Carnival of Education #163: Spring Break 2008 Edition
I know some of you have already had spring break, and others haven’t yet had it. Whatever the case, spring actually breaks tomorrow as the Vernal Equinox happens. In honor of the new season, you’ll notice a handful of spring-like pictures. I hope you enjoy.
I am spending my time off catching up on housework, doing my taxes, playing with my dogs, and doing some general maintenance with the blog. I surely don’t want to waste my spring break, the time is too valuable! So instead, I decided to host the Carnival of Education. What was I thinking?!?!?
Before I go, I wanted to mention that I have been reading a lot more blogs lately and I came across an incredibly insightful response to an article that appeared in Edwize entitled Surviving Parent Teacher Conferences. Look in the comments on Matthew’s blog for some heated discussions that are erupting.
Up until 10:45pm Central, I would have been able to say he didn’t even submit this entry into the carnival, but two minutes later (13 minutes before entries officially closed), he sent me an email requesting it be added to the carnival. Little did he know, it was already slated for inclusion. I think it is well worth consideration from all of you.
Speaking of well worth your consideration, have you seen this video yet? Have you left a comment?
For a lighter side of parent conferences, check out Mister Teacher’s take on it…
Anyway, on to the entries!
Teachers teaching teachers
- Kevin OConnor presents Learn the Binary Number System posted at MemoryMentor’s Blog.
- Nancy Flanagan presents CHECKER AND ME posted at Teacher in a Strange Land.
- Tom DeRosa presents 5 Tips for Building a Quality (non-ELA) Classroom Library posted at I Want to Teach Forever.
- Mark Pullen presents Working Hard vs. The Joy of Learning posted at The Elementary Educator.
- jose presents Tell You Somethin’ (A Teacher’s Reprise) posted at The Jose Vilson: The Blog.
Teachers teaching students
- Gedaly Guberek presents It’s Boring, Very Boring posted at The Bard Blog.
- AcceptedToCollege presents The Easy ‘A’ vs. the Honors ‘B’: The Myths and Lies of High School Class Selection posted at AcceptedToCollege.com.
- CaliforniaTeacherGuy presents Cleaning Up the Vomit posted at CaliforniaTeacherGuy.
- Mark Montgomery presents College is an Investment: Choose Wisely posted at Great College Advice.
- Dave Saba presents Teach & Inspire posted at DoE- Dave on Ed.
Teachers providing resources
- Larry Ferlazzo presents The Best Websites For Learning & Teaching Geography posted at Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…
- nunoftheabove presents The Parent Factor in Education posted at Nunoftheabove.
- Alex M presents What Everybody Should Know About Secondary Education Problems posted at Online education: schools, colleges and universities | distance learning.
- Josh Lien presents Free Rosetta Stone – Learn a Foreign Language posted at Spin Your Wheels.
- eduwonkette presents eduwonkette and skoolboy’s AERA picks! posted at eduwonkette.
- Darren presents Letters From History posted at Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher.
- GrrlScientist presents Finding Your Wings posted at Living the Scientific Life.
Teachers discussing educational policies
- Christine presents The French School System and Sex Education posted at Me, My Kid and Life.
- Adso of Melk presents Don’t Know Much About His-to-ry? posted at Lorem Ipsum.
- Benjamin Baxter presents What Students Should Learn posted at On the Tenure Track.
- woodlass presents Grading the schools on terror posted at Under Assault: Teaching in NYC.
- Hube presents Wake up a sleeping student in class — and get sued! posted at The Colossus of Rhodey.
- Assistant Principal Q6 presents Longevity in the Workplace posted at Assistive Principles . . .
- Ryan presents A Sad Statement on the Value We Place on Education posted at I Thought a Think.
- Henry Cate presents The “Failing Our Students, Failing America” report posted at Why Homeschool.
- Miss Profe presents Student Accountability posted at Authentically Me: Miss Profe.
- NYC Educator presents Clean Up this Mess (But Not Too Much)! posted at NYC Educator.
- Matt Johnston presents Speedy School Reform: An Oxymoron That Breaks My Heart posted at Going to the Mat.
- Mike in Texas presents Pseudo-Desperate Times posted at Education in Texas.
Teachers discussing homework
- IB a Math Teacher presents Homework and Final Grades posted at 3σ → Left.
- Mrs. Bluebird presents The Weird Homework Thing We Do… posted at Bluebird’s Classroom.
Teachers discussing other stuff
- Master Carl Mills presents What Is Karate? posted at Master Carl Mills.
- Raymond presents Answers To Questions About Your Tax Rebate Check posted at Money Blue Book.
- Carol Richtsmeier presents Diets, Mini Monkey Mints & Floral Print Shoes posted at Bellringers.
- J.M. Holland presents Is AWNM a Star Upon Thar Machine? posted at Lead from the Start.
- thereadingzone presents Questions for teachers posted at The Reading Zone.
- R.J. O’Hara presents Every College a Farm, Every College a Manufactory posted at Higher Education News from the Collegiate Way.
- Celeste presents Cultural Exchange posted at The Life Without School Blog.
- Michael Umphrey presents Thoughts on getting home from scoring 2000 essays posted at Michael Umphrey.
- oldandrew presents RELOADED: The Disruptive Girl posted at Scenes From The Battleground.
- Bill Ferriter presents Separating Work Behaviors from Academics posted at The Tempered Radical.
- Joanne Jacobs presents AP, ready or not posted at Joanne Jacobs.
- mister teacher presents Set answers to stun posted at Learn Me Good.
- Jane presents Embarrassing Things I Have Somehow Survived.
- TR presents A-Maze-ing.
- Terrell presents EEA 2008: Butterfly Conservation posted at Alone on a Limb.
- EdWonk presents A Matter Of Free Speech Or Simple Disrespect? posted at The Education Wonks.
- Clix presents Fingers crossed… posted at Epic Adventures Are Often Uncomfortable.
- Robert Pondiscio presents No Cash Left Behind posted at The Core Knowledge Blog.
Teaching & Learning 2.0
- Mathew Needleman presents CUE 2008 Conference: Open Source Steve posted at Creating Lifelong Learners.
- David Cassell presents America Needs You – To Be A Nurse posted at selectcoursesblog.com.
- debbie presents Finding Scholarships for College Online posted at American Consumer News.
- Mark Monaghan presents So what is eLearning? posted at eLearning.
- Bora Zivkovic presents Individual vs. Group Learning Redux
- Pat presents Viral Learning, Is It Possible? posted at Successful Teaching.
- Normally I wouldn’t include this next off-topic post, but I love reading Seth Godin’s stuff so much and even linked to him this week…
Edith presents Free Live Call with Marketing Guru Seth Godin – Meatball Sundae (April 9th) Hosted by SFentrepreneur posted at San Francisco Bay Area Small Business Community That Connects You With Entrepreneurs Around You.
That’s all folks. The carnival is over. We hope you enjoyed your stay here. We ask that you kindly step away from the carnival now. Oh, one more look can’t hurt you! In fact, fill out the simple one-question survey below and let us know who you are. And while you’re at it, subscribe to the feed below so we can stay in touch![poll=2]
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Excellent carnival, Joel! Thank you for including me.:)
I concur. Thanks for including me.
Great carnival. I like your style.
Terrific carnival! I especially liked CaliforniaTeacherGuy’s “Cleaning Up the Vomit” post (such a catchy title). Also, a very important issue to address.
Thank you so much for inclusion, and I hope I’m able to help some students with proper high school class selection to maximize their chances for college admission.
Thanks for all of your comments. Do you like the pictures?
Incredibly insightful entry on Surviving Parent Teacher Conferences?
Tabor “parses” the blogger’s language as if it were to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. An anecdotal reflection on the part of Ms K becomes an imprecise rant, fraught with emotional implication. Evidently feeling that you are adequately prepared isn’t a good thing. It must be quantifiable.
If I may point out one incident out of many, Tabor is AGHAST at the teacher’s reaction that a parent would DEMAND to find out how the teacher arrived at a score of two on a six point scale for spelling quizzes. It’s thirty percent! Why would anyone put up with being asked to explain something so utterly basic in a situation where the learning of the child is being discussed. Put this in the context of eighteen back to back parent conferences in terms of time available for pointless activity. These folks need special help.
They weren’t asking about the school’s methodology. The parents were delaying to buy time to think during an interview. Lots of people do this. It is one that parents who are administrators often use as they try to convince their child’s teacher that they have influence over her career.
Frankly I don’t understand why he thinks that education schools can or should teach the interpersonal skills needed for a confrontational parent interview. He may be thinking of a bag of tools recapitulating the obvious for people who think of teachers AND parents as simpletons.
Ms K had eighteen parent conferences in one day. Is that in any way normal? Do they take a half day off to do nothing but parent meetings?
Finally, the cell phone incident was verging on rude in terms of normal behavior. I hope the parent apologized. The teacher could easily have spoken with the father by phone at another time. (I asked six people, two of whom felt it was normal, two disconcerting, and two rude.)
Thanks for a great carnival! I loved the pictures too!
I liked especially article It’s Boring, Very Boring
and my favourite image is:
http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/960865_flowers.jpg
Will there be dancing on this carnival?
Should we wear masks?