Educators Books

A dry book, but one with more information than you will ever need to know regarding standardized tests! An excellent reference for all in special education, with honest reviews regarding the strengths and weaknesses of available tests.

This book is an excellent primer for those just beginning to explore performance/authentic assessment. The book consists of 10 chapters: a summary of the imperfections of standardized testing; a discussion of the definition, benefit and intent of authentic assessment; an explanation of how to use observation in measuring student progress; portfolios; a in-depth examination of different types of performance assessment; opening the assessment process to students and their families; a discussion of scoring and grading performace and authentic assessment; a brief guide to implementation; an authentic assessment FAQ; and a relatively thorough bibliography and glossary. Overall, the book provides a good introduction to authentic assessment and its purposes in relatively simple language. However, most examples are drawn from elementary and middle school level, and the guidelines for implementing authentic assessment, while possibly appropriate to grades K-8, do not account for the particular difficulties of implementing authentic assessment at the high school level. For those interested in a more technical discussion of authentic assessment, consider Allan Glatthorn's "Performance Assessment and Standards-Based Curricula." Those interested in more thorough discussion of the practice and implementation of authentic assessment, consider just about anything by Grant Wiggins.

Bernard Rapoport is one of a kind for many reasons. He's a resoundingly left-leaning, labor-union-supporting insurance company founder and funder of liberal Democratic candidates and causes down in the heart of Texas, where such a fellow is distinctly unusual. For most of his adult life, he's put his money where his mouth is, even when he had to borrow the money. Now that he has considerable of his own money, he and his wife continue on an even grander scale supporting educational projects here and overseas. .

Rapoport has always been politically active, and for anyone who's lived in Texas 50 years or so, his recounting of friendships and dealings with national and local political figures will bring back many memories. Underlying all this is his story of personal accomplishment in raising himself from financially poor beginnings through business perspicacity and sheer force of personality.

Kuklick is not pushing the story of a heroic, iconic individual--Fontaine is not cast as a symbol of racial improvement.

Instead he's telling the story of an individual whose career in academia was unlikely, rare for its time, and was, in fact, a mentor to Kuklick at the University of Pennsylvania. Fontaine's scholarly contributions, and his broader importance are both discussed.

Race in higher education is a subject that will not go away any time soon, and this book certainly pushes the discussion forward.

This is a good book for anyone looking for basic information on Booker T. Washington. The photos are well done, and the text is easy reading for early grade readers. While giving a good summary of Washington's life, including his childhood, this book does not go into the importance of many of his actions such as his speech in Atlanta (the Atlanta Compromise).

Park Service pamphlet treatment of Washington's times, life, and influence. Nicely illustrated introduction to Washington touches on the controversy surrounding his "Tom-ism" and overpowering control over white perception and political leadership on racial issues.

Read in conjunction with Up from Slavery (Dover Thrift Editions).

Cecil Sherman has been one of the key leaders in Baptist life in the last thirty years. He writes the story of his life, not out of a sense of self-importance, but rather at the urging of those who know that he has been at the heart of one of the most important religious stories of our time. Against the tides of disintegration, Cecil Sherman fought to preserve what was best in the Baptist tradition. In these pages he has recorded the story of his involvement and has also revealed remarkable pastoral instincts.

His prose is clean and crisp, his insight keen and clear. In these pages, as in life, Cecil Sherman is real. Here he shares powerful stories that affect all those who live and work in the Baptist tradition and the larger Christian world. While this book is far more than the story of the take-over and dismantling of the Southern Baptist Convention, this is clearly one of the few really perceptive accounts of that debacle that has been written.

This is a good resource for absolute beginners to desktop publishing, or for teachers who want to introduce beginning students to DTP. Part I contains information on components, benefits, and the evolution of DTP; design principles; typography; organizational tools and page anatomy; and tips for improving publications. Part II uses Pagemaker 6.5 tutorials to create basic publications, such as flyers, brochures, and newsletters.

The book is spiral-bound, with black-and-white printing, and decent illustrations. It includes a glossary with many examples, particularly related to typography.

The work covered in this book would be appropriate for middle school or high school students or teachers who are absolute beginners.

This book is just what it says it is, a basic dictionary of place names and geographic concepts suitable for anyone at any age, not dumbed down but very accessible. There are no flashy fantastic four-color images or cutting-edge GIS technology concepts, but what the book does provide is broader, more comprehensive standalone definitions of terms than are often found in elementary or high school textbooks. If your kid is taking geography, or if you are teaching geography (as I did) this book will undoubtedly help.

I needed this book for my education class and it was much easier ordering online rather than paying way over-priced, which I would have at school. Thanks to Amazon I can get my books CHEAPER & every college student knows how saving money is key!!