Educators Books

I found this book has useful ideas that are not difficult to implement. It provides lists and suggestions for addressing issues that many arise in the classroom. It is easy to forget that many ASD children need to be directly taught things that the average child would intuit. I think this would be particularly helpful when an ASD child is placed in an inclusion setting so the teacher could prepare for the child's needs. With any child you have to look at his or her unique needs, but this book has some very useful concrete suggestions on how to help an ASD child succeed.

I love this resourse it had a lot of great ideas. My suggestion would be to read it before you give it to you educators and pick and choose what you think might work for you child. They were a lot of ideas using many different tackics and some will work better for some children then others. I did love the ideas and suggestions.

This book is a great starting point and a good strategy reminder for any teacher, but especially for teachers that don't not have any experience teaching students with Asperger syndrome or High-Functioning autism. (Although it could be applied to any student in many different settings and at any age!). The content of the book in divided in 10 useful simple strategies. Each strategy is presented with an example and the reasons why it is important to use it. I would also recommended it to parents that need to give an orientation to the teachers of their sons or daughters.

This is a very user friendly book for busy teachers and other school staff who advocate for children with Asperger Syndrome and related disabilities of all ages. The book outlines ten areas that must be addressed and provides excellent information and strategies for each area. This book could be used to guide training for school staff working with students with AS/HFA.

I highly recommend getting the Audio Compact Discs with the book. I am taking a course from the University of Phoenix. It is a five week course condensed down to three weeks. Without the CDs I would be even more lost than I already am!

I found this book indispensable for those Educators working or seeking carrer in a biligual teaching environment. Very useful.

I've listened to the CDs in the car on the way to work. They're really great at refreshing my Spanish vocabulary.

After flipping through this book several times at the school library, I knew I had to have it. Once I received it, I flipped through again and looked closer at the content. I believe this book and the CDs will be a valuable tool to help me converse with my Spanish speaking students. I have always wanted to take a Spanish course but don't have the time at the moment. This will definitely be helpful!

I've read several books on Teacher in Space Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger tragedy and bought this book because the reviews described it as focusing on the Teacher in Space program. I am mostly interested in how the program came about, how it was announced and promoted, the application process, the selection process, and the training. The book certainly covers those areas but not in as much depth as I hoped. Much of the book is on the life of McAuliffe which is thoroughly covered in Robert T. Hohler's excellent biography "I Touch the Future..." While just over 100 pages with very wide margins, Burgess' work does offer information as well as a more comprehensive look into certain areas than I've found in other books which makes it definitely worthwhile to anyone interested in McAuliffe, Challenger, and the Teacher in Space program.

Burgess describes the lessons McAuliffe was planning to teach in space better than any book I've read so far. This information is found in the chapter "Learning the Ropes." One of the demonstrations involved a screwdriver to show that, in space, the weightless astronaut would turn instead of the screw unless anchored. As to the programs to send civilians into space, Burgess covers the incomplete plans of choosing a journalist to go into space (Walter Cronkite was one of the forty finalists) more thoroughly than elsewhere. While Hohler's book is a better source on the application and selection process of the Teacher in Space candidates, Burgess offers several color photos of the ten finalists I have not seen anywhere else.

Finally, with a publishing date of 2000, Burgess has the benefit of hindsight that most of the other books on Challenger do not have. He gives a brief update on Christa's husband and back-up Teacher-in-Space, Barbara Morgan. I had always thought programs to send civilians into space of any walks of life died with Challenger, but the Teacher in Space program has continued with Morgan taking the lead. She actually completed astronaut training in 1999 with an expectation that she would enter space as an "educator mission specialist." This book was completed before the Columbia disaster, so Burgess sounded very optimistic about her chances. Although delayed, fortunately, Morgan got the chance to live her dream on the space shuttle Endeavour. The book includes a section of color photos, an interesting chapter on "Space Objects Named for the Seven Challenger Astronauts," and a forward by Christa's mother Grace Corrigan.

As a friend of Colin's, I normally would disqualify myself from reviewing one of his books but I feel that I had to comment on this book.

