The Edge of Education Carnival. Issue 1

Welcome to the first issue of The Edge of Education Carnival! Obviously, this is a new venture for us at We Teach We Learn. So, we’re learning a lot about running one of these things.

The idea of this carnival is to share experiences of “edgy” teaching and learning. There are a lot of great things happening out there in the edusphere. More and more, we’re beginning to understand how to blend the art of teaching with the science of learning. It’s a balancing act, and this carnival is the place to share our triumphs and failures walking that tightrope.

It’s about the risks we take, and the new stuff we try, and the stories we bring back from the adventures of blazing new trails.

Knowing this, it makes sense that stories of personal experiences will always be get links before other kinds of submissions–like list posts, for example.

Frankly we were was shocked at the number of lists of 100 that we received. We ignored most of them. Indeed we were about to delete all of them, but when we looked closer, a select few were actually interesting. Upon further review, we came to the conclusion that some of these submissions actually delivered quite a bit of value. Especially to the teachers at the “edges” of technology and education innovation. So we kept four list posts–out of 57.

Understand that not all original posts were accepted either. We’re setting the bar pretty high. In order to be accepted, posts must be valuable, interesting and honest. Action research is held in the highest regard, but interesting best practices and insightful reflections on educational literature and/or personal experience also qualifies as “Edgy.”

Our guiding intent is to maintain the highest levels of quality, value and integrity here. Teacher’s should expect nothing less.

Okay, we’ve rambled on enough now. Let’s get to the good stuff.  In no particular order:

• Marjorie Morgan wrote an interesting piece about the challenge of making math relevant to students at Lindsay & Sharon – outdoor adventurers posted at GO! Girls Outdoors. Her premise: Marrying Mathematics and Outdoor Education – can it be done?

The following paragraph from her entry hits the nail on the head:

While I was tutoring the other day, my student asked whether I’d ever used Calculus in my ‘real life’ (which I assume meant away from the classroom – he’s a bright student who has realized that teachers sometimes have a life away from school). I had to answer no, I never had – after all, if you chuck a rock off a cliff, it’s easier to just estimate where it will reach its highest point and where it will hit the ground than it is to pull out a pencil and paper and work out the equations.

• Jeremy Burman presents Update: Baby Einstein DVDs to be refunded posted at Advances in the History of Psychology. Jeremy writes about the recent offer from Disney to refund the money of those who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, saying that this begs the question: what do parents and teachers have to do to encourage giftedness in their children? He then offers a brief annotated bibliography of sources related to this topic.

• We all know how important novelty is to stimulate attention and motivation. Rachel Lynette has supplied a great list of ideas we can use to provide that spark of surprise to engage students again. Get out of that Rut! posted at Minds in Bloom. We couldn’t agree more with this, from her post,

Yes, routines have their place, and you need them to keep your class in order and to get things done. But they are also so very boring and they don’t do a thing to stimulate creative thought. So, every so often (at least once a day!) shake your kids up and do something different.

TIC writes,

You’ve experienced it before: you teach the same lesson to two different classes. In one class it’s the best lesson you’ve ever taught. In the next class the lesson bombs. Have you ever sought to discover the reason behind this mystery?

• Be sure not to miss this insightful article about the nuances of teaching that aren’t often addressed about Classroom Dynamics posted at Technology In Class.

• Twitter has taken social media by storm, and individuals as well as corporate America are scrambling to understand how to capitalize. Shelly Terrell presents a great article explaining how educators can utilize this new tool to ramp up their professional development. PRESTO: How to Build A PLN Using Twitter posted at Teacher Reboot Camp is a great introduction on how to build a Personal Learning Network.

By way of introduction to this fabulous article, Shelly writes, “I hope educators will be able to learn about the usefulness of Twitter in this very short presentation.”

• Jim McGuire has created a simple assignment that rewards students for reading. The problem is that, based on the documentation he’s getting back, some students are lying about how much they’ve read. Jim thinks it’s a motivational issue and shares a great video he plans to use to help motivate his students. Fake Reading, Will Smith, and Being Successful posted at The Reading Workshop.

• And last but not least, Hall Monitor presents a great example of the spirit of ingenuity alive and well in today’s students DetentionSlip.org: MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150 posted at DetentionSlip.org.

And now for the list posts. These posts aren’t original, but collections of original ideas. If you’re looking for inspiration, browsing these links is great way to find some

• Kaitlyn Cole presents 100+ Google Tricks That Will Save You Time in School posted at Online Colleges.net.

• Fredric Cernick presents 25 Free Web Tools Every Student Should Use posted at How To E-D-U.

• Angela Martin presents 100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom posted at Online Colleges.org.

• Stacie Young presents 100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read posted at Online Schools.

That concludes our first edition of The Edge of Education Carnival. Want to submit to the next one?  We’d love to hear about your “Edgy” teaching.  Just use this handy submission form.

Image credits:

Front Page: Woman on cliff

In article: Climbing man

Thank You!