The Loosey-Goosey Edition of the Carnival of Education

Welcome to the Carnival of Education. I was going to devise something really clever and semi-funny for a theme, but after spending a weekend in Austin with 10 of my Darling Inspirations, all of Monday frantically trying to get my six weeks grades in, and pretty much all of Tuesday sorting through submissions, I’m about tapped out in the creative, clever and guffawing category.

Instead, I give you…

The Loosey Goosey Carnival of Education
(thrown together more or less in Willy-Nilly Fashion)

•Andrew at Techno Lesson believes having students leave their core subject areas to go to another room for instruction on technology makes about as much sense as having a Pencil Lab. (Except I think I’d rather like that job. You know, the pencil lab one. I think I would rather like handing out those bright yellow #2 Ticonderoga pencils.)

•Pat at Successful Teaching discusses some words that probably would end up in my “Things That Will Get You Fired” folder. And to think, it all started with a love for tofu. Go figure.

•History is Elementary is worth taking a gander at and not just because she made me sing-a-long to the Brady Bunch theme song (although she got bonus points for that), but because she also reminds us that families come in all shapes and sizes..

•Scott McLeod at Dangerously Irrelevant reminds us that there is a lot of undiscovered potential out there.

Now I’ve got some Loosey Goosey categories here. First up…

In the Ugly, Sad & Cranky category…
•Mr. Teacher (the one from the UK) tells us about his classroom being vandalized and how senseless those acts really are. I know all of us are just horrified by it all and so very, very sorry for you.

•Uh-oh. Bill is a bit cranky over at the Tempered Radical. And rightly so. He’s tired of losing good teachers.

•On a personal note, I can’t tell you how great it is to have Old Andrew back after his hiatus. Otherwise, how would we get such posts as “Lessons Not Learned (Or Why Sir Alan Steer Should Still Stick his Report up…” Well, you get the general drift.

•And thank goodness someone else hates clip art as much as I do… Matt Needleman in Creating Life Long Learners has revamped his Comprehension Strategy Posters with some nifty new art. Check it out here.

•One Language posts some troublesome words for ESL students, but after reading the list, I can honestly tell you that some of these are problematic for some of our regular students as well. Besides, it was kind of fun to read things like… Poor John. He wanted to pour lemon juice on his skin to tighten his pores, but he was too poor to afford it. Jeez Louise, I can see how the kiddos can be confused.


In the this-one-really-really-made-me-sad-category…
•It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it, but for some reason “How much is a field trip worth?” by J.M. Holland in Inside Pre-K really got to me. Here’s just a brief exerpt from an entire piece that is written exceptionally well…
“I believe it is these field trips that make the difference between passing a third grade test or failing life. Field trips are about possibility, knowing what is beyond that cracker box house and chain link fence.”

OK, so let’s perk up a bit now…

In the Quirky, Not So Serious Division, we have…
•My post CSI, Fireballs & Ben Franklin–Aw, come on now. Did you really think I wouldn’t include myself? It’s about a little incident that occurred--where else?--in the journalism room. Exhibit A is included for your perusal.

•And since I’m always up for a good list, Siobhan Curious brings us the Top 10 Student Excuses for Missing Class. What’s not to love about that?

For you Serious, Pedagogical-types, we have…
•My buddy from across the pond, Sarah Ebner over at School Gate talks about INSET days--England’s version of teacher inservice or professional development days. Sad to report, their inservice is about as helpful as ours are.

•Larry Ferlazzo believes more time in school would help students from low income communities. And as if Larry’s not busy enough–and don’t ya think he outta be?--check out his best websites of the day for everything you ever wanted to know about pirates but were afraid to ask. It has everything, but Johnny Depp’s phone number. Ah well.

•Qrious provides two different resources for teachers--one about writing on grade level and the other for lesson plans.

•Detention Slip discusses school safety in our zero tolerance, post-Columbine world.

•School Psychologist Erin King deciphers what cognitive assessment scores mean.

•The DeHavilland Blog wonders what will happen to all the education programs once the stimulus money dries up.

•Mr. McGuire at the Reading Workshop gives us Martha, the Test Grader, Part 3.

•Teach Effectively discusses a pending Supreme Court Case regarding English Language Learners.

•Nancy Flanagan at Teacher in a Strange Land brings up one of my favorite topics––self esteem (or was one of my former students used to say self of steam).


In the Numbers & Sense (or nonsense) category…
•Jeepers Creepers, those wacky math teachers have their own carnival. Who knew?

•With the upcoming state assessment tests in Texas, Mr. Teacher discusses reasonable and unreasonable answers, blue sweaters, and well… you’re just going to have to go there to find out.

•Joanne Jacobs hopped on the math bandwagon asking, “Calculators? Don’t Answer.”


In the Thumbs Up Category…
•With final exams around the corner, Mamacita talks about winners and losers.

•And speaking of winners, Steve Spangler gives a big thumbs up to grant money given to a Texas teacher who teaches workshops on how to combine physics concepts with children’s literature.

•Also in the Winner’s Circle is Darren from Right on the Left Coast who actually got a really, really nice email. If you haven’t gotten an email like this recently, read it and pretend. I particularly liked the part that said, “May the pain of beating your head against the wall of imbecilic oversight be alleviated…” Well, you’ll just have to go there to read the rest. It will make you smile.


And in the last but not least category…
I’ll leave you with this last tidbit. The Stock Mark Report uncovered a little ditty about a school district that is considering eliminating principals in a budget cutting move.

Well folks, that’s it. As I always say,

“I’ve got this feeling that there’s something that I missed…”

–Snow Patrol

And, if I did, my apologies.

Please email me with any problems or broken links at mybellringers@gmail.com. I, of course, would appreciate any links back to the carnival. If you are interested in hosting a Carnival, please email owlshome@earthlink.net.

Until next time…