The Carnival Of Education: Week 121

Welcome to the midway of the 121st Carnival of Education!

Here's this week's roundup of entries from around the EduSphere. Unless clearly labeled otherwise, all entries this week were submitted by the writers.

If you're interested in hosting an edition of The Carnival Of Education, please let us know via this email address: edwonk [at] educationwonks [dot] org.

Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about last week's midway, which was hosted by I Thought A Think. Visit the C.O.E.'s archives here and see our latest entries there.

Next Week's Carnival midway will be hosted by us here at The Education Wonks. Contributors are invited to send submissions to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net , or use this handy submission form. Entries should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) Tuesday, June 5, 2007. Please include the title of your post, and its URL, if possible. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the midway should open next Wednesday morning.

Let the free exchange of thoughts and ideas begin!

EduPolicy and EduPolicy Makers:

Charter Schools continue to be discussed and debated in education circles. Joanne Jacobs has yet one more success story which helps explain why so many parents want their communities to be served by this new and often innovative type of public school.

Ms. Cornelius of A Shrewdness of Apes takes a thoughtful look at whether or not schools have been assigned an impossible mission and has some ideas on what that Mission ought to be.

Melissa Wiley's The Lilting House is one of the leading lights among those EduBlogs that address issues and concerns related to homeschooling. In a recent entry, House takes a highly-readable and in-depth look at U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling's recent appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (And it seems as though the Secretary has also caught the eye of The Mom who is Teaching.)

Secretary Spellings' appearance on The Daily Show is also on the mind of the AFT's NCLBlog, who is taking Spellings to task for her comments.

The seemingly-endless School Voucher Wars continue. Millard Fillmore's Bathtub has sent us the latest dispatch from the Utah Front.

When it comes to controversial topics, should teachers express their own personal opinions in the classroom? Or should they be "neutral?" Math teacher Darren over at Right on the Left Coast provokes both thought and comment-thread discussion by advocating that teachers should feel free to express themselves.

From the Classroom:

On the last day of school, Mister Teacher asked his students to write down what they really thought of him. And they did! (One may need to scroll down!)

Around here, we always like reading real stories from real teachers who work in real classrooms. The teacher who blogs under the nom-de-blog Aquiram finished her school year with an unexpected surprise.

Over at NYC Educator, see how a high school English lesson can easily become an exercise in animal husbandry.

When it comes to maintaining effective classroom discipline, Teacher Dan is reminding us of The Importance of the Soft Touch. (Surprising but true!)

Teacher Terrell of Alone on a Limb has received funding for the type of class project that many of us can only dream of doing with our students.... Good for them!

IB a Math Teacher asks for student input concerning the high number of suspensions this school year.

School Governance:

Humbly submitted for your approval is our entry about the Louisiana school district whose superintendent considers Memorial Day to be "Just another day of instruction."

Friends of Dave is bringing to our attention that rarity-of-rarities: a school superintendent who actually "gets it" and implements swift and meaningful change in the delivery of instruction.

A relatively-affluent D.C. area high school has been embroiled in a major student cheating scandal. Matt Johnston has some suggestions for avoiding future repetitions of this Unacceptable (but all-too-common nowadays) Behavior.

Inside This Teaching Life:

Should there be a dress code for teachers? Dr. Homeslice opens that can of worms with a story about a 40-year-old teacher who was disciplined for having an "unprofessional" nose-ring.

Anyone who has spent much time around any sort of school quickly comes to realize that they are hotbeds of gossip and other types of Loose Information. How should one handle complaints from teachers about other teachers? The Science Goddess over at What It's Like on the Inside has some good common-sense advice about how to handle this most delicate of situations...

Homeschooling:

Life Without School shows us one technique for encouraging older homeschooled students to expand their writing abilities: have them develop and manage their own online discussion group.

Higher Education:

The GrrlScientist over at Living the Scientific Life has the sad news that some 1,300 college students will commit suicide this year and has sparked quite a lively discussion among the commenters.

Testing and Assessment:

Here are some thoughts on the Value-Added approach to student assessment.

State and Local Issues:

Extreme Wisdom has some strong opinons about Illinois' runaway EduExpenditures while another district is cutting its art, music, computer, and physical education courses.

Inside the Blogs:

In a brief entry with a very thought-provoking title, Nucleus Learning gives us their reason why we learn math.

We here at The Education Wonks believe in the Free Exchange of Thoughts and Ideas. It is for that reason that we've included this submission by long-shot Republican Presidential candidate John Cox concerning his thoughts on public education and parental control.

