Technology Tip - CNN Student News

CNN Student News is a great daily program for students to hear national news stories.  In my classroom, we watched CNN student news every Friday and either played a current event game, or discussed the current events.  We would also watch any episode the day after a "big" news story.  CNN Student News would be appropriate for any 7-12 grade, and could possibly be a good option for students as young as 5th grade.  CNN Student News could also be a great filler activity for students who have finished work and have a device in front of them.

Below is an example of a CNN Student News program with captions.

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

November 18, 2014  FACS - MOVED TO DECEMBER 16, 2014
November 20, 2014  Industrial Technology (Meeting will start at Lakeview Schools)
November 21, 2014  Community Ed
November 26, 2014  Superintendents' Council

December 2, 2014  Language Arts
December 4, 2014  World Languages
December 5, 2014  Social Studies

Compound Confusion

Compound pronouns can be confusing.  The choice between "everyone" or "every one" and "anyone" or "any one" can trip up even the most experienced writers.

Remember these rules:  "Anyone" and "everyone" mean "any person" and "all the people," respectively.  The non-compound modified pronouns "any one" or "every one" put greater emphasis on the word "one."  Those phrases mean "any single person or thing" and "every single person or thing," and they're usually followed by a prepositional phrase that begins with the word "of."

Here are some examples:

• Did anyone hear from the customer? (any person)
• Did you reply to any one of those concerns? (any single concern)
• Is everyone ready to begin? (all the people)
• The boss rejected every one of the ideas. (every single idea)

Adapted from "Anyone and Everyone or Any One and Every One?" Common Mistakes and Tricky Choices, www.englishplus.com

MELT Networking Facilitators Wanted

The MRVED is looking for facilitators of networking groups.  As a facilitator you are not expected to be the expert in the room, but rather move the discussion along.  The goal of a networking group is to share resources and ideas with people who have the same interest.  They are meant to include a give & take.  Bring something to share and take something away that someone else shared.  The only networking groups that will be offered are those that have a willing facilitator.  If a networking group does not have a facilitator, it will not be held.  If you would like to sign up, please click the link below and add your name to the list next to the group you would like to facilitate.  The networking sign up will close at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday November 18.  If you have any questions, please contact Brandon (braymo@mrved.net).


MELT Networking Group Facilitator Sign Up

Repair Kit for Grading - Fix 9

Fix 9: Don't assign grades based on a student's achievement compared to other students; compare each student's performance to preset standards.

When assigning grades to students, a teacher should never or very rarely use a curve.  What this does is unintentionally pits students against each other and the "successful" students will be less likely to help those in need.

Grading should be based upon whether the student knows or does not know the standard.  In theory, all students can achieve in a classroom if this were the case.  It could also be the opposite where none of the students achieve.

"Grading students by comparing their performance to one another distorts individual achievement.  We need clear, criterion-referenced achievement standards- absolute, not relative, standards that describe a limited number of levels: at, below, and above proficiency.  Teachers in a noncompetitive grading system assign grades to each student based only on that student's own achievement in relation to the applicable standards." (O'Connor, 80)

A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O'Connor

Technology Tip - Recite

Recite is a fairly simple website that allows users to input any text into a box and it turns it into a cool looking poster.  It could be a great way to recognize a student or class for their work, or put your own quotes to work.  The templates are all premade, all you have to do is input the words.  Students could also make their own creations with this website.  Give it a try today!

MRVED Business

Physical Education and Health Best Practice Meeting Update
The day started off with Brandon showing the group some of the latest and greatest apps and websites for the Health and/or PE classroom.  After that, the group looked at the SAMR model for technology integration and had time to digest a lot of new information.  An article was read and discussed on competition in the Phy Ed classroom.  It was a very interesting discussion among groups on a somewhat controversial topic in physical education.  The group then split into districts teams and aligned the standards K-12.  Lunch was great as usual.  In the afternoon the group networked and looked at the health standards and had another productive discussion.

MRVED Meetings

November 13, 2014  Social Workers
November 18, 2014  FACS - MTG CHANGED TO DECEMBER 16, 2014
November 20, 2014  Industrial Technology
November 21, 2014  Community Ed
November 26, 2014  Superintendents' Council