Jokes You Can Use:
Ruth_A_Buzzi
1. Why are hot dogs at Detroit Tigers’ stadium so much better than the ones sold by the Seattle Mariners? Because you can eat them in October.
2. Ultimately, my ex broke up with the blond chick and married a sweet little Native American lady. I hope they're one big Hopi family.

On Our Mind:

New “toys” for Shawn.
https://www.sifteo.com/
Eileen Award:

Kerry Derminer
Noel Parish
Kevin Upton
Advisory:kkinstruction Kalysta

How to Make a 1920s Flapper style Dress in only One Hour! Includes 4 Special Bonuses. http://j.mp/nDRXcO

Middle School Science Minute

by Dave Bydlowski (k12science or [email protected])

Part 3 of the 4 part series on lab safety. This podcast focuses in on standards on specific safety precautions involving chemicals and lab equipment. The importance of lab safety was pointed out last week in the Chicago area when a student suffered a serious injury while passing around dry ice and water in a plastic bottle and it exploded. The full article can be found at:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-26/news/ct-met-science-class-20110926_1_chemistry-class-nsta-national-science-teachers-association

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

News:

A bet on No Child Left Behind
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/who-won-a-2007-bet-on-no-child-left-behind/2011/09/26/gIQAwBBi0K_blog.html

How Teacher Turnover Harms Student
http://transformed.teachingquality.org/blogs/advancing-teaching-profession/09-2011/how-teacher-turnover-harms-students
http://www.nber.org/papers/w17176

How to fix this mess called middle school
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-to-fix-the-mess-we-call-middle-school/2011/09/25/gIQAjCx1yK_blog.html
Resources:

Dead Sea Scrolls Online
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/from-desert-to-web-bringing-dead-sea.html

VizLingo

Turn text into a video representation.
http://www.vizlingo.com/

History Pin
YouTube introductory video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdT3eKdto4w
http://www.historypin.com/

SpeakIt!
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/09/speak-it-text-to-speech-in-google.html
Web Spotlight:

Cheating

Here's an overview of some of the most shocking instances of teacher cheating, plus a few episodes that may have been overblown.
http://www.propublica.org/article/americas-most-outrageous-teacher-cheating-scandals

Students need to develop Grit

http://edcommentary.blogspot.com/2011/09/teaching-character-strengths-and-values.html

Teaching All
Site has activities for Interactive Whiteboards (IWB’s), iPad Apps and much more.
Tons of links!
http://teachingall.blogspot.com/

Digital Promise

Founded after more than a decade of effort, including a 2004 report to Congress, Digital Promise has been endorsed by virtually every major national association of educators and educational institutions, libraries, and museums. The project that gave rise to Digital Promise was launched by the Carnegie, Century, Knight, MacArthur, and Open Society foundations, sustained by the Federation of American Scientists, and championed by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, civic and business leaders, who came together on its behalf.
http://www.digitalpromise.org/

Strategies:
Read Ten Classic Books in Under a Minute
http://flavorwire.com/213381/read-ten-classic-books-in-under-a-minute

What Will Improve a Student’s Memory?

By Daniel T. Willingham
Question: I often have students tell me that they studied for a test, meaning that they reviewed their notes and the textbook, but they still did not do well. If they have reviewed the material, why don’t they remember it? Is there anything I can do to help them study more effectively?
http://cdl.org/resource-library/pdf/What%20Will%20Improve%20a%20Students%20Memory.pdf

Events & Happenings: