MSM 242: Troy went Quayle Hunting . . .
Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.
Jokes You Can Use:
“I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.”
— J. Danforth Quayle
“If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”
— J. Danforth Quayle
“Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle
“Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle
“Mars is essentially in the same orbit… Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89
“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle
“The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/15/88
“I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
“One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.”
— Vice President Dan Quayle, 12/6/89
Eileen Award:
-
Twitter: Grosse Isle Middle School, Jeff Wilson
Advisory:
What happens if you get rid of traffic lights?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gVW-YAQCSVs#!
Initials & Acronyms
The new $100 bill
Talk about money. What is it’s role? What other things could we do?
http://qz.com/77806/meet-the-new-100-bill-the-worlds-most-popular-bank-note/
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Learning to juggle leads to changes in the white matter of the brain, an Oxford University study has shown.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_releases_for_journalists/091011.html
45 Odd Facts about US Presidents
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?p=4119
How Parents Around the World Describe Their Children, in Charts
How would their parents describe them?
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or davidbydlowski@mac.com)
MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE MINUTE-SENSE OF PLACE
I was recently reading the March, 2013 issue of “Science Scope,” a magazine for middle school science teachers, published by the National Science Teachers Association. An article that caught my attention was:
Field Trip Pedagogy for Teaching: “Sense of Place” in Middle School. It was written by Paul R. Sheppard, Rebecca Lipson, David Hansbrough, and Joan Gilbert.
The focus of the article was to have middle school teachers teach “sense of place” to their middle school students. They believe that this means that teachers need to take their students on trips “to the field.”
From the Twitterverse:
 * Clif Mims @clifmims
Five Reasons I Love Using QR Codes in My Classroom by @ClassTechTips http://ow.ly/kro8R #aaim2013 |
 * Scott McLeod @mcleod
I teach kids not data points |
 * Jane Balvanz @JaneBalvanz
A brief history of Pearson’s problems with testing http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/24/a-brief-history-of-pearsons-problems-with-testing/ … |
 * Will Richardson @willrich45
Is Common Core cutting-edge education or just use of a dull blade? http://buff.ly/11s1KAU |
 * Braiden Harvey @Braiden
ROBERT SCOBLE: I Just Wore Google’s Glasses For 2 Weeks And I’m Never Taking Them Off: Tech guru Robert Scoble… |
 * Jeff Herb @InstTechTalk
Broadcast your Presentation to Student Devices using Presefy http://inst.tc/WOoUUU |
 * jennyluca @jennyluca
“@Scobleizer: My two-week review of Google Glass: https://plus.google.com/111091089527727420853/posts/ZLV9GdmkRzS … The most important new product since the iPhone.” #tcplc |
 * Mark Barnes @markbarnes19 9
More On MOOC’s – Here are some new additions to The Best Posts & Articles On MOOC’s: The Plusses and Pitfalls of… http://ow.ly/2wsGTX |
 * Larry Ferlazzo @Larryferlazzo
RT @RoxannaElden: Six Student Study Habits That Teachers Need, Too: https://pilambda.org/horizons/class-dismissed-six-student-study-habits-that-teachers-need-too/ …” |
|
The power of networks ~ #fhuedu642 #fhuedu320 #PLN ~ for @MSMatters followers http://youtu.be/1EntORVBoEM |
 * Monte Tatom @drmmtatom 25 Apr
“My 24 Most-Used Education Apps [What Are Yours?]” | Edudemic ~ #fhuedu320 #edtech #ipadapps http://edudemic.com/2013/04/most-used-education-apps/ … |
|
#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. |
Resources:
Sound Gator
Looking for sounds for a presentation?
Our licensing terms are simple:
You may use the sound effects you download in your films, videos, multimedia projects, presentations, games and just about any other project – but you are not allowed to sell, license, distribute or post online the sound effects on their own, even if you modify them.
The sound effects meant to be incorporated into your projects. They are not meant to be distributed in any way as sound effects or ringtones. This should be common sense.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at:
contact [at] soundgator.com
Online Timers
One of the challenges of teaching in a block schedule is that some high school and many middle school students struggle to focus for 80 minute, 90 minute, or longer blocks of time. I always try to break up blocks like this into shorter segments with breaks. To prevent breaks from running too long, I always use a timer. I also use timers to time break-out activities. Whenever it is possible to do so, I like to display the timer countdown on a projector or whiteboard so that all of the students can see it. Here are five free timers that you can use for these purposes.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/04/5-free-timers-to-help-you-time.html#.UXvxKStASD4
Cursive Writing . . . There’s an App for That!
“Cursive Writing HD” is an useful application for all ages who are taking their first step into learning cursive writing.
This app is very easy and fun to use.
It provides not only letter by letter but 234 words, which show the users how individual(lower and upper case) letters are combined into words and sentences.
If you are looking for a cursive writing app, then look no further.
** Features
– Learn to write both upper-case and lower-case letters A to Z.
– Each letter will be shown the way to trace it.
– Stroke guidelines and pronunciation of each letter are provided.
– Practice connecting the letters together
– Type any sentences you want and practice writing them.
“Practice makes perfect !!!”
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cursive-writing-hd/id561681288?mt=8
Web Spotlight:
The Oyez Project
The Oyez Project began in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in the late 1980s as the Chicago Cubs continued to break the hearts of its many diehard fans. It was during one such game that the idea of creating a multimedia-based Supreme Court experience took root. The first iteration was a series of complex HyperCard stacks built on a baseball-card metaphor. The “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court” demonstrated the power of multimedia integration with serious academic content. Many Northwestern University undergraduates worked on various versions before the development of a web-based application. The development of a web-based version of the project stems from the foresight of Richard Barone and Joe Germuska of Northwestern’s then nascent Learning Technologies Group. Though the Oyez Project is now more than 20 years old, it remains true to its initial objective: to make the work of the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone through text, images, audio, and video.
8 Amazing On-line Courses for Students
The recent surge in free online courses, led by top universities such as MIT, has opened up a whole new level of distance learning to students all around the globe. As well as entire degree and university courses that can be pursued online, it’s also possible to find fantastic shorter courses on specific topics that can be ideal for use in the classroom, or for students to follow in their own time, whether researching a specific project, or as part of a flipped classroom model.
Here are 8 of the best free online courses for students…
http://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/04/26/free-online-courses-for-students/
http://visual.ly/monolingual-vs-bilingual?utm_source=visually_embed
Testing Examples
http://www.ccsstoolbox.com/parcc/PARCCPrototype_main.html
http://www.parcconline.org/samples/mathematics/grade-7-mathematics
Listener Response:
What are your thoughts on homework assignments? Read the Twitter chat (Storify version) with Ken O’Connor, Rick Wormeli, Nancy Blair, and many others.
News:
The Future is Uncertain. It’s Time to Start Asking the Right Questions.
Asking questions is essential to learning. That was an essential lesson from one of history’s first great teachers, Socrates. Or, as the wise Rabbi Steven Greenberg puts it: “we train children at the Passover seder to ask why, because tyrants are undone and liberty is won with a good question.”
And yet, children are not asking questions nearly enough. In fact, data from the U.S. school systems tells us that the average high school student asks one question of substance per month in a classroom.
iPad App/idea:
Cursive Writing . . . There’s an App for That!
“Cursive Writing HD” is an useful application for all ages who are taking their first step into learning cursive writing.
This app is very easy and fun to use.
It provides not only letter by letter but 234 words, which show the users how individual(lower and upper case) letters are combined into words and sentences.
If you are looking for a cursive writing app, then look no further.
** Features
– Learn to write both upper-case and lower-case letters A to Z.
– Each letter will be shown the way to trace it.
– Stroke guidelines and pronunciation of each letter are provided.
– Practice connecting the letters together
– Type any sentences you want and practice writing them.
“Practice makes perfect !!!”
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cursive-writing-hd/id561681288?mt=8
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2013
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
