UncategorizedBy Shawn McGirr

MAMSE Bus Info

The past two years we’ve tried to fill a bus of 7th and 8th graders for a Washington DC trip. It’s a select bunch we have to draw from (6th graders are excluded) and there’s a cost involved.  Folks have to pay for it beyond the normal school costs and the kids usually have to pester their folks to let them go on the trip.  There’s hemming and hawing to be done, negotiations about dishes and chores, allowances and souvenir money to discuss as well.  Nevertheless, it must be tried.

It’s tough to do and you have to cancel ’em sometimes.

CMU has their bus about filled I’m told.  The MAMSE bus . . . not so much.  So with sadness we were informed that the MAMSE bus to Indy has been cancelled.

UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 91: Math, Technology and Oops, Gotta Go!

Jokes:

Homework usually takes about 90 minutes. Here is how most high school students spend those 90 minutes.

* 15 minutes searching for assignment while reading your text messages.
* 11 minutes calling a friend for the assignment.
* 23 minutes explaining why the teacher is mean and just does not like students.
* 8 minutes in the bathroom.
* 10 minutes getting a snack.
* 7 minutes checking and answering e:mails.
* 6 minutes telling parents that the teacher never explained the assignment.
* 10 minutes sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Mom or Dad to do the assignment.

A mathematician, statistician and accountant were finalist for a position as VP in a large corporation. The hiring committee asked them all the same last question:

The mathematician was first.”How much is 500 plus 500 ?” , they asked”1000″ he replied without hesitation.”Thank you”, they dismissed him.

Next the statistician.”How much is 500 plus 500?””On the average, 1000 with 95 % confidence” replied the statistician”Thank you”, they dismissed him.

Next the accountant.”How much is 500 plus 500?””What would you like it to be?” responded the accountant.They hired the accountant.

LITTLE BOY: “My math teacher is crazy”. MOTHER: “Why?”

LB: “Yesterday she told us that five is 4+1; today she is telling us that five is 3 + 2.”

From the Twitterverse:

* karlyb WOW! – 5th grade math resources by unit: http://www1.center.k12.mo.us/Edtech/edm/5.htm
* karlyb Promethian giveaway contest at The Henry Ford: http://thehenryford.promo.e…
* paulallison Download Troy Hicks and The Digital Writing Workshop, Part 2 of 3 – Exploring Author’s Craft – TTT171- 10… http://bit.ly/1a4Zq0
* rmbyrne Free Technology for Teachers: Musopen – Free Recordings and Sheet Music http://ff.im/-9yQW0 or http://www.musopen.com/
* cliotech New blog post: Sharing Best Practices is OK! http://bit.ly/GtCzo
* vtdeacon RT @DeborahMersino RT @russeltarr: Great ‘classic’ stories in comic form, awesome : http://tinyurl.com/okjoyc
* Twilliamson15 @paulbogush we have more in common now…I’m quoted in Rick Wormeli’s new book 🙂 …preview at http://snipurl.com/wormelibk
* gardenglen Now available: CALL FOR BETA TESTERS OF NETS DRAFT RUBRIC http://url.ie/2m63
* vtdeacon this looks like a pretty cool lesson on using excel in math class- plus connection to halloween:) http://tinyurl.com/yl9susr
* web20classroom RT @ejulez: by end of 2013, 70% of businesses will have behavior/dress code policies for employees online avatars. http://ow.ly/tEZV
* schoolwise Children’s Good Manners Month and Thank You Notes: http://EzineArticles.com/?i…
* JoHart RT @coletteamber: Laughing at: “pencil metaphor – Leading a Digital School” ( http://bit.ly/EtSFT )
* ambermac OK, I’m moving to Sweden if this keeps up! RT @jeff_andersen Tune in to another invention by the Swedes: http://bit.ly/e8Eoe
* web20classroom Good Advice for School Leaders- Decisions You Can Live With…http://is.gd/4765z

On Our Mind:

Technology:

Project RED
http://projectred.org/

Netbook News (from Twitter)

