Schools and Instruction Books

For those working in the schools and who value the joyful impact of art with children, this book has it all! It is a power-packed manual for professional teachers, aides and anyone needing more guidance to open the creative doors for themsleves and children. You will find the source's guides in the back of the book worth the price alone. The clarity in the text is especially to be appreciated; no "gobbeldy-gook and no nonsense" here! The presentation of ways to incorporate art into total curriculum is one to open our eyes and to value its potential for carrying any other subject matter. Full of ideas for projects with morsels of philosophy about the arts tucked in, it allows teachers to open their own minds and rid themselves of their own "art blocks." I would say no teacher should be without this book. Good for you Marlene Gharbo Linderman! At last a book for us all who love and cherish art in schools.

This is an extremely fun and informative book. It is easily understood, and great for an Art teacher, as well as teachers of other subjects who wish to incorporate more art into their classrooms. It would also be helpful to parents or homeschooling families.

This is a wonderful resource for both kids and adults in my opinion. Very easy to follow techniques and it's not clogged up with needless text. A wonderful gift for the artist in yourself, or for someone you love!

My art students (K-8th) love this book. If they have free time left over, they are allowed to pick a book out of the art rack and use it. This book is the number one desire of my kids in class. They make drawing cartoons so easy with the stp-by-step instructions, it's perfect.

This book revolutionized the way that I taught math in my classroom. I was a more informed instructor, and it allowed me to group, scaffold, and individualize my instruction. The year that I implemented these techniques into my fifth grade class, we made an average of two years growth in one year! Highly recommend this one!

Excellent resource for those wishing to guide students from informal understanding of solving word problems to problem solving. The authors' examples of the various problem types coupled with explanations and strategically placed video clips (CD included) guide even the most novice CGI instructor to a clear understanding of the problems and expected student strategies, classroom environment and expectations needed to implement this teaching strategy.

We just saw the exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Great stuff, vivid and immediate. This price is amazing !!

This is a unique contribution to Ukyo-e, the pictures are very well depicted and all in this book is interesting.
If, like me, you love Japanese Prints, don't hesitate, buy it !!

In the area of nontraditional high schooling and related issues, Thomas Nixon has no peer.

When I was a kid growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, I had a pretty serious immune deficiency. Leave the house and I'd get sick. The doctors called it chronic fatigue syndrome, but there was no real idea of the cause or epidemiology. All I knew was that I was an 8-year-old with sore, swollen lymph nodes, bad arthritis, and a suspiciously low white blood cell count.

I was lucky; I had a mother who could afford to take time off and teach me at home. Went on to graduate from college; now I'm working on my doctorate. What would have happened if I didn't have that luxury? I have no idea.

But there are plenty of kids who don't. Sick kids, who can't make it to class every day; gifted kids, who are bored with the curriculum; kids with special needs, whose local schools might not provide for those needs in a useful way; troubled kids, who can't handle the social pressures; kids whose family relocate often, and find their educational experiences constantly interrupted. The list goes on and on--and that doesn't even include adults.

For people who fall between the cracks, or just find it cozier there, online high schools can be a blessing. This book will tell you everything you need to know to get online and start earning your diploma.

You see, all three of my daughters are high school dropouts. One was not very happy in a small-town high school that had no labs, no foreign languages, no challenges. She was 'rescued' when a good university recruited her in 11th grade, and off she went. One got through a month of 9th grade in a huge and scary urban high school, and just walked out. And the third never even went to high school; she discovered the GED equivalency exam, passed it at 15, and went on to college. All three ended up with Bachelor's degrees (Phi Beta Kappa), but it was a rocky and twisty road. If only there had been a book about alternative approaches to gaining a high school education and diploma.

Thankfully (for the rest of you), now there is. Tom Nixon's guide book is just the thing my daughters could have used. And now, in the age of the Internet, it is what so many other people need, to help them sort out the bad and fake schools (and there are plenty of them) from the good and excellent ones. Nixon explains how to choose a good school, and then devotes one page to each of 100+ good schools. Even though they're all good, there are significant differences in their curriculum, their cost, their academic model, their religious affiliatin (if any), and so on. This is like hiring a seasoned and excellent counselor for under twenty bucks. Highly recommended.

(Disclaimer: I have written books about earning degrees by distance learning, but I didn't address the high school world in any detail. I invited Tom Nixon to write the short 'high schools' chapter for recent editions of Bears' Guide. One should always go to the best experts, and for online high schools, that's Tom.)

I'm an instructional designer and I've chosen to use this book as both for a text in classes I instruct and as a handbook for working with faculty members at my university. The book focuses on ways to help students think better using technology tools, many of which are commonly available (such as spreadsheets). Many such books focus on ways to use technology first, with practical applications for teaching and learning second. Not so in this case. If you have to buy just one book on instructional technology, this is the one.

I think that every teacher would be wise to read this book. It does an excellent job of demonstrating the constructionist principle, and its suggestions for using technology to help students think for themselves and develop new ways of thinking, is very good.

I've read many books on technology and education, and I have taught educators about technology. This has so far been the most intriguing book on the subject, and a book that got me to "think outside the box" (in a good way), more than any other book on the subject, other than the Problem Solving with Technology book in the same series.

Every science teacher should read this book! The thought, research, and insight the developers put into the new designs for learning science are wonderful. They listened to students, observed how students made sense of the world around them, and adjusted the technology and learning strategies to connect science to everyday happenings in the lives of students. This book also tells the story of how partnerships between higher education, K-12, and field science organizations can bring relevance and meaning to the teaching and learning of science in our schools. Terrific Book!

From my role as a science teacher, it is encouraging to have a book which is informed by years of classroom research. My experience with the Computer as Learning Partnership project has greatly changed my understanding of how kids learn and what it takes to change the way they perceive the world around them. This book provides a pedagogical framework that has worked very successfully over several years and narrows the gap between academic research and classroom practice. I hope that my responses to the "Ask Mr. K." questions will be useful to teachers in reflecting on their own practices.

I have a daughter in 5th grade and she is a huge fan of this book series. The step-by-step apprach has her creating masterpieces every time! The drawings are a lot of fun, so she doesn't get bored with drawing mundane objects over an over. The drawing style is also cool and doesn't feel outdated like so many drawing books for kids do. I recommend these books very highly.

My grand-daughter is only 4 years old yet from the time she's been 2 she has loved to draw. She has tried to copy just what she sees and gets frustrated when she can't. So thought I should nurish her intrest in it. And I started learning with her for fun. First I brought books for me thinking I could teach her once I learned to better draw. Ha! I can't tell you how much money I wasted and felt like a failure.Trying to learn more realism in what I was drawing. They go from this to a finished product in 10 seconds and your scratching your head going what did I miss? So, I bought several of these books for her thinking at least they had cute critters in them she'd at least have fun with them. She follows with no instruction from me at all, just from looking at the pictures of what he's doing and can't read a word of it. Her pictures don't look exactly like his but she now draws a better circle than I do and she's have a great time with it. Has not once gotten frustrated because she can't draw just what she sees, as far as she's concerned she has, she drew the first circle that's an accomplishment to her. And from his strange creatures, doesn't matter to her if she's drawing a person with 20 arms and 4 legs she's drawn something and it's beautiful to her which is what's important. So weather your 4 or 43 it's well worth every penny. :-)Christopher Hart another great teacher check out his books as well. He'll teach you to draw 20 different sets of eyes, and several poses so you don't have to draw just what he's teaching you, you can mix it all up and still come out with a great drawing. Very easy to understand and follow.

I am sorry,I am not writing review about the book. I would like to ask you to e-mail the contents of the book to me as soon as possible. Thank you

I am always fascinated by creativity. Whenever I come across a creativity book, irrespective of whether it is intended for the business or academic world, I will always scan it first and if it appears "intriguing" judging from the front/back covers, table of contents and index page, I will often peruse - and reflect on - it. I will often adapt the ideas to my consulting work. In this case, this book did not disappoint me.

In a nut shell, this is a book about practical strategies for teaching and learning creative thinking skills. Although it has been written primarily for teachers and students, I find that many of the information on theory, strategies and assessment covered by the book are applicable and useful for anyone who is interested in exploring creativity, even in non-academic areas.

The main bulk of the book pertains to approaches to teaching the basic curriculum - mathematics, science, social studies, language - that encourage creative problem solving, and information on how research on motivation and creativity applies to decisions about classroom management, organisation and assessment.

The book is divided into two parts: "Understanding Creative People & Processes" and "Creativity & Classroom Life.". The first part gives an excellent grounding in creativity fundamentals. The second part gives practical suggestions for creativity design, development & assessment in a classroom setting. For teachers, this part, especially the assessment tools, is a real gem.

Very fortunately, the author's fluid writing style, coupled with her interesting case studies and numerous applications, makes the book easy-to-follow.

The author has very masterfully organised practical activities, such as "Thinking about the Classroom" and "Journeying and Journalling" in every chapter. For readers, there are a lot of points to ponder, several questions to ask and many things to do. This is the part I enjoyed "playing" with them the most.

At the end of each chapter, and also in the bibliography, the author has listed many useful references for further exploration. For research purposes, this is a gold mine.

For parents, who are looking for simple ideas and practical strategies to develop creative activities for their children, I dare say this book is definitely a very helpful guide.

As a matter of fact, if you are just looking for creative opportunities in your own life, this book (particularly chapter 6) can be a valuable source of curious delight.

David Nadien's CD is a great version - it includes the piano accompaniments so that your child can play with the CD.

This is the 3rd CD from the Suzuki series we've purchased. Like
the 1st two CDs, it's good, clear and well played. The piano accompaniment is not overwhelming nor is it too soft. My daughter enjoys listening and playing her violin along with these CDs. It's a good idea to have this to play the new songs so your child can hear the pieces for Book 3 of the Suzuki pieces. She asks for it when we're in the car so that she can listen to it while I drive.