The Carnival Of Education: Week 38

Welcome to this week's midway of The Carnival Of Education! We are delighted to be presenting this week's collection of exhibits from around the EduSphere.

All posts were submitted by writers or readers except those labeled, "Editor's Choice."

A successful Carnival is a team effort. Please consider helping to spread the word. Feedback is always welcomed.

Special Announcement: Next week's midway will be guest hosted by Scott Elliott's Get on the Bus. Scott is the education reporter at the Dayton Daily News. Send your contributions to Scott by 9:00 PM (Pacific) no later than Tuesday, November 1st. The email address is: scemel [at] aol [dot] com . Please include the title of your post, and its URL. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the midway should open over at Get on the Bus next Wednesday.

Welcome Instapundit readers! The Carnival of Education is a weekly roundup of posts written and submitted by those who are concerned with education. Even though our site is the home of The Carnival, the midway does travel to other sites. A new edition is published each Wednesday morning. We maintain a link to the current edition on our index page, that may be found at the bottom our regular posts.

There is a complete set of carnival archives here. For our latest posts, visit our home page.

Let the free exchange of thoughts and ideas begin...

Education Policy:

In a highly-readable posting, Kitchen Table Math invites us to take a trip to wonderland where Alice helps us understand that curricula based upon "real life math" is just like Alice's bugaboo, the Queen of Hearts. (Wasn't she the one who kept saying "Off with her head?") Don't forget to beware of the deck of cards Queen's Court!

Does the No Child Left Behind Act need fixing? I guess the answer depends on the point of view of the person who's doing the questioning. Sherman Dorn argues forcefully that fundamental change is needed from the top on down. Check out this bonus post about how the Nation's Report Card (NAEP) is a "Category 3 on the Spin Semper Scale."

Around here, we've always thought that the EduSphere should be all about healthy debate and dialogue between all educational viewpoints. That's why we were both surprised and saddened to learn that Jenny D's efforts to build bridges in the EduBlogging community were rebuffed. All we can do is try...

School Of Blog has learned that Secretary Margaret Spellings of the Department of Education readily admits that some children are going to be left behind. The Secretary's reasoning may surprise you. Or not.

All Facts And Opinions forcefully states that the House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow faith-based organizations that receive federal tax dollars to use an applicant's religion as a factor in employee hiring for some pre-school programs. Agree or disagree, it's your choice; The Free Exchange of Thoughts And Ideas means just that!

Let's see.... kids aren't learning math as well as they should, and many wind-up taking remedial courses in college. So what's the answer? Over at A Shrewdness of Apes they've got some good ideas on where to start.

Crossblogging is alerting everyone that Jesus is on his way to the Supreme Court.

Here at The Education Wonks, we humbly submit for your consideration our take on the Nation's Report Card.

Teaching And Learning:

Classroom teacher Dana Huff's site, HuffEnglish, is always considering effective classroom teaching techniques. In a recent posting, she taught us how to make an effective compare/contrast graphic organizer. The step-by-step instructions are priceless!

How does one help high school students become good writers? That's one of education's Eternal Questions. Tim Fredrick has some good sound reasoning about teaching kids to be effective writers.

Mr. Lawrence has a cautionary note concerning the use of high-school age teaching assistants in the classroom. We agree with him about that student who was giving back-rubs with lotion!

Kindergarten teachers take heed. This is what can happen to that child who comes to your class already knowing her ABCs. Keep him or her challenged and loving school as much on the last day as he or she did on the first.

Seriously consider reading this thought-provoking collection of real-life community college essay excerpts from Mamacita's site, Scheiss Weekly. First I laughed, and then I cried, and then I sighed. In a bonus post, see what Elvis Impersonators, Deer Hunting, and Motorcycles have in common.

Do you know of any children who were taught mathematics with a curriculum known as "Integrated Math?" How did the kids do? Over at Scholar's Notebook, they advocate the need for your involvement in whatever math program that your child's school is using.

Washington State teacher Mr. McNamar has some suggestions about how middle schools can better prepare students for success in his ninth-grade math class.

The Secret Lives Of Teachers:

If you've ever written or read an EduBlog, Alexander Russo has developed just the thing for you: A map of the EduSphere. In a bonus post, This Week in Education brings us the sad news that Education Week is now requiring a subscription for full access to their resources. This news disappoints us...

