Summer vacation

This blog will be on hiatus for the summer and return with posts when the new school year begins in August.

Math meets reality tv

GET THE MATH is a convergent media project designed to help middle and high school students develop algebraic thinking skills for solving real world problems.  Drawing on conventions of popular reality TV shows, video segments begin with profiles of young professionals, who then pose challenges connected to their jobs to two teams of teens.  At that point viewers are encouraged to try the challenges themselves using interactive tools provided on the GET THE MATH website, before returning to the video to see the teams’ solutions.  Students can further explore the same algebra concepts through additional interactive challenges on the website. (from the Above page at GET THE MATH)

Below is the music video for GET THE MATH.

Watch the full episode. See more THIRTEEN Kids.

Brady Mallory

WDAZ Reporter Brady Mallory concluded not on the "Best of" week of Literary Lunches, he closed out this school's run. Mallory read from Ellen DeGeneres' The Funny Thing Is..., a collection of humorous essays. Early in the Literary Lunches season, Mallory first read an excerpt from Harper Lee's classic To Kill A Mockingbird early in the Literary Lunches.

Roger Dykstra returns to Literary Lunches with Butterflies

     Pastor Roger Dykstra brought a sampling of the reading he is currently reading and some favorites to literary lunch today and had the group decide the selection.  The book that was chosen was The Butterfly Effect, by Andy Andrews.  It was given to Dykstra by his mother-in-law, and helps show the theory of the far-reaching implications of any action.  While "The Butterfly Effect" was initially scoffed at when presented in the 1960s, it is now considered a law of "Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions," which relates to both physical matter and people.

     This theory highlighted Dykstra's theme/advice to seniors that every action matters--that every decision (good or bad) can ripple and cause unknown consequences.   While society may tell people that "if they work hard enough they will get whatever they want" may not be true, there will often be unintended or unforeseen rewards later on. 

Picturing reading

At yesterday's session of Literary Lunches,  Torie Johnson, director of special education for the Grand Forks Public Schools, read from a number of different books: two familiar children's books, Thomas' Snowsuit written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko and Love You Forever also written by Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw, and Jacqueline Woodson's Locomotion, the story of William C. Motion written in poetry.

The common theme was pictures. Thomas's Snowsuit and Love You Forever both include illustrations; Woodson's does not. Still, Johnson encouraged us to really listen to and think about the images Woodson has created for Locomotion.

Here's what Woodson says about Locomotion at her website: 

Lonnie C. Motion has had some tough breaks in his life. But this fall, Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry and suddenly, Lonnie is finding the words to tell the world about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, his world.

The best of week continues

As part of this week's "Best of Literary Lunches," former Grand Forks Central teacher and coach Serge Gambucci read yesterday from America's Coach: Life Lesson & Wisdom for Gold Medal Success; A Biographical Journey of the Late Hockey Icon Herb Brooks by Ross Bernstein.

Check out a bit about the book below:
The inspirational story of legendary coach Herb Brooks comes to life in the pages of “America’s Coach,” a heart-warming motivational biography that celebrates the legacy of a true American hero. As the architect of the fabled 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey “Miracle on Ice,” Brooks showed the world that through hard work, commitment and dedication, dreams really can come true. It doesn’t matter if you know the difference between a blue line and a clothes line, Brooks’ unorthodox ideologies and philosophies on team-building, leadership and motivation can be applied to the real world just as easily as they can to the business world. Follow along as Brooks’ amazing life is chronicled from the frozen ponds of St. Paul’s east side, to the bright lights of New York City, and everywhere in between. Woven throughout this colorful tapestry are anecdotes, quotes, funny stories, and nuggets of wisdom from Brooks himself, which provide a unique insight into the secrets of his success. Best-selling sports author Ross Bernstein, who had actually been working with Brooks on writing a series of motivational books at the time of his tragic passing in 2003, honors the legacy of his late friend and mentor by challenging you to achieve heights you never dreamed possible. And maybe, just maybe, even inspire you to create your own miracles.

Gambucci also read a column by 90-year-old Regina Brett that chronicles lessons she's learned about living. To read the column, click here.

As usual, Gambucci was quick-witted and entertaining....definitely a right choice for the "Best of Literary Lunches" week.

Captain Ahab's grandson comes to visit

     We kicked off our "Best of Literary Lunches 2011" with a reading from none other than Captain Ahab's grandson, Cornelius.  He is onovelThe Young Man and the Sean a quest to take out the white whale that has cursed his family, killing his grandfather and ruining his father's life.
      Cornelius read from the novel The Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick--a novel that has some eerie similarities to Cornelius' life and the way the sea can affect father-son relationships.  Cornelius also spends his lonely life on the sea by singing sea shanties and writing.



     Justin Fisher did a great job answering questions in personna, and we were lucky to have him start off our "Best of" week!

Feel like checking out a great museum?

GREAT MUSEUMS is an award-winning documentary television series celebrating the world of museums. The series airs coast to coast on public television stations representing more than 85% of US households.


GREAT MUSEUMS opens the doors of the museum world to millions of Americans through public television, new media and community outreach with the goal of “curating a community of learners.”


Executive produced by Marc Doyle and Chesney Blankenstein Doyle, the compelling educational series has won more than forty television awards for excellence, including multiple Cine Golden Eagles, Telly Awards, and Aurora Excellence Awards.(from the GREAT MUSEUMS About page)

To read more about GREAT MUSEUMS, click here. To begin exploring GREAT MUSEUMS, click here.

Officer Troy Vanyo on Friday the 13th!

