students improve their reading and comprehension skills, she will have to listen to a book on iPod Touch so they can hear the different intonations and where the pauses are. After that, the students will record themselves reading the same story.

The idea is to have an audio archive so students can hear how they have improved over the weeks.

“It’s also for the parents, too. I’m going to play them during parents conferences so they hear their child’s progress,” she said.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_14161816

Epson has new “short throw” data projectors.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/11/04/epson-introduces-two-ultra-short-throw-projectors-designed-with-k-12-education-in-mind/

NMSA09:

Teaching in 4-D:  Rick Wormeli Closing Keynote
Expertise
What elements of This We Believe have we really integrated into our teaching?
We teach in ways they best learn, not we best learn.
Teachers have their own secret code so the kids don’t know what’s going on:  Cursive.
We don’t settle for this reality in exchange of a potential reality.
“I don’t know” gets the response of “If you did know, what would you say?”
Fine arts gives dimension and meaning!
Kids need to eat every 90 mins. or they lose cognition.
Irritability is the first sign of dehydration.
Creativity
Mantra of the middle school teacher is “Let me get out of the way.”  Open up all the possibilities for our students to express what they have learned.
(example:  juggling illustration of ethos, pathos, and logos.)
We need to teach our kids how to ask good questions.  Really GOOD questions.
Thems that ask the questions are doin’ the learning!
Teach in different ways.
How would you teach if you couldn’t give homework?
How would you teach if there wasn’t long term memory?
Failure
Concerned with the demonization of failure.
Differentiate the assessment if the assessment is not the product.
The person who never makes mistakes takes his orders from one who does.
Go beyond the “Gotcha/Caughtcha” mentality.
Rim Waver:  the child digs a pit and the teacher stands at the rim and waves . . .
Your job is to jump into the pit and tell the kid, “I’ve been here before.  I know the way out.”
Our commission:  I teach so that you can learn.
Redos
Let them redo.  Every real world test does!
Make them do a letter about what they learned if they do a redo
Make it a learning experience (a small hassle) to redo, but let them redo.
Get them to get permission from their parent to do a redo.
Charge $5.00 to do a redo and finance the budget.
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the judgement that something else is more important than that fear.  (Horace Redmoon?)
Collaboration
There is a democratization of knowledge.
Kids can check your facts.
We do all this stuff together.
We become a bright, shining community …
Full use of personal technology!
Narcissism
Facebook, MySpace:  We’re creating an online culture where people only visit sites that are familiar.
We need to expose our students to multiple sources of information.
Join a listserv (MiddleTalk Rules!)
Write a letter to yourself about all you learned here at the conference and then seal it in an envelope and give it to a friend to mail to you in six months as a
way to re-ignite the fire from the conference.
… that can become the echo (slide changes before I can finish …)
Doubt is the compass rose to an educator.
Who’s voice is not being heard?
How do our metaphors limit us?
Core classes (What are the others then?)
LD  (Learn Differently or Learning Disabled?)
What is the role of homework?
Does it matter WHEN he learns it?
The General Westmoreland paratrooper story.
We need to hang out with the folks who inspire us to be better teachers.
Fight the good fight more than 50% of the time.
Go out and ask the important questions and inspire the next generation.
This, we believe . . .
Video:  The Perfect Teacher, an Instructional Lesson in …  Instruction!
Sound of Music clip.

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:
  • Google Teacher Academy for Administrators: “We’re very excited to announce our first ever Google Teacher Academy for Administrators.  Since many of you have been asking for a GTA for Admins for a while, we’ve decided to host the first one immediately preceding the ASCD conference, on Friday, March 5th in San Antonio, Texas.  As you might know, the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and learn how to apply examples from our innovative corporate environment.  Potential applicants include educational leaders or decision makers including (but not limited to) school principals, assistant principals, state, county or district superintendents, technology directors or coordinators, and CTOs who actively serve K-12 teachers and students.  For more information, please check out:  http://www.google.com/educators/gtaforadmins.html
    OR
    Apply before midnight, January 25th here:  https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dE1lYmFfTU4zN1RQWDBpX20wb3BsWXc6MA “

advisory, MSM, NMSA09, PodcastBy Troy Patterson

MSM-102-Happy New Year – Skype Frustration (Skype is soooooo 2009 …)

Jokes:

Things Not To Do During Exams

1. Bring a pillow. Fall asleep (or pretend to) until the last 15 minutes. Wake up, say “oh geez, better get cracking” and do some gibberish work. Turn it in a few minutes early.

2. Get a copy of the exam, run out screaming “Andre, Andre, I’ve got the secret documents!!”

3. If it is a math/science exam, answer in essay form. If it is long answer/essay form, answer with numbers and symbols. Be creative. Use the integral symbol.

4. Make paper airplanes out of the exam. Aim them at the instructor’s left nostril.

5. Talk the entire way through the exam. Read questions aloud, debate your answers with yourself out loud. If asked to stop, yell out, “I’m so sure you can hear me thinking. ” Then start talking about what a jerk the instructor is.

6. Bring cheerleaders.

7. Walk in, get the exam, sit down. About five minutes into it, loudly say to the instructor, “I don’t understand any of this. I’ve been to every lecture all semester long! What’s the deal? And who are you? Where’s the regular guy?”

8. Bring a Game Boy (or Game Gear, etc. . . ). Play with the volume at max level.

9. On the answer sheet (book, whatever) find a new, interesting way to refuse to answer every question. For example: I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it conflicts with my religious beliefs. Be creative.

10. Bring pets.

11. Run into the exam room looking about frantically. Breathe a sigh of relief. Go to the instructor, say “They’ve found me, I have to leave the country” and run off.

12. Fifteen minutes into the exam, stand up, rip up all the papers into very small pieces, throw them into the air and yell out “Merry Christmas. “If you’re really daring, ask for another copy of the exam. Say you lost the first one. Repeat this process every fifteen minutes.

13. Do the exam with crayons, paint, or fluorescent markers.

14. Come into the exam wearing slippers, a bathrobe, a towel on your head, and nothing else.

15. Come down with a BAD case of Turet’s Syndrome during the exam. Be as vulgar as possible.

16. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don’t know one, make one up! For math/science exams, try using Roman numerals.

17. Bring things to throw at the instructor when s/he’s not looking. Blame it on the person nearest to you.

18. As soon as the instructor hands you the exam, eat it.

19. Walk into the exam with an entourage. Claim you are going to be taping your next video during the exam. Try to get the instructor to let them stay, be persuasive. Tell the instructor to expect a percentage of the profits if they are allowed to stay.

20. Every five minutes, stand up, collect all your things, move to another seat, continue with the exam.

21. Turn in the exam approximately 30 minutes into it. As you walk out, start commenting on how easy it was.

22. Do the entire exam as if it was multiple choice and true/false. If it is a multiple choice exam, spell out interesting things (DCCAB. BABE. etc. . ).

23. Bring a black marker. Return the exam with all questions and answers completely blacked out.

24. Get the exam. Twenty minutes into it, throw your papers down violently, scream out “Forget this!” and walk out triumphantly.

25. Arrange a protest before the exam starts (i. e. Threaten the instructor that whether or not everyone’s done, they are all leaving after one hour to go drink)

26. Show up completely drunk. (Completely drunk means at some point during the exam, you should start crying for mommy).

27. Every now and then, clap twice rapidly. If the instructor asks why, tell him/her in a very derogatory tone, “the light bulb that goes on above my head when I get an idea is hooked up to a clapper. DUH!”

28. Comment on how sexy the instructor is looking that day.

29. Come to the exam wearing a black cloak. After about 30 minutes, put on a white mask and start yelling “I’m here, the phantom of the opera” until they drag you away.

30. Go to an exam for a class you have no clue about, where you know the class is very small, and the instructor would recognize you if you belonged. Claim that you have been to every lecture. Fight for your right to take the exam.

31. Upon receiving the exam, look it over, while laughing loudly, say “you don’t really expect me to waste my time on this drivel? Days of our Lives is on!!!”

32. Bring a water pistol with you.

33. From the moment the exam begins, hum the theme to Jeopardy. Ignore the instructor’s requests for you to stop. When they finally get you to leave one way or another, begin whistling the theme to the Bridge on the River Kwai.

34. Start a brawl in the middle of the exam.

35. If the exam is math/science related, make up the longest proofs you could possibly think of. Get pi and imaginary numbers into most equations. If it is a written exam, relate everything to your own life story.

36. Come in wearing a full knight’s outfit, complete with sword and shield.

37. Bring a friend to give you a back massage the entire way through the exam. Insist this person is needed, because you have bad circulation.

38. Bring cheat sheets for another class (make sure this is obvious. . . like history notes for a calculus exam. . . otherwise you’re not just failing, you’re getting kicked out too) and staple them to the exam, with the comment “Please use the attached notes for references as you see fit. “

39. When you walk in, complain about the heat.

40. After you get the exam, call the instructor over, point to any question, ask for the answer. Try to work it out of him/her.

41. One word: Wrestlemania.

42. Bring balloons, blow them up, start throwing them around like they do before concerts start.

43. Try to get people in the room to do the wave.

44. Play frisbee with a friend at the other side of the room.

45. Bring one pencil with a very sharp point. Break the point off your paper. Sharpen the pencil. Repeat this process for one hour.

46. Get deliveries of candy, flowers, balloons, telegrams, etc. . . sent to you every few minutes throughout the exam.

47. During the exam, take apart everything around you. Desks, chairs, anything you can reach.

48. Complete the exam with everything you write being backwards at a 90 degree angle.

49. Bring a musical instrument with you, play various tunes. If you are asked to stop, say “it helps me think. ” Bring a copy of the Student Handbook with you, challenging the instructor to find the section on musical instruments during finals. Don’t forget to use the phrase “Told you so”.

50. Answer the exam with the “Top Ten Reasons Why Professor xxxx is a Terrible Teacher”

For your classroom:  http://www.mathteacherstore.com/middle/midlpost/5-8/155101main.htm

On Our Mind:

Reading List:

  • The Alphabet versus the Goddess – Shlain
  • Catching Up or Leading the Way – Zhao
  • The Dumbest Generation- Bauerlein
  • Why Students Don’t Like School – Willingham
  • How People Learn
  • Super Freakonomics – Levitt

Letter:
Mr. TB:  Thanks for letting us know we’ve been out of contact. We had an issue with the xml file which is now fixed.

