Educators Books

Annan provides memorable portraits of many Oxbridge dons, even as he shows how different from our own were the eras in which these men (and, far too belatedly, women) worked. For example, consider the following:

** The two opiates to be avoided at all costs were love of success and a preoccupation with money. Lowes Dickinson's most famous pupil was E. M. Forster, who in his novels tooks Dickinson's ideas a stage further; and he summarised the King's [College] ethos by saying that it was a place that "taught the perky boy that he was not everything and the limp boy that he might be something." **

Alas, this is not _our_ era . . .

The book is also packed with amusing quotes from the dons themselves, such as the following message from one don to another:

** On our return last night I found as I thought that a spider had crawled out of the inkstand over a piece of paper; but it turns out to be a hieroglyphic from which I so far interpreted as to perceive it was an invitation to meet some professor whose name as you wrote it looked somewhat indecent. I shall be happy to wait on you and take the opportunity of learning the Eyptian mode of writing. **

Annan's book is ultimately an elegy because Margaret Thatcher, among others, did so much to ruin the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.

I just bought this wonderful book when I went back to Hampton University for Homecoming 2003. I was glad to see such an undertaking written on Dr. Harvey. I found it very interesting and I am now in trouble with my wife because I kept my night-stand light on all night reading the book from cover to cover. I have only one criticism so I will dispense with that first: Dr. Benjamin is very repetitious of certain facts and accounts including them in one chapter to illustrate one aspect of Harvey's leadership and then in another to illustrate a similar leadership trait, while this is the only weakness of the book it is a common thread throughout, chapter after chapter,and therefore does lend itself to no small amount of irritation. Other than that, it is an absolutely fabulous book about a man who has been a true inspiration to more than a generation of Hamptonians. As an approach to the work, it should be noted for the true students of the genre that the book neither is nor pretends to be a work of autobiography, instead it is a chronicle of how one man's value based leadership transformed an institution of higher learning. In the pages of this book one finds a man steady at the ship in steering Hampton toward new horizons while keeping her true to her most noblest traditions and aspirations. One finds a man of vision unafraid to do what is right for that grand institution while in the process demonstrating and exemplifying dignity and decency. As an alum of Hampton University who was inspired by Harvey's leadership as a student, the work came as a refresher and a capsulization of all that I learned while quietly observing this man from a distance. Thank You, Dr. Benjamin for capturing one of Hampton's finest moments...Dr Harvey, Hampton University is your destiny... what a blessing to be so clear...and she still needs you!!!

(...)

...because it's easier to navigate.

When teaching last year, I often referred to Driscoll & Nagel's third edition but had difficulty with the format. They squeezed too much in each panel. They used too many unsual sidebars. They obscured the basic content with their layout...

...but this is much better. The most impressive section is Chapter 6(Families and Communities) because of their strong "closer looks" into real-life applications of the content. An added superelative is a section on the education of homeless children.

It's not even that expensive.

Tyler is helped reinvent twentieth-century education in America, but is too little known. This book offers a graceful, clear, and concise account of Tyler's life and achievements: it's to the point, and free from the woolly and jargon-ridden prose that afflicts so many books in the field of education. And there are some fascinating byways (including Tyler's explanation of how Bruno Bettelheim was rescued from Nazi Germany) into the broader history of America before and after the Second World War. "Educating America" restores Tyler to his rightful centrality -- a fitting tribute to a remarkable figure.

Thank Prof. David F. Labaree and Amazon with it's business partners providing this nutritious food for spirit.

Feature of this book: there is only one author of this book, so you can be sure that this food does not include any kind of additives.