      Officer Vanyo entertained the groups today with reading from a short story collection entitled The Ghost Next Door.  Some of the selections he read were "The Ghost Hotel," "Strange Doings at the Parker House," "Host of Ghosts."  He also talked about the importance of reading in law enforcement and the ability to write with clarity!




A highlight of the reading:
Officer Vanyo: "I'm going to read a ghost story."
Student: "With the lights on?"

What do these words really mean?

As English evolves, word meanings shift and turn, sometimes reversing themselves altogether. These ten words have shifted their senses over the years. In some cases, we are wise to likewise be flexible; in others, we relax our vocabulary at the expense of useful distinctions:

1. Decimate

The literal meaning of this word, as all you lovers of Latin (not to be confused with Latin lovers) know all too well, is “to reduce by one-tenth,” supposedly from the punitive custom of selecting one out of ten captives by lot and killing those so selected. But the senses for this rhadamanthine Roman policy have proliferated, so that now it means “tithed,” “drastically reduced,” or “destroyed” as well.

The above comes from Daily Writing Tips.

Click here to read more.

Solemn writers to consider

At yesterday session of Literary Lunches, Calvary Lutheran Church pastor Troy Troftruben read selections from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Elie Wiesel, both of whom spent time in concentrations camps during World War II. The Weisel selection was an excerpt from Night and the Bonhoeffer selections were poems "Power of Good" and "Christian and Pagans."

Follow the hyperlinked text below to learn more about Wiesel.

Elie Wiesel was born in the small town of Sighet in Transylvania, where people of different languages and religions have lived side by side for centuries, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in bitter conflict. The region was long claimed by both Hungary and Romania. In the 20th century, it changed hands repeatedly, a hostage to the fortunes of war.

Follow the hyperlinked text below to learn more about Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German pronunciation: [ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ]; February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was also a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, 23 days before the Nazis' surrender. His view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential.

Troftgruben explained that he find both Wiesel and Bonhoeffer interesting because they consider where a god is in horrible circumstances.

Digital storytelling and other resources

Digital storytelling is an ed tech buzz word that’s thrown around a lot. When I first heard it, digital storytelling pretty much referred to podcasts and short films. And, to a certain extent, it still does. But podcasting and film-making no longer require massive amounts of hardware and software, like iMovie or Garageband. Today, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can easily create digital stories. (from Stretch Your Digital Dollar)

There are a number of resources referenced at this post as well as considerations for implement them in the classroom. 

Here is the mission for the site. Stretch Your Digital Dollar provides affordable strategies that can help educators bridge the digital divide. The site is replete with resources for teachers.

Several 2.0 initiatives and their impact

Increasingly, Public Media 2.0 projects are moving not only beyond broadcast to social and mobile platforms, but into the realms of digital and media literacy training. Producers of such projects recognize that in order to participate fully in the new media world, children and adults need to be able to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms. Over the past two months, on the Center for Social Media's Public Media 2.0 Showcase, we profiled a series of such initiatives, examining in particular how project leaders evaluate their impact. (from the Center for International Media Assistance)

Click the hyperlinked text above to look at the media initiatives as well as a means to assess their impact on learning.

Weboword

Weboword is a great website that provides visual depictions of vocabulary words. And you subscribe to get updates to the site.

Today's word is decimate. Click here to see its depiction.

The Alliance for Excellent Education

About the Alliance: The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The Alliance focuses on America’s six million most at-risk secondary school students—those in the lowest achievement quartile—who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future. 

The Alliance also has a blog, which includes updates on education and educational policy. To check it out, click here.

LiveBinder it

"LiveBinders is dedicated to helping you empower others with the information you work hard to collect.
If you're like us, you've used 'creative' tactics to keep track of all your links either through email, word documents or endless lists in your browser bookmarks folder. It's hard to put a group of links together in any meaningful format. And sharing a group of URLs is cumbersome for everyone - the sender and the receiver. Have you ever looked through your bookmarks list and forgotten what they are all for?
We created LiveBinders so that you could do with digital information what you do with the papers on your desk - organize them into nice containers - like 3-ring binders on your shelf. With our online-binders you can also upload your documents and easily combine them with your links in a neat and organized way.
We welcome you to create as many LiveBinders as you need to help organize the stuff you collect and share on the Web." (directly from LiveBinders)

LiveBinders let you organize online content in a "binder" on the Internet, in effect, an icon that looks like a binder that can be opened, so you can access the websites you've put there. Take a look at some sample binders by clicking here.

100 images in 100 seconds

This first came to light for this blogger at Free Technology for Teachers, a must-read resources.

News of Osama bin Laden's death breaks on Twitter

Sohaib Athar, a resident of Abbottabad, Pakistan, spent Sunday's wee hours tweeting about helicopters circling overhead and a mysterious blast. Little did he imagine that he was recording America's attack on the world's most wanted terrorist. (Hilary Brenhouse at Time's Newsfeed)

There's more:

On his Twitter page, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) describes himself as “an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops.” But this weekend, he found himself at the center of the action. At about 1am local time on Sunday, Athar tweeted about a “helicopter hovering above Abbottabad (a rare event),” later joking that he might have to make use of his “giant swatter.”

Here's part of a New York Times piece on the news of bin Laden's death leaking out.

The terse announcement came just after 9:45 p.m. Sunday from Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “POTUS to address the nation tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time,” he wrote on Twitter, sharing the same message that had just been transmitted to the White House press corps. (from Brian Stelter)

To read more, click the excerpted hyperlinked text above.