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Pamela Chandler’s students recently completed an activity in which they took a survey about the stressors in their lives. “Students were amazed at how many stressful things they deal with on a daily basis,” said Chandler. After the survey, students brainstormed ways of dealing with those stressors.

Last fall, before parent conferences, Stern asked her advisees to fill out a form designed to gather information about how students felt about school and how they thought their parents would respond to the upcoming advisory conference. “Included on that form was the question What would you like me to discuss with your parents that you feel is difficult for you to address?” said Stern. “Students have brought up the need for privacy, how they are trying hard even if they are not meeting with the results they would like, and that even though they like and respect their parents, they need to try things out for themselves. These can be difficult issues, and parents and the advisor can then discuss how to deal with them so that everybody is happier.”

Things that happen in one minute:
http://www.insurance-quotes-for-you.com/20_Things_That_Happen_In_One_Minute.html

Webspotlight:

Free Books:

This collection features free e-books, mostly classics, that you can read on your computer, smart phone, or Kindle. It includes great works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. To learn how to download these ebooks to your computer/mobile device, please visit our eBook Primer.

http://www.openculture.com/free_ebooks

LoudLit:
Literature for your eyes and ears.
http://www.loudlit.org/

Top Documentary Films- Free
An aggregation site for documentary films. They don’t host them. Well organized and easy to use. You’ll probably need to download the films.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Newspaper Headline
Create the banner and lead article for your own newspaper.
http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

15 TED Talks for Teachers to Watch Before 2010 by Free Tech 4 Teachers (Richard Byrne)
OK so we’re a little late- you can still watch them.
1. John Wooden on Winning vs. Success.
2. Clifford Stoll Teaches Physics to Eighth Graders.
3. Don’t Eat the Marshmallow
4. Bill Gates Talks About Mosquitoes, Malaria, and Education.
5. David Merrill Introduces Siftables
6. Tom Wujec – 3 Ways the Brain Creates Meaning.
7. Jimmy Wales – The Birth of Wikipedia.
8. Julian Treasure – 4 Ways Sound Affects Us.
9. How Cell Phones, Twitter, and Facebook Can Make History.
10. Matthew White Gives the Euphonium a New Voice.
Update: Lead Like the Great Conductors.
Bonus: David Pogue on the Music Wars
Update #2: More reader suggestions
Pranav Mistry – The Thrilling Potential of Sixth Sense Technology.
Benjamin Zander – On Music and Passion
Dan Pink – The Surprising Science of Motivation

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/12/10-ted-talks-for-teachers-to-watch.html

NMSA09:

Integrating Open Education Resources into the Middle School Classroom

Session Description: As school districts struggle in today’s restrictive budget environment, administrators must find innovative options for providing high-quality, standards based curriculum. Open education resources are becoming a viable alternative for how school districts use electronic curricula. The integration of free content not only enhances existing curriculum but also provides educators with a wide array of additional instructional options. This session will demonstrate how teachers and educators can work together to modify, improve, and enhance the material and then share it with other educators.
Very personalized
Based upon curriki. http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome
Teachers need time to spend playing. It’s not the end but the process that is important.
Teachers generally don’t get time to play. This is the advantage that kids have.
Have teachers evaluate sites.
The World is Open by Curtis Bonk.
The Machine is Using Us – You Tube The Machine is (Changing) Us – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=channel Curriki: Free membership – just need to register. Use the advanced search to limit searches down quickly. Several different filters are available.
3* – Collection gets a 3, then each individual lesson gets a 3 also.

Digital Manipulation:
http://www.iwanexstudio.com/
Porfolio | Mouse over the images (one is inappropriate for school)

RW7

John Collins Writing
John Collins presenting.  Had a chance to talk with him.  Great introduction.
Make a note of any chapters or topics we will cover in the next few weeks:
idioms
5 paragraph essay
Improving Academic Performance:  What assignments are best?
1.  4-6 paragraph persuasive essay
2.  Friendly letter
3.  Summary
4.  Process paper- explaining how to do something
5.  Personal narrative
6.  Lab report
7.  Compare and contrast essay
8.  Research paper- proving a point with sources
9.  Literary analysis-analyzing literature
10.  Other . . . .
My pics from the list
4-6 paragraph persuasive essay
Summary
Personal narrative
John’s ‘Right Answers’
Compare & Contrast
Persuasive Essay (not supported by research)
Summary
Other:  Vocabulary Cards  (think Frayer Model)
Avril Coxhead

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:
  • Google Teacher Academy for Administrators: “We’re very excited to announce our first ever Google Teacher Academy for Administrators.  Since many of you have been asking for a GTA for Admins for a while, we’ve decided to host the first one immediately preceding the ASCD conference, on Friday, March 5th in San Antonio, Texas.  As you might know, the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and learn how to apply examples from our innovative corporate environment.  Potential applicants include educational leaders or decision makers including (but not limited to) school principals, assistant principals, state, county or district superintendents, technology directors or coordinators, and CTOs who actively serve K-12 teachers and students.  For more information, please check out:  http://www.google.com/educators/gtaforadmins.html
    OR
    Apply before midnight, January 25th here:  https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dE1lYmFfTU4zN1RQWDBpX20wb3BsWXc6MA

MSM, NMSA09, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 100- NMSA09 Wrap Up 5: Happy Birthday Carol Josel! This is Betaland! (TY GoogleWave …)

Jokes:

The 36 Rules of Life

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. Don’t worry about what people think, they don’t do it very often.

