99th Carnival of Education

Is the wrapping paper picked up off the floor yet? Did you hit all the sales Tuesday? Did you return or exchange at least three of the gifts you received? For those of us who have celebrated Christmas this week, those are very real questions.

It's been a busy week since the last Carnival of Education, but don't think the blogging's stopped just because there were presents to open!

This holiday season is a season of opposites--not necessarily good or bad, but definitely opposite. Secular vs religious. Ham vs turkey. Coal vs presents. Cold weather vs warm spirits. Real cranberry sauce vs jellied. Wrapping paper vs gift bags.

And let's not forget the music. What kind of Christmas music do you like? Is Silent Night what you want to hear, or is it Jingle Bells--or, forgive me, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer? Perhaps you want to hear this album. Or maybe something a little more traditional?

Or maybe you just want to get to this week's posts around the edusphere.

What would define The Enlightened Student? Ask Michael at Ambitiously Inquisitive.

Sonja at Bookwink: "This is not a blog post, per se, but it is a link to my video podcast about World War II books for children. I hope you will find it a useful resource for teachers."

What would you do with a billion dollars? Nneka would open a school.

Russ at Student Help Forum gives us the 2006 School Review.

Phil tells us what zero times infinity equals. Maybe Phil should talk to Trent Lott (see last link, below).

Right Wing Prof talks about what math college business students should know but often don't. Excel is featured prominently in this post. Apparently these college students have been heeding the advice of Trent Lott.

Lisa discusses her search for determining the difference between a good school district and a great school district--because the latter is where you want to live when you start your family.

Aquiram invites us to join in a collaborative conversation in which we utilize critical thinking skills to reach our potential at ascertaining the necessary vocabulary with which we can conversate with our peers in a skills-based environment.

Tammy, at the Life Without School blog, gives us two posts about homeschooling.

Online University Lowdown writes about, amazingly enough, online educational opportunities.

Mr. Chanman presents us with a social studies teacher's review of Mel Gibson's new movie Apocalypto.

NYC Educator fills us in on Mayor Bloomberg's plan to make seat time--yes, merely sitting in a chair--a "credit-bearing activity". I'd move over on the pay scale if I got credit for all the seat time I accrue while posting to this blog!

EdWonk, founder of the Carnival of Education, sends his post about the teacher who "came out" to her class during the Day of Silence. Yeah, EdWonk, way to be non-controversial during Christmas week!

Ms. Cornelius posts on the recent news report about kids' getting high on prescription medication, and some of the potential markers for such activity.

Here's a blog making its RotLC debut: Campus Grotto, with suggestions for (college) students on how to improve themselves over the winter break.

Beth at AFT's NCLBlog lets us in the some of the concerns of paraprofessionals as regards the No Child Left Behind Act.

Dr. Homeslice gives us a pro-union post, which definitely isn't something you see a lot of here at Right On The Left Coast!!!

Ryan of Edspresso submits two posts this week: a report from the pseudonymous John Dewey, as well as a lively tale that weaves the exciting ending of Jurassic Park with the not-so-exciting teachers union reaction to the report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. I think another species went extinct in the time it took for me to write the latter half of that sentence.

Joanne comments on an LA Times story about Christmas gifts for teachers.

Mamacita has posted grades online? During break? No-o-o-o-o! (I doubt she's the only one.)

Former Carnival host The Median Sib tells us what she's going to do during this "vacation".

And your current host links to a video clip in which former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott dismisses the value of math and physics education for anyone not going into the math and physics fields.

It's been a treat hosting this week's Carnival. Thank you, EdWonk, for allowing me to do so. I wish all of this week's readers a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

And now a word from next week's sponsoring blog:

Deadline for submissions is next Tuesday 1/2/2007 by 9 PM Mountain Standard Time.
Email: educatorang@hotmail.com