Schools and Instruction Books

Kollwitz's lithographs captivate any feeling viewer. Until there's some way to render raw emotion on paper, especially the many different sorrows of war and poverty, her monochrome lithos approach that goal most closely. That makes it easy to forget her mastery of other media and other feelings, too. This book broadens a reader's view of this wonderful artist.

The cover image, "Female Nude with Green Shawl," starts to break the reader free from the easy stereotype of Kollwitz. It adds color to her commonly dark palette, and presents a simple celebration of womanly elegance. "Self-portrait laughing" and "Lovers" show that she could not only express joy, but depict different kinds of it. Woodcuts, etchings, charcoals, ink and wash, and wonderful pastels each display her drawing ability in different ways. "Tower of Mothers," "Mourning Parents," "Lovers," and other sculptures show her skill in bronze, granite, and plaster. Kollwitz's skills range far beyond what she's best known for, and this book helps us appreciate the breadth of that ability.

Given so many reproductions of her work, lovingly printed on bright, dense paper, a reader like me becomes easily distracted away from the helpful and informative text of the book. Three long essays, a catalog, timeline, and bibliography invite the reader to various kind of commentary, both in historical fact and in considered opinions. Her personal story as woman, mother, and artist as well as her work deserve attention; this gorgeous volume is a wonderful way to give her work and life some of the attention they deserve.

-- wiredweird

I am slowly but surely collecting books on Kollwitz. One of my art professors compared what I was doing to her work and I have since become a nicely obsessed student of everything she did and I read everything I can get my hands on.

This book is one of the best. First of all, I didn't have to get out my German lexicon and second, the narratives that go along with the many pictures are full of detail that you don't get in the smaller books. One of the major improvements that you will see is in her work, "Woman with Dead Infant." In many books it appears that the woman's face is melting in to the child, but in Prelinger's narrative, you see much more detail of the nude, vulnerable woman and her child with little covering up his bones.

She has many works-- mostly lithographs-- in colour, which is a delight after havimg only seen her work in other books as black and white.

One of her works, "Man Kneeling before a Female Nude" shocked me by it's erotic overtones, just as "Self Portrait en face, Laughing" shocked me with it's joy.

Kollwitz was very much a versatile artist and this book shows that. Any fan of Kollwitz will appreciate the narratives that go with the pictures, and for anyone who isn't a fan-- this book will make them fans!

This is one of the most beautiful books to look at I have even owned - it is highly recommended. The line drawings are accompanied by text rich in information about this woman's life and inspiration. Plates are excellent.

I am so happy i got this book from amazon. It shipped fast and came in perfect condition. Best of all i got it for $75, instead of $130 if i bought it from my school.

This was a required text for an art history course I took in college, and, being an art history major, I found this to be an easy read. It made the material easy to understand, and the color and black-white photographs were excellent. Pedley covers the entire spectrum of Greek art admirably, makes connections to primary sources, and outlines the various styles so that even a student NOT interested in the subject comes away with something. Anyone needing a reference on Ancient Greek Art or wanting to learn about the subject will find his book to be invaluable!

Great if you like archaeology, get the hardcover version too, its worth it, wont die over time!

This book is a life saver for any one who wants to brush up their precalculus skills or even for beginners. I would strongly recommend it!!

This book saved my skin. I found out two days before classes started that I had to take a math placement test in order to get into calculus. I had taken trig 7 years ago and forgotten it all, but this book explained everything so well, it re-taught me all my trig in two days and I aced the test! The explanations are so simple and clear, you only have to memorize three things--you'll understand everything else well enough that you can just draw a triangle and figure it out! This book summarizes everything you need to know clearly and concisely, and it gives lots of examples and problems to work. If I saw the authors right now, I'd give them a big old smooch!

Teaches Math in a very easy to understand way. I was able to understand everything throughly and quickly. Definitely the next best thing to doing the actual course. And user-friendly (or reader-friendly).

Jessica Morton's "Kids on the 'Net is inspiring. Between the lines it speaks to what 'good' teaching is really about and the lines themselves sing with a clear how to do it for using the net well. A great source for those who want to be creative and for the many who fear, for one reason or another, the use of the internet. It is so well written and presented that I felt like I was reading a terrific story. At t he end I knew I'd done that and more!

Jessica Morton has an easy way of writing that will make the reader feel she can use the 'net' with young children after reading about Mrs. Morton's successes in her own classroom. She does not use computer language that the average person cannot understand. She not only uses examples from her own classroom but also relates to the reader how to go about beginning using e-mail with simple dos and don'ts. I have used e-mail with my second grade students for many years but while reading this book I discovered some great ways to improve the use of e-mail with my class of 7-8 year olds. A definite book to read!

Jessica Morton's book, Kids on the 'Net, is absolutely outstanding for any educator who is leery about bringing the Internet into the classroom. This book takes you step-by-step into how the 'net can be beneficial for your students' or childrens' learning. The book is chock full of ideas and personal reflections by the author to show you that the Internet can be our friend. The book is written in a style that is non-threatening and easy to flip through. Morton's book teaches you how even young children can e-mail pen pals (e-pal) from around the world and be interactive in newsgroups. This is a must needed resource for teachers of the new millennium. She offers web sites that are useful for creating projects and reproducibles that go along with certain lessons. If technology is the way to go in your classroom, then you need this book.

a very helpful book especially for inexperience music teacher like me, loads of ideas which stimulate and also help me to create other new ideas.