Larry Ellison’s take on Cloud Computer (think netbooks)

Advisory:

National Children’s Good Manners Month: http://ezinearticles.com/?id=3016989

Middle School Advisory 101
http://middleschooladvisory101.blogspot.com/
Webspotlight:
ClassTools: Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash! Host them on your own blog, website or intranet! No signup, no passwords, no charge!
http://classtools.net/
See an example:
http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=78798&title=Classtools_net

Timeline Creators:

XTimeline
xtimeline is a free web-based timeline. Easily create and share timelines with pictures and videos.
http://www.xtimeline.com/

TimeGlider
There is a time traveler in each of us. Whether you are a litigator or an 8th grader, TimeGlider can quickly enhance your experience of the past, present, and future. Once you’ve explored a TimeGlider timeline, you’ll wonder why you’ve never seen information organized like this before.
http://timeglider.com/index.php

Mind42.com – Mind Mapping software that fits in a browser: http://ow.ly/truL

Seven Free software Apps (6 for Mac users):
http://www.digmo.co.uk/news/software/7-free-apps-for-education/

News:

More Time on Task:
Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have called attention to the amount of time students spend in school, because school calendars in the United States are based on outdated priorities and are too short to give students the tools they need to compete on a global stage. Since the 1960s, schools nationwide have adhered to 6½-hour days, five days a week, 180 days a year. Individual schools have extended days for students to participate in certain advanced classes or extracurricular programs, but most follow the shorter day, established in a time when farmers needed their children to help out in the fields part of each day, and all day during the summer. Summer vacation didn’t come about because that’s when the swimming pools are open.
There are many who will criticize these suggestions. A seemingly opposite trend is exemplified by an October 2008 study for the American Academy of Pediatricians, which concluded that children are overscheduled, under stress and in need of more unstructured time to play. …cautioning only that “improving the quality of instructional time is at least as important as increasing the quantity of time in school.”

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091006/OPINION01/910060315/Editorial++Give+kids+time+to+wrap+heads+around+learning

Netbooks:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?&i=61122

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.)
* Video Competition: NMSA is looking for student based videos for the transitions between events at their annual conference. Information is at their website.
* Indiana schools may apply for a waiver and send their staff to the Friday sessions as a professional development day.
o Steps to obtain waiver request
+ Franklin Community Schools Request (example)
o NMSA teacher session sheet (Note: It only has four, so if you’re not part of the Indiana crew, you’ll want to print one off for each day of the conference.)
+ Concurrent Sessions
o NMSA follow up sheet. (Note: This is geared to the Indiana group. I would suggest simplifying this for your own group.)
2. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall. Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus. With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference? There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love: our students. Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless. Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details. Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference. Here’s a teaser at TED.
4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available. Some hotels are nearing full if not so already. Special housing rates end October 5th.
5. 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.
* OMLA Registration Form
* OMLA Presentation Form
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!
* MAMSE Exhibitor Form
* MAMSE Registration Form
* MAMSE Presentation Form
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

UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

MSM 90: Digital Learning: Get those 1’s and 0’s in order!

Jokes:

I’m failing geometry because I refuse to believe that pie are squared.
The school board decided to remove speech and debate from the course schedule; there was no argument.
Today in Art class we were going to paint a nude model, but the teacher sent her to the office for violating dress code.

How does a blind skydiver know they’re nearing the ground?  The leash goes slack . . .

From the Twitterverse:

On Our Mind:

Clocks. Is it necessary to know how to read an analog clock?

MEAPs coming up, state mandated testing.  Do you put the pressure on or do you soft-shoe it into the testing period?

DropBox
http://www.getdropbox.com/iphoneapp

Advisory:

Return to the overview:
During the first month of school have every student take a piece of string and place one end under their shoe then stretch the string so it reaches the top of their head. Cut the string and fold it up. Place a piece of masking tape with the student’s name around the folded piece of string. Put all of the strings into a bag and do not open it until the last week of school. Then have them take their string and see how much they have grown over the last year. Many of your students will be amazed at how much they have grown.
A way to show what adolescents stand for is to have them outline their foot and then list all of the things they believe in inside the outline.
http://www.nmsa.org/portals/0/pdf/publications/On_Target/advisory/advisory_8.pdf

October is MOYA!  www.nmsa.org/moya

Webspotlight:

Educon 21 at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA.
http://educon21.wikispaces.com/

Stumbleupon
http://www.stumbleupon.com (or in Troy’s universe:  stumbleupon.com)

VUE 3.0- The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. The VUE project is focused on creating flexible tools for managing and integrating digital resources in support of teaching, learning and research. VUE provides a flexible visual environment for structuring, presenting, and sharing digital information.
http://vue.tufts.edu/

News:

Surfing the Net with kids: Phonics

Phonics is a widely used method of teaching children to read. It is based on connecting sounds of spoken English with the letters that represent those sounds. Today’s websites stand at the intersection of education and recreation, using games to reinforce phonetic concepts.
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2009/10/02/surfing_the_net_with_kids_phonics/

House Panel Targets Teacher Distribution, Pay

Differing opinions about incentive-pay programs, the role of test scores in pay and evaluation, and how prescriptive the federal government should be in seeking to boost teacher effectiveness were aired at a House hearing.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/10/02/06teach.h29.html?tkn=XLXF2b3tQQks2uYCPFvfd64lCGoFEfUQJLwE

Online education expanding, but awaits innovation

The online education sector grew 13 percent last year, but it had been growing at about 20 percent in previous years, Reuters reports — leading some to suggest that online learning is starting to plateau until further innovations are introduced.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/around-the-web/index.cfm?i=61047

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. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.  Some hotels are nearing full if not so already.  Special housing rates end October 5th.
  5. 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. The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
  5. 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.

  6. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  7. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available.  This week’s session:  “Interesting Ways to Use a Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom“.
  8. 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
UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 89: “Whatta We Gonna Do Brain? Same thing we always do Pinky” . . . Middle Schoolers take over the World!

Jokes:

Today in English we learned absolutely nothing about killing mockingbirds.

I went to a tough high school. In biology we used to dissect custodians.

School is where you always try to do your best-except when your friends are watching.

Teachers deserve a lot of credit. Of course, if we paid them more, they wouldn’t need it.

Back-to-school sales get me all excited. Of course, pretty much any sale gets me all excited.

School is very important. Everyone should get at least a high school education–even if they already know everything.

You know our education system has problems when Hallmark comes out with a new line of “Easy-to-read” graduation cards.

My kids have everything they need to go back to school—except the right attitude.

The best part of going back to school is seeing all your friends. The worst part is that your teachers won’t let you talk to them.

Shout outs:

Susan Mulcaire – The Middle School Student’s Guide to Ruling the World
www.middleschoolguide.com

From the Twitterverse:

  • bhsprincipal Great overview on how to create your own PLN RT @tweetmeme Thank You PLN | Teacher Reboot Camp
  • mayfieldc I remember when stage 4 scared me, but I managed. “Stages of PLN adoption”
  • mayfieldc Curriculum and lessons to teach copyright:
  • mayfieldc The ultimate GoogleMap scavenger hunt:
  • mayfieldc Let your students run for congress:
  • MsCLanger Thank you all for such a warm welcome… and lovin the excellent resources – Keep it up! @bbarreda – Let’s talk curriculum!  (Note:  She’s a new user, feel free to follow.)
  • hickstro Prepping for three upcoming episodes of Teachers Teaching Teachers. Up this week, student choice and inquiry: (This is Troy Hicks of CMU.)
  • mguhlin Over 800 Videos in Core Content Area Instruction http://ff.im/-8Ojqq
  • johnharrison1 Twitter is changing how ed nonprofits raise funds for good causes. @donorschoose in Fast Company
  • lthumann “Just Google” – a parody of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson http://tinyurl.com/2am3r4 (considering using this at the NJEA convention)
  • brasst http://twitdraw.com/jr3tss @chamada Thinking this could be very useful for tutoring and homework questions in math #twitdraw
  • plivings RT Chris Lehmann’s call for participation in EduCon thinking of attending/presenting this year …

Advisory:

Advisory idea:
1.  The Middle School Student’s Guide to Ruling the World!* by Susan Mulcaire

2. Video – Silent Beats
Video on Prejudice. Interesting point of views. If we don’t teach kids literacy beyond the printed word, we are doing them a disservice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76BboyrEl48

Webspotlight:

A Three Story Intellect! BLOOM’S TAXONOMY and Costa’s Levels of Questioning
http://wwwstatic.kern.org/gems/AVID/NoelleCombsInquiryLesson.pdf

Molecular Workbench
http://mw.concord.org/modeler/

Awesome Highligter:
http://www.awesomehighlighter.com/

What’s on our Mind:

NMSA09

Michigan Finalists for National Teacher of the Year.
Nate Childers             Hart Middle School                     Rochester Community Schools

Sandusky Schools
Secondary science/health teacher
Middle school principal

News:

National Subject-Matter Standards? Be Careful What You Wish For

By Marion Brady
“American education,” said Buckminster Fuller, “has evolved in such a way that it will be the undoing of the society.”

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/23/04brady.h29.html?tkn=QQQF7DtpOD4Av9Mp%2FladSCvhRcONy4acLzJG

The promise of technology and change, so far, has fallen short at Philadelphia’s School of the Future.

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/30/05future_ep.h29.html?tkn=Z[OFt1k7urdzHekhD%2FWbBZWenSpHHAb%2Ftq2C

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. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.  Some hotels are nearing full if not so already.  Special housing rates end October 5th.
  5. 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. The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
  5. 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.

  6. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  7. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available.  This week’s session:  “Google Research and Google Web Search Curriculum“.
  8. 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, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson

Podcast 88: It’s “Talk Like a Pirate, Teach Like a Pro” Day

Jokes:

What’s a pirate’s favorite TV show?  E ARRRRRRRrrrrrrgghhhh!
3.14159% of sailors are Pi Rates …
September 19th is also National Cheeseburger Day.  (All the pirates will be at HAarrrdee’s.)

Pirate Name Generator
Shawn’s pirate name: Frownin’ Tad Hacke
Troy’s pirate name:  Cowerin’ Joe Smythe

Shout outs:

From the Twitterverse:


Webspotlight:

Ten Totally Random Tips for Teachers:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/09/ten-totally-random-tips-for-teachers.html

Online Conference:  Smithsonian
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/professional_development/conference/2009/climate_change/index.html
(From AK Jenny)

Lesson Plans for Literacy:
http://www.readwritethink.org/

What’s on our Mind:

Mindset by Carol Dweck
http://www.mindsetonline.com/

Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
http://www.danpink.com/

Start of school:

Advisory:

Advisory idea:
1.  Pirate Name Generator
Shawn’s pirate name: Frownin’ Tad Hacke
Troy’s pirate name:  Cowerin’ Joe Smythe

2. Video – Silent Beats
Video on Prejudice. Interesting point of views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76BboyrEl48

3.  Word Teasers: Idioms
The Word Teasers idiom edition has a “skit” activity that could make for a quick energy game to get kids ready for the day.  Visit them at http://www.wordteasers.com/.

News:

Bait & Switch – Vouchers

For almost two decades, Milwaukee has been home to the country’s oldest and largest voucher program—a beacon of hope for voucher supporters who want to use public dollars to fund private schools. But Milwaukee has now become the latest in a string of setbacks for vouchers.
The Milwaukee study reaffirmed what public school supporters had argued for years: that the problems afflicting urban schools are grounded in economic and racial segregation and the power structure’s willingness to abandon central cities because they are disproportionately populated by low-income people of color.The Milwaukee study follows a number of disheartening developments for voucher advocates.
There is little evidence that voucher or choice programs have succeeded in fostering the emergence of high-quality options.”
Similarly, it is only common sense that voucher students take the same standardized tests as public school and charter students, and that each voucher school release its results, just as public schools provide a school-by-school breakdown. Regardless of the shortcomings of the test, and there are many, such a requirement is essential if all schools that receive public dollars are to be treated equitably.
While private voucher schools cannot discriminate in admitting students with special needs, they are only required to give students those services that can be provided with minor adjustments. As a result, voucher schools have few special ed students.

http://rethinkingschools.org/archive/23_04/bait234.shtml

Blocking Facebook – Balance
Last week, we made a conscious decision to block Facebook from being accessed on our network. …while arguably brimming with educational potential, is most often used for nothing more than recreational interaction among participants.
Rather, it’s a matter of fighting for balance and the cognitive attention of our students.
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/23300

The Dragon of Chaos (and How to Slay it)
Tips for getting the school year off on the organized foot.
http://cossondra.blogspot.com/2008/11/mighty-dragon-of-chaos-when-you-are.html

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. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.
  5. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  6. Bob Spears does an interview on the Evolution of Advisory on NMSA’s podcast.

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. The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
  5. 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.

  6. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  7. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available.  This week’s session:  “Web 2.0 Tools Demonstration Using Prezi” by Steve Dembo of the Discovery Education Network.
  8. 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

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advisory, MSM, TechBy Shawn McGirr,

Podcast 87: Back to School Special

Jokes:

With four daughters and one son always dashing to school activities and part-time jobs, our schedule was hectic.

To add to this, we kept running out of household supplies.

I instructed them all to let me know when they used the last of any item by writing it down on a note pad on the refrigerator.

As a reminder, I wrote at the top: “IF WE ARE OUT OF IT, WRITE IT DOWN.”

When I checked the pad a few days later, to my delight I found the following message:

“MOM, YOU MAY BE A BIT OLD-FASHIONED, BUT YOU ARE NOT ‘OUT OF IT.”‘

Things Mom Would Never Say

“How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?”

“Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too”

“Just leave all the lights on … it makes the house look more cheery”

“Let me smell that shirt — Yeah, it’s good for another week”

“Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I’ll be glad to feed and walk him every day”

“Well, if Timmy’s mom says it’s OK, that’s good enough for me.”

“The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It’s not like I’m running a prison around here.”

“I don’t have a tissue with me … just use your sleeve”

“Don’t bother wearing a jacket – the wind-chill is bound to improve”

Shout outs:

From the Twitterverse:

  • Frideswidel Starting to feel the excitement of first day back with kids. Anybody else not get any sleep the night before “The First Day”?
  • JohnMikulski The best part of another school year is getting new shoes.
  • mrichme If anyone is looking for an ASUS netbook woot.com has an excellent deal today $149.99.
  • annemareemoore come see our students experience Indigenous Culture . Feel free to add your comment at
  • russeltarr The 7 Most Impressive Libraries Throughout History: http://tinyurl.com/mkbl44
  • rrmurry “Teaching Naked” at 7th grade level — it works and is great. End class one day w/video to discuss next day. http://e4z2m.tk
  • AngelaMaiers: Soungle.com – Royalty Free Sound Effects (FX) Library for Download http://ow.ly/oWMc
  • AngelaMaiers: 100 Mobile Tools for Teachers – Tips – Mobile Maven http://ow.ly/oDRA
  • gardenglen intriguing idea why 2 not teach fractions from Penn State 60 sec. Lectures: http://url.ie/2exj
  • deangroom and finally today “Smart learners will find teachers who speak their own language” – go with honour ppl
  • http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2009/09/free-medieval-history-courses.html

NMSA Goal Setting

Webspotlight:

Book Suggestions:
http://www.toreadnext.com/

Middle School “Dos and Don’ts”
http://www.teachersfirst.com/20/getsource.cfm?id=7594

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/08/three-student-planners-organization.html

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives:
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html

What’s on our Mind:

Mindset:

The Graphing Calculator Story:  http://www.pacifict.com/Story/  Video:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7497796873809571567#

1.  How do your regional coordinators stay in contact with you?
2.  Are you a member of your state’s middle school association?
3.  Have you ever attended another state’s middle school association annual conference?
4.  What did you do to survive the first day of school?
5.  Reading a book called “Readicide” at the moment.

