MiddleSchoolPortal/Webinar Archive
From NSDLWiki
The Middle School Portal 2: Math and Science Pathways project presents webinars on timely topics. This page contains the descriptions of those webinars and links to the archived recordings. Please visit the Events page of the MSP2 social network to see the current offerings.
Interactive Notebooks
Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 2-3pm EST
Description: Few things about middle school students drive teachers to the brink of insanity faster than organization (or lack thereof) and homework. Come join us for a discussion of one way to help combat both problems while also addressing multiple intelligences, differentiation, and student choice. Interactive Notebooks are a way to help facilitate all of these things by allowing your students to be creative and have a choice in the way they process information. This informal chat will address the beginning stages of starting to work with Interactive Notebooks, guide you through the process, and point you in the direction of more resources.
Presenter MiniBio: Todd Williamson is a National Board Certified Teacher (Early Adolescent Science) at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport, NC. Todd teaches 7th grade science and has a focus on incorporating technology into classroom instruction. He maintains a blog about technology in education called The Technorate Teacher. Todd is a technology trainer for the North Carolina Teacher's Academy and primarily focuses on integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom at all grade levels.
Post a comment on Todd's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/ToddWilliamson
Related Resources:
http://www.msteacher2.org/profiles/blogs/session-archive-tech-talk
Moodle for the Middle - Part I and Part II
Part I: Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 2-3pm EST
Part II: Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4-5pm EST
Recording of Webinar - Part II
Description: Are you looking for a way to interact with your students online? Moodle is designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. It's free, open source, and can be adapted to any learning environment. Create calendars, message boards, resource pages, wikis, surveys, tests, and more. Tom Jenkins has used Moodle with his 5th-8th graders for the past 3 years to teach science and technology and will share his experiences with this e-learning platform.
Presenter MiniBio: Tom Jenkins is a National Board Certified Teacher (Early Adolescent Science) at Indian Valley Middle School in Enon, OH. Over his 12-year career, he has taught middle school mathematics, science, and technology and been an instructor for the Master's of Education program at Wittenberg University. Tom is currently teaching STEM and Technology to 5th-8th graders and serves as a Senior STEM Fellow for the Dayton Regional STEM Center.
Post a comment on Tom's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/TomJenkins
Related Resources:
http://www.msteacher2.org/profiles/blogs/session-archive-tech-talk-1
Free Hosting Services
Economical Hosting Services
Blogposts and personal experiences using Moodle in the classroom
- Moodle in an Elementary Classroom – Anatomy of a Course, Jan Deyenberg
Digital Storytelling
Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 2-3pm EST
Description: What is digital storytelling and how can it be adapted for the middle school science classroom? Join us for an overview of this exciting multimedia art form and leave with basic how-to knowledge, ideas for science-specific projects, and resources to guide your implementation.
Presenter MiniBio: Jessica Fries-Gaither is an Education Resource Specialist in the College of Education and Human Ecology at Ohio State University, where she serves as project director for Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears , a cyberzine integrating science and literacy instruction for elementary teachers, and contributes to the Middle School Portal 2: Math and Science Pathways. She is certified as a middle school science teacher and has taught in a variety of settings - from 4th grade self contained to 8th grade math and science.
Post a comment on Jessica's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/JessicaFriesGaither
Related Resources:
Blog Post with Presentation and Related Resources
Center for Digital Storytelling
From Victoria Rydberg: We have a student created voice thread on our website towards the bottom of this page: http://www.portage.k12.wi.us/rc/
From Virginia Alberti: http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/mathematics.html
From Pam Burish: VoiceThread Digital Storytelling with VoiceThread Visual Bloom's Taxonomy VoiceThread posts from NCS-Tech
Wikis for the Classroom
Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 7-8pm EST
Description: "What is a wiki?" you say. Let's take a look at what a wiki is and how it can be used as a tool for online student collaboration. Whether used to create a reference library or a collaborative teaching tool, wikis are an easily accessible Web 2.0 tool that can be used in any class. Works great in the one-computer room or in the computer lab.
Presenter MiniBio: Karolee teaches at Foothill Farms JHS in Sacramento, California. Her 16 years in the middle school have focused on science and the AVID elective. She has her master's in educational technology, completing her master's project on Wikis in the Classroom.
Post a comment on Karolee's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/KaroleeSmiley
Related Resources:
Free Wiki Platforms
- PB Works Summer Camp online course
Articles
Exemplary Wiki Spaces
Interactive Whiteboards
September, 16, 2009, 4-5pm EST
Description: So you have an Interactive Whiteboard in your classroom, now what? As more and more schools purchase SmartBoards, Promethean Boards, Mimio systems, and a host of other Interactive Whiteboard solutions, the expectation often seems to be that they will just teach the kids themselves. Join us for this session to learn some of the challenges, strategies, and wonders of using an Interactive Whiteboard in your subject area.