Colin has done a great job of cutting through the usual American sentimentality whenever the Challenger crew are mentioned and has done a great job in telling us about Christa. However, the book is not just about Christa. The ill fated Teacher in Space program is described in detail as is the launch and the short flight of the Challenger shuttle.

A worthy addition to any space library. Teenagers in particular will like this book.

Kate

While much has been written about the engineering and management decisions that lead up to Challenger explosion, the mission, the Challenger crew and the whole Teacher in Space Program have received much less attention. In this book, the author, Colin Burgess, only devotes a few pages to the accident and focuses primarily on the teacher in space program, Christa McAuliffe, her teaching and NASA experiences and of course the aftermath of the accident. Since the book was written well close to fifteen years after the accident, it avoids much of the sadness, anger and the like which dominated many of the early works on this subject. As a result, the author gives us a wonderful book about the life and times of Christa McAuliffe and the Teacher in Space Program. There is also closing chapter on the next Teacher in Space Candidate, Barbara Morgan, who should fly sometime this decade.

As someone who lives across the street from the Johnson Space Center (JSC), it is quite obvious to me that the author spent a considerable amount of time researching her life and experiences at JSC, since all of the places, buildings, etc., are named correctly (using the names in 1986), located in their proper places and the astronaut training she received is as it should be. In other words, not only are you getting a wonderful well written book, it is also well researched.

One final thing to add, the book contains 32 pages of color pictures and all royalties from the book go to the Christa McAuliffe Fund.

This is not the first book written about Christa McAuliffe- but it may well be considered the last word on her. Many previous books have concentrated on the technical aspects of the Challenger explosion that took her life. Others were written about her as a person, but were written so close to the time of the disaster that it was hard for them to be objective and see her life and achievements in their entirety. With the passage of time, it has been possible to set the Teacher In Space Program and Christa's life in their true historical context, and Colin Burgess has here done an admirable job of doing so. The politically-inspired events that led to a teacher being offered a seat on a spacecraft formerly reserved for those with piloting or science tasks to undertake are outlined by Burgess with objectivity and clarity. But what comes through more than anything from this book is the remarkable strength of personality that McAuliffe had, making her the perfect person for a space flight, and how that strength has meant that, even after her death, her plans for space education have gone ahead. It seems that her mission to educate and inspire people to dream about spaceflight and act on those dreams was fulfilled even though she never made it into space. Burgess, having already authored an important body of spaceflight books, has added a work guaranteed to inspire and motivate anyone.

I was told by my county's recruiter to get a book on behavior management to learn more about behavior management strategies. I found this book here and purchased and now am halfway through the book. I think this is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn behavior management - especially educators. It discusses methods, techniques, assessment, and strategies to solve any behavior. It gives great examples as well. I would highly recommend getting this book.

We are using this book in our Masters Degree in Education and it is actually pretty good. For Psychologists it turns to be a little bit basic but this book was written for an educational environment, so the ideas and tips are simple and in-frame. Also the explanation of behavioral modification terms and technicalities are easy to understand for people who didn't study Psychology. I recommend it.

This is a well written text on the topic of behavior management. It offers numerous examples to support the theories mentioned. It is an informative read for teachers and parents alike, and offers tangible solutions.

This mom struggles with what to do with her musically gifted kids. She becomes pretty consumed with developing their skills. This book encouraged me to take a more active role in working with my own musically gifted child. However, it also vividly illustrates the dangers of becoming a "music" mom. Overall, I didn't enjoy the book but think it gave me new direction and perspective to my own situation.

I don't usually write reviews, but this book is an exception. It is a deeply moving account of a mother's discovery of her children's giftedness, and along the way the discovery of her husband's giftedness and her own. I also have two gifted children, and although they are not profoundly gifted as Ms. Hein's family, much of what she wrote made sense to me.

I took this book out from the library, but I'm going to recommended it to my family, friends and school contacts.

