Math Teachers at Play 2
So, here’s the thing. Denise has created a great carnival. It’s all about K-12 math for teachers and students. Lots of links. Lively. Good choices. Some nice filler text and well-chosen images. In two weeks it moves over to newer blogger kate(t)… we should support it there as well.
But… As great as this schoolteacher math carnival is, I am concerned. I thought it was great to hold one carnival together, higher math, oddball math, and school math. And I worry now about them being separate. I like that Denise set up an every other week, alternating, between regular and school. And the regular CoM still takes school posts. So there feels, for now, like there could be a relationship.
But it’s weak. And school math people benefit from exposure to more challenging stuff, and vice versa. Without that link weird stuff can happen. And does. Like NY State getting logic wrong. Or college math instructors having no idea what their freshmen have learned. So I worry. We should make sure that the two carnivals continue to interact…
Check out Math Teachers at Play #2. And Carnival of Math #50 at John D Cook’s Endeavour.
JD2718 
Working on the college side, and having professional and personal interests in the K-12 side, I share your concerns.
Has there been reluctance of school math bloggers to submit to CoM, for whatever reason? I suspect the answer could be “yes”, based solely on the fact that MTaP has gotten a flood of fabulous material.
If the school math crowd didn’t feel like CoM was their space, I understand setting up a forum to highlight their material. And yet…
And yet.
I’ll be an optimist. There are plenty of blogs that straddle the boundary between K12 and college, and those blogs will generate traffic to both carnies. I doubt I’m the only college math person who reads more school math blogs than math grad school or researchy blogs.
Whether the CoM can continue to attract the school math readership is perhaps more at issue….
I worry a little myself, but I also maintain the optimist slant that perhaps Math Teachers at Play could be the “gateway” to get more teachers comfortable with the regular Carnival of Mathematics.
Jason, TwoPi, I think the fact that there are a few active bloggers from both sides who care speaks to the potential to maintain the link. Slight correction: MTaP has been taking posts from bloggers. I might have submitted, but I did not. Which is fine, not a complaint, but the rather good participation, initially, is at least partially passive.
I hope that MTaP can be a partner to the Carnival of Mathematics, not a competitor. As long as I’m hosting, there will always be a link to the CoM (if I know where it is—sometimes I lose track), and I will encourage other hosts to do that also.
To answer TwoPi’s question, I often did feel a little out of place at the CoM, even though it was supposed to be for all levels. But more important to me, I didn’t feel comfortable referring my readers to it, because my target audience (homeschooling parents) is much less mathy than I am. But when I can combine the link to CoM with a wide range of material for all levels, that makes it “fit” on my blog.
As for the MTaP getting a flood of submissions, not really—it was about the same number as CoM usually gets. I padded the carnival with posts I had enjoyed from the backlog of my blog reader. I like a full carnival.
I’d like to think that they will bolster each other, and not draw apart. And it’s been a wonderful start for MTaP.
I’d like to think that awareness of the concern makes it less likely that they actually will draw apart. Certainly regular links back and forth would be a good thing.