Presenter MiniBio: Todd Williamson is a National Board Certified Teacher (Early Adolescent Science) at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport, NC. Todd teaches 7th grade science and has a focus on incorporating technology into classroom instruction. He maintains a blog about technology in education called The Technorate Teacher. Todd is a technology trainer for the North Carolina Teacher's Academy and primarily focuses on integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom at all grade levels.
Post a comment on Todd's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/ToddWilliamson
Related Resources: http://sharetabs.com/?IWBs
Reading Mathematics is Different
September 30, 2009, 4-5pm EST
Description: Join us to discuss why reading mathematics is challenging for many students and what teachers can do. We will examine how mathematics symbols, vocabulary, and content presentation can create roadblocks to students’ mathematics understanding. Learn how to address students’ difficulties by approaching mathematics as a language and to use specific strategies to improve mathematics learning.
Presenter MiniBio: Judy Spicer is a mathematics content specialist at the Ohio Resource Center. She has taught mathematics at the high school and community college levels, written and made presentations, both in person and online, about mathematics curriculum materials and related learning issues. She served as the mathematics content specialist in the development of two education-related digital libraries and is a member of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. Her interests include improving the quality of education for all students and encouraging the use of Internet resources and computer software to help students visualize and understand mathematics.
Post a comment on Judy's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/JudySpicer
Related Resources:
Reading and Writing to Learn in Mathematics: Strategies to Improve Problem Solving
Unlocking the Mystery of Mathematics: Give Vocabulary Instruction a Chance
Getting to Know Your Middle Grades Mathematics Textbook
Reading and Writing Mathematics
Diigo: An Online Research Tool
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 4-5pm EST
Description: Learn how to use Diigo to keep track of, share, publish, and annotate resources. Diigo is a personal research tool, collaborative research platform, and social information network.
Presenter MiniBio: David Hayward is the Project Manager at Instructional Technology Services of Central Ohio (ITSCO). His responsibilities include planning, creating, and teaching technology integration professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers in central Ohio.
Post a comment on David's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/DavidHayward
Related Resources:
Universal Design for Learning
Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 4-5pm EST
Description: Meeting the needs of diverse learners while maintaining high achievement standards for all can be challenging – even for the most seasoned educator. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework based on brain research, provides rich supports and pedagogy to address these challenges, enabling all individuals to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning. Shifting our attention toward the goals, methods, materials, and assessments used in instruction focuses on the disabilities in our curriculum; not in our students. Join us for a discussion about UDL, and leave with some strategies and tools you can use in your classroom tomorrow!
Presenter MiniBio: Mindy Johnson is an Instructional Designer and Research Associate at CAST , a non-profit educational R&D organization near Boston, MA. Her focus is primarily on developing and researching web-based UDL tools for use in science classes. Before joining CAST, Mindy was a special education co-teacher in content-area classes. She also works at the Boston Museum of Science as an instructor in their Overnight Program, conducting hands-on science and math activities for students of all ages.
Post a comment on Mindy's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/MindyJohnson
Related Resources:
CAST Website: http://www.cast.org/
National Center on UDL: http://www.udlcenter.org/
UDL Spotlight Blog: http://udlspotlight.wordpress.com/
UDL Editions by CAST™: http://udleditions.cast.org/
CAST UDL Book Builder™: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/
CAST UDL Curriculum Self-Check™: http://udlselfcheck.cast.org/
Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/
UDL for Higher Education: http://udlonline.cast.org/home
Laboratory Safety
Thursday, November 12, 2009, 7:30-8:30pm EST
Description: Join Ken Roy as he discusses the Dirty Dozen and the responsibilities of all educators in making science classrooms and activities safe[r] for students.
Presenter MiniBio: Ken Roy is the National Science Teacher Association (NTSA) Science Safety Consultant and the Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Glastonbury Public Schools in Connecticut.
Related Resources:
MSP2 Search on Laboratory Safety Resources - Click on the Laboratory Safety link - http://msteacher.org/search/
Rehab the Lab - You can download fully scripted lesson plans for least-toxic chemistry labs, information on ways to reduce chemical stockpiles in biology labs, and a database of school chemicals that describes their risks and educational utility and provides guidelines for their storage, purchasing and disposal.
Connecticut High School Science Safety: Prudent Practices and Regulations
NSTA Position Statement on Science Safety
NSELA Safe Science Series - Dr. Ken Roy is the Director of Environmental Health & Safety, NSTA Science Safety Consultant, NSELA Safety Compliance Officer, an authorized OSHA instructor, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Laboratory Safety Workshop. He is the author of this comprehensive and continuing series dedicated to the improvement of safety in the science classroom.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Center for Disease Control Workplace Safety
Flinn Scientific - Request the free laboratory safety manual for middle school science.
Citizen Science: Building Math and Science Skills and Knowledge
Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 7:30-8:30pm EST
Description: In this session, you’ll find out about the Cornell Lab’s citizen science projects, especially eBird, and how your classroom can participate. You’ll also see examples of the kinds of online data and graphs that are easily accessible to you and your students. Finally, you’ll learn about our free BirdSleuth resources that will support you in giving students experience with the entire scientific process: observing birds carefully, asking their own questions, collecting data, summarizing data with graphs and charts, drawing evidence-based conclusions through research and observation, and publishing their results in Cornell Lab’s student scientific journals.
