Jokes You Can Use:

Why are so few men with whiskers in heaven?

Because most men get in by a close shave.

What’s the definition of a financial genius?

Someone who can make money faster than the rest of the family spends it.

I know a woman who has cooked so many TV dinners that she thinks she’s in show business!

On Our Mind:

New Year’s Resolutions.

Feedback

PLN site - http://rmmade.com

Eileen Award:

Happy Birthday to Jeff LaRoux

Nicole Woulfe

Linda Neville

Rachel C.

Advisory:

It has a name you know: http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/25-everyday-things-you-never-knew-had-names

Honest Logo

http://m.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/if-logos-were-honest

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

This middle school science minute is about formaldehyde. In the November, 2011 issue of Science Scope (NSTA publication), in the section on "Scope on Safety" a question was asked about what a teacher should do if they find specimens preserved in formaldehyde. Two very good options are provided.

From the Twitterverse:

Don’t forget to join the conversation on MiddleTalk and Twitter at #midleved this Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

News:

It's Time to Rethink the Hours America Spends Educating

http://www.edutopia.org/time-out

LearnCentral becomes Blackboard Collaborate

http://www.wecollaborate.com/

Novo 7, DroPad A8i and the Aakaash . . .

So you’re thinking about a cheap tablet . . .

Resources:

Documentary Tube

http://www.documentarytube.com/

Old Television Themes

A vast resource of audio.

http://www.televisiontunes.com/

Sketch in 3D on the Web

About

Remember the old cartoons where hand drawn lines appeared

to vibrate because of differences between frames?

That's what this experiment simulates. It also adds a third

to your drawings by allowing you to rotate the canvas.

http://hakim.se/experiments/html5/sketch/

Web Spotlight:

The 20% Solution

I recently assigned a new project to my 11th grade English students: The 20% Project. Although it’s called a “project”, that term is merely for student understanding and lack of a better word. This project is based on the “20 percent time” Google employees have to work on something other than their job description. It has been well documented, and Google has exponentially grown as a company while giving this 20 percent time.

http://educationismylife.com/the-20-project-like-google-in-my-class/

The Living Room Candidate

Election video ads. Can be sorted by year, by type, or by issue. http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/

10 Funniest Things

http://educationismylife.com/top-10-funniest-things-ever-said-in-education/

MiddleWeb's New Resources (438)

http://tln.typepad.com/middleweb/2011/12/middlewebs-new-resources-438.html

Urgent call to a medieval Help Desk

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/cyberworld/urgent-call-to-a-medieval-help.html

30 Webtools to Transform a Classroom - LiveBinder

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=259021

Continuing to Learn with the iPad- Storytelling

http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/12/28/continuing-to-learn-with-the-ipad/

Strategies:

5 Awesome Things you can do with an iPad and a projector

http://www.classroominthecloud.net/2011/10/5-awesome-things-you-can-do-with-ipad.html

Physicists Seek To Lose The Lecture As Teaching Tool

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144550920/physicists-seek-to-lose-the-lecture-as-teaching-tool

(Referenced in the Twitterverse: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/everybody-is-stupid-except-you/201201/lectures-suck)

Events & Happenings:

Calendar of Events: