Humanities Books

As a fiction writer, poetry has always seemed somehow mystical to me. This wonderful book makes it as accessible and understandable as my own stories. Bless the authors for so wonderful a resource!

In this highly readable text, Wormser and Cappella pose as "Mr. P.," a veteran English teacher who puts poetry at the center of his teaching. The text itself poses as Mr. P.'s journal and is reminiscent of Thoreau's Walden Pond. Taking us through a single school year, Mr. P. records in an engaging, unprofessorial manner both a philosophy of teaching and a rationale for making poetry an integral and daily part of the English curriculum. In separate entries, he describes his interactions with poems and with students. Woven throughout these entries are poems, teaching strategies, poetry prompts, and tips on guiding students through analysis of poems--their own and others'. Teachers who are already committed to poetry will find much here to re-energize their teaching; teachers who are not fully comfortable with poetry will gain confidence and may well find their teaching of poetry revolutionized.

Any and all of Sontag's works and the volumes of articles and books written about her are listed here. Indexed! Intelligently done! Bravo!

Keep in mind that this is an annotated bibliography. That means Sontag's work is given precise descriptions, and the reviews and essays about her work are also summarized. Even better, Poague has the single best introduction to Sontag's career that is available. It should be read in conjunction with his introduction to CONVERSATIONS WITH SUSAN SONTAG. I can't think of a better way for anyone studying or writing about Sontag to gain access to so much knowledge so quickly. Certainly Poague's work proved to be indispensable to my wife and me when we were writing our biography of Sontag.

What an extraordinary enterprise this is: the reconstruction, largely from oral or late sources, of the celebrated fables or parables told by a once-famous rabbinical teacher and thinker from Eastern Europe, from a culture which, though European and Jewish, is as strange to the average Westerner as any alien civilization. These Jews believed in reincarnation; they developped complex historical schemes of interpretation; they had their own numerology and their own philosophy. Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav was, according to Buber, both the last and the greatest of this line of mystical philosophers. Always a controversial figure - he suffered the violent opposition of a whole opposing Jewish party in his own shtetl, which he seems to have taken with Gandhi-like non-violence - he was above all the author of a number of complex, elaborate and, dare I say, beautiful tales expressing his own view of the nature, origin and destiny of man and God. A later and rather different Jewish genius, the cartoonist Jack Kirby, has unhesitatingly ascribed the success of Jews in all the American arts and media to the influence of the Jewish tradition of storytelling, learned at home at one's mother's knee, and bearing fruit throughout life in a natural aptitude for putting complex ideas and views of life in narrative form. These tales show you where he came from; they are of a complexity that bespeaks an ancient and proud narrative culture, and they are capable of bearing the most profound intellectual meaning. As for their author, Rabbi Nachman himself, they reveal not only deep humanity and a visionary imagination, but also features very unexpected in a Chassidic Jewish teacher - a warm appreciation of human and animal beauty, and a temper to understand and forgive rather than condemn or exclude. However, this book is to be treasured not only, perhaps not even mainly, because of its own literary and intellectual excellence, but because it is the resurrection of the last testimony of a great European tradition, now vanished or changed out of all recognition, but fascinating and worthy of respect in its own right.

Rabbi Nachman is one of the great leaders of Hasidism. Even today there is a whole group of Hasidism who consider him their ' rebbe' and walk in his way. The great presenter of the Hasidic message as he interpreted it to the Western world , Martin Buber in this work presents an introduction to the life and work of Rabbi Nachman, and presents six of his tales which he translated to German and which have been translated from the German by Maurice Friedman. These tales are truly 'parable-like mystical tales' and compel the reader to seek new interpretations of them. The volume concludes with an essay by Buber on Rabbi Nachman's Journey to the Holy Land. This is an excerpt from the concluding chapter. "Herein the land of Israel, the purification of the imagination takes place.It is not for nothing that the sounds of the word adama soil, and medame imagination , resemble one another: the fullness of the elements comes to the imagination from the earth.But the purification of the imagination by faith can take place no other way than through the consecrated earth and the consecrated earth is here in the land of Israel".

If you are young or inexperienced band or orchestra director you must have this book. It's filled with great suggestions for running your ensemble, as well as sample forms to use for your program. Health forms, playing test examinations, it has everything you will need. A fantastic reference, and a book that makes me much more confidant going into my first teaching position.

I first read Cooper's "Teaching Band and Orchestra" during one of my undergraduate instrumental methods courses. My professor noted that this was the first year he had used this text, having switched to it due to what he believed was its practical and accessible nature. As a first-year music educator now, I find my professor's words ring true, since I find myself referring to it quite often between classes for refreshment and to find ideas I may not have thought of myself.

By far, of all the books on teaching instrumental music I have read, Cooper's text is the most practical and comprehensive. Everything a beginning music teacher needs to run a successful band or orchestra program is here in this book. Cooper first explores various philosophies behind instrumental music education in order to make one think about what one's primary goals in teaching are and what one wants their students to experience from being in an ensemble.

