Category: News

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
NewsBy Troy Patterson

Lies, $#&* Lies, and Statistics

Here is an interesting follow up to the statistics quoted in Waiting for Superman. I’ve not seen the movie yet, but find it interesting that the statistics being bandied about from the movie are being called into question. The great thing about statistics is that you can make them say just about whatever you want.

Here’s the start of the blog post:

In the movie Waiting for Superman, nominated for an Oscar as the best Documentary of 2010, the following statement is made:

” …in Illinois, 1 in 57 doctors loses his or her medical license, and 1 in 97 attorneys loses his or her law license, but only 1 teacher in 2500 has ever lost his or her credentials.”

The post then goes on to give very different statistics:

In reality, only 121 doctors lost their licenses in Illinois in 2009, out of 43,670 physicians, rather than 1 in 57, as the movie claims. That means an average of 0.3% of doctors per year lost their licenses; or 3 out 1,000 per year – about one tenth of the figure claimed in the film.

Over the last five years, the number of Illinois doctors who have lost their licenses annually ranged from 173 to 99 each year, so the rate has not varied much over time. Similarly, 161 physicians in New York State lost their medical licenses in 2009, out of 64,818; about 0.2%, or 2 out of 1,000 per year – an even smaller figure.

It is a short interesting read. Read with a critical eye. However, it probably presents a much more balanced and accurate picture of what really happens. More educators are “exited” from the educational field then doctors, lawyers.


NewsBy Troy Patterson

PISA Review

Here is a great write up of the PISA scores and what they mean. Mel Riddile wrote the piece for NASSP. It is definitely worth a read. A few excerpts to whet your whistle:

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, should be providing the nation with a proper vision and focus for public education. He knows our challenges all too well. He confirmed that he gets it when he recently wrote me saying, “We must build a culture nationally where great educators … choose to work with children and communities who need the most help.”
Tirozzi demonstrates the correlation between socio-economic status and reading by presenting the PISA scores in terms of individual American schools and poverty.  While the overall PISA rankings ignore such differences in the tested schools, when groupings based on the rate of free and reduced lunch are created, a direct relationship is established.

There are several easy to understand charts accompanying the article. The end result, while there needs to be an emphasis and hard work in education, the real challenge may in addressing poverty.

Instead of finding blame to pass around, maybe its time that we actually acknowledge some of our real challenges.

NewsBy Troy Patterson

A different point of view on PISA

This is taken from Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, but makes some interesting points:

Simply put, the highest-achieving countries in the world out-prepare, out-invest, out-respect and, as a result, outperform the United States.The top-performing countries on PISA — Finland, Singapore and South Korea — place a heavy emphasis on teacher preparation, mentoring and collaboration. They de-emphasize standardized tests, and each has a well-rounded curriculum that teachers can tailor. The top-performing countries provide a more equitable education for all students and offset the effects of poverty through wraparound services that support students and their families.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-weingarten/scaling-up-success_b_799258.html

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
News, TechBy Troy Patterson

1 to 1 Costs vs Athletics

Scott McLeod does some terrific work. He has posted a comment about the cost of athletic programs as it relates to implementing a 1 to 1 computer program. He points out that it is not about knocking athletic programs. Athletics are important and have a role. Rather, this is about considering costs and coming up with comparables. It’s a short post and worth reading. He finishes with three questions:

  1. How much money does your school district spend per year on athletics?
  2. How many student/teacher laptops (at, say, $1,400 apiece) would that buy?
  3. Which offers greater benefits for students and/or the district (short term and/or long term)?

All fair questions. I’d propose a few questions myself:

  1. Are these questions that we are talking about as educators?
  2. Are we talking about them as a school community? As a larger community?
  3. How much do emotional attachments matter?
  4. Is education about reading, writing and math? Is it about different things?