And finally: This, like most of our journeys around the EduSphere, has been both enjoyable and informative. Our continued thanks to all the contributors whose submissions make the midway's continuing success possible, the folks who donate their time to help spread the word, and the readers who continue to make it A Free Exchange of Thoughts and Ideas.
----------------------------This midway is registered at TTLB's carnival roundup. See our latest EduPosts here, and the (somewhat) complete Carnival archives over there.

Carnival Entries Are Due!

Entries for the 121st midway of The Carnival Of Education (hosted this week by us here at at The 'Wonks) are due. Please email them to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net . (Or, easier yet, use this handy submission form.) Submissions should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) 6:00 PM (Pacific) today. Contributions should include your site's name, the title of the post, and the post's URL if possible.

Visit last week's midway, hosted by I Thought A Think, right here.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the exhibits should open Wednesday. ------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

Memorial Day: Just Another Day Of Instruction?

Officials in one Louisiana school district have decided that it should be business as usual this Memorial Day:

"Students, faculty and staff in the Lafayette Parish School System won’t have the day off for Memorial Day, as school will be in session tomorrow.

According to James Easton, Superintendent of Schools for the Lafayette Parish School System, class will continue on Monday, which is Memorial Day, which celebrates veterans who served in America’s armed forces.

Easton said as far as he knows, school in the parish has always been in session on Memorial Day.

“We have traditionally had instruction on Memorial Day,” Easton said. “It’s just another day apart of our instruction.”

He continued, saying that the calendar for the school year was completed a year in advance, and having students in class on the nation-wide holiday made sense — primarily since school ends this Wednesday.

While we understand Superintendent Easton's point (even if we don't agree with it) about Wednesday being the last day of school, we find Easton's attitude to be particularly irritating.

Memorial Day is traditionally the day on which we honor the sacrifices of America's war veterans.

And even though if for some it has come to mean little more than another 3-day weekend, for many other Americans the current situation in Iraq has come to serve as a poignant reminder of the true reasoning behind this very special day. --------------------------------------See our latest entries.

Memorial Day EduGaggle

Would you believe a U.S. public school that is in session on Memorial Day? Believe it!

Today's Knuckleheads must certainly be those teenagers who decided to put photos of their high school classmates getting drunk and smoking pot in their yearbook. More here.

Ward Churchill, Colorado university professor and fake indian, compared the victims of 9/11 to Nazis. It looks as though it was cheating, rather than running his mouth his controversial statements, which will be the cause of his suspension or firing.

Today's non sequitur: Check out the elephant that has learned to commit highway robbery. --------------------------------------See our latest entries.

The Watcher's Council Has Spoken!

Each and every week, Watcher of Weasels sponsors a contest among posts from the Conservative side of the 'Sphere. The winning entries are determined by a jury of 12 writers (and The Watcher) known as "The Watchers Council."

The Council has met and cast their ballots for last week's submitted posts.

Council Member Entries: Joshuapundit took first place honors with Israel Faces Its Choices In Gaza.

Non-Council Entries: TigerHawk garnered the most votes with On Dehumanizing the Enemy In War and the Nature of Victory.
----------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

Today's EduGaggle

As of 2005, the United States is now spending an average of $8,701 per pupil to educate its children. (New York was the biggest spender on education, at $14,119.) Where is all that money going? (Since the teachers of our California school district now earn less in take home pay than we did in 2002, we know that cash isn't going into our pockets...) And, more importantly, why aren't the taxpayers getting a better-grade of education for their money?

We were somewhat surprised to learn that deadly gun violence has come to Canada's schools. (Update here.)

Now that Queen of All Testing U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has sufficient spare time on her hands to appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, maybe she'll find some time to visit a few classrooms that haven't been hand-picked for their propaganda value simply to showcase some perceived triumph of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The chief of Chicago's teachers union is beginning to make some noises about a possible strike at the start of next year if the district doesn't offer a high enough pay raise. (Too bad he can't "make some noise" about Chicago's kids getting high enough test scores...)

Fun With EduStatistics: Of the 1,400,000 bachelor’s degrees conferred in 2003–04, the largest numbers of degrees were conferred in the fields of business (307,000), social sciences and history (150,000), and education (106,000). At the master’s degree level, the largest fields were education (162,000) and business (139,000). The largest fields at the doctor’s degree level were education (7,100), engineering (5,900), biological and biomedical sciences (5,200), psychology (4,800), and health professions and related clinical sciences (4,400).

Today's non sequitur: We have to agree with those that thought the latest incarnation of American Idol was more than a little flat. ----------------------------------------See our latest entries.

