Jokes You Can Use:

“Doctor, will I be able to read with these new glasses?”

“Of course, perfectly. Why?”

“Because, I couldn’t read before”.

When I got a bill for an operation, I found out why they wear masks.

On Our Mind:

Eileen Award:

Gr8t Lakes Teacher: Thanks for the feedback on iTunes!

Advisory:

Book Spine Poetry

Stack books up so that the Titles on the spine form a poem.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/tag/book-spine-poetry/

Odd Advertisements

NSFW: Prescreening required

http://oddstuffmagazine.com/funniest-advertisements-ever.html

11 “Modern Antiques” Today’s Kids Have Probably Never Seen

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/122762

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

The National Science Teachers Association has recently announced its Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12. In this podcast we look at three of the books which are very appropriate for students in grades 6 - 8. They are:

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships

by Catherine Thimmesh

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

by Richard Paul Evans

Bug Shots: The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly

by Alexandra Siy

From the Twitterverse:

News:

Student “Learning Styles” Theory Is Bunk (Daniel Willingham)

http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/student-learning-styles-theory-is-bunk-daniel-willingham/

The Pineapple Story Tests Us: Have Test Publishers become Unquestionable Authorities?

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/the_pineapple_story_questions.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/20/151044647/the-pineapple-and-the-hare-can-you-answer-two-bizarre-state-exam-questions?sc=tw

Professional Development

Sweating my way through a workout the other day, I stumbled across an article titledGetting Principals to Think Like Managers in the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Considering that nearly every expert on the 21st Century principalship would argue that leading schools is about WAY more than "managing," the title caught my eye.

http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/tempered-radical/04-2012/will-75000-really-change-your-principals-leadership-skills

Earth's quietest place

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-worlds-quietest-place-chamber-Orfield-Laboratories.html

Resources:

Block Print

Create any size poster from any size picture.

http://www.blockposters.com/

iSLCollective

Free, printable ESL worksheets by teachers for teachers. Allows a variety of criteria: Level, Student Type, Grammar Focus, Vocabulary Focus, Skill, Material Type, Solution.

http://en.islcollective.com/

WorkFlowy

Easy ToDo list manager.

https://workflowy.com/

National Parks Tour

Provides a virtual tour of various parks: Grand Canyon, Great Smokies, YellowStone.

http://naturevalleytrailview.com/

Positive Thoughts

You might recall a charming antidote: Everything Is Going to Be OK, the lovely pocket-sized anthology of positive artwork. Now, it’s available as equally lovely 20 different note cards, featuring artists like Gemma Correll,Jessica Swift, Danna Ray, and Amy Borrell.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/19/everything-is-going-to-be-ok-cards/

KiKuText

Kikutext is all about parent engagement. We truly believe that an increase in parent engagement will mean an increase in student achievement. Every part of our application is designed to help you easily and quickly communicate with parents more regularly.

Parents can sign up for text messages. Teachers get a proxy phone number - no need to give out your personal cell phone number.

http://kikutext.com/

Web Spotlight:

5 Historical Misconceptions

Warning: Lady Godiva and bare bottom is included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sYzfKiIWN4g

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