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.  (Use MAMSE09 as your source code.)
  2. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.
  5. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  6. Bob Spears does an interview on the Evolution of Advisory on NMSA’s podcast.

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. The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
  5. 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.

  6. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  7. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available.  This week’s session:  “Web 2.0 Tools Demonstration Using Prezi” by Steve Dembo of the Discovery Education Network.
  8. 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

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

advisory, MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson, ,

Podcast 86: “No! I will not read the intro:” Set the Standard, Pass the Test, Crush the Opposition! – We’re a Toddler Now!

Jokes:

Son: I can’t go to school today.
Father: Why not?
Son: I don’t feel well
Father: Where don’t you feel well?
Son: In school!
Teacher: You missed school yesterday, didn’t you?
Pupil: Not very much!

Father: I hear you skipped school to play football.
Son: No I didn’t, and I have the fish to prove it!

Pupil (on phone) : My son has a bad cold and won’t be able to come to school today.
School Secretary: Who is this?
Pupil: This is my father speaking!

Father: How do you like going to school?
Son: The going bit is fine, as is the coming home bit too, but I’m not too keen on the time in-between!

Teacher: Class, we will have only half a day of school this morning.
Class: Hooray!
Teacher: We will have the other half this afternoon!

Teacher: Why were you late?
Pupil: Sorry, teacher, I overslept.
Teacher: You mean you need to sleep at home too?!

From the Twitterverse:

Webspotlight:

Have text read out loud:
http://www.readthewords.com/

Fair Use Copyright Chart:
http://www.irvingisd.net/one2one/Cloning/fair_use_copyright_chart.pdf

Idea Finder:
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/index.html

News:

Should students be paid to perform on tests:

http://education.nationaljournal.com/2009/08/should-students-be-paid-to-lea.php

Ohio high school tightens computer security after cheating scandal

Posted by Andrew Welsh-Huggins/Associated Press August 05, 2009 22:48PM

More than half of the seniors at a top Ohio high school who took world studies tests last spring were involved in a cheating scheme that prompted school officials to cancel graduation ceremonies. School officials traced the cheating to a tech-savvy student who figured out a school computer password, and the district has tightened its computer security in the wake of the scandal.

The school also will emphasize ethics to all students in the school year beginning Aug. 26. That includes updating the student handbook.

But Holden acknowledged that the ethics message might not be enough to stop some students from cheating and others from turning a blind eye.

All of society is becoming more accepting “of a degree of dishonesty,” she said.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/08/ohio_high_school_tightens_comp.html
Cheating Survey:  http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=6532050

Wisconsin does away with standardized test

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/27/wisconsin-dumps-standardized-test/
City schools increase training for substitutes:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09239/993542-53.stm

Crowd Source Grading:

http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-it-crowdsourcing-or-shirking.html
http://www.hastac.org/blogs/cathy-davidson/how-crowdsource-grading

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.
  2. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. Dan Pink is keynoting the conference.  Here’s a teaser at TED.
  4. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.
  5. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  6. Bob Spears does an interview on the Evolution of Advisory on NMSA’s podcast.

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 U.S. Government has posted a paper on how schools should treat the H1N1 virus should there be an outbreak during the school year.
  3. The Ohio Middle Level Association will hold their annual conference February 18 & 19, 2010.  Jack Berckemeyer will be keynoting.
  4. 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!
  5. The Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educators is holding their Annual Conference October 8-9, 2009.
  6. 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

  7. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  8. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  Archived content is available.
  9. 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

PlayPlay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MSM, Podcast, TechBy Troy Patterson, ,

MSM-85 Taken to Task

Joke:

This simple page of alleged creative writing quotations gave me multiple chuckles, fueled with snippets like these:

  • “They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.”
  • “John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.”
  • “He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.”

