The Carnival Of Education: Week 63

Welcome to the midway of the Carnival Of Education! We are pleased to present this week's cavalcade of posts from around the EduSphere. All entries were submitted by the writers unless labeled otherwise and are grouped into several categories.

If you are interested in guest hosting an edition of The Carnival Of Education, please let us know via the email address given below.

Consider helping spread the word about the midway. Links are appreciated, trackbacks are adored. As always, your comments and constructive criticism are always most welcome.

Next Week's Carnival midway will be hosted by us here at The Education Wonks. Please send contributions to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net. We should receive them no later than 9:00 PM (Pacific) Tuesday, April 25th. Please include the title of your post, and its URL, if possible. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the midway of should open next Wednesday morning.

Last week's Carnival, guest hosted by The Magic School Bus, is here. See the complete set of archives there. For our latest posts, please visit our home page.

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

Education Policy:

Would you believe that one large school system allowed students to earn community service credit is they participated in the recent immigration protests? Believe it!

Agree or disagree, over at HUNBlog they have an entry about the No Child Left Behind Act that's sure to provoke some strong feelings. Let's exchange those thoughts and ideas!

The Oprah's recent multi-part broadcasts about public education in America continues to be a hot-topic in the EduSphere. Why Homeschool points out that when it comes to efforts to reform the system, we've been down this road before.

The Dayton Daily New's education reporter Scott Elliott has been comprehensively covering The Oprah's series on his blog Get on the Bus and has some final thoughts right here.

Alexander Russo's This Week in Education has the latest advisory from The Threat Awareness Office at the Department of Education Hyperbole.

NYC Educator points out that what makes for a highly qualified teacher isn't necessarily what NCLB or The U.S. Department of Education says it is.

What lessons can the business world teach those of us in public education? Going to the Mat demonstrates to all that public education would be well-served if it focused on its core competency.

The title of this entry by Rhymes With Right says it all: Arrogant District Refuses To Protect White Students.

How should journalists go about reporting the success or failure of any particular education-related program or curriculum? Making their Carnival debut, D-Ed Reckoning has some definite ideas on how education reporting can be improved.

What do you think about this idea? Get the government out of education altogether and privatize the entire system.

Who should set education policy in the Los Angeles Unified School District? Should the mayor have the right to appoint the school board, or should the voters continue to elect them? Which plan would work best for students? Friends of Dave offers a whimsical lesson that uses Soviet history to make the case!

From The Classroom:

Working in a Montessori school that caters to a higher-income clientele could be challenging, to say the least. But I never would have thought that the parent of a three-year old could ask this question of any classroom teacher.

The Median Sib shows us that kindergartners still say that darndest things. The master himself, Art Linkletter, would have been proud.

Mamacita of Scheiss Weekly was the recipient of a late-night phone call from one of her college-age students. Can you guess what the student wanted? Here's a clue: There are only three weeks left in the semester.

One would have thought that when six students get caught being truant from the same class on test day that things would be pretty straightforward. But when parents get involved, expect the unexpected.

Editor's Choice: Mr. Lawrence is telling us the sad story about how some administrators feel the need to offer kids bribes just to get 'em to show-up on test day.

Teaching And Learning:

Last week, Carnival guest host Bora introduced us to The Flat Classroom. Here's a refresher:

What about an education system that is challenged to prepare children for their future — and it’s not their father’s future. So what about a flat classroom? Traditional education has been an environment of hills. The teacher could rely on gravity to support the flow of curriculum down to the learners. But as much as we might like to pretend, we (teachers) are no longer on top of the hill. The hill is practically gone.

The Flat Classroom series continues with Curious Students, Intrinsic Communicators and Influencers, Future-Oriented Students, and Future-Oriented Students Continued.

Teaching kids about the proper feeding and care of their piggybanks is always a challenge. Here's an interesting sampler of methods that can be used to teach children about money.

Inside The EduBlogs:

Jenny D. has a very readable entry which touches on a variety of issues concerning effective teaching and learning. Consider following the link (in the first paragraph) to a lively discussion among the commenters on an earlier post.

The 16th midway of the Carnival of Homeschooling is open for your educational pleasure!

Editor's Choice: If you're in the San Diego area this Thursday, don't miss the opportunity to visit with Joanne Jacobs at High Tech High. She'll be reading and signing copies of her latest book, Our School. Get the details right here.

Editor's Choice: At The Daily Grind, Mr. McNamar is announcing the birth of his daughter. (She looks so cute!)

Survival Guide For Parents:

With the push for vouchers now once again gaining force in some states, California public school teacher Polski3 tells us what he would do if he had a voucher which gave him the opportunity to send his sons to a private school.

Editor's Choice: At Spunkyhomeschool we are presented with an ethical dilemma: (you'll need to scroll down) If one happens to see a young lady's jeans riding too low and exposing her....eh...ahh... "coin slot," should one remain silent? Or does one discreetly tell the youngster to "just say 'no' to crack," and pull-up her britches?

Higher Education:

Last week's Carnival host Bora is telling us about an institution of higher learning that (for once) chose to put principles over money. How refreshing!

Satire lives! We've all heard of the allegations leveled at two members of the Duke Lacross team, but did you know about the ones involving The Harvard 8?

And finally: As always, this journey around the EduSphere has been both enjoyable and informative. Thanks to all the contributors whose submissions make the midway's continuing success possible, the folks who help spread the word, and all the readers who continue to make it rewarding.
----------------------------This midway is registered at TTLB's carnival roundup. See our latest posts here, and the complete Carnival archives over there.