Education Buzz: Life's a Carnival Taking a Break

I hope everyone had a terrific July 4th, and, in between celebrations with family and friends, I hope you also took a moment to be thankful for America. 

Today I was going to post the Independence Day Edition of the  Education Buzz: Life's a Carnival, but most of you have apparently taken the summer off. Most of the submissions were spam ranging from how to find a proper nanny to how to house train a puppy. All worthy topics, I'm sure, but not for here. No siree, Missy.

So after some thought and noticing that my summer is rapidly dwindling away, I decided to declare an Independence Day of my own and am taking a break. We'll regroup back here August 16 for our Back to School edition of the Education Buzz. I know most of you will have some sage words by then. 

Our deadline for our Back To School Edition will be Sunday, August 12. Obviously, please have your submissions loosely stick with the Back-to-School theme. I will post the link for the handy, dandy form as we get closer to the carnival time. (That way the spam may dwindle a bit, and besides, the site with the handy, dandy form was down.)

Email me if you have any questions or wish to host a carnival once we get back up and running. You can reach me at mybellringers@gmail.com. Until then, enjoy what is left of your summer!

Education Buzz: Life's a Carnival Hotter-Than-A-Habanero-Edition

Welcome to the Education Buzz: Life's a Carnival Hotter-Than-A Habanero-Edition, an eclectic smattering of educational type stuff buzzing about the EduSphere.

This little carnival is a hodge-podge of stuff with no real theme other than it's summer, it's hot, and I'm afraid if I think too much, my brain just might overheat. Besides, I've been too busy preparing for two summer workshops that will be here before you can say, "Wowie, zowie! It's a real scorcher today!"

So in no apparent order and with no apparent theme, I give you…

•"The Insanity of Allowing Phones In Class" posted by our friend Old Andrew over at Scenes from the Battleground. It's definitely a must read.

•According to recent research, education guru Joanne Jacobs says children's imaginations are still soaring even though kids have less play time.

•Before you hit the drive thru, you better know the rules. Check out Jane Goodwin's "Things Nice People Already Know: Drive Through Etiquette" over at Scheiss Weekly.

•For those of you interested in technology, Chris gives us "7 Cool Things To Do With Your USB Drive."

•Pat over at Successful Teaching gives us "Unveiling the Mystery of Project Based Learning" in a  webinar she gave at a seminar in South Carolina.

•If you're looking for some summer reading, Philip over at Writing to Comprehend, rather than to Express posts a with a book review of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, A Visit from the Goon Squad.

•Laura Weldon offers "ingenious and collaborative ways to flourish, with or without a degree."

•And for those of you science types, here's a list of 30 Twitter Hashtags for Science teachers.

•And finally, for those of you who practice yoga, you might be interested in reading Solstice Savasana written by Christina Bryza, a former student of mine.

Well, that's about it for the Education Buzz: Life's a Carnival Hotter-Than-A Habanero-Edition. Don't forget to join us again back here for the next edition of the Education Buzz: Life's A Carnival on July 5. The submission deadline is July 1. Use this handy, dandy form for your submissions.

If you find a broken link or have trouble with the submission form, please let me know at mybellringers@gmail.com.

If you would like to host an edition of the Education Buzz, let me know that as well.

As always…

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

And, if I did, my apologies.

 

Education Buzz--Life's a Carnival coming soon!

OK, so I forgot that I said we would have another carnival on June 21. Things got away from me. So instead, the carnival will be here Thursday, June 28. 

If you already submitted, fear not I have your submission. If you still would like to submit, the window of opportunity closes tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26. If you would like to submit, use this handy, dandy form.

The "Wish Life Were A Beach" Edition of the Education Buzz: Life's A Carnival

Welcome to the "Wish Life Were A Beach" Edition of the Education Buzz: Life's A Carnival, an eclectic smattering of educational type stuff buzzing about the EduSphere.

But before we get this party started, indulge me a bit and let me provide a brief update about me, me, me. I must confess I've been sort of a slug lately. That whole yearbook, newspaper, teaching thing just sucked the life right out of me this school year. So much so that I just noticed that my last post was on May 24. So-o-o-o, for those of you who care, here's the short version of my year. It went something like this…

FIRST SEMESTER

 

SECOND SEMESTER

As you can see, all of that necessitated a trip to South Padre Island which brought me back to this…

Which we can all sigh now and say, thank heavens for that!

So put on your swim suit, don your sunglasses, slather on that sunscreen, fix yourself a drink, grab a bag of chips and some salsa and listen to those ocean waves while you peruse these end of the year posts and musings and rantings…

Old Andrew over at Scenes From the Battlefield ends the year with a Teacher's Oath --something we should all think about over the summer and re-read at the start of the next school year.

Philip over at Writing to Comprehend Rather Than to Express wrestles with whether teachers should provide a reality check or be a dream crusher.

Raise your hand if you ever had high school graduation duty or ever had to sit through a high school graduation ceremony. Yep, just like I thought, most of you have. So make sure you read Darren on Right on the Left Coast. You'll be nodding your head and saying a few, "Amens!" while reading his post.

You don't need one of those beach metal detectors to know what Pat over a Successful Teaching is talking about when she asks, "Do you have a virtual landfill or a collection of hidden treasures?" 

If the sunshine isn't enough to warm your heart, read "Sam Alito Thinks I'm Funny" from Sarah Garb over at Dead Class Pets.

And those you who are fans of Mr. Teacher over at Learn Me Good know about the recent addition to his family. See what his kiddos at school think about the baby's name.

If you didn't see who got tagged "it" in the annual yearbook spring delivery extravaganza, then check out my post "Words, Over Exposure & Not It!"

