Meet the Teacher Edition of the Education Buzz–Life's a Carnival

Welcome to the Meet the Teacher Edition of the Education Buzz–Life's a Carnival, an eclectic smattering of things buzzing about the EduSphere.

Hurry up! Let's go over to the science wing. I hope our favorite science guy, Steven Spangler, is here. He always knows a fun way to get this school party started and raise money for a good cause. Check it out. They even got to do the famously fun mentos diet coke geyser exploding experiment.

And while we're on the topic of explosions, my head nearly exploded when I ran into Darren from Right on the Left Coast and he wanted help with a little math problem in his post, Collaboration Time. But don't let the math scare you, you can read the post without having to figure anything out except why they have "short Thursdays." 

Before we leave the math/science hallway, let's stop by and see Old Andrew's classroom and check out  failing departments over at Scenes from the Battleground.

Hey, has anyone seen Mister Teacher? Only three weeks into the school year and already he's  struggling with HLTs (and that doesn't stand for Hailsbails Let's Teach, either. ). Once again a new something (High Level Tasks) to add to the other somethings that no one can seem to complete. 

 

I heard education guru Joanne Jacobs is in the technology wing asking why school districts continue to pour money into technology when studies fail to show any increase in test scores.

Forget about all that high tech stuff, could someone, anyone please just lift up the auditorium screen?

What's Jane Goodwin over at Scheiss Weekly at yelling about? Oh my, watch out! You better duck and cover. Here come the helicopter parents! I'm OK because they can't see me. I'm Ninja Teacher!

All this running around has made me hungry. Anyone else want to head on over to the cafeteria? Cooking Up Good Speech has this rather tasty looking lunch and a little speech lesson as well.  Although this post is aimed at parents, more teachers could probably eat healthier as well. (Check out my "Frying In My Own Fat" weight loss challenge.)

Don't forget to grab your free goodie bags before you leave. The people over at the Education Sector created a Facebook page  called Teacher Sector which they said is designed "to find out what teachers think about education and share their good ideas." So, now you know. You can also entered into a drawing for $450 for school supplies.

Oh, and speaking of FREE stuff, time is running out to send in your entry to our good friends over at the Dow Jones News Fund for free subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal's Classroom Edition. Check it out. Deadline is Sept. 19.

And finally, don't forget to stop by and meet Pat over at Successful Teaching who reminds us that our voice really does matter and Carrie over at Jedi Music who reminds us to be grateful.

That concludes our Meet The Teacher night. Please start making your way to the exits so our tired teachers can go home, grade some papers, plan tomorrow's lessons and maybe eat some dinner. 

Join us here again on Wednesday, Sept. 28 for our next edition of the Education Buzz. Please submit your posts no later than Saturday, Sept. 24 by 5 p.m. CDT. Use this handy dandy form for your submissions and please keep in mind our submission rules…

1. No spam
2. Must be education related
3. Since the carnival may be organized around themes, not all submissions may run.
4. Please remember to post and link back to the carnival.

If you would like to host a carnival, pah-leese let me know by emailing me at mybellringers@gmail.com.  Also, don't forget to let me know if you find any broken links or problems with this edition of the Ed Buzz. 

As always…

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

And, if I did, my apologies.

Ninja Teacher Thought For The Week

It's hard to be Ninja Teacher when all you have for throwing stars are the stinky starfish you picked up on the beach.

Frying In My Own Fat Week Four Update

For those of you who are keeping up with my "I'm-Frying-In-My-Own-Fat" Weight Loss Challenge, my latest post  appeared on technorati as  Week 4–Better to Fry in Brown Fat Than White Fat. To read it, you can click on the article name or the scale above or you can go over to my fitness blog and read it there.

Picture Day, The Screen & The Witch, Oh My!

I survived Picture Day.

Which, for those of you yearbook types, know was something just short of a miracle.

And which, for those of you non-yearbook types (but fans of this blog), know for me was probably a miracle of sorts necessitating divine intervention.

Even Mother Teresa would have found Picture Day trying.

It certainly tested my resolve to remain Ninja Teacher.

I almost set my hair on fire and ran out of the building when I arrived at 6:30 in the morning and saw the gigantic screen hanging from the auditorium stage.

You know, the stage that roughly 2,000 children, faculty and staff needed to navigate across to get their school pictures made.

Yeah, that stage. The one that was blocked by the giant screen hanging down. The screen that rivaled the dimensions of the green screen in the Wizard of Oz.

Yep, the screen that needed a special password code and either a Phd in technology or some sort of divine intervention in order to raise it. Yeah, that screen.

It took almost two hours before The Screen was raised because apparently only one person knows the super-secret instructions on how to do it.

During that two hour time period, I sort of felt like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. I'm fairly certain I probably acted a bit like the witch in the Wizard of Oz. And, I think it's a safe bet that I may have even looked like the witch in the Wizard of Oz.

And just in case you were wondering, I'm not talking about the good witch either.

Never Forget

Ten years later. I still have not forgotten you. Each and every one.  I still hear you. Ghosts whispering in the wind.

I have not forgotten you.

I will never forget.

Tags: Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning) (From CMT Giants: Alan Jackson), Alan Jackson, Alan Jackson Videos

Thought for the day…

It's hard to be Ninja Teacher and fly under the radar when people keep taking shots under the clouds.

Pep Rallies, Fishing Poles and Go Fish

Week Two ended with our first pep rally launching us right into Labor Day weekend and maybe an end to our unrelenting heat wave.

For the most part, the pep rally which had a beach theme (Beach…then insert whatever your opponent's name) was pretty standard fare. The seniors were admonished not to belittle, berate or "boo" the freshmen. So instead, our seniors carried signs that simply said, "Boo," and then, when the freshmen did their little spirit chant, the seniors whipped out homemade fishing poles with fish attached to them.

That got my BFF to thinking about all the things teachers could attach to fishing poles when we are supposed to behave at teacher meetings. She had some pretty funny suggestions, but pretty much all of them belong in my "Things That Will Get You Fired Folder."