Professional Training Books

I've been using games to enhance the learning experience for 10 years. Everything from 2 students in a quiet classroom to a company-wide competition in front of hundreds cheering on their favorite teams. This book includes all the tips to ensure your games are effective in aiding the learning process. If I would have had this book 10 years ago, I certainly would have avoided a few of those pot holes I've stepped in as I've learned how to incorporate games into the learning culture of our business. This is a great tool for any teaching or training professional. Well done Dan and Missy!!

Rich LaPat - Director of Technical Learning and Development, Comcast University - Southern Division

This book starts with the early beginings of Ferdinand Porsch and relates the entire story of his career as an auto maker , then as the father of the VW beetle. This is the most complete accounting on the involvement of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party through the war years, and the saving of the factory by the British Army and Major Ivan Hirst. This book also tells the story of Heinz Nordhoff,President of VW from 1946 till his death in 1967. He is the man rsponsible for the VW Beetle becoming the most manufactured car in world history

Mary E. Dietz's JOURNALS AS FRAMEWORKS FOR PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES, 2ND EDITION comes from an international consultant who demonstrates five types of structured journals tailored to professional learning community environments. Each follows a documented four-step process promoting collaboration and continuous learning, providing step-by-step directions, clear illustrations and case studies, and more. Teachers and administrators will find it an invaluable pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Maria Lofftus has scored a home run. This book is full of valuable information. The information in the book helped me get into my first choice of med schools. It is still a lot of hard work, but it is much easier with this guide.

Title: Language, Culture, and Community in Teacher Education
Editor: Maria Estela Brisk (Boston College)

Note from Dr. Sharon P. Robinson, President and CEO, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

Foreword: Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College

Preface

Chapter 1: The Poisoning of Racial and Ethnic Identities: An Educational Challenge (Donaldo Macedo, University of Massachusetts, Boston)

Part I: Knowledge

Chapter 2: Language, Culture, and Identity (Courtney Clayton, Boston College; Ray Barnhardt, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; & Maria Estela Brisk, Boston College)
Chapter 3: Teaching Students who Speak African American Language (AAL): Expanding Educators' and Students' Linguistic Repertoires. (Gloria Swindler Boutte, Benedict College)
Chapter 4: Language and the Deaf World: Difference not Disability (Robert Hoffmeister, Boston University)
Chapter 5: Rethinking the Case for Culture-Based Curriculum: Conditions that Support Improved Mathematics Performance in Diverse Classrooms (Sharon Nelson Barber, WestEd; Jerry Lipka, University of Alaska Fairbanks)


Part II: Practice
Chapter 6: ESL is Good Teaching "Plus:" Preparing Standard Curriculum Teachers for All Learners (Ester J. de Jong & Candace A. Harper, University of Florida, Gainsville)
Chapter 7: Transforming Hearts and Minds (Socorro G. Herrera, Kevin G. Murry, and Della R. Pérez, Kansas State University)
Chapter 8: Highly Qualified Teachers for Our Schools: Developing Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions to Teach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Jorgelina Abbate-Vaughn, University of Massachusetts, Boston)
Chapter 9: Teacher Education to Serve a Native Hawaiian Community: Lessons Learned (Kathryn H. Au, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Yvonne Kaulukane Lefcourt, University of Illinois, & Alice J. Kawakami, University of Hawaii)
Chapter 10: "Does She Speak English?:" Hmong Educators In Western Wisconsin (Ronald S. Rochon, Buffalo State College, Clifton S. Tanabe, University of Hawai'I at Manoa, & Tamara H. Horstman-Riphahan, University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse)
Chapter 11: Program and Faculty Transformation: Enhancing Teacher Preparation (Maria Estela Brisk, Boston College)
Chapter 12: Faculty Perspectives on Integrating Linguistic Diversity Issues into an Urban Teacher Education Program (Aida A. Nevárez-La Torre, Fordham University; Jayminn S. Sanford-DeShields, Catherine Soundy, Jaqueline Leonard, and Christine Woyshner, Temple University)

Part III: Policy

Chapter 13: Educational Policy and Linguistic Diversity: A Critical Analysis of Teacher Certification Requirements (Lisa Patel Stevens, Boston College)
Chapter 14: Language, culture, policy, and standards in teacher preparation: Lessons from research and model practices addressing the needs of CLD children and their teachers. (Alicia Ardila-Rey, AACTE)

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Culture, Language, and Community in Teacher Preparation: Proceedings and Recommendations from the the Wingspread Conference. Racine, Wisconsin, September 2005

Biographical Sketches

Some months ago I was explaining the "Gordon model" to a colleague (we're both managers who work for a chain of restaurants). As we conversed, two of our new cooks, who were arguing about something, came to me to vent their frustrations. I'm sure they expected for me to decide which one of them was right about the situation and then take sides. Instead, using the No-Lose problem-solving techniques I learned from the book (finding solutions so that both parties get their needs met), I facilitated a session in which the cooks found a mutually satisfying solution to their problem. All I did is mediate, made sure they listened to one another. My colleague was amazed, noticing the gradual change in attitude and body language of the cooks - the lowered resistance - as they both realized they could solve their problem in a way that was beneficial to both of them. Later in the day my colleague noticed the same two cooks who had been arguing earlier helping each another and making jokes as they worked through the evening rush.

