Middle School Matters

Topics include news (YouTube, Plagarism, and Google Cell phone OS), events and Web 2.0. Specifically, we talk about social bookmarking and using video in the classroom.

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: * Create a graphic novel from a traditional novel using Comic Life or spice up your notes with creative visuals using the Comic Life software to mix up your notes and presentations. * Restaurant Empire: Create a restaurant, choose your recipes, hire your chefs and manage your empire in either a free limited version or a full pay version. More simulation games from this group here. (NMSA) * Oil Tycoon: start with a small plot of land, some cash and build your empire to rule the world! * Civilization: Take on the attributes of a past civilization and guide it through time. The always entertaining version of "what if" in History. Barzun, Graff, and Breisach (Historiographers and researchers) might take issue with it to a degree, but it gives the student a way to investigate what happened vs. what might have happened if they knew then what you know now. All that without worrying about messing up the space/timeline thingy and figuring out a Heisenberg Principle Compensator device . . . * Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom: Online simulation of China's Middle Kingdom. * Health Care simulators. 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.

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. Comic Life- A great little program that does a lot with pictures, graphics and words.

MSM 32 Integrating Web 2.0

Shawn and I take a look at some of the upcoming conferences that one could attend. We also talk about the advantages of being a middle school teacher. Finally, we discuss some middle school blogs with a variety of points of view.

News & Information, Student Level Factors: The biggest question for educators is whether factors outside our control are determinate or can we, as educators, make a difference in the lives of children regardless of those issues? Links and more....

We talk about the news, a new way to search and spend most of our time talking about Marzano's work on What Works in schools.

Marzano - What works in schools: School wide: 1. Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum- 1. Opportunity to Learn 2. Time 2. Challenging Goals & Effective Feedback - 1. Monitoring 2. Pressure to Achieve 3. Parental & Community Involvement 4. Safe & Orderly Environment 5. Collegiality & Professionalism Teacher Level: * Note that individual teachers have a great impact on student achievement 1. Instructional Strategies 1. Identifying similarities & differences (resource, lesson planner, Venn Diagram and Comparison Matrix, Frayer Model, ) 2. Summarizing & Note taking (graphic organizer resource, note taking resource, SQ3R (not "leet speak"), Sticky Note Strategy, THIEVES+) 3. Reinforcing and providing recognition (post card home, Weekly logs of learning, reflections, Grade tracking) 4. Homework & practice (Podcast #5, Homework is your Friend ...) 5. Nonlinguistic representation (alternative assessment pieces, Foldables, step-by-step to a Flip Book creation) 6. Cooperative learning (resource, 7. Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback (Timely and specific, Rubrics ) 8. Generating & testing hypothesis (simulations 9. Questions, cues and advance organizers (Q Tasks, Graphic Organizers or Graphic Organizers )

Middle School News & Information, Why do students lose enthusiasm?, Reeves Research, Long-Term Memory are all discussed.

MSM-26 MAMSE Redeux and You

MSM-25-Backward Design & You

MSM-24 Free, Tech and Class Size

MSM-23-Special NCLB Innovation

Teaching Ambassador Fellowship, Teams that Make a Difference Award - NMSA, Advisory Idea: Teaching Moments - Educational Ownership - Homework Help (http://www.teachingmoments.com/), Transitions: Smoothing the Way for Students and Parents and Wisconsin moves to Avert Court Shutdown of Virtual Schools.

We take a look at how professional practice has changed. This includes looking at the Medical Model, data, collaboration, expectation and the concept of the Edutainer.