FCAT Woes

It seems as though there's something fishy going on down in the Sunshine State:

A state Senate education committee will open an inquiry into FCAT testing irregularities after Florida's Department of Education on Wednesday acknowledged a blunder that affected some 200,000 tests.

The investigation will center on who knew what when, said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, chairman of the pre-K-12 education committee.

"Clearly the Department of Education has botched a pretty significant matter here," Gaetz said. "I think that certainly senators will want to know, the public will want to know, parents and teachers and schools will want to know if the problem ... compromises the reliability and validity of the FCAT."

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test carries some of the highest stakes in all of American testing. Although all states are required to administer standardized tests to measure student performance, Florida also uses its scores to determine whether seniors graduate from high school, third-graders move to fourth grade and teachers get bonuses.

Because of its all-encompassing nature, any mistake is magnified.

Indeed.

Read the whole thing. -----------------------------See our latest entries.

Thursday EduGaggle

Let's all salute 14-year-old Caitlin Snaring , the second girl to win the national geography bee!

New York City is closing its schools for pregnant girls. Low test scores are among the reasons cited.

In Alaska, students from the city and the Outback are trading places.

The Wanker of The Day is the well-respected Oregon teacher who, after 31 years in the classroom, tossed-away his reputation by indecently "hitting-on" a male police officer in a public park.

The junior Wanker of the Day Award goes to 17-year-old Marco Castro, who has been convicted and fined for inserting a Certain Male Bodily Fluid into the salad dressing of his high school cafeteria last December.

Today's non-sequitur: The title of this (amusing? irritating?) post by Rachel Lucas says it all: Rachel's Helpful Guide to Online Dating: For Men. -------------------------------
See our latest entries.

Today's EduGaggle

EduBlogger California Teacher Guy has gotten the type of awful news that almost all teachers have dreaded at one time or another. Read the sequence: part I, part II, part III and part IV.

Today's school prank report: Seems as though one Tennessee high school is suffering the effects from an unexpected infestation of white mice...

Don't forget to visit today's midway of The Carnival of Education! (Publication is due momentarily, check back.)

What type of masochist sadist would ever require each and every public school student to view Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth?" each and every school year? Ewww!

Internet Roulette: Ever sat in front of a computer monitor and wondered about what was on the other side of an interesting-sounding internet address? Ready? Set? Here we go: www.principalsoffice.com

Margaret Spellings, The Queen of All Testing U.S. Education Secretary, has now declared the federal No Child Left Behind Act to be.... a civil rights law!

The Wanker of the Day Award has got to go to this New York guy:

NEWS10 has uncovered that the Columbia High teacher, arrested on sex charges, had an eye-opening online profile, where he said he was 15-years-old!

Kirk Hellwig is actually 37. His arrest Monday sent shock waves through the East Greenbush community. Allegations arising that he had sexual contact with a then-16-year-old student on school grounds during school hours.

Now, NEWS10 has learned that in addition to the classroom, Hellwig was also active in chat rooms on the social networking site MySpace. And it is on that site we found Hellwig claiming to be a teen himself!

Read the whole thing.

Today's non sequitur: Check out the beautiful women and the ugly men (according to the women) that they love! ----------------------------See our latest entries.

Carnival-Carnival

The 120th edition of The Carnival of Education (hosted this week by I Thought A Think) has opened-up the midway for your EduEnjoyment.

Round-out your Educational Experience by seeing what the homies are up to over at this week's edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling. --------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

Morning EduGaggle

There's an ambitious project afoot to provide every child in the world's developing countries with an inexpensive but highly efficient laptop computer. This plan has now begun to turn into reality and get more about the machine here. (Interestingly, their are no plans to provide millions of American school children with any sort of computer...)

School Prank Season is now in full gear: Couldn't these knuckleheads find something a little more original than the ole "putting super-glue in the keyholes routine?"

The State of Wisconsin has some news about their standardized test results: scores are mostly steady in reading, science, and social studies while math scores have improved. Sadly, the performance gap between poor students and their better-off classmates remains.

The Wankers of the Day are most certainly the mother and son combination of Rosie and Pete Costello. These two specimens have been tried and found guilty of faking the son's mental retardation for years in order to collect government benefits.

Fun with EduStatistics: Here's a comprehensive table of the percentage and number of high school dropouts for the years 1972 through 2003.

Entries for this week's Carnival of Education are now due. Meanwhile, check out what the homies are up to over at the latest midway of the Carnival of Homeschooling, hosted this week by The Lilting House.

Today's non sequitur: Can you imagine the type of things that college students leave behind when they abandon their dorm rooms? (And what was up with that Boa constrictor???) ---------------------------
See our latest entries.