3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

16. A balanced diet is a muffin in each hand.

17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

19. Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

24. Someone who thinks logically provides nice contrast to the realworld.

25. It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat.

26. If you had to identify in one word the reason why the human race has not achieved it’s full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.

27. There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’

28. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

29. You should not confuse your career with your life.

30. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

31. Never lick a steak knife.

32. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

33. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

34. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

35. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that deep down inside we ALL believe we are good drivers.

36. Your friends love you anyway.

(http://gotfunny.leroysjokes.com/2008/08/18/the-36-rules-of-life/)

On Our Mind:

NMSA Director Search!

From the Twitterverse:

  • rmbyrne Free Technology for Teachers: Week in Review – My Trip to GTA http://ff.im/-cOg0Q
  • JohnMikulsk Furious about new privacy changes on Facebook. I have 2 requests from students now that they can easily search for me and see profile pic.
  • scottmerrick Looks like the Tue. night ISTE Speaker Session will be SIGVE folks at table at the Skypark or the Campfires. Speedchatting here we come!
  • chickensaltash Please show your support for the Edublogs Awards #edtech
  • eduinnovation Enjoying Ommwriter on my Mac. The gang at @ommwriter have found a way to make technology used for writing soothing and inspiring.  (It has to be better than Google Wave!)
  • InstructorG 50 Inspirational Quotes for Teachers
  • drmmtatom RT @MSMatters: RT @NMSAnews: NMSA Executive Director Resigns
  • cfanch so, educators, what books should I add to my amazon wish list? -or- to my books to download to ipod? (no kindle yet…)
  • simfin iPhone and iPod Touch Apps for Education http://ow.ly/LfoS (via @russeltarr ) (via @dianadell)

Advisory:

Conversation Starter:
Today’s episode of CNN Student News has a short segment in which there is a discussion about the differences in the ways in which male and female students learn. The segment talks about the idea of all male or all female middle schools. This segment could be a good prompt for getting students to reflect and discuss the ways in which they learn.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/12/student-conversation-starter.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29

Webspotlight:

Proprofs – Online Game Creation

Practicing new skills and learning new facts is often presented as less than exciting, but education does not have to be this way. Good teachers have always known that puzzle games are some of the best ways to get old and young alike well on their way towards mastering a subject area. ProProfs is dedicated to the mission of combining education and entertainment, providing free online puzzles, brain games, and other fun resources to get people actively involved in the learning process.
http://www.proprofs.com/

Free Audio Book: A Christmas Carol

(http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature/European-Classics/A-Christmas-Carol/29311)

Footnote:

Footnote helps you find and share historic documents. We are able to bring you many never-before-seen historic documents through our unique partnerships with The National Archives, the Library of Congress and other institutions.

http://www.footnote.com/

Reading Practice Can Strengthen Brain ‘Highways’

by Jon Hamilton

Intensive reading programs can produce measurable changes in the structure of a child’s brain, according to a study in the journal Neuron. The study found that several different programs improved the integrity of fibers that carry information from one part of the brain to another.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121253104

NMSA09:

Cross-Over Boundaries

Brain research has reported that the brain does not compartmentalize information. “The brain is by nature a pattern-detecting appartus… The focus of this session is on developing curricula that integrates
multiple subjects with arts-based project applications while encouraging use of higher order critical and creative thinking skills, with participants developing curricula suited to their needs through discussion, examples of student work and assessment.
aviary web site. All about integrated teaching. Don’t teach single subject teaching. Art teacher who is big upon cross the boundaries of teaching and learning. Points out the make up of the brain. Teachers need to work together to develop multi-disciplinary lessons.

Getting School Wise:

Carol Josel
(Troy’s Notes)  Session Description: As children reach middle school, pressure builds, coursework and studying demands intensify, and supporting students’ academic efforts with essential learning strategies becomes even more crucial but is often overlooked. This presentation will help teachers incorporate time management, memory techniques, study strategies, 2-column notes, and test-taking skills into their lessons, regardless of the content area. All activities are included in a take-it-with-you packet for immediate classroom use.
www.Schoolwisebooks.com
http://www.schoolwisebooks.com/blog
mailto://carol.schoolwisebooks.com
Move to nationalize standards. Some teachers are being asked to report where they are in every book every 2 weeks.
Salaries tied to student performance. Pretty Good Student by Charles Osgood. 1/3 of states have lowered their standards over the past few years.
Ask students to define time. How structured is your time? If completely structured rank as a 10. Teenagers should get at least 9 hours of sleep a night. Time Activity (see handout pg 64).

