Educational Books

This slender book is packed with insight into brain research and how to use it to make learning easier and a more pleasant experience for the students and teacher. Sprenger covers safety issues, learning styles and how to change your teaching address them, the effects of stress and how to lesson it, physical needs of the brain, the different kinds of intelligence, and much more. The information is more accessible because much of it is presented as stories from the author's own classrooms and life.

The book is easy and interesting to read. So much current and practical material has been incorporated into this slim book, cleverly organized around the analogies of The Wizard of Oz. Marilee, as an experienced teacher who reads extensively, has the gift to select the essentials to provide an over-all introduction to "brain-based teaching". The Table of Contents will give a good idea of the scope of coverage: structure of the brain, dealing with stress, emotional growth, developmental cognitive skills, 5 kinds of memories, 8 intelligences, use of music, brain states, brain food, sleep, exercise, learning environment, learning styles, brain-based asesssment...

Once the appetite is aroused by the introduction here, readers can move on to Eric Jensen's books, esp. "Brain-based Learning", "Different Brains, Different Learners". Jensen's recent books all have much better visual format, more sketches and pictures.

(The "marshmallow experiments" on impulse control quoted by Goleman is also quoted here (p. 49). Various authors, e.g. John Gottman, have actually challenged the conclusions.)

Teachers will find this revised and expanded second edition of a best-selling guide is packed with tips on the latest research on learning, memory and the brain - and uses these insights to change approaches to classroom teaching. From helping readers translate theory into practice to brain-compatible classroom management strategies and emotional skills development for different grade levels, BECOMING A 'WIZ' AT BRAIN-BASED TEACHING: HOW TO MAKE EVERY YEAR YOUR BEST YEAR is an outstanding resource no teacher's college or reference library should be without.

This is an exellent beginner's Tarot deck(but not just for beginners!) to give or receive yourself. The cards are updated, computer graphic designed images based on the ancient and classic "Marseilles" deck, with a blended, old but modern feel to them. The computer graphics add new color shading/depth & the figures cast shadows- the blue skies feature wispy, white clouds. Only the Minor Arcana cards are not Marseilles type, but based on original or other tarot art. Still a great basic deck that could be used as well as the Rider-Waite deck- 5 stars.

In this book Kathleen McCormack explains how to use the Tarot cards and interprets their hidden meanings.Everthing about them
is intriguing and mysterious, but Ms McCormack does not confuse the reader, giving concise and simplified account of their history. The accent is on spiritual growth, and cosmic consciousness. A great book set in any language and not just for beginners!

I am not a beginner at Tarot, but I use this set all the time. Other tarot reader fell in love with the beautiful cards (not harsh like some other tarots), the simple, yet full of info booklet that gives you insight along the way. It's good for beginners, because it doesn't "abandoned you" with the cards and your intuition; it helps understanding each card, then their meanings according to their position in the spread(s). It still requires energy (as any tarot reading), but this set makes it fun and fulfilling. I would recommend this to any tarots readers and I'm planning to give it as gifts to friends.

I use Belonging for many of the small groups that I run. I find it to be very useful with intermediate students. Its the best I've found for teaching an abstract concept in a comprehensive, specific, skill by skill fashion.

It is a guide for anyone who facilitates groups for kids. A book of self and social discovery activities that build on each other and tap the creative energies of children and adolescents through the use of journal writing, therapeutic play, and many other strategies. The activities are developed around the themes of exploring self, focusing on feelings, cooperating with others, asserting yourself, handling verbal abuse, managing strong feelings, resolving conflicts, sharing ideas, and making friends.

This newly revised edition of a classic in group facilitation will help the novice in launching a group, sequencing exercises, and creating visual aids. Group processes are organized around a variety of key issues, such as anger management, people skills, and saying "no." The processes are developmentally sequenced so that many group-facilitated activities can be shaped to work well with younger or older children. Useful suggestions for the therapeutic use of journal writing, role playing, and a good choice of other activities are effectively presented. This one book could take the place of 10 or 12 on the facilitator/counselor's shelves ... a real gem.

This resource is for teachers who are interested in understanding science as it pertains to the classroom. It provides information as to what students need to know by the end of each specific grade level. I highly recommend this excellent resource for those who are pursuing National Board Certification and/or those who are pursuing excellence in science instruction.