Carnival Entries Are Due!

Entries for the 120th midway of The Carnival Of Education (hosted this week over at I Thought A Think) are due. Please email them to: rgrant [at] mlsd [dot] org . (Or, easier yet, use this handy submission form.) Submissions should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) 6:00 PM (Pacific) today. Contributions should include your site's name, the title of the post, and the post's URL if possible.

Visit last week's midway, hosted by us here at The Ed Wonks, right here.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the exhibits should open Wednesday.
------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

The Watcher's Council Has Spoken!

Each and every week, Watcher of Weasels sponsors a contest among posts from the Conservative side of the 'Sphere. The winning entries are determined by a jury of 12 writers (and The Watcher) known as "The Watchers Council."

The Council has met and cast their ballots for last week's submitted posts.

Council Member Entries: In a three way tie which was broken by The Watcher, Joshuapundit took first place with Cheney's Chess Moves in the Middle East while the entries by Cheat Seeking Missiles and The Glittering Eye were runners-up.

Non-Council Entries: Iraq the Model garnered the most votes with Don't Bury Your Heads in the Sand..
----------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

Administrative Buffoonery: Principal Photoshop

One Louisiana elementary school excluded portraits of its special education students from the school yearbook:

MANDEVILLE, La. -- If you look at the yearbook for one St. Tammany Parish elementary school, you won't see all of the students.

Parents said portrait shots of special education students with learning disabilities were left out of Pontchartrain Elementary School's yearbook. Instead, there are only candid shots of the students.

"Being her last year at the school, it seems pretty hard for her to have a yearbook with no picture of her in it," father Gil Cacho said.

Special education students who are considered gifted were included, though.

The principal has apologized for the omission, and according to the school board, she's working to rectify the problem.

"She's investigating a number of options about what she can do to reprint pages from the yearbook," Linda Roan of the St. Tammany Parish School Board said.

But parents said a pattern has been developing for years and that they've voiced numerous concerns.

"You know the saying 'the straw that broke the camel's back'? I think this camel's kind of done, and it seems like the ability to talk to them, to sit down and have a conversation has not helped anything," mother Jolie Cocho said.

Over on Ponchetrain Elementary's website, Principal "Dr." Kathleen Wiseman has nothing to say on the matter.

Was it simple incompetence, monumental insensitivity, or did Principal Wiseman do the right thing? You make the call.
---------------------------See our latest entries.

Monday EduGaggle

Twin Trouble: A mom is upset that the school system assigned her twin sons to separate first-grade classes without consulting her first.

Historical tragedy in England: The world's only surviving clipper ship, the Cutty Sark, has been extensively damaged by fire. Police are calling the fire "suspicious." We call it a crime against World Heritage.

Have you heard the one about the knuckle head elementary school principal who excluded portraits of special education students from her school's yearbook?

Today's non sequitur: gasoline has hit a record high but isn't it ironic that one of the Left's loudest environmentalists won't give up her private jet? -----------------------------See our latest entries.

Wonkitorial: Monsters In Pretty Packages

When monster teacher Debra Lafave was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting her 14-year-old male student, she was released on $25,000 bail and ended-up not being sentenced to any time in prison whatsoever and received probation instead.

When teacher Collin Holcomb was arrested in Omaha just the other day for allegedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old female student, the judge imposed bail of $1,000,000.

How much would you like to bet that Holcomb won't be getting probation like Lafave?

Where's the justice? Lafave should have been sent-away for life. As for Holcomb, IF he's guilty as charged, he should get the book thrown at him. ------------------------------See our latest entries.

Morning EduGaggle

The ACLU is extorting suing one Louisiana school district for allowing the Gideons to distribute Bibles to students. This is what the ACLU is so rabid concerned about:

The lawsuit details an instance in which the girl's class was told by their teacher to pick up their New Testament Bibles in front of the school office. The girl ended up in a line with the entire fifth grade, while two men handed each student a Bible and said, "God bless you."

EduBlogger and published author Joanne Jacobs has now written a paper for the Lexington Institute -- on what works in moving English Learners to proficiency and why so many don't make it. (Lotsa food for EduThought there...)

It's the 50th anniversary of the integration of Little Rock's Central High School and U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has shown up for the party while the U.S. Mint has struck a commemorative coin ('nuthin but feet!) that you'll never see in your change.

Today's non sequitur: The enormous costs in lives notwithstanding, check-out how much the "war" in Iraq is costing the American taxpayer right here. (Consider following some of the links and take a look at what all that money could have bought instead.) -------------------------------See our latest entries.