Education is messy. I actually think that this is a strength of education. It makes poor decisions harder to implement. It makes us talk about, discuss, argue, etc. what we want education to do. This is an interesting discussion though. How much does your school (district) spend on athletics?

http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/12/athletics-or-laptops.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dangerouslyirrelevant+%28Dangerously+Irrelevant%29

NewsBy Troy Patterson

7 Lessons Students Learn

Found this post via Scott McLeod:

Alan McCluskey from the Swiss Agency for ICT in education spoke about The 7 tacit lessons which schools teach children:

1. Knowledge is scarce
2. Learning needs a specific place and specific time (lessons in classrooms)
3. Knowledge is best learnt in disconnected little pieces (lessons)
4. To learn you need the help of an approved expert i.e. a teacher
5. To learn you need to follow a path determined by a learning expert (a course of study)
6. You need an expert to assess your progress (a teacher)
7. You can attribute a meaningful numerical value to the value of learning (marks, grades, degrees)

http://edubuzz.org/blogs/donsblog/2006/06/08/utopia/

So I started thinking about what lessons do we want to teach kids? I mean, what are the big life lessons that we want kids to leave us with? Much of the information that we have will change (or least not be absolutely crucial to know as facts). I would think that we wouldn’t want to teach the 7 things above. Then again, is this the right list? Comments are open for your thoughts.

NewsBy Troy Patterson

Rubrics

If you are looking to use rubics, Rubistar is a great resource. It is easy to use and has a ton of pre-made rubrics which can be customized. If Rubistar doesn’t work for you, check out iRubric. Both of these sites give you plenty of examples and allow you to customize your own rubrics. Both of these resources are free for individual teachers. Both can be extended to be used on-line instead of just as paper copies (there may be a cost for that though).

Conferences, News, NMSA10, TechBy Troy Patterson

MSM- 143 NMSA 2010: Motivating Students and Summarization Pt. 2

Jokes:

Frogs
A guy was walking beside a pond when a frog jumped out and told him that she was really a beautiful princess and if he were to kiss her, she would make him VERY happy! He picked up the frog and put it into his pocket. A few minutes later, the frog poked her head out and said, “Didn’t you hear me?! I’m a beautiful princess and if you kiss me I will stay with you and do ANYTHING you want!” The guy took the frog out and said, “Look, I understand what you are saying, but I am a computer programmer and right now I don’t have time for a girlfriend… but a talking FROG is REALLY, REALLY COOL!”

Scotland
Over a remote Scottish island a helicopter lost power and was forced to make an emergency landing. Luckily there was a small cottage nearby. The pilot walked over to it and knocked on the door. “Is there a mechanic in the area?” he asked the woman who answered the door. She scratched her head and thought for a few seconds. “No,” she finally said, pointing down the road, “but we do have a McArdle and a McKay.”

On Our Mind:

NMSA 2010 Conference

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
“Heliophysics.” and more.

From the Twitterverse:

* NMSAnews NMSA RMLE Online: Influences of High-Stakes Testing on Middle School Mission and Practice
* rguthrie Rachel Guthrie Is school a selective process where students need to be ranked, sorted and culled? or an experience meant to encourage and promote learning?
*chadratliff Ouch: The 20 worst-paying college degrees in 2010 http://yhoo.it/b8ESfk
*PrometheanUSA THANK A TEACHER MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE IN ON PROMETHEAN PLANET STORE GET 10% OFF ALL ADULT T-SHIRTS +15% ON yr ORDER $40 OR MORE**code TY15
*presentationzen Mac News reporting that Pearson/Peachpit books, including my books, now on iBookstore. http://snipurl.com/1hb5uc
*DianeRavitch Is teacher experience important? “Reformers” say no. Research says yes: http://shankerblog.org/?p=1319
*go2publicschool Professor gives an exam, analyzes the grades, realizes 1/3rd of his class cheated. Proceeds to call them out: #badass
*doctorjeff #EDUCATION VIEW: LET’S TEST to see if testing has taken all joy out of our classrooms, and if we find it hasn’t, let us test until it does.
*drmmtatom Official Google Docs Blog googledocs.blogspot.com/?spref=tw #fhucid

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

NSMA 2010 Session 2:

Session 2:
1267
Sharon Faber
Ms. Sandra Dutemple
Motivating Students

Great Strategies that Increase Positive Behavior & Motivate Students

“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but children have the equal right to develop their talent, their ability and their motivation”
John F. Kennedy

Kids are different. They are smarter -they know stuff, just not necessarily what we want them to know.

  • Reaffirm
  • Reinforce
  • New learning

Kids come to school to see their friends – we just happen to be there.
Research says 4th grade is crucial. Once they feel dumb- they need to save face.

Insanity – Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results .

When the horse dies – get off.

“The goal of teachers is to meet all students at their starting points and to move each one along a continuum of growth as far and as quickly as possible. Learning has no ceiling. ”
Tomlinson

Vocabulary & Prior Knowledge are required to increase knowledge.
Need to have a personality to be a good teacher.
Teachers need to be enthusiastic.

BA  or BS – Borrow and Adjust or Borrow Straight.

Use a different noise to bring kids back. Not all of the kids will hear your voice. Then the good

Email for handout

You teach like you learn.

“For these are all our children. we either profit or pay for what they become.” James Baldwin

Successful teaching is an evolving process.
It is important to keep an open mind because new and promising ideas are constantly emerging.
When a strategy or method clearly increases student learning, follow the practice as early as possible so that the students become accustomed to the specific way of thinking and acting.

Teachers make a tremendous difference in student achievement.
The key trait of effective teachers is that use systematic and explicit instructional strategies that work in any content.

Systemic
Skills and con pets are taught in a planned, logically progressive sequence.
Explicit
Direct explanation: stories, example
Teacher modeling: show them
Guided practice: pairs think together
Independent practice: formative assessment
Application: own, understood, useable

More than pairs allows for “slugs”
Too often the cooperative group allow for training kids to not think. (Time keeper, etc. )

Common Behaviors

  • Acting Out
  • Impatience & Impulsive
  • Gaps in politeness & social graces
  • Increased absences
  • Tardiness
  • Incidents of illness during class.
  • Academic learning and achievement problems (va
  • Inattentive & easily districted
  • Short attention span
  • Low self-esteem
  • Narrow range of interest
  • Fear failure
  • Lack structure & organization
  • Avoid responsibility

What you can do:

  • Model behavior

Hardwired by DNA:

Teach:

  • Humility
  • Forgiveness
  • Empathy
  • Optimism
  • Compassion
  • Sympathy
  • Patience
  • Shame
  • Cooperation
  • Gratitude

• Give respect to students when they seem to least deserve it.
• Share decision making with the class. Maintain expectations while offering choices and getting input.
Avoid sarcasm.
Model the process of adult thinking. Keep voice calm
Discipline through positive relationships instead of exerting power or authority.
Embed social skills like meet and greet skills, turn taking, thanking others.
Be inclusive
Celebrate efforts as well as achievement.

Actions that DON”T help:
Focus only on the basics.
Maintain order through force.
Eliminate or reduce time for arts, sports & PE.
Decrease interaction among students.
Deliver heavy handed, top down lectures. ( Kids know what your buttons are and will use them).

Actions that DO help:
Teach in 15 to 20 minute blocks and then let them share.
Routine & Consistency are crucial

Motivation always revolves around good teaching.

Davis Sousa – How the Brain Learns to Read. 2005

sharonfaber.com

Get their attention
emotion drives attention
focus their attention
maintain their attention
Keep them on task.

How long until I retire?
OR
What miracles can I create today?

NMSA 2010:  Summarization in Any Subject

Part Two:
Rick Wormeli, 2010  (Handout provided)

Break
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…)

Journalistic vs. Encyclopedic Writing
Read the journalistic version first then read the encyclopedic version is workable.
They’ll hang on the encyclopedic version if they read the journalistic stuff first.
Create narrative versions of boring stuff that we have to teach.
Reading Notations
EV for evidence
Annotated text is one of the best things we can teach according to research.
Journalistic vs. Encyclopedic writing.
Read the journalistic version first then read the encyclopedia version is workable.
They’ll hang on the encyclopedic version if they read the journalistic stuff first.
Create narrative versions of boring stuff that we have to teach.
Text structure:  The kids memorize the key words for each structure to identify it in class.
Chronological Order
Definition and Key words:
Compare and contrast
Proposition and support
Enumeration
Virtual Metaphors:  Graphic Organizers
Matrix
Venn Diagram
Writing is 98% thinking!
“If I had more time, I’d have written less.”  -Pascal
Kids need feedback in 1 – 3 days to internalize it.
Shorter is better, less is more.
T-Chart/T-List
Cornell Note-Taking format
T-Chart with summarization at the bottom.
Somebody wanted but so
Somebody (characters)
wanted (plot motivation)
but (conflict)
so (resolution)
Something Happened and Then
Something (independent variable)
happened (change in that independent variable) …
and (effect on the dependent variable) …
then (conclusion)  …
Narrowing the Topic
Is the topic narrow enough to be focused , but broad enough to have plenty to write about?
When we summarize, we:
Delete some elements
Keep some elements
Substitute for some elements.  (DKS) Ask students to memorize these three actions.

TaRGeTS
Trivia
Redundancies
Generalize
Determine Topic Sentence (Subject and author’s claim about it)
(What’s the headline for this?)
Writing Concisely
Avoid redundancies and saying the same thing in different ways:  see slide.
-Write Tight, 1993 by William Brohaugh
More Summarization Tips.
Use reading notations.
Allow students to mark consumable and non-consumable text.  (Highlighting tape)   Eraseable highlighters and wikisticks
Emphasize opinion free summaries – no commentaries.
Teach students to evaluate their own summarizations.
Set length slimit of 10 to 25% of the original text, <1% for longer text.
Encourage two or more readings or exposures.
Evaluating our Summaries (see handout)
Does it convey the information accurately?
Is it too narrow or too broad?  Does it convey . . . .
Help with Paraphrasing
Build students’ vocabulary and verbal dexterity.  Post word banks.  Use vocabulary immersion.
Provide repeated experiences with varied sentence combinations and word play.
Use repeated think-alludes
Play renaming and clue games such as Password, Taboo, and $25,000 Pyramid.
3-2-1
3: Identify
2:  List
1:  Name/What
Unique Summarization Formats/Products
See slide on handout.
Endless list of writing possibilities  see slide
RAFTS
Raise the complexity:
Lower the complexity:
Change the verb:
See the verb list from the slides.
Backwards Summaries
“Make the web from which this paragraph came.”
Save the Last Word for Me
Read a passage, making notations as they go.
They identify three or more sentences to which they have a response.
Place students in groups of 3 to 5, then one member of each group to read a line that he has identified.  He reads; there is no commentary or reason for choosing it given.
Each group member other than the reading person responds to … see slides.
Change the point of view
Tell the story from the points of view of other objects/people . . .
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Frayer Model
“Word Link”
Each student gets a word and they have to find someone to join with and explain the connection.
Summarization Pyramid.
Great prompts for each line:  Synonmy, analogy, question, three attributes, alternative title, causes, effects, reasons . . .
One word summaries
Exclusion Brainstorming
Premise: Ther eis not any curriculum so symbolic or abstract that we cannot “physicalize” it for better student learning.
Funny:  Yelling Movie in a crowded Firehouse …
Physicalizing Process:
Identify essential pieces
Physicalize those pieces and present them to the class.
Class critiques the physicalization in terms of accuracy, comprehensiveness.
see slides
Statues (Body Sculture)
Line-up
“If I get the kids to say it, they hear it.”
Summary Ball
The ones left standing are declared the winners.
Human Bingo
Always put something in there that’s crazy.
Human Continuum (Mobile Socratic seminar)
Masking tape on the floor (winding)
A=Gree
D= Duh, or disagree
Middle Line is uncomfortable to respond.
It’s ok to tell little white lies to protect the kid.
$25,000 Pyramid
Pictionary
Taboo Cards
Share one, Get one
We think primarily in physical terms.  Over time we become adept at translating symbolic and abstract concepts into meaningful structures or experiences.
Metaphor
Make one!
________ is/are a _____________ because ____________ .
Ask students …
Metaphors Break Down
Descriptions with and without metaphors.
Common Analougous Relationships (kids memorize)
4-Square Synectics
Brainstorm four objects from a particular category
How is the human digestive system like each household item:  sink, old carpet, microwave, broom.
Highly Recommended and Scummarization Ideas
Go to NCTE’s ReadWriteThink website.
Where do we go from today?
3x3x3!
Three Strategies/principles/aspects that will be in your thinking in the next three weeks for four weeks.
Three topics/ skills . .

Webspotlight:

DisUnion

One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Americans went to war with themselves. Disunion revisits and reconsiders America’s most perilous period — using contemporary accounts, diaries, images and historical assessments to follow the Civil War as it unfolded.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/

ViewChange

Using the power of video to tell stories about real people and progress in global development.
Varied length of videos. Videos can be downloaded. Some really great videos can be found. You can change the view from an interesting circle to a list view. Many different subject areas are represented.
http://www.viewchange.org/

Google Lit Trips:

http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html

When Pictures Make History

A timeline of image-makers who have shaped world history
Excerpted from the book, TIME History’s Greatest Events
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2031505,00.html#ixzz15pzqxYhq

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2031505,00.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