“Welcome to the 154th Carnival of Education. Out on the red carpet, emotions are running high. Margaret Spellings took off her Sexy Librarian Glasses to wipe her brow. Rod Paige clung to Reg Weaver’s arm to steady himself. And rumor has it that Bill Gates has even stopped talking about education and the election. I’ll be hosting you this evening with my colleague - "
“Ryan Seacrest.”
“Ryan Seacrest?! I asked for Stephen Colbert. Or Patrick Dempsey.”
“Stephen has to write his own show now, eduwonkette. And McDreamy is all about solidarity. Let’s get started with Number 40 on this week’s billboard charts...”
“Wrong show, Ryan.”
“Right. Who will be the next American Idol?”
“Um, Ryan, this is the Carnival Of Education. But it’s just a press conference because of the writers’ strike. So here’s the list of winners:"
The “Barbara Walters Edu-Interviewing” Award:
* Robert Pondiscio at Core Knowledge, who asks the education cognoscenti to predict NCLB’s future
* SharpBrains, for an interview with the author of “The Adolescent Brain” (terrifying specimen that it is)
* Alexander Russo, for a quirky interview in which Democrats for Ed Reform’s Joe Williams confesses that math is hard for journalists
* The Line, for asking us to contribute our “burning questions” about education
The “Saturday Night Live Would Be Proud” Award (funny posts reflecting on classroom life):
* BellRingers, for a post on the perils of the yearbook’s color printer when hormonal teenagers are involved
* Ms. Frizzle, for “That’s My Pen! A Play in Three Acts”
The “Election: It’s Not Just a Movie Starring Reese Witherspoon” Award:
* Seth Pearce at NYC Students, on Obamarama
* Scripted Spontaneity, for supporting K-12 teachers who want to get active in education reform debates
* Successful Teaching, for a post on how to teach the election now
* Campaign K-12, for reminding us that all (education) politics are local
The “Romper Room, No More!” Award (classroom management musings and tips):
* Scenes from the Battleground, for “Zen and the Art of Going to the Lavatory”
* The Elementary Educator, for his call to eliminate extrinsic rewards
* It’s a Hardknock Teacher’s Life, for asking her kids to ante up
The John Dewey Award (serious thoughts on big teaching issues):
*frogs-swans and swans-frogs, for reminding us that teaching from a script is as good as shellac
* A Shrewdness of Apes, for a post on high school kids (not) aging out of high school
* Principled Discovery, for revealing how colleges treat mentally ill students
* Teacher in a Strange Land, for loving Ellen Page and writing about how schools and society treat pregnant teens
The “Show Me the Money!” Award (posts on the role of money at various levels of the education system):
* NYC Educator, for noting that kids who get credit cards for the tee shirt need to know how to manage their finances
* Money Blue Book, for giving “My Super Sweet Sixteen” the roughing up it deserves
* College Information for Smart Students, for teaching us how to live large while spending little money (hint: follow your friends with meal plans into the dining hall)
* DoE, who wants to cut his kid in half to help with the district’s budget cuts
The “I Heart New York” Award: (posts about NYC education policy and politics)
*Debbie Meier at Bridging Differences, for her post, “An Absurd Grading System and Lessons Unlearned”
* Edwize, for telling it like it is on NYC School Progress Reports
* Gary Babad at NYC Parents, for giving Eli Broad a new idea to fund (a Degree Program in High-Stakes Testing)
* Under Assault, for highlighting the UFT’s internal politics
The “Skooling the Ed Schools” Award (ed schools and their discontents):
* Colossus of Rhodey, who thinks ed schools are awful
* I Thought a Think, who is shocked by ed schools’ meager offerings on classroom management
* Going to the Mat, who examines the course requirements at Maryland ed schools
* EduDiva, for comparing medical and ed school approaches
The “Research This!” Award (posts on educational research):
* Sherman Dorn, who wrestles with economists on education and the economy
* Stuart Buck, who questions the findings of a new paper on school choice
The “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” Award (about ridiculous things that happen in education):
* Education in Texas, for a post about a teacher denied an award because he refused to miss school to accept it
* Dangerously Irrelevant, for being too dangerous to make it through schools’ software filters
* Friends of Dave, for a post quoting a parent who wants to stand on her car and throw rocks to protest budget cuts
* Mamacita, for a post on choosing valedictorians
The “Blogging + Teaching Cocktail” Award (how blogging can improve teaching):
* So You Want to Teach, for “8 Ways Blogging Makes Me a Better Teacher”
* The Tempered Radical, for reflecting on the blogging/teaching nexus and sharing a new blogging toy with us
The Writers’ Strike Award (posts on teaching writing and reading):
* Teaching in the 408, for “Be the Molotov Cocktail” (strategies for getting kids into reading)
* Right Wing Nation, who wants to bring grammar back to writing education
* Larry Ferlazzo, for a list of the best websites for supporting writing instruction
The Blackboard Award (on teaching and learning):
* Joanne Jacobs, for a post on teaching the classics (or not)
* Nucleus Learning, for thoughts on gender and science (& bonus pics of cool science projects)
* In Practice, for a post asking if technology in the classroom improves learning
* My Ten Thousand Friends, for “Why the Hell Would I Want to Teach?”
* Creating Lifelong Learners, for thoughts about design and storytelling in film (& bonus pics of adorable kids)
* Circle Time, for finding meaning in teaching kids to blow bubbles
* Life Without School, for a post about unschooling while killing chickens
Thanks to all of the contributors and to the EdWonks for giving me the opportunity to host the Carnival!