This book expands the horizons of literature on profound giftedness. It is an engaging parental account of one family's discovery of their children's extreme asynchrony leading ultimately to the author's discovery of her own. In their struggle to understand the complex and unusual needs of their children, Rebecca Hein and her husband Ellis must also learn how to best meet those needs. This journey of discovery reveals much about their own lives, bringing them full circle to a greater understanding of themselves and what is required for them to live their lives most fully.

Rebecca Hein details with clarity and insight the unusual ways her children learn, perceive and think. She chronicles the family's home schooling as she finds new ways to teach the children, all the while relating these to her own experiences as both student and teacher. Through Rebecca's keen observations, we accompany her family through this journey and in doing so find a familiar understanding of their experience.

This book can further the understanding of that experience for educators and professionals working with profoundly gifted children. It makes a compelling case for both the unusual educational and emotional needs of this population, and for the reasons these needs must be served. Even more important, is the book's value for those families who might see themselves in its pages and know that they are not alone. There is both comfort and optimism to be found in the ways this family chose to meet their challenges.

This handbook is a collection of essay's on various issues of christian spiritual formation & discipleship. I had this as a text at Lee University for my Spiritual Formation & Discipleship class, and largely enjoyed it. There is nothing I'd consider "great" in this book, however, there are a few good articles that are informative for those who wish to gain a good understanding of many issues today, with a nice bibliography that can lead to further research.

I used this and read it extensively for a Master-level Christian Education/Christian formation class.

Highly recommended for thinking through the issues of discipleship and creating and implementing a church program to help with Christian Education and Christian Formation. The writers are Evangelical, although there's only one or two chapters I have minor disagreements with. As a book about practicals though, I don't doubt that they are not really dealing with the theology as much as they are trying to find some good practical applications. I don't believe this book will become a classic, as it does not have the "timeless" qualities of classics.

The book is rather contextualized for this present timeframe, and deals with a lot of current issues. Largely, it lists a lot of practicals (like goal setting), hiring and staffing, finding the right people (e.g., director of Christian education, and other volunteers), making Christian Education/Christian Formation a priority, setting times of evaluation, and so on. There are some other issues dealt with, like home-schooling, context of Christian Education (in the family, home, church, small group, etc.).

You will find this most useful if you are thinking about setting up a Christian Education or Christian formation program, or you're a seminarian studying this issue, or a lay-person thinking about the role of Christian Education and Christian formation. It's probably one of those books you'll read and put on the shelf and probably refer to once in a blue moon as needed.

There are a variety of great contributors for this book, including Dallas Willard, and the two editors of the book.

The popularity of authors such as Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster and Dallas Willard, and a renewed interest in practicing age-old traditions (spiritual disciplines) have perhaps thrust the concept of spiritual formation into the collective conscience of evangelicalism - at least as a catchphrase. A collection of twenty-five essays on " . . . the nature, responsibility, and means of spiritual formation . . . " gives this book the feel of a panel discussion. This impressive panel line-up is loaded with articulate Christian thinkers who communicate their understanding of how God shapes a human soul and the work that is entrusted the Church to affirm and promote this transformation.

A word of warning - this is neither a panacea nor an easy to read how-to-grow manual. Definition-wise, there is a wide array of thoughts and reflections; however, there is a commonality or theme that underscores the notion that the responsibility for the Christian is to respond to God's formation and transformation of one's soul. This book may prove useful for educators or anyone who is serious or even intrigued about growing spiritually. The various contributors to this book flush out the reality that believers need to engage the creator of their souls. As one of the writers summarizes, spiritual maturity is a gift of God. "The disciplines serve as catalysts, but [they] are not the cause of spiritual transformation."

This book was a well done epitaph to Dave Sanders. It was touching.Although I've been heavily into Columbine since 1999, I have to admit that I knew very little about Mr. Sanders.Here he is portrayed from several different perspectives. Husband,Father, Teacher, Coach, Colleague and Friend. It gives you a nice well fleshed out portrait of who he was and how he lived his life.There doesn't seem to be a lot of info about him personally out there so its good that a book was written with the memories and experiences of those that knew him well.

From reading this book a few days ago, I have to say that this is a excellent book surroung the life of a man who died at Columbine almost 6 years ago and I thought that this was a good exple of a life well lived.

