Integer ultrices turpis laoreet tellus venenatis, sed luctus libero gravida. Vestibulum eu hendrerit eros. Quisque eget luctus turpis, eget cursus velit. Nullam auctor ligula velit, fringilla molestie elit mattis et. Donec volutpat adipiscing urna, at egestas odio venenatis aliquet.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi ac lobortis orci, a ornare dui. Phasellus consequat vulputate dignissim. Etiam condimentum aliquam augue, a ullamcorper erat facilisis et. Proin congue augue sit amet ligula dictum porta. Integer pharetra euismod velit ac laoreet. Ut dictum vitae ligula sed fermentum. Sed dapibus purus sit amet massa faucibus varius. Proin nec malesuada libero.
News & Events
1. Start planning for October’s Month of the Young Adolescent!
2. Innovative Practices Across the Curriculum, June 24 in Minnesota.
3. Institute for Middle Level Leadership. July 13-16 & 20-23
4. Best Practices for Student Success. July 28 & August 6
5. NMSA Annual Conference, October 30 – November 1
6. Summer Teacher-to-Teacher professional development program registration is open. (free)
MiddleTalk question: Where can I find some resources on teambuilding to incorporate into Advisory on a teacher’s paycheck?
There are a number of stock resources that can be used for advisory. Some of the best are strategies that you can apply to content.
Video Taping of Teacher called to question:
District Superintendent Carol Whitehead revealed Friday in a two-page letter to district employees that the district used a video camera to record Powers’ classroom between May 10 and June 11 last year. A district lawyer just last month denied a surveillance camera was used.
It was done to determine who was entering and leaving the classroom on weekends, she said, adding that it is the 18,500-student district’s “paramount duty to protect students,” Whitehead said.
Powers was placed on leave in June and fired in November for helping students publish an underground newspaper despite a warning not to do so. She was reinstated in April to a teaching post at Henry M. Jackson High School after reaching a settlement with the district.
http://heraldnet.com/article/20080528/NEWS01/396823946
Internet2
With an average speed of 100 gigabits per second, Internet2 supports even the most bandwidth-heavy research projects and group collaborations, such as high-definition video conferencing, telemedicine, and tele-immersion, or shared virtual reality.
Participation in the Internet2 network was expanded to include K-12 schools a decade ago. As of last year, nearly 4,300 K-12 school districts were connected to the network, and this number has been climbing slowly but steadily each year, said Greg Wood, director of communications for the Internet2 initiative.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53893;_hbguid=f6e3cf57-d645-46ee-8e62-f0c89d8551a2
Arizona Presses e-Learning
Backers of “e-learning” in Arizona are trying to maintain their state government’s momentum in helping provide digital curricula to schools across the state, even as the state’s economic headwinds stiffen.
Although advocates of e-learning in Arizona—including state officials and groups representing school boards, technology, and e-learning businesses—say the state needs to make heavy investments in helping its rural schools have robust access to the Internet, they have instead focused on crafting policies and on limited experiments that will keep the initiative advancing during the expected lean years ahead.
One, an amendment tacked on to a bill on student bullying would would have given school districts greater flexibility in issuing bonds for the purchase of instructional technology, rather than funding it only through state allocations for curriculum materials, including printed textbooks, as is now done.
The amendment also would have required school districts to forego textbooks if they invest state money in digital curricula and laptops for every student, unless the digital curricula failed to meet state standards. But the Senate narrowly rejected that amendment last week.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/06/11/41digital.html
Hurdles Remain for ELL students
Ong Vue’s very first day of school came when she was 15 and was enrolled in 9th grade at Luther Burbank High School after arriving here as a refugee from Thailand.
The Hmong teenager says her family couldn’t afford to send her to school in Thailand. When she started at Luther Burbank, she spoke Thai and Hmong, but no English.
Four years later, Ms. Vue is a senior at the 1,970-student school and has passed the math section of California’s high school exit exam. She plans to attend community college in the fall, and hopes to become an elementary school teacher.
