Shawn & Troy talk about testing, conferences and many, many tools. Dave Bydlowski presents the Middle School Minute. We also discuss the Twitterverse, advisory ideas and more.

Jokes:

Ailments

A man was feeling terribly out of sorts and decided to go to the doctor so he made an appointment and showed up the next day. After the doctor examined the man, the doctor invited him into his office for the consultation. The doctor came into the room with three different bottles of pills. The doctor told the man to take the red pill in the morning with a big glass of water, the blue pill in the afternoon with a big glass of water and the green pill in the evening with a big glass of water. The man, terribly shocked at the amount of pills he had to take, asked the doctor what in the world was wrong with him. The doctor replied, "You aren't getting enough water."

On Our Mind:

Testing Relief

Conferences

Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy’s Take on Conferences.

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

Human Body Systems Facts

From the Twitterverse:

Advisory:

Famous Partners

Place the names of famous couples on index cards, mix them up, have students match up. (http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/List_of_famous_pairs/)

Life Raft

Students stand on top of shower curtain and flip it over without anyone stepping off.

Life Skill Lessons

How to tie a tie, how to set the table, how to do anything....celebrate success!!

This Part for Infamous40000 . . . :

Animation Chefs: Learn how to animate from these three chefs!

Tech Tools:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

http://nlvm.usu.edu/

TestMoz

http://testmoz.com/

Google Fusion Tables

Google Fusion Tables is a modern data management and publishing web application that makes it easy to host, manage, collaborate on, visualize, and publish data tables online.

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/public/tour/index.html

News: Charter school first in county to switch to four-day week

A Palm Beach County charter high school plans to switch to a four-day school week beginning in January.

Students would be in school for a total of 902.4 hours this year, above the 900-hour minimum state requirement, according to a calculation received by the district, Edwards said.

It's pitched as an opportunity for students to have more time for part-time jobs, school activities, and dual-enrollment programs that enable students to earn college credit. Daniel also described it as a way to decrease "discipline issues and student absences."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-four-day-school-week-20101021,0,6276565.story

Moving Forward With the Common Core

By Sarah Fine

If there remains any doubt about the momentum of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, let it be abandoned once and for all. Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia, which collectively educate three-fourths of all school-age children in this country, have pledged to adopt the core. Intellectual gatekeepers have given the standards a resounding pass. Plans for implementation have begun. For better or worse, the boulder is on its way down the mountain, gathering strength and speed as it goes.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/10/20/08fine.h30.html?tkn=LYXFpDDbwWg77mw9AnpIQPhrrQpBWyZw4y%2Fk&cmp=clp-edweek

Webspotlight:

Virtual Pumpkin Carving

A, um, virtual pumpkin to carve.

http://www.ncs-tech.org/pub/carve_pumpkin.swf

The Fisch Flip

Colorado teachers Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams were some of the first educators I learned about who are leveraging the power of podcasting, screencasting, and video sharing to "flip" the traditional model of lecture in class and homework at home which predominates in many schools today.

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/10/20/the-fisch-flip-in-michigan-dale-eizenga-on-flipping-traditional-lecture-and-homework-routines/

ISTE 2010: Google Apps in Education