Friday EduGaggle

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, has just signed into law a statute requiring a minimum of 2 1/2 hours of physical eduction each week for students between kindergarten and fifth grade. Middle and high schools are encouraged to provide up to 3 3/4 hours of gym class weekly.

A just released study reports that students aren't forgetting as much history as they used to. Or are they? Meanwhile, over at the U.S. Department of Education, Queen of All Testing Secretary Margaret Spellings is attributing what progress there is to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

This story about one New Orleans elementary school is truly heart wrenching. (Be sure to check-out what the teacher had written on the classroom chalkboard on August 29, 2005.)

The ACLU is suing the Odessa, Texas school district in order to stop the district from offering elective courses in Bible study.

No surprise here: when it comes to emergency preparedness, our nation's public schools are seriously under prepared.

Here's one more classroom teacher who has tried to have high academic standards only to be overruled by mouth-breathing oxygen-wasting EduCrats from some Downtown office.

We certainly agree with Mike Antonucci on this one: School does not have to be a drag.

Today's non sequiturs: Think animated movies are just for kids? Think again! EduBlogger Mamacita of Scheiss Weekly is suffering from a severe case of Weedeater Rage. From our Political Bureau we have this unlikely tale of cigar-chomping law-breaking blowhard radio commentator Rush Limbaugh's social encounter with cigar-chomping law-breaking blowhard former president Bill Clinton.
-------------------------See our latest entries.

His Mouth Runneth Over

This is another example of why teachers should be careful about joking around in the classroom:

A Lake Stevens high school teacher is on leave while the district investigates a remark he made to a class.

A parent complained that the teacher, Gary McDonald, told students Monday he would take anyone talking in class and line them up against a wall and shoot them.

District spokeswoman Arlene Hulten says if the complaint is substantiated, McDonald could face a range of discipline from a verbal reprimand to suspension.

She says the 60-year-old McDonald already plans to retire next month.

In February he was reprimanded for including a biblical account of creation in an assignment on myths.

McDonald teaches in Washington State, home of Starbucks.

Maybe he'd had a-few-too-many cups of their espresso before class. ---------------------------See our latest entries.

The Carnival Of Education: Week 119

Welcome to the midway of the 119th Carnival of Education!

Here's this week's roundup of entries from around the EduSphere. Unless clearly labeled otherwise, all entries this week were submitted by the writers themselves.

If you're interested in hosting an edition of The Carnival Of Education, please let us know via this email address: edwonk [at] educationwonks [dot] org.

As always, we give a hearty "thank you" to everybody who helped spread the word about last week's midway, which was hosted by NYC Educator. Visit the C.O.E.'s archives here and see our latest entries there.

Next Week's Carnival midway will be hosted by I Thought A Think. Contributors are invited to send submissions to: rgrant [at] mlsd [dot] org , or use this handy submission form. Entries should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Please include the title of your post, and its URL, if possible. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the midway should open next Wednesday morning.

Let the free exchange of thoughts and ideas begin!

EduPolicy:

Textbook Evaluator makes the case for bringing back the teaching of geography in our schools.

Conservative math teacher and EduBlogger Darren found a copy of Anti-NCLB "talking points" posted on the wall above his school's copy machine. Darren now exposes them for all the world to see and invites your free exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Matt Johnston introduces us to a topic that we had never before considered: Is there a place for public charter schools in those school districts that are already doing well? Here's a sample:

Charter schools are about alternatives for students and parents who want something different. Yes, I believe charter schools inject a modicum of competition into an otherwise monopolistic system, a competitive spirit that has immediate primary and long-term secondary benefits. But charter schools are, first and foremost, about serving a need. The need is not necessarily "real," in terms of how a school board or the rest of the community would think of the matter, i.e. poor schools and minority kids trapped in bad circumstances through no fault of their own.

Rather need is a matter of perception and the parents of the 261 families who competed for the 160 seats in the St. Mary's chater school sense a need to find something different. So long as a need is perceived by some members of the community and they are willing to seek out alternatives, then the school board and the rest of the community should not stand in the way. Just because a community is relatively affluent does not mean that the families in that district can necessarily afford private school, so a public school alternative is needed.

Read the whole thing.

Higher Education:

When we were college students, we all filled-out those course-evaluation sheets. Now take a look at what it feels like to be the college professor who reads them.

I've heard many different reasons why young folks go to college, but who would have ever dreamed that fear was one of them?

Collective Bargaining And Unions:

Buckhorn Road has some common-sense (and humorous) advice for those educators who are contemplating going out on strike.

