Welcome to the third installation of the 2009 Teaching Carnival! Spring Break is looming (for some of us, it's already here), which is the perfect time to take a breath and explore the academic blogosphere. Just as a reminder, here's some definitions and a few words of wisdom for academic blog readers. And thanks again to Jason Jones and Kathleen Fitzpatrick for the first two Teaching Carnivals.

Beginning on a non-blog note, 4Cs (the Conference on College Composition and Communication), the big deal gathering in my field, takes place this week. If you've noticed your rhet/comp people making lots of photocopies and fretting about time, that's why. If you're going, Mark Crane has called the hash tag: #cccc09.

(Special tip for my Writing Center peeps...the master list of WC-focused sessions is available from the IWCA.)

Starting off with a key issue, several folks explored issues of writing and literacy:

• Last week, NCTE released The Genteel Unteaching of America's Poor, a brief report by Kylene Beers exploring the link between class and access to innovative teaching.


• Earlier, Alex Reid unpacked Kathleen Blake Yancey's report on 21st-century writing.


• The Writing Center at ASU recently released a series of podcasts on writing for grad school.


• Both Tenured Radical and Annie Em take on those masterpieces of narrative: student excuses.

Assignment sharing and assessment are always hot topics:

• Several people flagged David Silver's recent Digital Media Production and Eating San Francisco assignments.


• Dr. No is in fine form, sharing thoughts on The Plague(rism) and a grading quandary all of us have been in before (as evidenced by the many, many more helpers suggested in the comments). Plus, the mention of ShamWow allows me to link to the University of Alberta Writing Center's GramWow video.


• What would talk of assignments be without a discussion of assessment? Jason Jones discusses his online grading method and proposes a better one and Nels provides insight into his own methods.


• Delaney Kirk offers up some student feedback on the value of enforcing classroom rules.


• K8andcat ponders Teaching sensitive topics and the importance of praise, appreciation, and forging connections with students.


• Alex Halavais meditates on teaching, academia, and the importance of informal, unexpected, collaborative learning.


• When I read Alan Cann's Lies, damned lies and frustration, I couldn't help thinking about my freshmen and their ability to "do" basic grammar.


• Scott Eric Kaufman asks the eternal question What would you title a post about a student's parent trying to beat you up? Yikes.

Of course, before you can assign or assess, you need a job. A number of writers tackled the topic of academia and the search for positions therein:

• For those new to t-t jobs, Gayprof has some advice. Dr. Crazy supplements the list with advice for those at non-research schools.


• Sisyphus ponders the wonderful joy that is the job search in a time of hiring freezes and budget cuts.


• Dave Perry offers sage advice on the importance of an online profile for grad students, young scholars, and anyone interested in the future of the profession.

Several bloggers considered Twitter and microblogging in general:

• David Silver, who always has interesting things to say about Twitter, offers a thick-thin schematic for categorizing tweets. This sparked a response from Random Access Mazar and a useful explication in the comments.


• Chuck Tryon, tired of the "Twitter=pointless narcissism" meme, makes a case for Twitter's ability to foster communication and build community.


• George Online joined the iPhone cult community the other day, and I thought his March 8 tweets about needed academic apps were worth noting.


• A new TwitRhet Twitter group is up and running. Thanks Karl Stolley! (Also be sure to check out TwitRhet).


• If you're looking to get into Twitter, Paul Bradshaw is raving about Twitterfall. (Contrary to the title, it's not just for journalists.)

Finally there were the entries that didn't easily fit into a larger scheme:

• Alex Reid reacts to the recent Hacking Education conference.


• On Science of the Invisible, Alan Cann wrestles with the future of MicrobiologyBytes and online community. Don't skip the comments; interesting points are made.


• Patrick Murray-John explores using Zotero and OpenLibrary as part of a Giant EduGraph.


• Lisa Spiro posted a second Digital Humanities in 2008 wrapup. Fabulous reading, as is Part 1.


• Chuck Tryon points readers to a fascinating series of documentary shorts called Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road.


• Annie Em, who's loving her comp classes this term, is soliciting suggestions for memoirs by younger women writers and meditating on her school's new LGBT club and the changing gender/sexuality climate on her campus.

Big thanks to everyone who wrote and who submitted links. Remember to nominate entries for inclusion in the Teaching Carnival and tune in to The Chutry Experiment in two weeks for TC 3.4. Thanks for reading!