Welcome to the 104th Edition of the Carnival of Education. What fun it has been to read all the submissions! Thanks to everyone for such enthusiastic participation in this carnival. Now, on with the carnival!
School Governance and EduPolicy
Alexander at This Week in Education writes about “School Reform Hurricane: The Atlantic Monthly’s Amy Waldman On The New Orleans Recovery District”
EdWonk at The Education Wonks tells us about a Rhode Island Catholic school that has adopted a silent lunch policy in ”The School of Silence.”
Expecting youngsters to be “silent” while eating lunch is like expecting a politician to tell the truth or be silent.
At the DeHavilland Blog, Brett asks if we are “setting the wrong standards.”
Ruth Joy at Detocqueville’s Daughter writes about “The Future of Catholic Schools - Who’s Kidding Who.”Â
Brandon at Florida Citizens for Science discusses curriculum standards for middle schools and Science FCAT.
Bucky at a Brown Bag Blog analyzes what went wrong with the Houston school district’s “cutting edge” teacher bonus pay system with the post, “Bone Us Pay.”
Michelle at NCLB: Let’s Get it Right discusses the same bonus pay in “Houston, We Have a Problem.”
Yesterday, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) began distributing $14 million in bonuses to teachers and other school staff through its new pay for performance system. This system was developed with no real input from teachers and–surprise–it turns out that teachers have no clue why they did or did not receive bonuses.Â
Edspresso posts a series of reactions to President Bush’s State of the Union Address last week. There’s a lot to read there. So don’t get lost over there!
Patrick at The Psychology of Education looks at a new book that addresses “shadow children” and what the author claims is the #1 problem in education.
Matt at Going to the Mat writes about “A Better School Funding Mechanism.”
Michelle at Texas Ed writes about the drop-out problem in “No really?”
Brad in “I Liked the Book Better” at HUNBlog writes:
We need to know how well we’re doing in the classroom, and we need to know how effective our teaching methods are, but using high stakes tests to tell us the answer is like condensing a novel into a movie.
Doc at Dr. Homeslice tells about the phenomena of parents going on strike to support teachers in  “California Craziness:  LA, Bakersfield! Parents on Strike.”
Rory, at Kitchen Table Math, The Sequel, argues that the debate over new and old math isn’t a war, it’s more of an insurgency.
Teaching and Learning
Darren at Right on the Left Coast was listening to talk radio one morning on his way to work and heard another teacher Giving Teachers a Bad Name.
In “Hey, White Teacher!” Ms_Teacher shows us that “when students notice our differences, the connections that can be made are awesome.”
 John at Pick the Brain discusses the two types of cognition in “Learn to Understand Your Own Intelligence.” Since I preach metacognition to my elementary students daily, I really identified with this post.Â
Elementary History Teacher discusses the use of literature in her classroom in “Let Them Read a Book!”
Blogging
Several people wrote about blogging this week - blogging by teachers and/or students.
Russ at The Student Help Forum explains, “Why School Students Should Blog.” He makes an excellent point:
The current trends in teenage writing that were caused through SMS and other instant messaging services could be eliminated through blogging. Who would want to read anything similar to:
“Gr8 day!!! Went sk8in. G2G. Cya!â€
By creating a blog where students are judged by real people, decent content will need to be created.
Dana, at Principled Discovery, has another take on the use of blogging in education.
While blogging may have a use in education, I don’t see how it will “revolutionize” anything. Too much emphasis might have the opposite effect to what is desired.
The Reflective Teacher and  Dana at HuffEnglish started collaborating about a Holocaust project via comments and email as a result of a blog post. The resulting project may end up in book form.
Joshua, at Learning, The Gravy Way, presents “The Monotillation of Traxoline” (which I would award “title of the week”) about the problems students and teachers face when they do not share the same level of understanding.
Denise at Let’s Play Math presents “Percents: The search for 100%“.
From the Classroom
The Sleepless Juggler, Lyn , compares her day with first graders with organizing earthworms. Just reading her list of what went on in her classrom during one 7-hour day left me exhausted.Â
Mrs. Bluebird has been noticing pencils lately - and it’s not a good thing. Does “Dixon Ticonderoga” ring a bell?
In “A Poem to Start the Week: Love that brother!”  Terrell at Alone on a Limb writes about his use of Sharon Creech’s book Love That Dog in his 4th grade classroom. That’s one of my favorite books, too.
Inside This Teaching Life
Graycie of Today’s Homework, provides us a humorous look at Professionalous Developmentation.Â
Mamacita in “. . . in which the teacher finds she is learning far more than her students” at Scheiss Weekly writes:
I will always hold with academic excellence, but I have since learned that there are many different kinds of academic excellence. I have also learned that no amount or category of academic excellence can hold a candle to ethical excellence, or a good work ethic, or simple kindness.
“Teachers can be bullies, too,” says Miss Profe at it’s a hardknock teacher’s life.