Inside This Teaching Life:

Have you heard the one about the out-of-control squirrel that forced an entire campus to go into lock down? And was this squirrel an agent of some conspiracy unleashed by the Dark Gray Forces Of Evil? Read the testimonial and judge for yourself.

Be ready to have your heart strings tugged when you read Mamacita's contribution about how some kids pay the price for bad parenting...

InnerKids has some thoughts on this year's National Teacher Appreciation Week. (Our school did absolutely nothing to recognize its teachers.)

The Science Goddess over at What It's Like on the Inside has the skinny on a powerful grading tool that's all-too-often neglected by many teachers: "I" is for Incomplete.

Why do so many teachers leave the craft in their first few years? Well.... here's a top-ten list (plus some commentary) that may surprise many.

Aquiram asks a question that made us smile: Question of the Week #15–What TV Show is Your Classroom Most Like?

From our "Third Graders Say the Darnedest Things Department," we have this brief inter-planetary dialogue about.... Uranus.

Do not fail to carefully read this math problem submitted by IB a Math Teacher. (Prepare to have you funny-bone thoroughly tickled.)

Teaching and Learning:

Keeping students who are working in groups productively engaged is often challenging under the best of circumstances. Missprofe has some suggestions for giving students a helping hand when tasked with creating their own dramatic skits.

Reader S. Richards submitted this N.Y. Times article about a middle school that is doing things right.

Testing:

The State of Texas is considering doing-away with its "must pass in order to graduate" TAKS test and replacing it with a series of standardized assessments designed to measure competency in several content areas. But replacing one test with another raises a new set of concerns.

And now for something completely different: a side-by-side look at a math problem from a Chinese college entry examination and one from a Canadian exam.

Student and Parent Survival Guide:

Nowadays, kids don't just show-up at the senior prom with a date on their arms, they have to make an entry.

Homeschooling:

A mom who homeschools her children shares some on-point observations on what motivates very young children to learn. (But who would have thought that "Calvin and Hobbes" would have been such a great motivational tool?)

EduTechnology:

The title of this one says it all: If Technology is the Devil, Time is the Exorcist.

How do we make sure students are safe online and when using social networking sites? Neu-Thinking has some thoughts on the matter. (In our California district, administrators have solved this "problem" by imposing such a strict "acceptable use" policy that few, if any, teachers still use the Internet as a teaching/learning tool.)

Inside The EduBlogs:

Humbly submitted for your consideration is our take on what may very well be the most tasteless so-called school "prank" ever played perpetrated upon a group of students.

Editor's Choice: Did you know that last week was "National Teacher Appreciation Week?" Around our middle school, we had no idea. Until Ms. Cornelius of A Shrewdness of Apes told us.

And finally: This, like most of our journeys around the EduSphere, has been both enjoyable and informative. Our continued thanks to all the contributors whose submissions make the midway's continuing success possible, the folks who donate their time to help spread the word, and the readers who continue to make it A Free Exchange of Thoughts and Ideas.
----------------------------This midway is registered at TTLB's carnival roundup. See our latest EduPosts here, and the (somewhat) complete Carnival archives over there.

Morning EduGaggle

Consider taking a look at the trials and tribulations that most Iraqi school children must go through simply to attend classes.

Timing may be everything when it comes to giving birth to a smart kid!

For those of you who would like to know what pioneering EduBlogger Jenny D looks like in person, click here. (See the back story there.)

The repercussions of what could possibly be the most tasteless school-related practical "joke" ever have begun.

Somebody else is keeping an eye on questionable expenditures EduCorruption over at the U.S. Department of Education.

Today's Non Sequitur: We really don't care that the announced presidential candidates have yet to make their tax returns public. Don Surber has the list of the financial records that we'd really like to get a look at.
-----------------------------See our latest entries.

Carnival Entries Are Due!

Entries for the 119th midway of The Carnival Of Education are due today. Please email them to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net . (Or, easier yet, use this handy submission form.) Submissions should be received no later than 9:00 PM (Eastern) 6:00 PM (Pacific). Contributions should include your site's name, the title of the post, and the post's URL if possible.

Visit last week's midway, hosted by NY Educator, over there.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the exhibits should open Wednesday. ------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

The Watcher's Council Has Spoken!

Each and every week, Watcher of Weasels sponsors a contest among posts from the Conservative side of the 'Sphere. The winning entries are determined by a jury of 12 writers (and The Watcher) known as "The Watchers Council."

The Council has met and cast their ballots for last week's submitted posts.

Council Member Entries: Big Lizards earned first place honors with Does America Elect Defeatists?

