The Carnival of Education: Week 203

Welcome to the midway of the 203rd edition of The Carnival of Education.

Unless clearly labeled otherwise, all entries this week were submitted by the writers themselves.

Folks interested in hosting a future edition of the C.O.E. should please let us know via this email address: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net.

Visit the C.O.E.'s early archives here, later archives there, and our latest entries here.

Next Week's Carnival will be hosted here at The Education Wonks. Contributors are invited to use this handy submission form. Entries should be received no later than 8:00 PM (Eastern) 5:00 PM (Pacific) Tuesday, December 30, 2008. Please include the title of your post, and its URL, if possible. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the midway should open next Wednesday, December 31, 2008.

Special Note: Due to various scheduling conflicts related to the holiday we are presenting this week's midway "in the raw." That is to say, we'll be posting all submissions received via Blog Carnival's submission form without editing and with little or no commentary on our part.

Let the free exchange of thoughts and ideas begin!

Larry Ferlazzo presents The Best “Fun” Sites You Can Use For Learning, Too — 2008 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... posted at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL.

Andrew Bernardin presents Is it Intelligence or Something Else? posted at The Evolving Mind.

Scott Walker presents News of the Day: No one cares posted at The English Teacher.

Scott McLeod presents It's time to play... Spot that holiday violation 2008! posted at Dangerously Irrelevant.

Mary Ann Zehr presents Learning the Language: Study Looks at Four School Districts' Success with ELLs posted at Learning the Language.

ANDREA HERMITT presents Education Examiner: Gifted or not? posted at Education Examiner at Examiner.com.

College Degrees presents 2009: Janet Napolitano and the H1B Visa Cap posted at The Degree People, saying, "If confirmed, Janet Napolitano’s nomination as Director of Homeland Security is likely to have a significant impact on the H1B visa process and possibly even be a significant factor in increasing the cap on these employment visas."

Alvaro Fernandez presents Education builds Cognitive Reserve for Alzheimers Disease Protection posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Given the growing media coverage mentioning the terms Cognitive Reserve and Brain Reserve, you may be asking yourself, "What exactly is my Cognitive (or Brain) Reserve?""

Super Saver presents Educating for the Future posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Although I am not an expert or practitioner in the field of education, I've come to the conclusion we need to upgrade our K-12 curriculum to educate our children for future challenges."

Kelly presents A Fresh Approach? posted at Stories from School: Practice meets Policy, saying, "Great analogy of the system of education and automobiles for those who complain that the system is an easy fix and here is how to do it."

Liesl McQuillan presents Clotophile posted at Clotted Cognition, saying, "I'm not sure if you have a carnival scheduled, but I'd love to be part of it if so. I look forward to the reeming I'll get for my touchy, feely post!" (Ed's note: That's for the readers to decide!)

Britannica Blog presents "Study Skills" Ought to Include an Understanding of Memory posted at Britannica Blog, saying, "Schooling in the United States—especially beginning around the sixth grade—requires that students do a certain amount of memorization. Sometimes the demands on memory are overt and narrow, as when students are given a spelling list to learn, and other times the memory demands are implicit and broader, as when students are asked to compare a poem they are reading in class to one that they read a week ago."

Carol Richtsmeier presents FERPA, Ninnyhammers & Clock Stoppers posted at Bellringers, saying, "thanks for hosting"

Marjorie presents Product and Process posted at The Life Without School Community Blog.

Jane Goodwin presents Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. Well, Bothered and Bewildered, Anyway posted at Scheiss Weekly.

Jim McGuire presents Paulsen--Read Aloud, Reminiscing, and Rethinking posted at The Reading Workshop, saying, "Understanding a writer's motivation is much easier when you have met the writer."

Paul Cancellieri presents Cyber-paranoia posted at Scripted Spontaneity.

Relax presents 70 Tips to Become a Super Student posted at The Wise Curve, saying, "Life is too short to be ordinary. Don’t just be an average student, be a super student."

John Holland presents Picturing Preschool posted at Inside Pre-K, saying, "The truth is that in some schools, you can teach like a high school quarterback and be fine, and in others you have to teach like professional quarterback to be successful. The real difference is that you get paid better in professional football if you are successful whereas in teaching, the high school quarterbacks and the professional quarterbacks all get paid the same."

Mike Holden presents ABCTE Science Teachers in the News posted at DoE- Dave on Ed.

Mrs. Bluebird presents The Best Gifts...Ever! posted at Bluebird's Classroom, saying, "Forget coffee mugs! Mrs. Bluebird got the best student gift ever!"

Darren presents CTA Wants To Increase State Sales Tax posted at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher.

Nancy Flanagan presents TFA Confidential posted at Teacher in a Strange Land, saying, "What do Teach for America alumni really think?"

Tyler Metzger presents Chinese university exploits students, regrets nothing posted at blogs.creditcards.com.

Robert Pondiscio presents 1984 Now posted at The Core Knowledge Blog, saying, ""Most teachers certified in the last decade or so are teaching subjects they never majored in," writes 36 year veteran teacher Fred Strine. "Your children are in their classes. Parents expect subject mastery and expertise from today’s educators, but both are sadly missing. It’s outright deception on a massive scale.""

Joanne Jacobs presents Obsolete textbooks posted at Joanne Jacobs.

Isaac Yassar presents Do It Now posted at Isaac Yassar .com, saying, "Educate yourself! Do it now!"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of education using our carnival submission form.