Carnival of Educators: New Beginnings Edition

I am so thrilled to be hosting my very first blog carnival! Since we have just started a new year, I thought that New Beginnings would be a good theme (albeit a loose one). I was pleased to find so many insightful posts, even after the holiday when many of us took a much-needed break.

Let's start this carnival off with the educator who founded this this Carnival to begin with, Andrea Hermitt. In her post The New Year brings back old math in Fulton County GA at Education Headlines Examiner, Andrea notes that next new thing isn't always the best choice, at least when it comes to math in her corner of the world.

Carol Richtsmeier over at Bellringers has written a timely piece on New Year's Resolutions, Lists & Ninnyhammers. Could the world really exist without the word ninnyhammers? I think not.

Here are a couple posts focused on reading. At Joanne Jacobs you can read Why more reading isn’t helping. It seems reading text messages and twitters is not the same as reading an actual book. Guessing none of us are all that surprised...

At Teacher in Transition Heather Mason presents an insightful article on the Joy of Forced Reading. Some of the things that we as adults love most may have had their start when a parent or teacher forced us to not only give it a try, but also to stick with it.

In contrast, over at Blah, Blah Blog, Pamela Jorrick presents a post on the joys of Self Directed Learning noting that, while there are some basics we need to learn in order to thrive, we are more likely to retain things we are interested in over things that we are forced to memorize.

John Spencer at Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher shares an impressive plan to improve teaching in why gardening taught me structure.

Sherry Terrell at Teacher Reboot Camp reminds us all how important our Personal Learning Networks are in her post PLNs, Where Do We Begin? and offers some advice on how to develop yours.

At Technology In Class there is a terrific post on how Coloring Outside the Lines allows students to develop as learners.

Edwin Choi has supplied a huge list of Fun Collective Nouns for Animals at K12 Directory of Schools Blog This post could surely be the seed for a fabulous lesson!

Sara Finegan at The Demanding Classroom makes a case for using skip counting to learn multiplication facts by rote in her post Nimble with Numbers: The Importance of Skip-Counting. She notes that when students know their facts, they can apply their knowledge to problems that require critical thinking.

Those interested in higher education will want to check out Which Online Universities Are Embracing Open Courseware? at Online University Data

Although Healthtechtopia focuses on healthcare technology, the post 55 Tips to Instantly Make Your Brain Stronger and Faster has some good ideas about ways to stay sharp - for you and your students.

At Attention Slip.org, you can find a post about how Kalamazoo Catholic schoolchildren write letters to Baby Jesus instead of Santa

All beginnings must end,and so ends this edition of the Carnival of Educators. Thanks to all who submitted, and please check your links and let me know if there is an issue. Please also promote this carnival on your own blog.

Don't forget to submit for next week's carnival at Notes from a Homeschooling Mom. Here is that much-loved handy dandy submission form.

Looking for more good links? The Carnival of Homeschooling is celebrating its 4th anniversary at Why Homeschool.