Over at Decorabilia, Jim is revealing a secret exercise program that many fit teachers have been using for years. Here's one recommended exercise that he calls "The Runaround:"

Start at your classroom. Run to the copy room to make a last-minute transparency. Run back to your room (you forgot a blank transparency). Run back to the copy room. Wait five minutes (now there's a line). Wait five minutes more (now the machine is jammed). Finally make the copy. Run back to your classroom. Test overhead. Run to Audio-Visual room (bulb is burnt out). Run back to classroom. Insert new bulb. Teach.

Take a look at some of the challenges that New York's City corps of teachers have to put up with in order to even try to teach their students. Is it any wonder why so many great teachers in the City leave for the suburbs?

Polski3 has some concerns about teacher's unions in general and CTA/NEA in particular. In response to a reader's comment, Polski tells us what unions ought to be doing for their members.

At Going to the Matt, they answered Polski's post and have added some thoughts of their own regarding the things that unions ought to be doing for their membership.

Let's see... You work in a middle school. You get thick packet from the local high school with an invitation to a meeting at their campus on short notice. You discover that there will be a discussion of test scores. To us, this sounds like a formula for a meeting disaster.

What do you think would happen if a teacher at your local school was assaulted by a baseball bat wielding student? The answer may both surprise and disturb you.

The teaching of math is on the mind of the Instructivist who brings us some ideas for teaching problem-solving that are based upon his own classroom teaching experience.

Editor's Choice: Fred, who writes over at the aptly named Fred's World, recently came back from that place where what happens there stays there. But he lets us in on a few secrets anyway. Don't miss the photos!

Survival Guide For Students And Parents:

Darren, over at Right on the Left Coast, is bringing to everyone's attention the fact that his school continues to charge students and parents illegal fees.

At Scott Elliott's Get on the Bus, they have a tale of two posts: The school system in the State of Ohio is getting dumber, but at least Ohio's kids are getting smarter.

How many times each year is your doorbell rung by a student who is selling items on behalf of some school's fundraising effort? Over at Multiple Mentality, they're telling us of a new option that is becoming available for parents of kids who've been asked to raise funds.

A set of coping strategies are something that every teacher and parent needs to have in his or her toolbelt. We think that Steve Pavlina has some of the best, and this week he brings us some methods for increasing our productivity!

Shhh... the Ruminating Dude is reporting about a math program that may be coming to a school near you. This program is so.... special.. that one advanced-placement student who completed the program told the Dude that the plan made him decide... drum roll please.... "I don't want to go to college." Must be some plan.

Editor's Choice: Our 13-year-old daughter, the TeenWonk, is very interested in attending Vassar College. Joanne Jacobs reports that tolerance for diversity doesn't seem to be tolerated over at one of America's most prestigious colleges. This saddened me and disappointed the TeenWonk who has, as one might have guessed, a strongly believes in the freedom of expression.

Education Finance:

The Super over on The Super's Blog is discussing a trend that is happening across the nation. The state government controls the decision-making process, but passes the costs and blame to on to local school officials. They get to have their cake and eat it too!

Did you know that there are states that require the hiring of union labor for the construction of school buildings? I didn't know that. Education Matters has the scoop.

Homeschooling:

And I thought that the fictional Brady Bunch were living in a crowded house. Over at Jones Blog, Vernice is telling us an immigrant's story of six families living under one roof. This is the third installment of her highly-readable series of interviews of people from varied races and backgrounds.

From the "How On Earth Could Any Parent Do That? Department," SpunkyHomeschool brings us this tragic tale of parents who taught their twin girls to hate.

Technology And Testing:

The effective mining of data is Chris Correa's stock in trade, and he has found some interesting correlations in the latest issue of The Nation's Report Card, as well as a cautionary note about how some folk's analysis may not use the latest data in order to support their findings.

At Number 2 Pencil they are wondering why so many who are interested in education don't want to be confused with facts.

At an Educational Voyage they love Firefox. (100 million downloads... tough luck, Bill Gates) But Firefox has its flaws and the Voyager is introducing us to the possible Next Generation. Say hello to "Flock."

This midway is registered at TTLB's carnival roundup.

Main Page/Latest Posts