As that his family are among the very few that I respect as a result from what happened at Columbine(with regards to their actions as well as their attitude since what happened), I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who want to know more about Dave Sanders and his life.

If all ordinary people lived in extraordinary ways like this man, the world would be a better place. There is a piece of all of us in this book.

I personally know Dorie Brunner and she is a fascinating woman. However, the book shown here is not the recent one. She changed publishers and the second print is fantastic. Be sure to track it down!! She is so much happier with the second print.

What an interesting book, I loved it!!
Dorie and Lou's canoe trip from Lake Bemidji in Minnesota to the city of New Orleans is an exciting river adventure. They experienced a number of hair-raising situations that made the book anything but boring. While dealing with the unforgiving weather and the unpredictable river, they meet some friendly people who helped them out along the way. And confronted some who didn't, like a skunk, a thief and other campsite intruders.
It's an excellent read for those who love camping, canoeing, river stories and even cats. Dorie gives a good description of their journey and preparations. Even though it took place back in the summer of 1960 it's still very informative and interesting. Especially for those who have a fancy for doing something like this.

A pet, such as a cat, can teach its human companions so many things about life. Not to mention how the silly antics of a cat can get its owners into trouble. Just as Dorie and Lou found out when they adopted a lonely kitten early in their trip.
Stinky the kitten is a wonderful ingredient to their story, and it's likely that you wont find anything similar to this book anywhere else.

In 1960, Dorie Brunner and Lou Germann, two Wisconsin school teachers, decided to paddle the Mississippi from the headwaters at Lake Itasca, MN to New Orleans. Shortly into their adventure, they rescued a small kitten from the muck on the shore, and "Stinky" ended up traveling 2000+ miles downriver with them, becoming the focal point of much of their travels.

What makes this book so charming is also what weakens it a bit...unlike most contemporary travel/adventure writers, Dorie and Lou obviously undertook this trip for the sheer adventure of it, not to race home and write a best seller. This is their authentic story, told by 74-year-old Dorie some 40 years later, drawing on memory...in fact, it doesn't appear that they even kept a journal. There is very little description of the places they visited, (though there are several photos) more about the daily hazards they faced, and Dorie apologizes for having long ago lost the names of people such as the tugboat captain who gave them a free ride for three days.

But the heart of the book is Stinky's story. If you're one who believes that cats wander into our lives when we need them most, you'll find this to be a very charming read.

An updated edition of this book has been out for a few years. I don't know why Amazon doesn't list it. You can get it from Educators Publishing Co.

I stumbled across this book by chance in my local library. What a gem! I can't give this book enough stars! What a pity it is out of print, I really wanted to buy a few copies and distribute it to every child educator I know!

I am not a teacher, but rather, I am a parent of a child who is "lazy", underachieving, not paying attention - you name it, you know the spiel. I was hoping to find some kind of clue as to what was going on in his mind - I did not expect to find a full scale map!

As I was reading the first few chapters about attention controls and alertness, I found myself going "aha" every two seconds. What he described fit perfectly with the behavior I see in my child, and now I have a more complete understanding of why he acts the way he does - always a plus for a parent.

This book was certainly not written for parents, that is obvious. It reads like a textbook, with mostly technical terms and concise explanations for each one. Even so, it is clearly written, and very easy to understand, if you invest the time to read it through slowly. He explained the problems with mental energy and efficiency (I know I am using the wrong words, but the book is not with me right now), so well, that I felt as if he was standing there looking right into my brain. And as if he had been standing there all through my school years. How else would he have known "exactly" what everyone said to me (parents and teachers), and "exactly" what I was feeling as I was sitting in class?


Not only did I find validation for behaviors and learning patterns which I have never understood, but I have also found a lot of tips, even for myself, in getting better organized. When I mean organized, I mean organizing the BRAIN. I was amazed at how much more efficient I could be, when I had previously thought that I was running at top efficiency (for me). Dr. Mel Levine does not offer "excuses" but rather, he explains what the problem is so that you have a point of reference as to where to start fixing it.