The eminent critical educator at UCLA, Carlos Alberto Torres, looks at (engages)the professional biographies of a select group of social thinkers who have, more or less, shaped some of the most salient propositions in critical pedagogy and related issues of social development in the USA, UK and Latin America. Among those interviewed are the late Brazilian philosopher of education, Paulo Freire; the prolific critic of culture and cultural studies in education Henry Giroux; the social and educational scholar Michael Apple; and Maxine Greene, the brilliant philosophe engage. The dialogues are lively, revealing in many interesting ways, and, may be more than anything else, inspirational in concretizing the possibilty of "winning" against many odds with the simple combination of forward-looking intellect and "responsible" posture and praxis firmly expressed on a sheet of paper. If the newly modified maxim, "the pen could be more powerful - please relativize power in this context - than the establishment", has any post-colonial implications, the intellectual history of these educators and social critics may, in effect, apply for candidacy. If Henry Giroux was not wanted by his former university - indeed that has been the case - then looking at power in the eye is not easy. If Maxine Greene could not get intellectual access within her school, then humanistic scholarship must be frightening. And if Carlos Alberto Torres, without a doubt, one of the brightest and most productive scholars in education and social critical thought, was accused of getting his current job at UCLA because of affirmative active, then one may be tempted (tempatations are hardly real and generally dangerous)to advise the brilliant academic to simply move to Harvard (I am serious), Oxford, Heidelberg or McGill (this last one is little bit personal). Who would not want Carlos Alberto Torres in their department or faculty. But the "who" in this context applies only to those who measure men and women based "on the contents of their character". Too good and specially delightful, I might add, that Carlos Alberto Torres actually uses this type of measurement: he admires and dedicates this seminal work to those who stand (that is in person) for the essence of social justice and long overdue human emancipation - Rosa Parks; Martin Luther King Jr, And Others. And to add to the momentous joy of the decades as they went and will go by, this work opens with a poetic memory of that great education and liberation philosopher Paulo Freire. The author also talks how he would have liked to include Cornel West, the philosopher at Harvard. That, of course, would have enriched the book; and even a richer version, I may be permitted to suggest, could have included Ratna Ghosh, current Dean of Education at McGill, and that other no nonsense UCLA educator and authentic cultural critic, Peter McLaren. But again, we should know, that is if we try harder, that there is more to publishing a book, beyond the desires of the editor and especially in critical education, than one may have wished. In all, this is a five star "stuff", and it should be read by all those who see education as a contentious terrain for analyzing and devising social development. Even those who still tenaciously and faithfully cling to the structural-functionalist "wonders" of education, may still learn one or two things from this precious enterprise. A luta continua.

I read this book for a teaching class I am taking in college and it's great. Dr. Provenzo offers a concise history of the Internet and WWW. He stresses the importance of computer technology in the Century to come. He also offers many addresses to interesting sites that a teacher may use in his/her class. He gives detailed examples of lesson plans that can be created through the use of the Internet. Essential for the Computer-weary.

There's no way around it - no matter how great your school is, it's inevitable that you'll encounter a disciplinary issue. "The Educator's Guide to Assessing and Improving School Discipline Programs" seeks to provide a framework for preventing as many disciplinary problems as they possibly can - and grant advice for dealing with unavoidable ones that will come up. For principal components: clearly defined parameters of student behavior, effective monitoring of students, positive relationships with students, and appropriate consequences for misbehavior create the foundation of "The Educator's Guide to Assessing and Improving School Discipline Programs." Authors Mark (a retired elementary & middle school principal & teacher) & his wife Christine Boynton (an elementary school principal herself) provide everything an educator needs to make an effective disciplinary policy for their schools. Enhanced with a Frequently Asked Questions section, a bibliography, and a comprehensive index, ""The Educator Guide to Assessing and Improving School Discipline Programs" is invaluable to any educator who is in charge of such things in their school and for community library education shelves in general.

This book was written with not only educators in mind but for anyone that is feeding a child with disabilities. Parents, paraprofessionals, and therapists will gain a lot of helpful information through the use of this book. It is written in a style that is easy to read and is good for the beginner feeder as well as the experienced feeder.

Dr. Waller's humorous approach to a serious topic will make you remember why you decided to become a teacher in the first place. This fast-paced, easy-to-read book is filled with tips based on sound behavioral principles that all teachers can use. And just as important, the stories will make you laugh. Teachers--and anyone else who finds behavior fascinating--can relate to the tales Dr. Waller spins to make his points clear and memorable. It's a good book for a bad day. (If you're a special education teacher, you know what I mean!)