The BirdSleuth curriculum weaves together major life science concepts such as habitat, diversity, adaptations, and behavior through engaging activities and schoolyard investigations focused on birds. Further, it engages students in Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s citizen science programs, giving them a real-world connection to Cornell University scientists and access to authentic biological data which they can use to answer their own questions. Your students will be motivated and excited to participate in citizen science because it gets them outside, it’s challenging and fun, and they know that their data will be put to use addressing real-world issues of local and global concern.
Presenter MiniBio: Jennifer Fee was hired by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in 2004 to develop, field test, and publish the BirdSleuth curriculum. Since the first module’s publication in 2006, Jennifer has been working to continue to develop innovative BirdSleuth resources while provide online and in-person support to teachers. Prior to joining the Lab, she worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden and graduated from the Biology programs at Truman State University and Illinois State University.
Post a comment on Jennifer's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/JenniferFee
Related Resources:
All About Birds - http://www.allaboutbirds.org
Ebird – http://www.ebird.org
Cornell Lab of Ornithology – http://www.birds.cornell.edu
Teaching About Light and the EM Spectrum at the Middle Level
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 7pm EST
Description: Always wanted to teach a science unit on light, but didn't have the resources? Join a web seminar on teaching about light and the electromagnetic spectrum in the middle grades. Find out how to access free, standards-based model units on the topic of light in The Physics Front web site. Hear about recent research on middle school students' understanding (and misunderstanding) of light. Learn what you can do to facilitate exciting, age-appropriate learning experiences on a topic often avoided in middle school.
Presenter MiniBio: Caroline Hall is the lead content editor for introductory physics collections in the ComPADRE digital library. She believes that blended e-learning and interactive web tools have the potential to revolutionize science education and energize the science classroom in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago. She has spent the past 6 years working to build K-12 digital science collections, but looks back to her 8 years of classroom teaching as her first love.
Post a comment on Caroline's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/CarolineHall
Related Resources:
AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy
Electromagnetic Spectrum Graphic
Motion Mountain - Free Physics Textbook
Animoto and Glogster
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 3:30pm EST
Description: This session, facilitated by Eric Biederbeck, will look at how to use some common web tools. The focus will be on Animoto and Glogster, both of which are free. Eric's students will demonstrate how to use both to create a visually stunning presentation that reports out information about a specific topic.
Presenter MiniBio: Eric Biederbeck, MSP2 Teacher Leader, is in his 9th year of teaching math, science, and social studies at Essex Middle School (Essex Junction, VT). Eric teaches on a three person team where he incorporates his interest in technology, project based learning, and differentiated instruction.
Post a comment on Eric's MSP2 wall: http://msteacher2.org/profile/EricBiederbeck
Related Resources:
Glogster Resources
Glogster for Educators - this space is more controlled and you can get 100 accounts for students
Nicole Tomaselli's List: Great Glogs
Glogster Examples from Eric's Students
http://s069.navigators.edu.glogster.com/bananas/
Animoto Resources
Animoto Examples from Eric's Students
Digital Tools and Math
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 4:30pm EST - join the live presentation at http://tinyurl.com/participateMSP2
Recording Available March 24, 2010
Description: Are you wondering how Glogster, Google Docs, or Scratch can be of service in your math classes? Have you seen a great way to build students' math vocabulary via podcasting? Are you looking for digital tools that can give your students more hands-on experience with algebra concepts?
Get together with other math teachers to share ideas and resources to strengthen student learning in math through the use of digital tools. This will truly be a discussion and sharing session among peers.
Eric Biederbeck and Tom Jenkins will moderate what, we hope, is a lively conversation!
Presenter MiniBio: Eric Biederbeck, MSP2 Teacher Leader, is in his 9th year of teaching math, science, and social studies at Essex Middle School (Essex Junction, VT). Eric teaches on a three person team where he incorporates his interest in technology, project based learning, and differentiated instruction.
Post a comment on Eric's MSP2 wall: http://msteacher2.org/profile/EricBiederbeck
Presenter MiniBio: Tom Jenkins is a National Board Certified Teacher (Early Adolescent Science) at Indian Valley Middle School in Enon, OH. Over his 12-year career, he has taught middle school mathematics, science, and technology and been an instructor for the Master's of Education program at Wittenberg University. Tom is currently teaching STEM and Technology to 5th-8th graders and serves as a Senior STEM Fellow for the Dayton Regional STEM Center.
Post a comment on Tom's MSP2 wall: http://www.msteacher2.org/profile/TomJenkins
Related Resources:
Glogster for Educators - this space is more controlled and you can get 100 accounts for students
Author and Copyright
This page is brought to you by the staff of the Middle School Portal 2: Mathematics and Science Pathways (MSP2) project. Connect with colleagues and find exemplary resources at http://msteacher2.org . Email any comments to msp@msteacher.org.
Copyright 2009-2010 - The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. 0840824. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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