Non-Council Entries: Michael J. Totten garnered the most votes with “Better a Thousand Israeli Invasions...” ----------------------------See our latest EduPosts.

Unprofessional Conduct

A Tennessee elementary school administrator and several teachers have been accused of participating in what just might be one of the most tasteless (and possibly unlawful) stunts that have been inflicted on unsuspecting students in recent memory:

MURFREESBORO — Parents of students at a Murfreesboro elementary school are outraged that teachers and an assistant principal staged a phony gun attack on their children, telling them repeatedly it was not a drill, while the children cried and took shelter under tables.

Sixty-nine sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary school were on a weeklong trip at Fall Creek Falls, a state park about 130 miles southeast of Nashville. On Thursday, the last night of the outing, the staff played a prank on the kids, convincing them there was a gunman on the loose.

A teacher wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled on a locked door, pretending to be a suspicious subject in the area.

The students were told to lie on the floor or crawl underneath tables and keep quiet. The lights went out, and about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said. Some held hands and shook.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Shay said Saturday afternoon as she recounted the incident. “At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out. (A teacher) told us, ‘We just got a call that there’s been a random shooting.’ I was freaked out. I thought it was serious.”

Some parents said Saturday they were outraged, especially in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

Scales Elementary Principal Catherine Stephens held a meeting Saturday afternoon at the school to discuss the matter with a handful of concerned parents who contacted school officials Friday night.

She said she was saddened by the situation and that the school was handling it, though she declined to elaborate on whether the teachers involved would face disciplinary action.

Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip, said the entire scenario lasted about five minutes, after which the teachers gathered the students and explained it was a prank.

“We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation,” he said.

Several parents said they were troubled by the staff’s poor judgment.

“The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them,” said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

“This was not a good experience,” said Alisha Graves, whose son attended. “Those kids were crying, and they were terrified.”

Brandy Cole said she found out about the incident shortly after her son returned home from the trip Friday afternoon.

“I was shocked,” said Cole, whose husband, Jimmy, immediately sent an e-mail requesting a meeting with Bartch.

Barbara Corbetta, whose child also went to Fall Creek Falls with the group, said she spoke to several different parents and kept hearing the same details — kids on the floor crying and begging for their lives.

“The circumstance that occurred involved poor judgment,” Stephens said. “My hope is that we can learn from this, and in the end, it will have a positive result of growth for all of us.”

Shay and her mother, Niki Morris, said they forgave the teachers and wanted to move on. It “went too far because it was too gruesome,” Shay said. “You’d think a teacher wouldn’t do it, but they did. But they’re great teachers. If (the assistant principal) loses his job, I will break into tears. He’s the best assistant principal I’ve ever had.”

Kathryn Sherrod, a Midstate psychologist who works with children, said she can see how kids could be traumatized by this, especially in light of the Virginia Tech shootings.

“That’s too close to real,” she said. “It’s important for teachers and school administrators to realize they have a degree of trust with children. When you play a prank of that nature, you run the risk of losing that trust.”

Given the school-related gun violence of the past few years, what on Earth could those nitwits people have been thinking?

Update: (PM) Two knuckleheads school employees (assistant principal Don Bartch and teacher Quentin Masters) have already been suspended and will soon be candidates to receive a Darwin Award in Education.

Other Voices: Joanne Jacobs. -------------------------------See our latest entries.

Monday Morning EduGaggle

California high school math teacher Darren gives a thrashing to President Barbara "Boss" Kerr of The California Teachers Association and wonders why the union is so afraid of testing.

Yep. We think that it's a safe bet that nearly all of us can agree that our inner-city schools are a mess, but what's to be done about it? Town Hall's Donald Lambro has some ideas, but they don't involve simply throwing more money at the problem or holding teachers 100% accountable for student progress while giving parents and the students themselves a free pass....

Who would have ever guessed that in England, the study of Latin is making a comeback? Meanwhile, school student discipline within government schools has gotten so bad that the traditionally left-leaning BBC has taken upon itself the task of publishing a series of "how to" guide for parents who wish to appeal their child's exclusion from school due to violent other illegal behavior.

With federally-mandated Testing Season in full swing, it's no surprise that there's a bumper crop of teacher cheating out in the field awaiting the media's scythe.

Today's Non Sequiturs: The people of Farmer's Branch, Texas, have voted overwhelmingly to require folks who want to rent houses or apartments in their town to verify residency eligibility while the idiots people of the ACLU will doubtless soon be shopping for of an appointed federal autocrat-for-life judge to subvert the democratic process overturn the people's decision. (We wonder why the ACLU doesn't seem to have a problem with people being "carded" being required to show "eligibility" for the purchase of alcohol or firearms?)

It appears as though $4.00 per gallon may finally be here in Taxifornia the Golden State. (Ed's Request: Would somebody please finally pass a law requiring pump prices to be in whole cents? The 9/10 of-a-cent that's always tacked on to the price may have made some sense back in the '50-'60s when gas was 30 cents per gallon but nowadays it just serves no purpose!)
-----------------------------See our latest entries.

The Spellings Report: Where's Her Accountability?

Heh. The Queen Of All Testing U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who is so quick to hold schools 100% accountable for the academic success of 100% of America's children, (while saying nothing about the need for parents and students to also be responsible for at least making an effort to achieve their own success) went before Congress the other day and showed herself to be distinctly reluctant to accept any accountability whatsoever for her department's refusal to actively exercise its oversight responsibility in the growing student-loan scandal.

In our opinion, Spellings is just one more of the hoards hordes of unelected and all-powerful Washington bureaucrats who are eager to impose one standard of "accountability" for those of us in the "field," while setting a much lower performance standard for herself and those who work in the plush office suites of the Nation's Capital Babylon-on-the-Potomac.

No surprises there. ------------------------------
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Sunday EduGaggle

Here's a public middle school that gets it right. (But then again, with the advantages that are enjoyed by that particular campus, why shouldn't they succeed?)

The Reading First scandal deepens:

Officials who gave states advice on which teaching materials to buy under a federal reading program had deep financial ties to publishers, according to a congressional report Wednesday.

While many American public school children continue to be relegated to attending classes in poorly-maintained buildings and using outdated texts, the U.S. taxpayer is about to foot the bill for the establishment of religiously-oriented "super madrassas" for the instruction of Afghanistan's future terrorists boys. (Girls are not allowed.)

Accused of possessing child pornography, Pennsylvania teacher Edward Lee Springer went on the lam in order to avoid his day in court. But as Springer soon learned, even the moon wasn't far enough from the long-arm of the law.

The L.A. Times' edublog School Me! has their weekend roundup of EduStories. ----------------------------See our latest entries.

Morning EduGaggle

Students and staff at one northern California primary school are being stalked by... an attack squirrel. Two parents and an 11-year-old girl have already felt the squirrel's wrath... Meanwhile, the four-legged fur-bearing assailant is still at large.

In today's story from the Odd Side of the Tracks, we have several college girls who are accused of stealing about 1000 copies of their college newspaper because "they thought they looked fat."

The Wanker of the Day Award goes to Australian elementary school janitor Adrian Alan Mayne. This specimen was arrested and jailed after allegedly drilling holes in a restroom ceiling in order to spy on young girls and female teachers....

The U.S. House of Representatives has finally gotten around to outlawing payola from student loan companies to college financial aide officers. (Now if they could do-away with payola for themselves, that would be progress.)

Today's non sequitur: If one enjoys this show, it must mean something. We're just not sure what... ----------------------------See our latest entries.

It's Teacher Appreciation Week?

Heh. I teach in a California junior high school and didn't even know that it was "Teacher Appreciation Week" until I read Ms. Cornelius' letter to school administrators everywhere. Here's a small sample:

It would be nice if administrators would realize that they are managers of teachers, not just commanders. Teacher motivation is part of the job of an excellent administrator. As it is, many of the administrators I have known-- not all, but many-- seem to view teachers as tools to be utilized rather than as the people who do the work of a school. They seem oblivious-- willfully so-- to matters of school climate that they could control which impact morale. How many schools have you walked into in which the administrators have preferred parking places, upholstered furniture, their own bathroom, air conditioning and heating that they actually can control, carpeting, and the like?

Consider reading the whole thing.

Sadly, a good school administrator is hard to find and a great one is a treasure beyond price.

Maybe the lack of merit-based promotion in many school districts has something to do with that rarity... --------------------------------See our latest entries.

Morning EduGaggle

This is what happens when a large school district doesn't pay its teachers competitive salaries.

When an Arizona college professor is threatened with dismissal because he emailed George Washington's "Thanksgiving Proclamation" to colleagues, something is seriously wrong in the Land of Barry Goldwater.

Shouldn't a fifth-grader know better than to bring a pistol to school?

Ricardo Montalban never said, "I'm Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Study Island!" (This actually looks pretty good...)

Students in Paris, France are on strike to protest the election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy to that country's presidency.

Today's non sequitur: Did you remember that today is Mother's Day? Well... its no problem unless you're Mexican. ---------------------------See our latest entries.