Despite her clear academic progress, Ms. Vue’s showing on standardized tests has been a handicap in her school’s quest to meet the yardstick for adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/06/04/39sacramento_ep.h27.html
Podcast #36
News & Events
1. Start planning for October’s Month of the Young Adolescent!
2. Innovative Practices Across the Curriculum, June 24 in Minnesota.
3. Institute for Middle Level Leadership. July 13-16 & 20-23
4. Best Practices for Student Success. July 28 & August 6
5. NMSA Annual Conference, October 30 – November 1
6. Summer Teacher-to-Teacher professional development program registration is open. (free)
7. Transition Practices Research (RMLE Online)
Interesting quotes: “The fact that discipline problems increase upon school transitions suggest that this new school environment poses a challenge to students during early adolescence.”
“The ideal middle school environment engages young adolescents by helping them feel capable of meeting academic challenges, offers them choice and control over their learning, and makes them feel safe and secure in their learning environment (Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2000). Interventions such as the Coping Power Program—a prevention/intervention program implemented the year prior to and immediately following the middle school transition—can help adolescents meet the new demands associated with transition (Lochman & Wells, 2002).”
Alan November’s Books
YouTube lawsuit test copyright law:
“This would have a profound impact on education, where the benefits of Web 2.0 [technologies] are only just beginning to be realized. These sites offer myriad educational opportunities to reinforce key 21st-century skills, and their diversity offers educators a wide range of choices to include in their lessons and/or practice.”
From eschoolnews.com
Plagarism allegations jolt school
School District 203’s superintendent moved to reassign Naperville Central High School Principal Jim Caudill next school year, while student Steve Su is being asked to return his valedictorian’s medal, after each plagiarized portions of speeches they gave during commencement events last week, the district announced Thursday.
Student Demo uses for Google Phone OS
What do you want your cell phone to be able to do? Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Hal Abelson put that question to about 20 computer-science students this semester when he gave them one assignment: Design a software program for cell phones that use Google Inc.’s upcoming Android mobile operating system.
The 23 Things Wrap up.
Social Bookmarking
18. Learn about tagging and social bookmarking.
19. Set up your account and experience del.icio.us.
20. Revisit RSS and subscribe to new feeds.
Online Video
21. Explore online video sharing sites.
22. Embed and download video from video sharing sites.
Click the link below to listen.
Download: (Note: Please use this link and not the one below)
This is an easy one. One of the things that has been most helpful for me was establishing the RSS feed and checking it regularly. I’ve always checked several web sites. I had played around with RSS feeds before, but hadn’t used them regularly enough to see the benefits. After doing the RSS thing (Thing 5 I believe), I saw the light. I now regularly use the RSS reader (though I am playing around with different RSS readers). I get it now. For that, I’m thankful for being part of this project.
I should note that I adjust which sites I’m subscribing to. If I’m losing interest in the site, I delete it from the feeds.
All in all, this one was a winner.
More on social bookmarking. This seems to be very much something that is a great resource for teachers. The bookmarking process is wonderful for teachers to share bookmarks. I like that it is easy to share links if you know someone else’s user name. The ability to tag and search for those same tags elsewhere on delicious provides some serendipity.
Again, I see this as much more useful for teachers and professional sharing and development. For those purposes, it is quite useful.
News and Information
NMSA Annual Conference, October 30 – November 1, 2008
Housing and Transportation updated on website. Make housing arrangements via their website for discounts on hotel rooms.
1. Students want more use of gaming technology in their learning. 64% of students report that they are gamers and consider that a must have in their schools. Only 15% of teachers see that as a means of effective teaching. Source: eSchool News.
2. DimensionM: Learn Algebra through a Second Life style interface and solve problems in the game that teach algebraic concepts.
3. Recommended game resources:
Online Insight: Challenges beat Cheerleading
Simply providing online discussion forums is not enough to keep students engaged in virtual courses, according to educators who are well-versed in online instruction: For real learning to occur in an online setting, virtual-school educators must establish clear rubrics and enforce rules for participation.
Check out the article for more information.
Wikis
Learn about Wikis and discover ways they’re being used. (Wiki-Waki-Woo!)