Memory Tips:
• Repetition • Recitation • Chunking
Good Books: Demonic Mnenomics
How to Spell It – can look words up by the “wrong” spelling.
DMSCB – Divide/Multiple/Subtract/Check/Bring down (Does McDonald’s See Cheese Burgers)
Kids read more closely just by highlighting. Post-its in the textbook are also helpful. SQ3R
CEU: GR6

(Shawn’s Notes)  Quote:  “Helen Ladd:  “One theory of action seems to be that holding teachers accountable for their student’s scores . . .”
“The Pretty Good Student . . . ” by Charles Osgood.
Time activity
Define time
How efficient are you with your time.  A scale of 1 to 10.
What is your personal time waster?
Kids spend 45.5 hours per week watching television and related activities per week.
Notebook check  (This is an actual, physical notebook)
Ingredients:
Assignment Book
Homework folder
Hole puncher
Small pencil case
22 dividers (+ keyboarding)
Notebook paper
Sample section
Science
Notes
Tests/quizzes
Homework
The Interference and Memory Curve
99-95% crammed at night
80%  by the time the student hits first hour.
50-60% retention by the time of the test.
0% a day or two after the test.
Memory strategies:  Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Factual knowledge is important also.
Yellow paper activity.
Repetition
Recitation
Chunking
Mnemonics
Book:  Demonic Mnemonics
Book:  How to Spell it
DMSCB
Does McDonald’s Sell Cheese Burgers?
Divide/Multiply/Subtract/Check/Bring Down
Study Skills
Two column note taking
On the left put the question
on the right put the answer.
Students can fold it and then quiz themselves.

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  • Second Life:

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM-98 NMSA09 Follow up 3 Get Your Wave ON!

Jokes:

Real Teachers:

  • cheer when April 1 doesn’t fall on a school day
  • Clutch a pencil when thinking
  • never teach the conjugations of lie and lay to 8th graders.
  • can’t walk past a group of students without straightening up the line.
  • have disjointed necks from constantly looking around 180 degrees
  • can eat lunch in under 3 minutes
  • can predict exactly which parents will show up at Conferences.
  • know the shortest route to the office, bathroom (all of them) and caffeine
  • know that secretaries and custodians run the school.

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Pictures of our World. Have students take pictures of “their world”. Have the students narrow down their choices to 1 picture. Discuss why the picture is important.

On Our Mind:

MAMSE: Contact your local MAMSE board member and volunteer to be a Regional Coordinator!

Charter Colleges: Marvin Olasky proposes charter colleges to further democratize education.

Grown Up Digital by Don Tapscott

Webspotlight:

Students live in a Digital World. Are schools ready to join them?

Seale and educators across the country are employing an array of digital tools—blogs, wikis, videos, and social media—to tap into their passion for collaborating, creating, and sharing.

“It’s about initiating higher levels of engagement,” says Seale, “and making the learning more self-directed and self-motivated.” “Let’s face it,” she adds, “being literate today means more than reading words on a printed page and writing an essay.”

“I don’t think we yet have a handle on what it really means to be literate in the 21st century,” Fisch acknowledges.

So don’t throw away your copies of To Kill a Mockingbird; even the most fervent Web evangelists believe there is still space for the Great Books. But the bottom line remains: We can’t stop there. Our students are living in a different world.

http://www.nea.org/home/35939.htm

FastPencil: Turn your blog posts into a book. http://ow.ly/E8z3

One of the laments of librarians and English teachers about blogs is the lack of permenance. Once the electrons go away, so does the content. FastPencil can turn blog posts into chapter books for paper books.

What happened to Second Life? BBC questions current model of marketing in virtual environment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8367957.stm

ANKI:

Spaced Repetition

Anki is a spaced repetition system (SRS). It helps you remember things by intelligently scheduling flashcards, so that you can learn a lot of information with a minimum amount of effort. (Available for Mac/Linux/iPhone-iPod Touch/Windows)

http://ichi2.net/anki/index.html

NMSA09:

Strategies That Motivate Students

Mark McLeod

*Notes from Todd Williamson who took much better notes than I (any errors in transcription though are mine alone):

Session Description: Student engagement is the key to learning for middle school students. This session will explore many teaching strategies and techniques that encourage students to get excited about learning. The presenter will model various strategies that can be used immediately in the classroom. Both veteran and new teachers will leave this session with many powerful, yet practical strategies to motivate today’s middle school students.

Idea of emotional bank account Attitude is the most important thing. There are 2 feat which interfere with success:

• Fear of Embarrassment

• Fear of Failure

Personal life needs to be in order. The kids bring enough baggage. Kids need to be involved or the drop out later. What is the #1 Quality you want in your students?

• • •

Positive Attitude Treat Others with Respect Motivated to Want to Learn

Am I treating everyone in here with the attitudes I expect?

We can’t change other people, we can only change ourselves…so make sure you do that and enjoy what you do.

No one forces anyone to have a great attitude. It’s your choice.

Has everyone spend a few minute encouraging others…return to seats when we hear YMCA, and do YMCAtogether. FUNTIMES!!

Teachers have to be willing to step out and take risks. Take ideas, tweak them to work for yourself, and take the chance to use them.

Many teachers are afraid of embarassment and failure, so they never take risks.

BIGGEST MOTIVATOR: RELATIONSHIPS

Kids bring enough baggage, teacher doesn’t need to bring more into the picture. Make desposits into kids emotional bank accounts. Are we making deposits or withdrawals from our kids accounts? These are not accounts we want closed.

You can’t change what’s in the past, so don’t let it stop you. If you’ve made too many withdrawals in the past, don’t dwell on it, just start making deposits from then on.

Sometimes we have to INTENTIONALLY make deposits until it becomes habit. WE ARE SO INGRAINED AS TEACHERS TO LOOK FOR THINGS TO CORRECT, SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT ALREADY IS GOOD.

Developing positive relationships doesn’t just happen in the classroom, we have to do it everywhere in life so it becomes habit.

It’s not the teacher that sends students to the office, it’s the environment. Free time and inappropriate conversations happen when positive relationships aren’t established.

AGREE WITH A TWEET BY @MSMATTERS…MARK MCLEOD IS GIVING GREAT ADVICE FOR LIFE AS WELL AS THE CLASSROOM

Students AND Adults both need deposits into their emotional bank accounts. What are some ways to make deposits into students emotional bank accounts?

1. ATTEND GAMES

2. GIVE JOB IN CLASSROOM

3. POSITIVE PARENT CONTACT

4. DISCUSS INTERESTS

5. PRAISE

6. RECOGNIZE BIRTHDAYS

7. STICKERS (haha)

8. REWARDS

9. FOOD

10.NOTICE THINGS FROM OTHER CLASSES SUBJECTS

Adults

1. FOOD

2. SHOW UP FOR SIGNIFICANT EVENTS (DEATHS, ILLNESS, WEDDINGS)

3. LISTEN

4. REWARDS

5. KNOWING WHO KIDS ARE

6. RECOGNITION

Practice attention getting strategies in the classroom…bells, sayings, etc…don’t just tell them, actually practice it.

Students don’t know how to make deposits…we have to help teach them. “Cha-ching” shirts…on the back “Have you made a deposit today?”

2nd Biggest Motivator: Success

Set up students for success…self-motivated students blurt out because they want the thrill of victory

Don’t worry about the blurtter-outers…they’re self-motivated and will learn anyway. Target the kids who never raise their hands and set them up for success.

#1 Questioning Technique to add Tension: Ask, Pause, Call…Tension keeps all engaged, don’t start question with “Suzy, what is…” everyone else tunes out and learning stops. Random name generators add to tension as well. This keeps kids engaged…and no one has to know for sure who’s name is pulled out if you really want to call on a particular student.

#2 Questioning Technique is “Volunteers”…This gives a bad sampling because you get the same volunteers every time. Ask Pause Call with random name generator causes more thinking, from a larger number of students, and allows you to climb up Blooms.

#3 QuestioningTechnique: Choral Response…Have a signal when you want students to respond together, otherwise they won’t know when to start or stop.

#4 Questioning Technique: Signal Response…Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down/Windshield Wiper… Whiteboards…SHOWING WHITEBOARDS WITH A HANDLE, MARKER, AND 4 DIFFERENT COLORS.

Notes: Ross Burkhardt on Writing for Real Reasons

Quote: “Our sincere interest in students’ lives and their opinions is one of the strongest motivators we have. Nothing on earth is so irresistible to a writer as the knowledge that her writing might actually influence someone else’s thoughts or feelings.”

CEU code: EQ7

Why are we using writing as punishment? (Cartoon reference)

NCTE quote: “Conventions of writing are best taught in the context of writing.”

NCTE quote: “When writers actually write, they think of things that they did not have in mind before they begin writing.”

“Writers need a classroom culture that supports writing, a culture in which everyone, including the teacher, is part of a writing community.” Vicki Spandel

“You can’t be what you can’t see.” Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Nov. 2003 in an Atlanta Speech.

The Teacher As Writer

“Almost nothing does more to sustain a culture of writing than a teacher who writes with students, thereby underscoring the importance of writing, and also allowing students to see the process.” Vicki Spandel

“Save all drafts!”

What Ross did in his classroom will not work in our classrooms.

Adapt these writing strategies to your own:

Students

style

setting

Take out a sheet of paper . . .

Activity: Letter of appreciation or acknowlegement.

On the sheet of paper, identify three people that are important to you and why.

It doesn’t matter who they put down on the paper.

Letter to Jack Berckemeyer . . .

Share/Pair instructions

Decide who goes first.

First person shares – 1 minute

Switch

Second Person shares – 1 minute (or so)

Teacher reads a letter of gratitude and then seals it in an envelope.

Real audience

Real person

Shows authenticity

Choose principal, AP, fellow teacher, etc.

Send the student to the person in the sealed envelope that they saw sealed and then point out that they came back empty handed.

Assignment

You’ve identified three people, now write a letter like this to one of those three people.

“Grade is an A. I will not read it.” “If you’d like me to read your letter to help with your grammar and punctuation, I will read it.”

“Tomorrow I will be at the door. Have your letter ready to go when you walk into class tomorrow. Your grade goes down from there if you didn’t turn it in.”

Part Two:

Make three columns on a piece of paper.

Put the number 8 at the top left column.

Put all the things you did (best stuff) in a column. Things you did in 8th grade.

Wherever you stop, draw a line. Write down the best stuff from 7th Grade.

Go around the room and mention one thing. Kids can add as each contributes.

Do the same for 6th Grade

Look over the entire list and pick the three best things you ever did in middle school.

Identify the staff member who was most responsible for making that activity happen.

It’s the last week of school kids, you have a list in front of you the best stuff in middle school and the people who made it happen. What could we do with that information?

Assignment: Write two letters of acknowlegement to staff.

If they want to write to you, they have to write a third letter.

HMP: Holiday Memory Piece

Monday before Friday before Christmas Break.

“Kids, I’m going to read you something and then I’m going to ask you some questions”

There are no questions, lol!

Christmas Eve Exchange . . .

Questions are a little bit about the story . . .

“Ok kids, we’ve got a holiday coming up . . . ” shows a list of holidays.

“On Friday of this week you’re going to share one of your holiday memories.”

Let the Jehovah’s Witness kid talk about not celebrating holidays.

Can’t fail because they can pick from any memory.

They’ve experienced it and it has already happened.

Tell them that they are going to create a public piece of writing.

GOW: Gift of Writing

identify three people who are important to you and briefly describe them.

Share a model of what this writing will look like.

“Tears on the Turnpike”

“In what way is your experience different than your experience of the story?”

She’s in it. She’s a participant.

He gave this piece of writing to his sister as a gift.

Assignment:

Your job is to create a gift of writing to give to an intended audience.

Letter to Self: LTS

The Grade is a B and I will not read it.

Minimum of two pages on the next 5 topics.

Put the heading at the top of the page and you turn in two pages in to me at the door.

Want an A? Turn in three pages.

This honors the narcissism of the adolescent.

This could address the GLCE about creating writers who “want” to write.

Belief informs Action

The 10 Assertions.

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 Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010. Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.

“The Prince, the Wolf and the Firebird”

By Jackson Lacey

Directed by Pam Cardell

December 4, 5, 10, 11 at 7PM

December 5, 6, 12 at 3PM

School Matinees: December 9 and 10 at 10:00 am. Tickets $4.00 for students and every 15 students gets a chaparone in for free.

  • Second Life:
  • No Events specified. Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled. See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
  • Video: Educational Uses of Second Life

advisory, MSM, PodcastBy Troy Patterson

MSM 94: What Conferences Will Come: And That’s Why We Like Faygo!

Shawn & Troy discuss advisory ideas, share some shout outs, spotlight a few web sites, and look forward to the NMSA09 conference.

Jokes:

Computer Class

For a computer programming class, I sat directly across from someone, and our computers were facing away from each other. A few minutes into the class, she got up to leave the room. I reached between our computers and switched the inputs for the keyboards.
She came back and started typing and immediately got a distressed look on her face.
She called the teacher over and explained that no matter what she typed, nothing would happen. The teacher tried everything. By this time I was hiding behind my monitor and quaking red-faced.
I started to type, “Leave me alone!”
They both jumped back, silenced. “What the . . . ” the teacher said. I typed, “I said leave me alone!”
The kid got real upset. “I didn’t do anything to it, I swear!” It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. The conversation between them and HAL 2000 went on for an amazing five minutes.
Me: “Don’t touch me!”
Her: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit your keys that hard.”
Me: “Who do you think you are anyway?!” Etc. Finally, I couldn’t contain myself any longer and fell out of my chair laughing.
After they had realized what I had done, they both turned beet red. Funny, I never got more than a C- in that class.

Faygo Commercial:  YouTube

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

One Letter off Movies:  #oneletteroffmovies

  • Urbane Cowboy
  • A Streetcar Named Desirex
  • Where the Mild Things Are
  • Sat VI
  • Boy Story

Longer Temper:
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/10/22/i-like-this-lesson-because-it-make-me-have-a-longer-temper-part-one/

On Our Mind:

Shout out to March Wells III:  Still on dial up….2 hours to download our Podcast.  The Dedicated Listener Award goes to . . .
Shout out to L.C.:  Thanks for the idea- Snag jokes from Reader’s Digest (so you know they’re funny) and then put them into cartoon form.

Should the National Middle School Association change its name?  This was brought up an annual conference or two ago . . .

Oscar the 3 legged wonder dog.

Webspotlight:

Comparison of cell sizes:

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

Schoology

Schoology combines social networking with course management to enable students and educators to manage classroom work while having the ability to seamlessly communicate and collaborate through a safe and secure network.

Schoology offers both school-wide implementations and individual subscriptions.

Schoology is an alternative to other course management systems on the market.

As a web-based application, Schoology is able to offer services at a lower price than traditional systems. Being a fully hosted and fully managed system means less headache for your users and support staff. This allows you to spend your time using the system, instead of maintaining it.

The social networking features of Schoology compliment the course manager by allowing for seamless and effortless communication of information.

There is always 100% accountability and 100% transparency. Student actions are always affiliated with a physical student. Anything done on Schoology can be compared to performing this action in person.

https://www.schoology.com/home.php

SlickPlan

SlickPlan is a web-based sitemap/flowchart generator that allows for the creation of free sitemap and flowchart design. SlickPlan was handcrafted with PHP/MySQL and jQuery by the Dayton website design team at Atomic Interactive.

http://www.slickplan.com/

WatchKnow:

The Internet is full of useful information, but it’s disorganized and often unreliable. Despite its problems, the potential of the Internet for education is especially huge. Imagine tapping into that potential. Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos. Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.WatchKnow—as in, “You watch, you know”—has started building this resource.WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.WatchKnow is now officially launched, after being developed for over a year. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher, or just someone who cares about the education of children, you can now use our service and get involved to make it even better. Please sign up! (But did you know that you can add new videos to our system without signing up? They’ll have to be approved first.)There is no better online cause than the future of our children. And just imagine how fantastic it would be if there were a resource online we could go to, or send our kids to, that would explain every topic they study in school instantly and reliably. Many of the resources needed for such a site already exist online; they just need to be organized.

http://www.watchknow.org/

News:


National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference November 4-6, Indianapolis, IN.
http://www.nmsa.org/annual/

Stress, Control, and the Deprofessionalizing of Teaching:

By Thomas Newkirk

Until fairly recently, psychologists accepted the common-sense view that job stress was directly related to the significance of the decisions being made. The top executive jobs, by this logic, were the most stressful because so much was riding on decisions. And the lower-level positions—the clerks, custodial workers, and receptionists—were less stressful because decisions had less impact. There was less to worry about. All this made a kind of sense.

But it was exactly wrong.

A key word in the advertising copy for these systems is “easy.” Check it out. There is the regular promise that by minutely directing instruction, these systems will relieve the teacher of the stress of planning and decisionmaking and create great results.

It is a Faustian bargain. When teachers lose control of decisionmaking—when they prepare students for tests they have no role in designing (and often no belief in), when they must abandon units they love because there is no longer time, when they must follow the plans designed by others, when they are locked in systems of instruction and evaluation they don’t create or even choose—they will not be relieved of stress.

It will surely be argued that I am too optimistic here, that only a small percentage of teachers can or will take on this more creative work.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/21/08newkirk.h29.html?tkn=SLXFVNI0pzgQlNmS03dWjNd3b5GbnRR0ra9D

What Ted Sizer Meant to Us

By Patrick J. McQuillan
The death this month of Theodore R. Sizer leaves an immense void in the American educational landscape.
Coming at a time that A Nation at Risk would lay a foundation for neoliberal philosophy to dominate U.S. educational policy, Ted Sizer offered an alternative approach to the shortcomings of American education, one rooted in the vision of John Dewey and progressive reform. Based on the research he conducted in high schools across the country that resulted in Horace’s Compromise, Ted highlighted the “compromises” teachers endured while adjusting and adapting to an ineffective system. They were responsible for so many students that they assigned little substantive work. Lacking time to know students well, teachers leveled their expectations to perceived student abilities. To ensure that they “covered” the entire curriculum, many topics were addressed superficially.
Well aware that students were key to any successful reform, Ted advocated “personalizing” student-teacher relationships, ensuring that “faculty knew students as people and learners,” as he would say.
Ted trusted teachers to organize their curriculum and educate their students. Our present emphasis on high-stakes standardized exams sends teachers and students a set of very different messages.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/29/10mcquillan.h29.html?tkn=PPLF+9RZuGGEuUfRwqevXDYZDDbIdJzHfqkX

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:
NMSA News:

  1. NMSA’s Annual Conference:  NMSA ‘08 Technology Focus Video.  NMSA ‘09 Invitation Video:  Indianapolis, IN Conference  November 5-7, 2009.  Individual Registration is now open.  September 30th early registration deadline is approaching  (Use MAMSE09 as your source code.)
  2. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  3. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.  Some hotels are nearing full if not so already.  Special housing rates end October 5th.
  4. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!

Other News:

  1. ISTE Eduverse Talks are the recorded sessions held on ISTE Island every week.  Join ISTE in their Second Life conference location for their weekly talks on education.
  2. The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010.  Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  3. The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference is coming up March 4-5, 2010 in Dexter, MI.  MAMSE will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary!
  4. Theater Education Opportunity:  Eastern Michigan University’s Quirk-Sponberg Theater has announced their Fall 2009 Season.

    “The Prince, the Wolf and the Firebird”
    By Jackson Lacey
    Directed by Pam Cardell
    December 4, 5, 10, 11 at 7PM
    December 5, 6, 12 at 3PM
    School Matinees: December 9 and 10 at 10:00 am.  Tickets $4.00 for students and every 15 students gets a chaparone in for free.

  5. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  6. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available. 
  7. Second Life:
    • No Events specified.  Regular Tuesday meetings are scheduled.  See the board on the ISTE Island for up to the minute details.
    • Video:  Educational Uses of Second Life