Many states have created specific standards for students to acheive throughtout their schooling. This publication is extremely useful in helping to understand the intent of standards and what they look like in the classroom. Anyone that is working on science and math curriculum must have a copy of this. It is also very useful for new teachers to get insight into exemplary content and practices. This document also helps people understand misconceptions that students develop over certain concepts. I've been using it continuously and have bought copies for many people in my school district.

I teach science in a small, very rural school to grades 7-12. I have been using this book for the first time this year.

I like how this book makes the benchmarks clear and specific. It doesn't just say, "Students will understand the structure of atoms" the way my state's standards do. It spells out exactly what the student should know about the structure of the atom.

I used to run a very textbook driven curriculum, but I found that the textbooks were woefully inadequate, but I lacked direction as to what I should be doing. When I recently changed schools, I also discovered this book, and it presented the answer.

At my new school, my textbooks are only a reference that mostly sit on the shelf. I have designed my curriculum more around these standards and my state standards.

This book makes it clear that there are many topics that I have taught that don't need to be taught. For example, during the past 2 years, I taught photosynthesis and respiration from the book: electron transport chain, pyruvate, and all. This year, I talked more about the carbon and the energy and where all the atoms went. My students this year can actually answer questions about these subjects. For the most part, they understand them. My previous students did not understand.

This book also has an excellent section on dealing with vocabulary. Much of science education substitutes vocabulary for understanding. I am now using many fewer technical words, and even then only introducing those words when the students understand the concepts.

I don't agree with some of the things in this book. There are a few subjects I think are more important than the authors do. There are also a few subjects the authors think are more important than I do. I also dislike their emphasis on attitudes about science and the amount of time they spend on the culture and history of science. I would like to see more emphasis on content.

Overall, however, this will make you a better teacher. If you are a parent, it will equip you to question what your child is learning (at any level) and to get your school to start making the changes our education system needs.

This book is also available through Lulu.com at a slightly reduced rate. (http://www.lulu.com/content/55707)

Dr. Noe Acosta wrote his 1999 doctoral dissertation on the conflicts between the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Bible. This book is a collection of essays by Catholics who consider his arguments against Purgatory, praying to Mary, sacramental Confession, the authority of the Church, and many other topics. Several Calvinist doctrines which were covered in Acosta's dissertation also have essays devoted to them.

As a series of essays addressing commonly held errors concerning Catholic belief, this a very readable book. The topics included common areas of Catholic belief (Mary, Purgatory, Authority, Salvation etc.) and as a whole give an impressive and orthodox defense of the faith. The essays varied in length (as short as a few pages to as long as 80) and academic level, which allowed for easy reading (whether I had 10 minutes free to read or an hour). While none of the essays are exhaustive on their given subjects, they all provide well grounded points of departure for discussion of these topics between Catholics and non-Catholics. This can be especially useful for those who have friends or family who do not understand or have rejected the Catholic faith.

What is striking is the variety of the backgrounds of the various (over 20) contributors. They included high school teachers, engineers, clinical psychologists, a paralegal, a college professor, a policeman, a computer scientist, a biologist and a chemist. What is also novel is the fact that contact information is provided for feedback to each author and for those interested in contributing to future works. As a book composed by practicing Catholics motivated by nothing more than defending their faith and giving a personal response to Dr. Acosta's work, it shows that depth in understanding and explaining the faith is not restricted to professional theologians or religious.

This is a book that Gary Frye - husband - provided information for but I found it useful because schools are always need more ways of getting funds into campuses to meet NCLB. Since I'm the one who always orders Gary had the follow comments: Working with Stan over the years has given me insights into the need for developing other system for getting funds into school districts. This book is GREAT and helped me think of new always that can use my school district's foundation and development office. Stan has provided another great service to public education by providing folks with a reason why a development/fundraising office it needed.

What a wonderful resource! Dr. Levenson's book is a valuable guide for helping find sources of grants and for better understanding the process of grant writing.

I particularly liked the examples of grant opportunities for K-12 schools and the list of 101 foundations and corporations interested in giving to K-12 schools. The examples of awarded grant proposals provided in the book show you the proper formats and various writing styles for a winning grant.

