Welcome to the 148th edition of the Carnival of Education! As is one of my signature styles, I want to present this carnival in list format. We’ll begin with a Top 5 list…

The Main Attraction
Obviously the process of creating any “Top 5″ list is subjective and open to argument and debate. With nearly50 submissions, I had a handful of options from which to choose. I narrowed it down to about 8 and did a little bit more weeding down to come up with my favorite five articles from this week. Some are from blogs that my readers and I read, others are brand new discoveries for me. Either way, I enjoyed these.

#5 A 10% solution (Learn Me Good)
#4 Tea Club (Right on the Left Coast)
#3 What we won’t do (Jeremy Aldrich)
#2 “I Don’t Get It” (oldandrew)

And my favorite article submission for this week was, if for no other reason than that we ALL have wanted to make these ourselves at one point or another…

#1 More Staff Development Comics (Scott Walker)Now on to the rest of the cool stuff

5 great teaching tips
One of my favorite things to write about is teaching tips. Specifically, I love writing about classroom management. While none of these articles are specifically classroom management oriented, they do offer some wonderful help with specific teaching concerns.

1. How to Plan a Unit Opener (Matthew Needleman)
2. Dr. Homeslice Value Added Model– For Free! (Dr. Homeslice)
3. Jeez, Even More Resources from News Outlets (Larry Ferlazzo)
4. Successful Math Lessons (Pat)
5. Totally lovin’ my candy bar project (ms_teacher)

Food for thought
If there’s one thing that educators love to do, it is think. Educational theory, research, complaining, creating solutions. You name it, educators are fond of doing it. Without question, the most popular category this week comes in here.

1. Civil Unrest (clix)
2. Zero and Statistical Integrity (Hugh O’Donnell)
3. Why 20% of US high schools are dropout factories, and how to fix them (J. Stephen O’Brien)
4. Democracy or demogoguery, that is the question (Woodlass)
5. Insulted by the Profs? (Bill Ferriter)
6. And This Is Why No Child Left Behind Is Such A Crock (Judy Aron)
7. Not, again (Henry Cate)
8. This is Your Brain on School…Any Questions? (Eduwonkette)
9. The Walmartization of Education (NYC Educator)
10. Fair, Honest, Accurate Assessment (Right Wing Nation)
11. The EACH! Chater School Debate (Matt Johnston)
12. Clock officially cleaned (Dave Saba)
13. A teacher pleads: yakkers, shut up and help (Alan Gottlieb)
14. What Is Your Dream Teaching Assignment? (Elementary Historyteacher)

Homeschool midway
When I was in 5th and 6th grade, my parents pulled me out of the private school we had attended and we began to homeschool. In those two years, we got to go on field trips to Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and I even got to see a space shuttle launch on my birthday. As a result, I have a very dear place in my heart for homeschooling. As a result, we have an entire section dedicated to wonderful homeschooling parents and their concerns.

1. Is Homeschooling Right For Your Family? (Christine)
2. When Competition Becomes Corrosive (The Life Without School)
3. Should We Tell Kids They Are Smart (Lynn Aleshire)

Planning for the future
I have written in the past questioning the necessity of formal education for everyone. Be that as it may, I also think that formal education is vital for many people. I’m sure those comments will ruffle a few feathers, but be that as it may, here are some great articles about looking forward to the future and planning accordingly.

1. Road to Success: Setting your Goals (moneywalks)
2. Trendy and Meaningful Education Career: Career and College Specialist (Career Counselor)
3. How To Improve Your Skills And Get A Lucrative Job (Kingsley Tagbo)
4. BA vs BS (Ted)

Assorted thoughts
As educators, we often have a divergent set of activities. Many are tied to education in one fashion or another, but they may not directly relate. Closing out the carnival, we have a group of article submissions that I couldn’t really place into any of the above categories, but that are still worthy of a read!

1. Reading at the end of the world (Michael Umphrey’s Blog)
2. In Praise of ‘Thought Competition’ (Rebecca Wallace-Segall)
3. Use It or Lose It, and Cells that Fire together Wire together (Alvaro Fernandez)
4. Dollars and Cents–Sh’kalim v’Agorot (Shiloh Musings)
5. Simple Chemistry for blogs (Common Sense)
6. Detoxing, eBay and Dumber Me (Bellringers)
7. Was it worth it? (Rebecca Wallace-Segall)
8. TEACHING SPECIAL ED STUDENTS – WHAT A PAIN! (Mike Cruz)
9. The Teddy Bear That Blasphemed (The Education Wonks)
10. Birthday Girl (Mrs. Bluebird)
11. Studying The Past Is No Longer Financially Viable (Mamacita)
12. Some Thoughts About Christmas (Mamacita)
13. Snippets (What It’s Like On The Inside)

Well , I hope you enjoyed it. Visit all of these blogs, leave comments, and subscribe to them! Be sure to check Colussus of Rhodey for next week’s Carnival of Education! You can either email him at colossusofrhodey [at] gmail [dot] com or fill out the handy dandy submission form.

Tags

Article Submission | Blogging | Candy Bar | Civil Unrest | Classroom Management | Creating Solutions | Educational Theory | Homeslice | Jeremy Aldrich | Larry Ferlazzo | Math Lessons | Matthew Needleman | New Discoveries | Project Ms | Scott Walker | Signature Styles | Statistical Integrity | Stephen O Brien | Tea Club | Teaching | Teaching Tips | Theory Research