I have not yet finished the book, if you have seen it you will know why, but there is no question in my mind that this is THE book for every educator to have as a reference. I have so far read only the parts on attention and memory, but if I have given the impression that this book describes only ADD, I will have been giving a very wrong impression.

Dr. Levine does an impressive job in describing all kinds of learning problems, all kinds of hidden learning problems that are not obvious to parents and teachers, and how these hidden problems are impacting on a child doing the best that he/she can in school, and I guess, eventually in life.

He has written other books on learning problems, such as "The Myth of Laziness" and "A Different Kind of Mind", which are written in a more conversational style, and are directed towards parents, but I found this book more helpful in getting to the "core" of the problems, as opposed to "how my learning center can help" which is the theme of almost every book I have picked up on learning disabilites, etc.

There is one slight point that I disagree with him however. He talks about colleges accomodating themselves to different students learning styles. I have read educators complaining about his attitude in different Amazon reviews, and in this I feel he is going a little too far. Elementary schools have a mandate to educate each child that comes in throught their door, and to make them into human beings who leave knowing the basics of education. In this, I think that schools have an obligation to accomodate themselves to different students' learning styles. But colleges are different, and I think that a college has a right to accept a student who can show good test scores in whichever format they (the college) chooses to test in. For those students who cannot meet their criteria, there are other, less demanding colleges that will accept them. Because after all, if they cannot pass the entrance test, how will they pass the courses? Isn't that the point of the entrance examinations? But of course, that's just my rant.

This book was extremely helpful to me as a parent. My son's teacher kept telling me to get him tested, but I had no idea how to start as I saw that he is extremely bright, and could see no obvious reason for his scholastic failures. This book pinpointed exactly what his problem is, and I am now armed with the knowledge to further help my child. Knowledge is power, as they say. I have another child with language issues, and I have yet to read the chapters that deal with his problems, but I am confident that I will obtain an excellent understanding of his problems as well.

This is a beautiful, excellent, wonderful, book, that should ideally be in every educator's hands. Every school should implement the ideas presented in this book. (Of course they won't). I only wish that Dr. Levine would write another book, in this format, for parents, sort of "dumb it down" a little bit, so us parents can understand the child's problems without all the scientific jargon which makes it difficult reading. I know that he has written some other books, and I have read through them quickly, but I found the other books more anecdotal, without the clear and concise presentation that this book contains.

I also wish he would write a book about how learning problems affect ADULTS, and what they can do about it. I did find it pretty easy to convert the tips into "adult" tips, but of course, I would love to read a book that is directly written for adults with these learning problems. As strange as it may seem, I realized that a lot of adults have some of the poor learning strategies, only translated into adult behavior, and obviously, causing corresponding havoc and stress.

In any case, this book was wonderful, thank you, Dr. Levine!

Educational Care, A System for Understanding and Helping Children With Learning Problems at Home and in School by Dr. Mel Levine is a book that all professionals in the field of education should be required to read.

As a special education teacher, the topics Dr. Levin presents are paramount to the education of all children. Today, with curriculum frameworks and standardized testing, general education teachers are being pushed and pulled in too many directions. Teachers in the general education setting have many diverse learners; teachers need the valuable information from this book to assist them in guiding/coaching the children in their charge. It is imperative, as the educational system moves forward and the bulk of students that were once serviced by specialist are now being instructed within the general education setting, that these students are provided with the tools that will assist them in learning and retaining information. Many general education teachers have minimal knowledge of the differentiated practices that can be implemented within their repertoire in educating students with diverse learning needs. Teachers whom have been in the general education setting for the past years have a wealth of knowledge, techniques, and strategies to service their low average, average, and gifted/talented learners. However for children that do no fall within these categories, general education teachers have not been instructed or equipped with strategies to help guide these students with specific learning deficits. Educational Care is an excellent resource for all educators to use to assist them in better developing their craft of teaching.

Educational Care presents a wealth of information regarding weak attention control, phenomena related to: reduced remembering, to chronic misunderstanding, deficient output, delay skill acquisition, and to poor adaptation. In addition, this book has chapters for the provision of education care, assessment and management, and implications and applications for the misinterpreted child. The Appendixes is a valuable resource for every teacher to peruse and use for those students whom could benefit from such helpful planners and organizers.