Next, Cooper devotes an enitre section to beginning instrumental ensembles. From recruiting and retention to selecting appropriate method books, Cooper covers a myriad of issues that the elementary instrumental teacher faces on a daily basis. From there, Cooper procedes to the junior high and high school level, discussing how one helps one's ensembles to grow and mature, as well as how to maintain the vast adminstrative aspects involved with running a high school instrumental program.

One of the best features of this book is the wealth of sample materials Cooper has included. Sample lesson plans at all levels, letters to parents, concert programs, band handbooks - all are present and are based upon Cooper's actual materials that he used during his career in the public schools. Being able to actually have references for formatting, tone, and style has helped me immensely so far in my career. Cooper has also been invaluable in helping me to assemble my school's band handbook; his advice on what to include and what not to include alone is worth the price of this book.

Overall, I consider this book to be the Bible of instrumental music texts. No teacher of band or orchestra at any level should be without this work. Even seasoned veterans will find new ideas that they may be interested in incorporating into their lessons. It comes with a very durable hardcover binding that will take the punishment associated with being opened, thumbed through, and dog-eared over and over again. In summary, Cooper's text is an invaluable addition to any music educator's reference library.

Finally a book just for music teachers who want to learn new new techniques for use in the classroom. Frierson-Campbell and the individual teachers contributing to this two-volumn collection present novel ways of teaching music students. A must!

This book is an absolute MUST for any teacher who is teaching, or is planning to teach in an urban setting. I found much of the content very practical and useful.

My Preschoolers enjoy singing along with the CD and "reading" the poem as they sing. They take the poem home and sing it to their parents. I have also put a set of mini poem books in my reading center for the students to enyoy.

I love this book (I bought the whole series). My class enjoys listening to and singing along with the CD. I make a class sized book by enlarging the pictures and putting the book together in a binder. We practice every day with the CD. Then on Friday, I give each child their own child-sized book and we practice with the CD. Then I send the book home with the children. I've gotten so much positive feedback--parents love it!
The children also tell me how much they enjoy the books, and we have review days where they can choose their favorites.

This book is stuffed with terrific ideas for teaching vocabulary in an organic way using words students find in their own environment. Bravo! You'll be sorry if you sell this book.

Anyone involved in teaching vocabulary, especially to a group with a wide range of reading levels, will benefit from the techniques and exercises in this book.

I've seen a lot of (technical) writing books and most of them are just crap. You don't need a 50-page chapter to teach you how to put citations in your paper. You don't need double spaced text as if you are an elementary school student.

But this book is different. It help you focus on your your article/report/book at any level you desire from the overall organization to the proper selection of words. It gives you sophisticated advice that is actually useful and time tested.

I am an engineer, and I have used this book when writing my masters and PhD theses and a number of paper. I have used it when I wrote a patent application. My wife is a social scientist and she uses it for writing her thesis.

I have been using this book for about 10 years now, and I assure you it will improve your writing at every level. This book should be number one seller in its category.

I bought this book by chance. But, I realized no other books cannot be compared with this book. other books say how I could rearrange the layout and order of my documents. This book teaches how I should write the sentences and paragraphs and the sections in scientific fields. This is very useful for nonnative speakers of english especially!

Technical writing is essential for all university students because if they can write efficiently and express themselves well and precisely, it will be easier for them to relay their ideas to others and hence find jobs easily, write well balanced reports, and more importantly perhaps know what they are writng and talking about. The more organozed one's speech or writing is, the more effective one will be. Non-native speakers of English, however, do not think oral and written communication is that important but once they use this book in an English class under the guidance of their teachers, they ABSOLUTELY CHANGE THEIR IDEAS I recommend this book to all teachers of English teaching English at freshman or sophomore level.

This book is exactly what everybody needs, especially nonnative speakers. Among the many technical writing books that I have, this one is always provides me with the best information. I highly recommend it. It is easy, comperhensive, and excellent....

great book for understanding theatre the 7th eddition has just updated pictures than the 6th the chapters are almost identicle except placement of pictuers if you are using it for a class the material is the same dont get the 5th or the brief version if the 7th is required the chapters are in different order but the 6th is pretty much the 7th (except silly picture placement ) have fun with you're clss enjoy

I've used a couple of versions of Cohen for 8 years in high school classrooms. (IMHO, much of it isn't freshman and sophomore-friendly.) I personally turn to it often, as well. I have nothing but the highest regard for Cohen's work here. He manages to combine general aesthetic issues with historical detail and current theatrical practices. His enthusiasm is palpable. The "digest" versions of selected plays combine meaty chunks of text with synopses and terrific illustrations. This book energetically avoids a textbook-y tone. (Heads up: I have not seen the latest edition.)