As a technology education teacher, I feel the section on writing mini-grants will be very helpful in obtaining future grants to further expand my program.

Having actually applied for and been awarded five mini-grants this year, I feel that Dr. Levenson's book will help me take my grantsmanship to the next level. He provides a blueprint for creating successful school grant writing teams and for obtaining major grants to meet larger needs.

As the new fundraising director within a new fundraising organization within a very old chicago public school, i needed to ramp up extremely quickly. I had no NFP fundraising experience whatsoever. I largely credit this book with taking us from zero to $150,000 in the course of several months. I have no affiliation with the author (I'm always supicious of glowing reviews), and in fact was on this page to recommend it to another school that's just kicking off their fundraising efforts. It's comprehensive, has a wonderful collection of docs and support materials, and I continue to pass our two copies around to new members of our team. Seriously, buy this book.

What an amazing book for adults! Illustrations are wonderful and the messages are so uplifting. This is especially helpful for someone going through a difficult time or anyone who needs spiritual encouragement.

The Book of Courage is fabulous! The inspiring illustrations and quotations mellowed me out after a very busy, insane kind of day, - creating within me a sense of peace and "coming home"

Westport, CT

This little book on courage offers wonderful insight and inspiration for anyone desiring to overcome fears. You can open the book at any point, read a quote, be inspired by the beautiful illustrations and gain a heightened sense of bravery. I recommend this book to anyone striving to live fearlessly.

Penny Cohen, LCSW, author of Personal Kabbalah: 32 Paths to Inner Peace and Life Purpose

If you as an educator are brave enough to empower your students with a critical voice in our society today,then this book will be a valuable tool in linking you with technological resources. Cummins & Sayers emphasize the importance of collaborating and fostering cultural and critical literacy. Educational reform must move away from functional literacy and traditional pedagogy while striving to educate ALL children.Technology combined with collaborative critical inquiry can act as a catalyst to empower students of today for the problems they will face tommorrow

Cummins & Sayers bring up very important points regarding ed reform and its relationship to multiculturalism and technology in the classroom. The idea of global learning networks is powerful and timely. Without a global perspective, our students will not only suffer morally, but also economically. Certainly, business, industry, and polity all have something to gain from a more global, cultural approach to learning. To see my own perspective, visit http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcc-conf/pres/menchaca.html --Mike Menchaca

Technology abounds in school settings and will be the major force in curriculum change in the next century. The theme of this book relates to the connections that students have presently, and will be achieving through the guided use of the Internet. Cummins and Sayers cite studies conducted on communications between learners across the globe and the salience these connections have to the students' cognitive and communicative development. Electronic communities of learning are student-centered, and use computer technology in a similar way that others have used the postal system to create intercultural learning networks. The authors address peer instruction and cross-age tutoring emphasizing the importance of collaborating and fostering cultural, functional, and critical literacies. Functional literacy related to the world of work and encompasses all those reading and writing skills that a worker needs to function in the industrial/informational world. Cummins & Sayers explain that educational reform must move away from functional literacy and traditional pedagogy while striving to educate all children. They sharply criticize the opinions of E.D. Hirsch and his list of monocultural facts that in his judgement should be the knowledge that is imparted to the next generation in order to perpetuate traditional collective knowledge of US culture. This cognitive isolationism has a limiting effect on the need of children to draw from a more global well of knowledge and the text accuse people like Hirsch, William Bennet, Arthur Schlesinger, et al of intellectualizing xenophobia. The many case studies in this book indicate that collaboration across borders, both political and intellectual, is enriching and empowering to students. It is very helpful that the last part of the book lists and summarizes a substantial number of multicultural web sources, categorized by subject area. I do have a concern that the URLs may not be remain current due to the fluid nature of the World Wide Web. For the time being, however, I have found several that the authors have recommended being both accessible and informative for teachers and students. I recommend this book to all teachers who endeavor to introduce their students to collaborative and multicultural strategies across the traditional subject areas. To demand that computers be placed in every classroom is a good start to upgrading and incorporating technology in the classroom, but many teachers are not prepared to use it as a teaching tool. Cummins and Sayres offer teachers suggestions and models of instruction through several case studies that followed successful programs.