Wikis have great potential as an educational tool for both teachers and students because they encourage collaborative learning and resource sharing. Among the things they can be used for are:
– Collaborative writing
– Brainstorming
– Creation and organization of content and study guides
– Lesson summaries
– Group notetaking
– Dissemination of classroom information
– Literature circles
– Collaborative textbooks
– Resource collections
– Vocabulary study
Comparing Hemispheres – project between schools in NY and Australia
Westwood Schools Wiki – online space for Camilla, GA students
Welker’s Wikinomics – AP Economics class at Shanghai American School
Hanalee Book Wiki – 5th graders study of the novel, Turn Homeward, Hannalee
Arbor Heights Elementary School Wiki – wiki as a school web site
Flat Planet Wikispace – students in Canada and UK examine environmental issues
Photosharing with Flickr Workshop – wiki to provide resources for workshop
wikiHow – collaborative project to build world’s largest how-to manual
Create a wiki at WikiSpaces.
Good spot to find more information about a variety of technologies. Common Craft.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
News & Events
February 25 – February 28, 2009
McCormick Convention Center
Chicago, IL, USA
Schools of the Future: Sailing the Winds of Change
NMSA:
Innovative Practices Across the Curriculum
Lakeville, Minnesota
June 24, 2008
Putting the World into World-Class Education
Washington, DC
July 10-12, 2008
Institute for Middle Level Leadership
Colorado Springs,
Colorado
July 13-16, 2008
Charleston,
South Carolina
July 20-23, 2008
Best Practices for Student Success
Baltimore, Maryland
July 28, 2008
Fargo, North Dakota
August 6, 2008
NMSA Annual Conference:
Denver, CO
October 30, 2008 – November 1, 2008
Conference Blog —- Registration Information
National Teacher of the Year
Michael Geisen of Oregon
State winners:
Alaska
Raymond VoleyColorado
Seth BergHawaii
Pascale PinnerIllinois
Ruth MeissenKentucky
Chandra EmersonMaryland
April ToddMichigan
June TeisanMissouri
Eric LanghorstNew Jersey
John Kline, Jr.North Carolina
James Bell, Jr.Ohio
George EdgeOregon
Michael GeisenPennsylvania
David Woten, Jr.Wisconsin
Beth Oswald
Reading First is rated as Ineffective:
President Bush’s $1 billion a year initiative to teach reading to low-income children has not helped improve their reading comprehension, according to a Department of Education report released on Thursday.
Blogging
2. Learn about blogs and create your own – you will use your blog throughout this project.
3. Explore how educators are using blogs to support teaching and learning.
RSS
4. Learn about RSS and create your own Bloglines account.
5. Subscribe to blogs in order to keep up with new posts.
Photos and Images
6. Learn about online photo sharing and explore Flickr.
7. Share photos of your own on Flickr.
8. Have some Flickr fun with mash-ups.
9. Use an online image generator to create classroom resources.
A great little program that does a lot with pictures, graphics and words.
Our apologies for the tardiness. We’ve had some scheduling issues to address to get together to chat. We plan on being back on schedule this weekend.
We chat about a range of topics, including:
NMSA Annual Conference Launched (officially)!
Shawn and I discussed a project that I’m involved in that demonstrates where technology is right now. This project is a good overview of things that students are using and teachers could be using (at least some of them) currently.
Technology and Teachers:
http://resa-23things.blogspot.com/
Here’s the blurb for the project:
Over the next 10 weeks, you will complete 23 Things to become familiar with a variety of Web 2.0 tools. Everything you need is available here so that you can work on your own time, at your own pace.
Following are the 23 Things to complete in the order listed. Click the blue links to go to each Thing. You may complete the Things at your own pace, but we suggest trying to finish one topic area per week. Have fun!
What are the 23 Things? (This is by subject only. Most of these include 2-3 things each):
How many of these are familiar with? How many do you use regularly? How many do you use in your classroom?
Like a few other of my cohort, I jumped the gun for Part 5. I subscribed to many sites in Part 4 when that is supposed to be part of part 5. Anyway, I largely revisited some of my most heavily “traveled” RSS sites from NetNewsWire. (If you’re interested, check them out at: http://www.bloglines.com/public/MiddleSchoolMatters ) . RSS can allow you to gather a lot of information together. I think that it needs to be targeted though. I sometimes return to visiting web sites for a couple of reasons.