The Carnival Of Education: Week 135

Welcome to the midway of the 135th Carnival of Education!

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

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

Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about last week's midway, which was hosted over at Matthew K. Tabor's place. Visit the C.O.E.'s archives here and see our latest entries there.

Next Week's Carnival will be hosted by History Is Elementary. Contributors are invited to send their submissions to: historyiselementary [at] mail [dot] com, or use this handy submission form. Entries should be received no later than 8:00 PM (Eastern) 5:00 PM (Pacific) Tuesday, September 11, 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:

Joanne Jacobs has the news that Maryland is moving to an "all day" kindergarten program while over at the Nerd Family, the NerdMom is considering the possibility that the state of Maryland may be playing the "low expectations" game.

Here's one entry whose very title (yet alone content) will provoke thought: "Everything We Know Is Wrong - Part One: Education Is Fatal." Agree or disagree, you make the call!

Who is responsible for pupil progress? Is it teachers, parents, or students? Teacher Bill Ferriter over at TLN takes on this most central of issues to the education profession.

What limits, if any, should students have on their 1st amendment right to free speech when not on school grounds? Greg over at Rhymes With Right has the shocking details of a federal court ruling that curtails what students can and cannot say about their teachers and fellow pupils even when not on campus.

After pointing-out that in California, some teachers may be considered to be "highly qualified" even if they are interns and have not yet earned their teaching credential, math teacher Darren wants to know who is behind a lawsuit that accuses the state of mis-representing what "highly qualified" means.

In this post-NCLB world, California's public schools must satisfy two different measurements of student progress: state and federal. Friends of Dave posits that state superintendent Jack O'Connell should rethink the state standard in favor of an altogether different method of measuring schools' effectiveness.

Not all EduPolitics is local, but most is and Education Notes Online is calling out the New York Times on its coverage of New York City's school chancellor, Joel Klein.

Teaching and Learning:

Tom Kim passes on to us some thoughts by Parker Palmer about what makes for good teaching.

It's comforting to learn that even though our brains' processing speeds may slow down with age, the ole 'thinking machine develops a very effective work around to compensate.

Inside This Teaching Life:

See Mamacita-the-21-year-old teacher. See Mamacita on her first day in the classroom. See what happened when Mamacita-the-teacher went into the wrong restroom by mistake.

Ms. Cornelius of A Shrewdness of Apes sent some chills down my spine with this timely entry about common teacher nightmares. (We heartily recommend that all teachers read this book by Sigmund Freud.)

Just when we thought that the buzz over female teachers who have sexual relationships with their male students was about to die down a bit, a well-known hamburger chain (who should have known better) has embarked on a national ad-campaign that might have been better left on the shelf. (Be sure to follow the link to the ad at the end of the post.)

New York City teacher Jose Vilson takes issue with a recent Village Voice article that equated the first year's service of many City teachers with those from the classic movie "Blackboard Jungle."

California middle school history teacher Polski3 is looking for some advice: how can he coordinate his teaching with other members of his department without the use of restrictive pacing guides and "scripted" lessons?

New York math teacher JD2718 takes us back into time with the first instance that JD was mandated to use calculators in the classroom. (Sometimes, resistance is not futile!)

While responding to one EduBlogger's "wish list" of much-needed hypothetical high school classes, the "30plusteacher" adds some thoughts of her own but from a very different viewpoint.

Oh no! The helicopter mother has landed! (Let's keep our heads down lest they get taken-off by the rotors...)

The first day of school is like major-league baseball's spring training: all things seem possible. IB a Math Teacher let's us take a peek at his students' first-day antics.

Classroom Follies:

Ms. Teacher reminds us that when it comes to kids, they still say the darndest things. (With apologies to Art Linkletter.)

The Science Goddess gives us the skinny on the advice that some first graders have for incoming kindergartners while reminding us to not forget the grown-ups.

Lesson Ideas:

Rightwing Prof has an irresistible "real-life" math problem for his college students: construct a cost/benefit simulation based upon the fines imposed on students for parking violations.

Now here's an novel take on an old classroom concern: Chewing bubble gum as a science experiment.

Remember taking a caterpillar into the classroom and watching it metamorphize into a butterfly?

Terrell of Alone on a Limb lets us see how powerful guest speakers can be when they come into our classrooms by taking us on a trip down memory lane. (I would like to read more about Mr. Barton and see more about the injured heron.)

Home school blogger Jocelyn is inviting readers to participate in an online States/Country Exploration each Thursday by becoming part of a "State Education School."

John Park is electronically building Leonardo de Vinci's machines and automata. You can see one right here.

Parent and Student Survival Guide:

Just when I thought that I had seen it all, I get something like this: Now students are being told to intentionally make typographical errrors errors on their college applications.

Home schooler Henry Cate reinforces the importance of educating our children.

Humbly submitted for your consideration is our entry about the Arizona school that suspended an eighth-grader for drawing a picture of a gun.

Higher Education:

When it comes to choosing a college or university, Mark Montgomery reminds us that the content of the book doesn't necessarily match the presentation that one may find on its E-cover.

Meanwhile, Alan Gottlieb speculates about a relatively new sub-species of caring adults that may be found on high school and college campuses all over the country: helicopter parents.

Even though this list of "top ranking" colleges and universities held few surprises, the accompanying list of least student debt did have some most interesting surprises.

The Collegiate Way considers the 10th anniversary of Diana Spencer-Windsor's untimely death and how some in the academic world responded to the tragedy.

International Perspectives:

The British edubloggers over at Scenes From The Battlefield don't think that the formulation public education policy should be in the hands of bean counters bankers but in those of politicians who should be given more power instead!

Even though school has just started, Israeli teacher Muse already has a pile of papers to grade... (Some things are common to teachers the world over!)

Resources:

Larry Ferlazzo has a mission: he works to find web sites that are useful in the teaching of English as a second language. In a recent post, he praises the efforts of "Awesome Stories."

Inside The EduBlogs:

Last week's C.O.E. host, Matthew K. Tabor, has some very readable thoughts on the nature of edublogging and those who are critical of the same.

And now some states are randomly testing their school athletes for steroid use. Sad.

If you were young and suddenly found yourself in possession of a large sum of money, would spending it on a college education necessarily be the best use of the windfall? The Dough Roller was presented with just such a choice.

Here's a review of A Class Apart by Alec Klein.

And finally: This, like nearly all of our journeys around the EduSphere, has been both enjoyable and informative. We continue to thank all the contributors whose submissions make the midway's continuing success possible, the folks who give of 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.