Bravo! Teacher: Building Relationships With Actions That Value Others by Sandra Harris is an informed and informative instructional guide to reinforce the constructive teacher mentality that helps to create a positive and securing teacher-to-student relationship. After an excellent introduction ("Make the Most of a Moment"), Bravo! Teacher is organized into chapters that include "Actions that Uphold High Standards--Point to the Stars"; "Actions that re Empower-Less is More"; ("Actions that Demonstrate Respect for All--Every Individual is Important"; "Actions that Support All Students--Rekindle the Inner Spirit"; "Actions that Challenge the Imagination--Participate in Discovery"; Actions that Demonstrate Culturally Responsive Teaching--The Mosaic of Moral Purpose"; "Actions that are Courageous--Fragile Blossoms in the Snow"; and concludes with "Relationships: The True Thread. Enhanced with a special section on "References", this is an impressive collection of helpful "user-friendly" reference material. Bravo! Teacher assists the reader to gain the knowledge and feel for students as many well-experienced teachers took years to obtain. Also highly recommended for those entering the teaching profession from Eye on Education are What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker; Classroom Motivation From A To Z: How To Engage Your Students In Learning by Barbara R. Blackbum; and Great Quotes For Great Educators by Todd Whitaker and Dale Lumpa.

Bravo! Teacher: Building Relationships With Actions That Value Others by Sandra Harris is an informed and informative instructional guide to reinforce the constructive teacher mentality that helps to create a positive and securing teacher-to-student relationship. After an excellent introduction ("Make the Most of a Moment"), Bravo! Teacher is organized into chapters that include "Actions that Uphold High Standards--Point to the Stars"; "Actions that re Empower-Less is More"; ("Actions that Demonstrate Respect for All--Every Individual is Important"; "Actions that Support All Students--Rekindle the Inner Spirit"; "Actions that Challenge the Imagination--Participate in Discovery"; Actions that Demonstrate Culturally Responsive Teaching--The Mosaic of Moral Purpose"; "Actions that are Courageous--Fragile Blossoms in the Snow"; and concludes with "Relationships: The True Thread. Enhanced with a special section on "References", this is an impressive collection of helpful "user-friendly" reference material. Bravo! Teacher assists the reader to gain the knowledge and feel for students as many well-experienced teachers took years to obtain. Also highly recommended for those entering the teaching profession from Eye on Education are What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most by Todd Whitaker; Classroom Motivation From A To Z: How To Engage Your Students In Learning by Barbara R. Blackbum; and Great Quotes For Great Educators by Todd Whitaker and Dale Lumpa.

Building on her previous book (Bravo! Principal), the author brings the Bravo philosophy from the principal's office to the classroom. This book is really about how teachers can build relationships with their students that will support teaching and learning. The "actions" that Harris discusses in the context of her own experiences as a classroom teacher (from the elementary grades to doctoral studies) are presented in a way that all teachers can visualize and understand in order to begin using doing them immediately. As a former student of Dr. Harris, I can assure you that "valuing" your students will create a new type of classroom where everyone is honored and encouraged to learn. Bravo! Teacher will renew the spirit of teachers and students alike.

This book cured my dog of moderate Separation Anxiety. I would highly recommend it. The chapters are organized according to the kind of problem, so you can find what you're looking for fast. The directions given are concise and easy to follow. Finally there are tons of pictures to help you along.

After adopting an out of control dog a couple of months ago, I have purchased many books on training. Most books say the same things, how to train basic commands. That would be easy if the dog would listen to you in the first place, but many dogs have behavior problems that make training impossible. Every chapter in this book was VERY helpful and informative. I would HIGHLY reccommend this book to anyone who is at their wits end with their dog. My dog behaves much better now and I am able to have guests come to my home again.

I purchased this book to help with socialization and separation problems of my beloved Morkie. Mr. Tenant's ideas helped with both these problems AND I ended up using many of the tips on other dog behavior topics as well. Since reading this book, I have a better understanding of how dogs think, which means that I now have a better behaved dog. The book is well organized, so it is easy to find information on particular dog behavior problems. The pictures complement the text extremely well. This book is by far my FAVORITE "dog behavior" book out of the many dog "how to" books that I own. I would highly recommend this book as a "must have dog book" for any dog owner.