Joel over at Successful Teaching provides us  "10 Things I Have learned in 10 Years of Teaching"

Get a little loopy and see what NYC Educator has to say about keeping his group of kids for two years in a row in "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (Sometimes)."

Before you go and pull some summer reading books, better read Jane Goodwin's That was Then and This, Sadly, is Now over at Scheiss Weekly.

Tim over at Assorted Stuff provides some interesting links of his own to read. So if you're yammering for more to read, check out some of his suggestions.

Education guru Joanne Jacobs discusses whether pre-k saves us money.

Well, that's about it for the "Wish Life Were A Beach" Edition of the Education Buzz: Life's A Carnival, but before you go back inside, go over to science guru Steve Spangler's site and read, "How to Say Thank You To That Special Teacher" and pat yourself on the back for a job well done and surviving the year.

Don't forget to join us again back here for the next edition of the Education Buzz: Life's A Carnival on Thursday, June 21. The submission deadline is Sunday, June 17. Use this handy, dandy form for your submissions.

If you find a broken link or have trouble with the submission form, please let me know at mybellringers@gmail.com. We can't blame Howard the Shelter Cat for that. He slept through the entire ordeal…

If you would like to host an edition of the Education Buzz, let me know that as well.

As always…

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

And, if I did, my apologies.

Now taking Carnival Submissions for the Education Buzz!

Let's get this carnival going again!

Sorry for the delay. Too much happening on my midway (if you know what I mean). But things have calmed down just a tad and the carnival submission form seems to be working (again) so send me your end of the school year posts by Sunday, June 10 and I promise to post a carnival on Thursday, June 14. 

Send your submissions to the Education Buzz--Life's a Carnival using this handy, dandy form.

If you encounter problems, please let me know at mybellringers@gmail.com.

Before you submit, please keep in mind our 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.

Words, Over Exposure & Not It!

I suppose it's now safe to scream it from the mountain tops, bellow it from the valleys and holler it across those amber waves of grain… NOT IT. 

Definitely, most certainly, absolutely, NOT IT!

My Things Folder

Those of you who are fans of this blog know that May brings out storms of the spring delivery yearbook kind with newscasters reporting the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it because of some yearbook debacle across the country.

So far, a nearby suburb made the news for not only using the incorrect term "mentally retarded" instead of the currently correct term "special needs," but also running photographs of said children without the necessary permission.

Despite Mesquite school officials scurrying about confiscating the offending yearbook, the damage, of course, was done.

A school official told the The Dallas Morning News that there "was an oversight in the editing approval process."

I can honestly tell you as a publications adviser with a rather chunky "Things-That-Will-Get-You-Fired" folder in her bottom left-hand drawer that I live in fear every May of finding myself smack dab in the middle of that "oversight in the editing approval process." (And if you are a publications adviser, you know exactly what I mean. Because that "oversight in the editing approval process" ends up being the publications adviser. That would be me or you.)

 

However, that yearbook fiasco pales in comparison to this little ditty coming out of North Carolina. In fact, it rivals the underwear-less girl from Florida back in 2009.

According to news reports, a girl exposed herself at Lake Norman High School’s 2011 graduation ceremony and was captured for all eternity on page 14 of the recently distributed $100 yearbooks.

But what really caught my attention was the school district's response. According to those news reports, it went like this…

"At the main office, the district’s public information officer, Dawn Creason, said Wednesday afternoon the photo was probably an accident.
She also suggested the bare genitals may just be an illusion created by the girl pushing her thighs together.
“Really looking at that image, we’re not sure that’s what it is at all. We think it was the way she was sitting and the angle of her gown,” Creason said. “We’re not convinced at all that you’re seeing what you think you are.”

My new folder

I don't know about you, but I'm stuffing that little ditty in my new file entitled, "Things To Say When You Print Things That Will Get You Fired" folder.

You know, just in case. 

Too bad that made the news after the Mesquite thing. Those officials there could have said something like this: "I'm not convinced at all that you're really reading what you think you are."

All I know is that I think I'm absolutely, positively, thankfully NOT IT!

Rocket Scientists, Testing Schedules & Explosions

testing schedule

So maybe it's just me.

Maybe the longer I do this teaching thing, the more I become aggravated when seemingly simple tasks like testing somehow evolves into something more and more complex and difficult to understand.

I think it would be easier to learn Mandarin Chinese.

Or, memorize and play all of Bach's Inventions and Sifonias.

Or, become a rocket scientist. (OK, OK, OK, so maybe not a rocket scientist, but at least then I would be able to blow things up. Where's Steve Spangler the Science Guy when I need him?)

Instead, I must deal with this testing schedule for next week. Since it almost made my head explode, I had to write it all out. I just couldn't wrap my brain (what's left of it) around it.

It might as well been something like this… On odd days you'll have even day classes, and only lunch on every third day and then for 23.4 minutes you'll be able to eat your sandwich and go to the restroom all the while watching 25 kids except the ones who aren't testing who will go to the auditorium for an assembly and…and do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around…

Well, you get the picture of the chaos and madness especially for those of us who teach mixed grade level courses. I don't envy those who are forced to coordinate all this testing stuff mandated by the state and figure out a schedule.

But really? Whatever happened to a simple test on one simple day?

Instead, on Thursday we have 9th graders in an assembly, 10th and 11th graders taking the science test while seniors attend a separate assembly and then released for the day. I'm not sure what we're doing about lunch that date because when testing is over, we begin fourth period without lunch and then a backwards schedule of third period, second period and first period for 9th, 10th and 11th graders, but not seniors who were released earlier.

Jeepers creepers, welcome to my world…

Close up of testing schedule