What I've managed to do, thanks to what I learned from L.E.T., is to fuse my team together and to create synergy. And, as the team has become more self-sufficient, that frees me up to do what I'm good at rather than always having to waste time fixing problems for them.

The techiques that Dr. Gordon teaches, I-Messages, Active Listening, etc., are tools that transcend workplace usufulness; they are techniques that help us in any kind of relationship, be they professional, personal or familial.

In short, it works!

This book helped me discover my leadership strengths and derailers. I wish I read this book five years ago. I now have a clear insight as to how my personality style adds to and detracts from my leadership capability. I also understand my decision-making style. This book will allow anyone who is serious about leadership a chance for self evaluation. Best of all, it provides a clear description in developing a personal growth plan.

Corporate university types should carefully read this book and apply all they can from it. Having been involved in several corporate university undertakings, in my opinion, what DAU accomplished is phenomenal and absolutely atypical.

It's amazing what some--SOME--companies have the presumptuous audacity to call a corporate university. DAU is the real thing. You've got to have the courage to make the tough decisions and take some very real risks; the wisdom, experience and intelligence to make the right decisions most of the time; the perseverance to carry through when the going gets rough--professional maturity and discipline. But don't take my word for it. Read the book. Measure your corporate university against the DAU. Judge for yourself.

If you are coming late to the corporate university arena, this book contains a lot of real-world advice and experience that can keep you from making many of the mistakes others have.

Learning Circles was designed for teachers in the elementary and secondary schools and those individuals involved with teacher professional development. "Learning circles", as defined by the authors, are small groups of learners who come together to support each other in learning. The authors discuss the six key conditions needed to create a "learning circle." These conditions are:

Building Community "...building community means making sure members get to know won another, their work histories, their life stories, and their areas of interest." (pg. 9)

"...is a basic condition necessary for empowered learning by individuals and for the group as a whole." (pg. 9)

4 stages of building community -- initialing maintaining sustaining transforming

Constructing Knowledge -- "Teaching cannot be based on telling learners what we think they should know but must be done by engaging them through active learning experiences so they form their own conclusions about situations presented to them." (pg. 10) Should be a constructivist learning environment--engage the learner

Supporting Learners -- the participants should share a common goal, this goal is created together and made explicit, participants must feel valued by other group members

Documenting Reflection -- keeping journals, analyzing student learning, videotaping teaching sessions for peer review, summarizing learning circle gatherings

"Metaphors are mirrors in which we observe ourselves and windows through which our colleagues can gaze." (pg. 69)

Assessing Expectations -- group determines expectations collectively, group agrees on a process for assessing, individual progress, create and maintain portfolios to demonstrate personal growth and professional change, Approaches to Assessment -- Self-Assessment, Peer-Assessment, Portfolio Assessment

Changing Cultures -- cultures are constantly changing--members of "learning circles" should engage in "thinking about how the culture of their classroom and students or their businesses, churches, or organizations could be changed by their individual or collective efforts." (pg. 11)

Ways to learn about cultures -- artifacts, dance, acting

You may be wondering what all of this has to do with Mentoring. ""Learning circles" are based on the earliest understanding of how people learn--through mentorship." (pg. 106) The learning circle offers possibilities of "group mentorship", where several people work closely together for the good of the group.(pg. 107) A group, that I'm working with at this time is a "learning circle". We have all the conditions required to have a "learning circle." We are also mentoring each other. The authors say that mentoring plays a critical role in the transformation of an organization. They give 3 roles for the mentor in any group:

Mentors must be competent and qualified in their own right

Mentors accept responsibility for the culture

Mentors identify ways they can formally and informally structure the learning of new members and experienced colleagues

As someone who has worked in the "system" for many years, I can attest to Prof. Costigan's knowledge of his subject. All too often, books on education range from tedious drivel and "feel-good" politics to incomprehensible "statistical" treatises and bizarre pseudo-psychological rants. Dr. Costigan speaks as if he had actually spent time in the "trenches" of America's big-city schools. He manages to convey real scholarship and practical advice with a style and a wit seldom found in books on contemporary social problems. This book should be mandatory reading not only for the legions of new teachers and teaching "fellows" entering the system, but for every educational decision-maker from principal to chancellor.