Ms. Cornelius at a Shrewdness of Apes tells us exactly why she hates wrestling. I happen to agree with her.
Mike at Education in Texas finds out that it was just as he expected regarding a grant proposal he made to purchase new educational software and new computers for his school’s computer lab. Was he sabotaged?
The Science Goddess at What It’s Like on the Inside got my attention with her title,”Kinky Teachers.” Her post includes words such as masochistic, sadistic, hairshirt, flagellate, guilt, multi-tool. It is quite a read.
Homeschooling
Linda at Life Without School write about “So What About Science?”
Of Interest to Parents
As the grandparent of a kindergartener who has had up to two hours of “homework” on a school night, I can identify with Beau of Fox Haven Journal who writes about “Kindergarten University.”
Lisa at Let’s Talk Babies tells us “How To Save For College.” Her post made me SO glad my two are already out of college.
By 2024 the cost for a 4 year degree will range from $161,463 to $331,059, depending on if you child goes to an in-state public university, and out-of-state public university, or a private university.Â
Higher Education
Ted at Campus Grotto has written that The Most Popular College has received more than 50,000 applications for the fall of 2007. Can you name the school?
Dr. Madeline Daniels writes about new degree programs being offered online and elsewhere in “Together We Learn (Part II)”. What we usually think of as “traditional” teaching methods really aren’t traditional at all.
Truly traditional methods involved storytelling (i.e. sharing the experiences of elders, hunters, and workers), even dance, art, drama and role-playing through activities that mimicked real life tools and chores. Lectures in a crowded room are really a very modern invention, and a not very effective one at that!
Madeleine Begun Kane offers us an “Ode to the Bar Exam” which provides a little legal humor.
Pushpa Sathish at Online University Lowdown presents “Big Cities on Top of Online Education.”
As part of his job, The Travelin’ Man from Stuff You Oughta Know reads college applications.  He shares his insights about ”Why Letters of Recommendation are Irrelevant.”
Jane at Career Ramblings writes about her first day of teaching college level students in “The Experience of Teaching Business Students.”
Resources
Mike at Connecting the Dots has been looking at blogs and video podcasts from Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. In “Iraq from the Inside” he asks, “ How are kids learning about this war and what role should their schools and teachers play?”Â
Laurie at Trivium Pursuit tells us how to “Learn Movie Making with Stop Motion Animation.”
Caroline and Alvaro at Sharp Brains present “Lifelong learning, literally: neuroplasticity for students, boomers, seniors…“ It’s all about “brain fitness.”
Aquiram at Teaching in the Twenty-First Century is looking for resources in the form of themed music to go along with history and literature topics. Can you provide some suggestions?Â
Internationally Speaking
Sometimes teacher comments need a practical translation - not only in American schools but in Korean schools as well.  Jeonjutarhell at Skillet Blogging (love that blog name!) gives us some great examples in “Little Lies…”
Initiating conversations in English. Asked me if she could go to the bathroom.
Good at picking out key words. Tells me every day is Tuesday.
A leader in the class. Your evil daughter controls the classroom with an iron fist and is without a doubt the biggest bully I have ever encountered.
Vibrant and enthusiastic. Finds staying in his seat akin to riding a bucking bronco. Eight seconds is about the limit.
No major behavioral problems. Hasn’t killed anyone yet.
Beginning to pick up sight words! Can now read “I” and “a.”
Kelly, over at Ogretmen, writes about Litigiousness and Entitlement at the Turkish school where she teaches.
Joseph at Learn Chinese offers a Chinese vocabulary game.
Inside the Blogs
In “Fifth Grade Smarts” Joanne Jacobs tells us about a new Fox TV show that will give adults questions taken from fifth grade textbooks.  Can adults answer fifth grade level questions? It might prove interesting.
Mr. Lawrence at Get Lost, Mr. Chips says, “I Can’t Stand This Book!“ Do you have a book that you just can’t stand? Add your choices to Mr. Lawrence’s list.
Mr. Teacher at Learn Me Good writes about favorite TV teachers. Do you have any candidates for him to consider?
Taking Care of Carnival Business
Look for the 105th Carnival next week at This Week in Education. Your entry should be submitted by 9:00 p.m. (Eastern). Send submissions to thisweekineducation (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also use THIS HANDY SUBMISSION FORM. Â
The complete Carnival archives can be found HERE.
And finally, thanks to EdWonk at The Education Wonks for giving me the opportunity to host the Carnival of Education this week.
That’s it for this week’s Carnival of Education. Thanks for stopping by.
Sphere: Related Content
I was at Teachers College of Columbia University in NYC this past week for their February Institute for teachers. When I was packing for the trip, I had my laptop in its carrying bag and ready to go when I decided that I didn’t want to deal with a laptop in the airport or have to carry it with me everywhere - especially since the room where we would be staying didn’t have internet access. So I left my laptop at home. I would take notes the old fashioned way - with pen and paper. 
The Teaching Life
School Policy and Red Tape
Homeschooling and Parenting
Resources
