On Our Mind:

Is it fair to students to make personnel changes during the first few weeks of school?

Eileen Award:

To all our Diigo followers . . . group hug!

Advisory:

String Theory: Take a piece of twine and stick it under the student’s heel. Unwind it up to their head and cut. Take a piece of tape and label the string with the kid’s name. Hold onto the string and repeat the activity at the end of the year. Compare and contrast.

NMSA/AMLE Video Contest: Taking the Lead Video Contest

Open to middle grade students (5-9)

Those working on the video must be 10 to15 year - olds, but teachers may submit the videos.

Each video must be 3 minutes or less.

Video(s) must be submitted via SchoolTube. See submission process below.

Schools may enter as many videos as they would like.

Deadline: Videos must be uploaded no later than October 24th, 2011, at 11:00 pm EST.

Top 3 winners will be notified by November 7, 2011.

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

This middle school science minute is the third in a three part series about the ELA common core standards in writing and their relationship to science. The four areas of writing include: text types and purposes; production and distribution of writing; research to build and present knowledge; and range of writing. In this podcast, we look at the writing standards that relate to science in grades 6 - 8 in the areas of production and distribution of writing; research to build and present knowledge, and range of writing.

From the Twitterverse:

News:

Beyond Testing

...my Chinese colleagues didn't mention their test scores, nor did they inquire about mine. I quickly learned that we share a similar goal for our students: to promote innovation and foster independent thinking.

Every Chinese teacher I spoke with expressed concern with their nation's emphasis on testing. One teacher explained that students spend their entire final year of high school preparing for national examinations at the expense of other educational opportunities that would enable them to acquire a broad range of skills. She described Chinese students as "unhappy" because they are "forced" to drill for high-stakes examinations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-shearer/beyond-testing-a-lesson-f_b_954135.html

What teachers really want to tell parents

By Ron Clark, Special to CNN

So, what can we do to stem the tide? What do teachers really need parents to understand?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html

Teaching Technology

Resources:

Ambrosia Releases Soundboard for iPad

Ambrosia Software has released their sound effects software for iPad. You can now put sound effects in the iPad and control your soundboard with the touch of a finger. You don’t do drama? (You do if you’re a middle school teacher!) What about your ESL kids? What about attaching sounds to word combinations and when they have a hard time sounding things out, they tap the screen and get the correct sound? I can see this being a great resource for the Speech-Language Pathologist in your district.

Comparison Search

Two ways to look at search results. Could help with looking at the pro’s and con’s of a subject.

http://www.gleancomparisonsearch.org/

Web Spotlight:

Arizona Technology Integration Matrix

http://azk12.org/tim/

Go Social Studies Go

Looks really interesting. Includes a virtual book on Columbus.

http://www.gosocialstudiesgo.com/

Using Film in any Class

Web Tools:

Are you funnier than Scott Adams?

Create the text from a Dilbert cartoons.

http://dilbert.com/mashups/

ISTE 2011: Teacher 2.0 with Steve Hargadon

How do you use the tools of the web to get teachers recognized and get them involved?

PDF: http://mrmcgirr.com/page20/downloads/files/ISTE%20Steve%20Hargadon.pdf

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events:

NMSA News: