Presented in collaboration with the Association for Middle Level Education.
Jokes You Can Use:
Eileen Award:
iTunes:
Twitter: Chelsy Hooper, Dianne Krause, Emily Runyan, Kelly Dumont, Matt Graves, Bob Krause, Mark Levine, Gayle Andrews
Diigo:
Facebook: Raymond Porten
Advisory:
9 Ways To Be A Better Person
1. Be Willing To Change
2. Stop Making Excuses
3. Stop Being Angry
4. Be A Role Model
5. Forgive Someone
6. Listen To People
7. Be Honest
8. Do Something You Don’t Want To
9. Surprise Someone Special
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/9-ways-better-person.html
Middle School Science Minute
by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])
Safety Contracts
From the Twitterverse:
#mschat every Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Resources:
PhotoFilmStrip
PhotoFilmStrip creates movie serial output possibilities for VCD, SVCD, DVD up to FULL-HD. Creates animated slideshows.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/photostoryx/
THE GIFT OF DOUBT
Albert O. Hirschman and the power of failure.
BY MALCOLM GLADWELL
In the mid-nineteenth century, work began on a crucial section of the railway line connecting Boston to the Hudson River.
James Hayward, one of New England’s leading railroad engineers, estimated that penetrating the Hoosac would cost, at most, a very manageable two million dollars.
Everyone was wrong. Digging through the Hoosac turned out to be a nightmare. The project cost more than ten times the budgeted estimate.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2013/06/24/130624crbo_books_gladwell
Web Spotlight:
Nine Things Educators Need to Know About the Brain
The human brain wasn’t designed for industrial education.
1. The brain is a social organ.
Our brains require stimulation and connection to survive and thrive.
From a neurobiological perspective, the position of the teacher is very similar to that of the parent in building the child’s brain.
2. We have two brains.
Most tasks, though, involve contributions from both hemispheres. So, it is important to understand how to engage both in the classroom context.
3. Early learning is powerful.
4. Conscious awareness and unconscious processing occur at different speeds, often simultaneously.
Because of this, it is especially important to teach students to question their assumptions and the possible influences of past experiences and unconscious biases on their feelings and beliefs.
5. The mind, brain, and body are interwoven.
6. The brain has a short attention span and needs repetition and multiple-channel processing for deeper learning to occur.
7. Fear and stress impair learning.
Evolution has shaped our brains to err on the side of caution and to trigger fear whenever it might be remotely useful.
Success in school depends upon a student’s ability to somehow decrease their stress.
8. We analyze others but not ourselves: the primacy of projection.
Simple exercises that guide students to examine what and how what they think and feel about others may be true for themselves can open a window of self-awareness, empathy, and insight.
9. Learning is enhanced by emphasizing the big picture—and then allowing students to discover the details for themselves.
When problems are represented at higher levels of abstraction, learning can be integrated into larger schemas that enhance memory, learning, and cognitive flexibility.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/nine_things_educators_need_to_know_about_the_brain
HOW DO YOU KEEP PEOPLE ENGAGED?
Ownership. Give them ownership.
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/engagement/
Half-Baked Ideas . . .
Why did I want a Microsoft Surface RT? Do I still want it?
ISTE Keynote 2013
Introduction of Jane McGonigal
Gamification
“Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they change the world.” title of book.
Game designers are essentially fun engineers.
