It's A Great Day To Visit A Carnival!

The midway of the 28th edition of The Carnival Of Education is open for your enjoyment over at Ticklish Ears. David, who is your guest host this week, has done an outstanding job assembling this week's group of exhibits. There's lots of good reading to be had, but here's an excerpt from a post submitted by What It's Like on the Inside that gave me pause for reflection as I prepare for another year in the classroom:

Is there a Holy Grail when it comes to lesson planning? As teachers, we're expected to now juggle standards, brain-based learning, research based strategies (e.g. Marzano's ideas), authentic assessment, reading/writing strategies, and more. Every time I read a new professional book or go to a (good) professional development meeting, something else is added to what I'm "supposed" to be doing. That is, if I want to be a good teacher.

Things were so much simpler when I was told that if I just followed the Madeline Hunter model of lesson planning, classroom life would be sweet. My, how things have changed since I was in school to be a teacher.

The past few days, I've been on a hunt for the Lesson Plan Holy Grail. Not just for myself, but for my colleagues. In fact, I'm such a darned fool for this idea, that I agreed to do my presentation on it for the Secondary Curriculum Day. (You know---the one I had no clue as to what to do.) At this point, it feels like I'm making sausage. I have Marzano's nine strategies from "Classroom Instruction that Works." I have Marcia Tate's twenty strategies for engaging the brain from "Worksheets Won't Grow Dendrites." I have how to lay out classroom time from "The Brain Compatible Classroom" and when to use certain strategies according to "Key Elements of Classroom Management." There are other sources, too---and everything is going into the sausage maker. I'm cranking away, hoping for some nice links.

There is much more to read in the whole post.

Next week, The Carnival returns to us here at The Education Wonks. Please send your contributions no later than 9:00 PM Pacific, 12:00 midnight (Eastern), Tuesday August 23, 2005. The email address is: owlshome[at]earthlink[dot]net. The midway should open next Wednesday morning.

Main Page/Latest Posts