I read the first edition of Choksy's "Kodaly Method" after my first year of teaching, and thought, "why didn't they teach me this in college?". The next year, I bought the second edition when it came out, and used it as a guide for teaching for many years. It had become so tattered and worn, but I still referred back to it. I broke down and bought the third edition last summer, while doing my level 2 Kodaly certification. I wasn't sure I wanted to pay that much for the book, but it has been worth it.
For anyone starting out in teaching music, you need this book. It gives grade by grade guidance of what to teach, how to teach it, and suggested materials to use. You might not set up your curriculum exactly as stated in the book, but you will definitely find useful teaching examples for the main concepts at each grade level.
The song anthology in the back has been expanded and is more complete than ever before. There is quite a bit of pedagogical information for each song, that is included in this edition.
My only question is "Why don't American colleges and universities use this method as the basis for preparing its teachers?". It is definitely the most thorough and sound foundation to build upon at the undergraduate level; then procede into Orff-Schulwerk training at the graduate level. Both of these approaches have been so integrated into American music teaching, they deserve more intensive study in teacher preparation than the casual mention or superficial discussion that they seem to currently receive.

This book provides a solid foundation for teaching with Kodály method in the United States. As well as curriculum ideas for Kindergarten through grade 6, there are many songs for classroom use.

I think that if you will be teaching Kindergarten you should also own Music in Preschool by K. Forrai. This book gives only passing notice to the Kindergarten year, in my opinion

the best tuition manual for electric guitar i have seen in age

I already play very well, and bought this for someone else, but I was amazed at how easily this book builds up thru the steps. I wish this book was available when I was learning!!!!!

One of the best guitar tuition books Ive come across. Simple and effective text with some wonderful and interesting music pieces - simply wonderful - and it looks good too.

Not only is this an invaluable book for children, but also for adults. I read a copy of the book before I went on a date. She was fascinated by the facts which I had gleamed from the book. Needless to say we are going out again, this time to see a French Impressionist exhibit! Good thing Knapp and Lehmberg wrote two other books!!!

Your kids will gain a whole new understanding of the art they see in a museum. And adults can learn a thing or two as well.

Lehmberg and Knapp have given the readers some memorable anecdotes about artists and their art forms as we travel from Revolutionary War era to Twentieth Century. It is an enjoyable guide for all ages

Teaching Children to Read is the finest textbook for teachers of children to come along in many years. It includes numerous practical suggestions for teaching reading and writing, while also helping one understand the basic theory and principles behind quality teaching. A must read for teachers of children from grades 1 through 8

Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. discusses the process of comprehending text in four stages. It is based on the schema theory. The first stage is searching. By this, they mean that in the very beginning, the reader is trying to search for the meaning of the text by looking and searching at the given text or print. By searching the text, the reader is using their schemata to help them understand what the text is trying to tell them. The second stage is applying. Applying is when the reader uses what they already know from the first stage, searching, to understand the text. The third stage is selecting and evaluating. In this stage, the reader looks at the information they already know and starts to evaluate the information by either retaining or discarding the information. It is in this step, that the reader is trying to decide which information is important for him/her to remember. The last stage is composing. The reader is making up a new meaning for the text that he/she just read by using what he already knows from all the previous stages. The new meaning is a replica of what he/she just read, but in their own words. These four stages, as Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. illustrate it, is a cyclical process. By this they mean that it is a circular process, where the student needs to be continually Applying, Searching, Selecting and Evaluating and then Composing.
Reutzel and Cooter, Jr. also discusses the four major difficulties a student may have in comprehension. The first difficulty a student may have is not having the prior knowledge or schema about the given text. Because of the lack of prior knowledge, the student will not be able to understand what the text is trying to convey. Thus, not being able to comprehend the text. The next difficulty a student may encounter is having the prior knowledge and schema about the text, but the author does not give enough information or clues for the student to establish or decide on a given schema that he/she already has. Third, the student may have selected a schema ahead of time only to find out that it doesn't make sense as they read the text. And lastly, the student's cultural experiences greatly affect how he/she chooses a schema to understand the text. This may lead to "an understanding of the text but a misunderstanding of the author"

I found this book very useful in helping me pass the Excelsior / Regents College Exam. Also useful was Literacy by Cooper. Both are available along with Regents groups of reading forsale under jring 47 - used for 49. I am selling all three together. I studied these three books and did very well on the test - just last month.

I had to buyit for a class... very expensive for yet another textbook we didn't even use!!

This is a great book for new science teacher to enchance her knowledge in teaching elementary science.

My book got here in good condition. I've already read some out of it and it sounds like a good book to have for both the class I'm in and for when I actually do start teaching.

"About The Author
Linda Swears is a music specialist at the Albert Einstein Academy in Wilmington, Delaware.
She has been a music educator for fourteen years, and her outstanding children's choirs have performed on television, radio, and at many professional conferences.

Mrs. Swears has served as a state and division level chairperson for the Music Educators National Conference and is a frequent clinician and workshop leader in the areas of "the child voice" and "children's choirs".

She is a published composer of choral music for children and the author of the children's book, Discovering the Guitar."
[from the book of the back jacket]

"Here is a complete guide to building a successful elementary school chorus, including specific suggestions for organizing the choral program...over 250 activities for teaching children the fundamentals of good choral singing...and TESTED TIPS AND TECHNIQUES for planning and conducting rehearsals and concerts."
[from the book of the front jacket]

When I landed a job teaching music, I found myself in the middle of an elemenary school chorus, grades 1 through 6. In college, we were taught how to teach middle school/high school students. I had no idea what would be appropriate for elementary students. Thank goodness I found this little gem of a book. A complete, concise guide with so much help and information! Everything from voice ranges to vocal warm ups to diction and much, much more!

This book is a very practical tool for the beginner elementary school choral director. Most choral books are geared toward the high-school or college choir. This gives you acurate information on childrens voices appropriate steps for training and a way to keep your students singing the coorect way while you and they are having fun.