What a neat idea from the Clinton Middle School in New York (near Syracuse) After reading about the "Longest Table" concept in an article that was a part of a PBL unit on food, students planned how to do this with their entire school. It could be a great project for a student council, junior honor society, class, or other group. This news story does a great job of explaining it. (Note: you can only access it 5 times without creating an account) While they have only 300 students, this could be adapted for larger schools as well. Here is a link to the school website, and an additional video about the event. Students helped arrange for name tags, assigned seats, questions, activities, and more. In addition, I wrote to the teacher, Sarah Gaetano, and she shared her lesson plan with me; please contact me if you would like it. Clinton Middle School also hosted their own TEDx event last spring!

FUNNIEST THING I'VE SEEN ON THE NET LATELY...

"It's not just any parade. It's a Lost And Found Parade, with our models, errr, teachers, modeling our current lost and found collection! " Video link

SameAsU , located in Noblesville, provides full-day programming for adults (18 and up) with intellectual and developmental disabilities that promotes lifelong learning in a college-like atmosphere. They gave me permission to share their video (you may have to be signed into Instagram to view it). You can learn more about their programs and services on their website. What would happen if you tried this at your school? (after some laundering!). BTW, they told me that so far, nothing has been claimed!

Kyle Niemis from Wayground (formerly Quizizz) has shared how to easily turn any Quizizz quiz you have already created into an escape room. You can find the link with directions here, the original tweet with description here, and the Canva template to edit the words here. He has also shared a spreadsheet of the most popular Halloween quizzes on the platform.

AND ANOTHER HALLOWEEN ESCAPE ROOM...

Teachers First (a great resource) shared this template using Genially to create an escape room. We regularly include a link to their OK2ASK live professional learning workshops, which are very thorough and hands-on. Past workshops are also archived for on-demand viewing.

AND MORE HALLOWEEN FUN

A friend shared this fun tutorial from @artprojectsforkids on how to draw a Tim Burton-style nightmare self-portrait. You do have to give your email address to get the lesson. She had her family make the self-portraits.

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH 6-7? HERE'S MORE!

Teachers are finding ways to take advantage of kids' fascination with 6-7 (whatever that means!) This gift article from the Wall Street Journal explains how it became popular.

Tony Vincent set out to code an online math game where every answer is 6 or 7. He input the idea to ChatGPT, answered its questions, and after several iterations, landed on a final version. Try Six or Seven! It works on laptops, tablets, and phones. Players decide if each falling expression equals 6 or 7, with four modes suited for Grades 3–8. Kids can also compare scores. Tony has a great newsletter; you can subscribe here. (His current issue also has a story about a teacher getting more of her loaner pencils back if she gives them names!)

INVITE YOUR STUDENTS TO MAP THEIR LIVES AND LEARNING

Maps do not have to be limited to social studies alone. Educator Stephanie Farley shares several ways to incorporate mapping in meaningful ways. The social studies teacher on one of my interdisciplinary teams started the year with an assignment, "draw the map from your home to school." The results were often hilarious (before Google Maps days) and many students shared that they noticed things they had never seen before. This post gives several examples beyond that.

HOW ONE PRINCIPAL USED DEBATE TO TURN AROUND A SCHOOL

This story from CBS News profiles Middle School 50 in Brooklyn. The best way to access the video is to click in the upper right-hand window. I once was in a session with Heidi Hayes Jacobs in which she suggested "harnessing" the tendency of adolescents wanting to argue: turn it into debating talent.

Cheryl Moran was just named as a runner-up to AMLE's national "Educator of the Year" award. As principal of Custer Beaker Intermediate School in Franklin, she led the school to be the first school from Indiana to be designated as an AMLE "School of Distinction." You can read more about Custer Baker on this profile page from AMLE. She will be honored at the upcoming AMLE conference in Indianapolis.

CONFERENCE QUICK NOTES

-There will be a reception with light refreshments for Indiana educators on Thursday, November 6 at 5:15 in room 117 of the Convention Center. You can RSVP here or in the app when it is released. We'd love to see all of you! It will include networking and a short presentation from our sponsor, EDvise Solutions. They are not selling a product, but are promoting literacy.

-IMLEA will have a booth near the bookstore in the exhibit hall. Stop by to see us with any questions or suggestions! I will even have a board for people to suggest good places to eat, etc. and there will be Indiana Jeopardy questions.

-Registrants will receive access to the conference app on October 29.

-Housing has gotten tight; the conference hotel link is now closed, but I found rooms on expedia, etc. The Monumental Marathon has taken up many rooms for Friday, November 7.

JOIN THE INTERNATIONAL KAHOOT CUP ON NOVEMBER 13

Last year's Kahoot Cup had participants from 50 countries. This international event grows each year, and was started during COVID at ..... Allisonville Elementary in Indianapolis, teacher Steve Auslander! Many of the questions deal with pop culture shared by students around the world. There are 5 different sessions you can choose from; learn more and sign up here.

TIMES ARE EDT UNTIL NOV 2; FREE UNLESS NOTED

Many are available via recording, especially if you pre-register.

Now-November 15- Canva World Tour (Several Online Webinars)

October 27-30- Curriculum x AI Summit (online), 1-3:30 Each Day

October 28- Five Star Webinar, "AI Policy in K-12 Schools: Where Do I Start?" 4 pm

October 29- Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers with Dr. Nancy Frey, 3 pm

(Sponsored by CELL at UIndy)

November 4- Fact Check the ChatBot: Spotting Misinformation in the Age of AI, 5 pm

November 5-8- AMLE in Indianapolis $

November 13- World Kindness Day (On Many Websites)

November 13- The International Kahoot Cup!

November 13- First Session of Indiana Building Thinking Classrooms Network

November 14-16- Make Math Moments Virtual Summit

ONGOING EVENTS

Indiana Learning Lab Workshops (Requires Sign in for Registration, Also Access to Archived Events)

Teachers First OK2Ask Online Workshops ; (Past on-demand sessions)

Keep Indiana Learning (KINL); Live Events (some $) Past Recordings/Digital Content

edWeb.net Webinars (Can watch at later date; if sponsored, "commercials" are at the end)

Leslie Fisher Webinars

AMLE Podcasts: Walk and Talk & Research to Practice

AMLE Events (some free, some paid)

Corwin Webinars, Additional Free Corwin Resources, Including Past Webinars

Please note: Webinars and events mentioned in this space are not an endorsement of commercial products; on the contrary, we try to avoid listing events that appear to be commercial in nature. Every effort is made to strip social media/tracking data from provided URLs. In many cases, you can register and receive a recording later.

About IMLEA

The only organization in Indiana devoted to promoting, improving, and supporting middle level education. We are the Indiana affiliate of the national organization AMLE, and administer the Schools to Watch program for the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform.

Join us! Membership Benefits and Application

Joint Membership, AMLE/IMLEA

Susie Highley, Executive Director

FIND US:

11025 E. 25th Street, Indianapolis, IN. 46229 (Inside IASP)

FACEBOOK X (Twitter) EMAIL LinkedIN

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