Shout outs:

  1. Todd Williamson:  Audio response. (Visit Todd at http://thetechnorateteacher.wordpress.com )
  2. Dr. Debra Franciosi:

From the Twitterverse:

FeedBack:

I came across this podcast for the first time today, and while significant time has passed, I cannot let this go without comment. While some parts of your program were interesting, I was disappointed in your lack of critical analysis of the reading research. (Yes, I am in a biased position on this, being employed by one of the study treatment companies, but my doctoral work in ed and research came before my latest venture with CRISS, and there is injustice in this!) You (along with an Ed Week reporter, etc) shared that “none of them [treatments] are effective”. The fact is, a null effect or no positive effect in statistical research does NOT mean a treatment is ineffective. It means they didn’t find results — and that can be for a variety of reasons, including faulty research design. Having read the research report and talked to teachers and trainers (for CRISS), I know that the design was flawed, as was the way the researchers grouped the info. CRISS is the only one of the treatments that is a professional development program, NOT a canned curriculum. All four were treated as the same thing. Even if the design wasn’t flawed, the researchers themselves stated that the study demonstrates likely outcomes in a “typical” implementation. In the case of many of the sites CRISS worked with, teachers had NO input into their participation and therefore NO BUY-IN. Some teachers did not show up for the trainings, but the test data was kept in the mix anyway. It makes no sense.
Before I started working for CRISS last September, I taught middle school for 9 years and was the 6-12 Literacy Specialist for 3. We implemented CRISS at the high school and the teachers that participated loved it and used what they learned — and saw positive results. But it takes time (3 years to get teachers fully implementing, with regular support); changing pedagogy isn’t easy.
That said, gentlemen, I ask that you revisit adolescent literacy again — maybe after looking at the report that came out last spring(Ed Week March or April?)that noted that random control/treatment studies done by the IES are consistently coming out with null effects. It appears that education does not fit into that paradigm of research design. Kids aren’t widgets, and you can’t control for all the chaos that human subjects bring to public schools. There ARE concrete things educators can do to improve students’ literacy. No canned program (or professional development, for that matter) required.
Thanks!
Dr. Debra Franciosi

California should fund Music:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/30/EDQ01910HK.DTL

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.
  2. ATTENTION Michigan Association of Middle School Educators & Friends: MAMSE is putting together a bus for the trip to the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN this fall.  Ride down to the conference in a luxury bus.  With all the conversations with middle school teachers on the bus, I wonder if we could call this a mini-MAMSE conference?  There’s nothing like getting together with people who love the people we love:  our students.  Getting together with folks like that is energizing and priceless.  Email Teresa Sutherland for information and details.  Don’t forget to mention you heard about it on Middle School Matters.
  3. NMSA 09 Housing Information now available.
  4. NMSA 09 Conference Connection:  Stay connected before, during, and after the conference!  Start your packing lists for the conference using packwhiz.com!
  5. Keynote speakers for NMSA ’09 have been announced:  Daniel Pink (political connections) opens and Rick Wormeli closes.
  6. NMSA has a new publication on the role of middle grades in drop-out prevention.  You can download it as a pdf file.
  7. Middle Level Promise and Practice Moorhead, Minnesota August 5, 2009
    Speakers: Mark McCleod & Monte Selby

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 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!
  3. 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

  4. Classroom 2.0’s Live Calendar.
  5. Classroom 2.0’s Ning Blog:  This week’s discussion is on “Telling Stories with Digital Threads“ for Teachers.  Archived content is available.
  6. 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

UncategorizedBy Troy Patterson

MSM-84 Interview with Jeff LaRoux

We have a special treat for you this week. This week is our interview with the wonderful, talented and gifted Mr. Jeff LaRoux. For those of you who don’t know Mr. LaRoux, he is an expert in middle school. I’ve had the privilege to visit his previous school and I can attest that he is one of those rare educators who is deeply, deeply in tune with middle school students and educators.

Mr. LaRoux is truly a specialist in advisory as well as all things middle school.

Oh, by the way, he is also on the National Middle School Association’s Board.

Enjoy.