Educational Care gives tremendous assistance on both fronts:educational strategies in the classroom and strategies that the home caregiver can provide to assist children with learning problems.

This is a book that I will be lending to many colleagues in hopes that they too may learn how to help those students that are struggling in the educational/social setting.

Every teacher young and old should have this book. This book tells the tale of a new teachers struggle to get through to an inner-city school. Sure there have been plenty of movies with the same plot, but this account is great. Chirstina Asqquith writes with heart and soul, and you will really route for her in this inspirational story.

It is fair to note that had Christina Asquith taught in a more affluent part of Philadelphia or a middle class suburban community, she probably couldn't write a book about her one-year experience as a teacher. Before being trained as such (even trained teachers have to struggle in the beginning by learning on the job) she should not have accepted a teaching job from a district which would simply throw her to the wolves, as such. As she pointed out, a few teachers in this abysmal school were dynamic and great managers of their classes. And it seems true (was for me, at least) that it takes about three years to build ones teaching techniques--and maybe five years to really feel confident. But Asquith had an unfortunate placement in a tragically-run school.

Nevertheless, Asquith's portrayal of the (reputed) worst school in Philadelphia (and too many others come close) is heart-rending and shocking, and the revelation an embarrassment to the district--let's hope.

The author had it many times harder than I. How she held on for a full school year is a testament to her character in the face of the school district's incompetence. The book is more revelatory than inspirational, and though a fast and sometimes engrossing read it is rather depressing. I think a prospective teacher--who isn't desperate--would tend to not teach in a big-city public school after reading this account.

I retired a few months before Asquith started her experiment in teaching, and my school (after at least 30 years of relative calm) was just starting to become infected by students creating bedlam in their classrooms and hallways. I had good control, was creative and motivational, but even my tolerence with the system forced me and other veterans in the school to take the early retirement incentive being offered by the state (so the district could hire two new teachers for the price of one veteran with higher degrees). We could see what was coming.

Now, the reader will understand why 50 percent of new hires leave teaching within 3-5 years--the shorter time representing big-city public schools. Teaching can be very rewarding, but also one of the toughest jobs there is, and the emotional stress is equal to that of a police person "on the beat"--I've read.

The following partial paragraph from page 98, gives a sense of the entire book:

"I'd set out wholly single-mindedly to learn to teach, and suddenly my failure became a real possibility. I'd personally staked everything on suceeding, I'd given up my career, my Inguirer [Newspaper] friends... If I was failing and wasn't making a shred of difference, what was the point? How could I answer the question: How was your day?"

A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

How many employment opportunities require minimal or absolutely no experience required? I certainly didn't expect that teaching would be one of them when I first looked into substitute teaching.

There are some areas in the U.S. where substitute teaching requires an actual teaching degree. These jobs are filled by newly graduated or retired teachers. There are other areas in this country where "some" college or simply a H.S. diploma is the requirement.

The difference comes down to supply and demand economics. If you have an excess of talent in a small market, you will almost certainly need a master's degree to step into a teacher's role for the day.

I just finished reading "The Emergency Teacher" that relates the first hand account of Christina Asquith's first year as a full time teacher at one of the worst schools in Philadelphia, despite being untrained and uncertified.

Synopsis:

"School District of Philadelphia, in desperate need of 1,500 new teachers, instituted a policy of hiring "emergency certified" instructors. Asquith, then a 25-year-old reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, joined their untrained ranks. More challenging than her classroom in the crime-infested neighborhood known as "the Badlands" are the trials she faced outside, including a corrupt principal, the politics that prevented a million-dollar grant from reaching her students, and the administration's shocking insistence that teachers maintain the appearance of success in the face of utter defeat..."

She lasted a full 180 day school year and didn't result in the typical Hollywood ending.

That's 179 more days than I would have attempted had I been crazy enough to try. I guess that's the difference between being young, idealistic and full of energy .vs. mature (re: much older), realistic and pooped.