Extra Credit Assignment: Great Reading From Around The EduSphere

As always, the EduSphere offers some excellent reading that is to be had from a variety of sites and writers. We are pleased to present the weekend edition of our Extra Credit Assignment.

Those of us here at The Education Wonks are trying to assemble a comprehensive listing of education-related sites. If you write about educational matters, children, or family-related issues, please let us know at: edwonk@educationwonks.org.

We are also thinking about hosting a weekly Carnival Of Education Blogs, and would be deeply appreciative of any feedback that our readers could provide.

This listing will be updated throughout the weekend, (additional sites and/or new postings) so please consider returning and seeing what's new. As always, our own posts are displayed at the bottom of the page. Other than that, the entries are in no particular order:

Number 2 Pencil is telling us about a Rhode Island School District that says it is eliminating its traditional spelling bee because it doesn't comply with the No Child Left Behind Act. (And we thought it was because the district's superintendent has difficulty spelling B-U-F-F-O-O-N.) Number 2 is also bringing to our attention a new phenomena in the greater blogosphere: babyblogging.

Brian's Education Blog advises that we take life in small breaths. (Be sure to take a look at what is going on with his "eyes.")

After a short hiatus, Education Weak raises the issue, that sometimes there isn't truth in advertising when voters approve school bonds. (We enjoy the throught-provoking writing at this site, and hope that Lisa is able to post more often.)

A teacher named Precinct Chair blogs at Precinct 333. Mr. Chair has the story about a group at the University of Central Oklahoma that is sponsoring a Straight Pride Week. He also has a sad example of the suppression of both speech and religion---Swedish Style. (Where on earth are these people when we need them?)

Ms. Frizzle was staying up late the other night and tells us about what a student said in an attempt to get a better grade.

Graduate Student Jenny D. instructs a class of perspective teachers. Jenny shares with us an electronic dialogue that she had with one of her students about good writing. She has some great insights that good teaching can be learned.

Over at a school yard blog, they take a (nicely done) comprehensive look at Sunday's election in Iraq, including time lines. An eternal problem for those of us that teach middle school is learning our students' names. (In my case, 178 of 'em) They have an excellent suggestion for learning students' names.

Chris Correa makes an observation about teachers of math, and an important pre-requisite for success.

An outstandingly well-written general-interest blog, Wizbang! often closely follows education-related issues. They are alerting us to a probable case of Political Correctism Run Amok at the University of Oregon, that may include, among other things, requiring the removal of yellow "Support Our Troops" ribbons from university vehicles.

A colleague is confronted by Professor Plum. (And we thought that kind of slapping was politically incorrect because it is insensitive to female canines. heh.)

Moebius Stripper over at Tall, Dark, and Mysterious takes a question from a student in the back row that doesn't understand the Art of Using a Calculator.

The MUSC Tiger is a blog that is written by three students that attend the Medical School at the University of South Carolina. As undergraduates, two of them attended arch-rival Clemson University. (Which is near EdWonk's summer home.) They discuss a variety of general-interest items, including education-related issues. Now the Tigers bring us something that must be seen to be believed.

New blogger Polski 3 (Are there 2 others?) of The View From Here wanted to ask Barbara Kerr, who is the Boss of The California Teachers Association, some questions. Polski is angry that he didn't get his chance. (What does one expect from a union boss---accountability? heh.)

Rachel, over at Unicycle is happy that it's Friday (Words cannot describe our feelings about the subject.) and is going to celebrate a couple of days away from her classroom by knocking over a few duckpins.

At The Examined Life, a classroom teacher named e.s. makes a hilarious observation about why speaking English can be detrimental to your well being.

First Year Teacher has noticed something about how the media is portraying parent/child relationships. Here is a taste:

Have you noticed that all the kids on television treat their parents like crap? And have you noticed how it is supposed to be funny? And have you also noticed that the parents are completely ineffectual at parenting? What kind of example does this set and what are the effects of it?

SCSU Scholars is profiling student protests in a Utah university over a professor not getting tenure. Curiously, this professor had the same thing happen to him at another school, which resulted in the same type of student protests. (Can anyone say collusion?-- I thought you could. heh.)

The hipteacher has been sick all week, and can't diagnose the ailment. (She is worried about her students. Wellness begins at home.)

Eduwonk.com let's us know about how reforming San Diego Superintendent Alan Bersin finally fell victim to the machinations of the local teachers union.

A blogger teaching in New York's Bronx, Mr. Babylon has one of those students that drive all of us practicing classroom teachers around the bend.

A teacher that writes Social Studies is delighted with the calendar and is celebrating the ending of The Dark Ages.

Brand-new blogger Darren is a teacher who writes Right on the Left Coast. He is is asking readers for their input on whether his son should miss a day of school for an historical event.

At The Art of Getting By, Janet is having A Charles Dickens Moment with her students. (Check out her logo, everybody likes a diner.)

A Constrained Vision is curious about the test score gap between African-American and White students.

Joanne Jacobs tells us about a hard-working immigrant that understands the benefits of learning English. (Upward mobility IS the American Dream.)

Education Watch discusses the controversy surrounding an event called "Limits of Dissent?" that will be hosted by Hamilton College. The event will feature Native-American activist Ward Churchill, whose remarks concerning the attacks of 9-ll are said to be inflammatory by many.

A History Teacher is teaching his students a unit on totalitarianism, and writes about what it was like when people used to be called "Commies." (The Commissar over at The Politburo Diktat will order CHEKA surveillance on the History Teacher, if he is not more prudent.)

Even though the post is not related to education, the Commissar at The Politburo Diktat links to a Department of Defense website were one may sign an electronic card thanking members of the armed forces for their service. (It's for a worthy purpose and takes only a few seconds.) We hope that the Commissar will return to regular posting soon.

The post-hip chick has lost the delicious anonymity that blogging offers and gets caught because of a Certain Garment.(This is why we no longer wear our EdWonks Propeller Beanie in public.)

Pedablogue wrestles with the question of what a college course syllabus should be. (Back when I was a StudentWonk, these were one-page, one side documents. What happened?)

Discriminations raises an excellent issue. As a group, African American have shorter life-expectancies, therefore, on average, they will not enjoy the same number of years in retirement as their White counterparts. Using actuarial information, Discriminations convincingly demonstrate that African Americans take a corresponding "hit" on the amount of social security that they can expect in their lifetimes, while paying an equal amount in premiums.

A blog specializing in medical science, diplomacy, and politics, Hyscience reports that second-hand smoking triples the cancer risk of children.

Here at The Education Wonks, we look at a case where "Zero Tolerance" might have gone too far, and in The Spellings Report, we cover "The Rabbit Story." Akron has a new policy about bullies that causes us some concern. And we have some thoughts about the college admissions process. A dutch blogger has a videotape of a teacher being assualted by a student in the classroom.

Writers that trackback to this post will receive Extra Credit in our next assignment.

Get Previous Extra Credit by clicking here.

Latest Posts