Schools and Instruction Books

I bought this book for a grad class with the author. It's very simple, would be a good book for non-music educators to use also.

The ASBDA Curriculum Guide, 2nd edition, was first published in 1997. This book is a revision of the earlier 1st edition, originally published in the late 1970s. In this book the instrumental educator will find strategies for teaching concepts such as pitch, rhythm, and style, along with indicators at each grade level of what students of instrumental music should be able to demonstrate.

This book does have several weaknesses, in this reviewer's opinion. First, it appears to have an "ivory-tower" feel to it in regard to tone and writing style. One should follow the guidelines of this book simply because people much smarter than you decided that this is what children should be capable of demonstrating at any particular time. The guidelines come across as heavy-handed at times, and appropriate examples are not always present.

Second, this book does not address the realities many instrumental music educators face in a post-No Child Left Behind environment. The text assumes, for example, that the reader will fall into one of three categories: an elementary (grades 5 and 6) beginning band teacher, a junior high (grades 7 and 8) intermediate band teacher, and a high school (grade 9 through 12) teacher. Consequently, it delves into great detail with regard to in-school private lessons and their relation to the teacher's overall courseload. Unfortunately, at least in Ohio, the odds of a band teacher teaching only junior high or only high school are extremely limited now that we have been considered more "expendable", since music is not tested on standardized tests. Due to this, most directors in my area teach band at all age levels, grades 5-12, and do not have the time during the day to teach private lessons. This book is of little help in this instance to these teachers.

Finally, this book addresses many of the same issues that state content standards in music are addressing. Considering that this book was written before states began implementing content standards in all subjects, including music, one can understand how this book served a purpose at the time. Now that states are supplying all educators with standards for their curricula, however, the value of this book is decreasing. Although it does offer band specific standards that may help the music teacher, these same standards could be formulated on their own by most intelligent music teachers from whatever standards their respective states supply.

In closing, this reviewer feels that this book is slowly becoming a relic of a time before the advent of Highly Qualified Teacher programs; a time in which anyone with an undergraduate degree could teach and band programs were moving from concert to concert without any overall currculum goals in mind. Now that states are providing standards in music to educators, this book grows less and less useful. Perhaps a 3rd edition is needed that reflects these changing trends in education; otherwise, this book will serve primarily as little more than a relic of a bygone era in music education.

This is a wonderful resource for artist technique in general, but I wouldn't suggest it for learning particular skills in any one medium. If you want to specifically learn watercolor, for instance, pick up a speciality book for that medium!

Very basic note reading exercises for both treble and bass clefs. Not much for the older grades.

Wood's book explores innovative teaching ideas in the public school system. A good read for any parent, teacher, administrator, or student interested in how a good school system should work. The book includes profiles of rural, suburban, and inner city high schools and elementary schools that went from being some of the worst in the state to having nearly 100% graduation rates through innovative programs. However, the book does seem slightly out-dated and some of the programs that seemed "innovative" in 1986 may not be so today. The reading at time can be slightly boring but it is still an informative book. I also rec. "Fiske's Smart Kids, Smart Schools".

I ordered this book thinking volume one. Volume one is for the beginner like my 3 years old son. Imagine my surprise when I received volume 7 which is very advanced... This Suzuki method is great but please be careful this is volume 7 not 1.

Out of the three Child-Light education books, this is the only one I own, but I'd recommend For the Children's Sake and Books Children Love over this one. Of the three, this is the least readable (it's mostly scope and sequence) and the least homeschool friendly (classroom teachers might find it more useful). It lists poems and books to read (mostly in the literature and history/geography sections--there is no booklist for science at all), but other books have more comprehensive lists (such as Laura M. Berquist's Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum). It does not draw at all on the resources currently available to and popular with Christian homeschoolers, even those that were available 10 years ago when the book was published. A very short chapter on using the curriculum in home schools ends up being only a plug for Calvert correspondence school. On the positive side, the breakdown of the steps in teaching reading and the related lists such as meanings of suffixes and prefixes are useful, especially for those teaching without a packaged curriculum. Some of the "alternate" social studies ideas (in an appendix) are more interesting and logical than the main sequence; for instance, third graders spend a year studying "The World Around Me", which involves local history, geography and nature study, branching out into local problems and areas in which children can serve others. The subject overviews, if you have not read For The Children's Sake or Karen Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion, which cover the same ideas in more depth, would be a good introduction to the educational principles of Charlotte Mason. For my money, though, I have gotten more practical use out of Ruth Beechick's You CAN Teach Your Child Successfully, which really does explain HOW to teach, and Laura Berquist's book, which pulls in currently available materials to create a curriculum probably more realistic and specifically for homeschoolers. (She doesn't include those phonics breakdowns, though.) If you can borrow this book, it's worth taking a look at; but if you have to spend money for it, there are others I'd go for first.

Despite the best horticultural efforts, money does not grow on trees. Schools know this all too well. Budgets are tight and the demands are high. Technology investment is one of these demands, and it's a pesky one. Technology changes how we work, and keeping up with these cultural changes requires investments. So if not the trees, from where do the resources come? David Bauer's TECHNOLOGY FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS (Feb. 2000) begins to tackle the problem.

The real question is not about sources, but the organization required to utilize and create the sources. To that end, TECHNOLOGY FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS can be divided into seven bailiwicks:

Developing technology support groups
Winning grants
Obtaining corporate funding
Pursuing government funding
Developing individual support
Selecting the most effective fund raising strategy
and mapping winning strategies

Each section reviews successful strategies to realize the chapter's goals and provides useful checklists to keep track of progress. The book comes with a disk that holds electronic versions of the checklists that can be reproduced and tailored to the schools specific needs. ....

There isn't enough step by step instuction. Its a goof-off and a terrible excuse for a instuction booklet. I think that it's okay if you had maybe one or two classes to learn to draw, but for a complete and total beginner...Let's just say I got better direction from free sites on the web.

First of all it should be titled "Kids draw Manga" not "Kids draw Anime" because Anime and Manga are different and what this book teaches is considered as manga but anyway this wouldn't even be considered manga or anime because it's just way to bad and crappy. I mean don't even waste your time or money with this book, better yet go find it at your local library. I love to draw manga and anime and when I flipped through this book me and my friends, we were pissed off because it's an embarrassment. So not beginners or anyone above that. This is mainly for kids under the age of 7 or something.

I just to a glips this book and I look at it and thought "anime?!" the answer was no. It was to cartoony.Yes it's a could book to draw cartoons but not anime. For instance look at Salior moon, Rayearth or Yu-gi-oh then look at this book do the look a like? If you want to learn real anime don't get this book you could get better ones for less. THIS IS A NOTE IF YOUR THINKING ABOUT GETTING ANY OF HIS MANGA MANIA BOOKS when you see the great art on the front it isn't his he hires people to do a whole chunk of the book and the front and back of the book for him then like only a small amount is his work and on the front of the book it says the book was by him. What did he do besides put no-anime charaters in it?! That's what I'm still trying to find out.
Back to this book if you can see the front of the book doesn't look good on the cover. If the covers bad isn't the book going to be the same? So If you want to learn anime I recemend
books that at least look like anime.

in my opinion, this is too kiddish for anyone who wants to become serious. If you are a young (high elemntary are lower middle school) and are tying to start out with good instructions, i would sujust the books by katy coope, how to draw manga, and how th draw more manga.

My 8 year old daughter received this as a Christmas gift five months ago, and it is wonderful! It's challenging but attainable drawing. Too often, art books are WAY too "kiddy" and cartoony with too little flavor, or way too complicated and mature. This is great for my daughter- it's neither *kiddy* nor too mature. She is a self-motivated artist, and I have seen a definite improvement in her skill from her trying to emulate the style and forms in this book.

This is definitely for kids, but it's not too easy and cartoony, and I don't care whether it's true anime or not. If my daughter ends up caring what *real* anime is, then she'll pursue it seriously, and not in a kids' art book.

If it wasn't for the title, I would have thought this was a book on how to draw Danny Phantom and other western cartoons/comics. This is not manga. Hart probably hasn't seen anything Japanese besides perhaps Pokemon, and he obviously doesn't understand how to draw the manga style of hair or eyes--I can tell just by looking at the cover. Definitely not recommended.

~Lina-chan

even though i am no purist, i am not calling the artwork manga. i found it at the library, thank god i did not borrow it! the bodies are disproportionent, the eyes are wrong (as if he spilled correction fluid on them) and whats with that hair? if you wan to learn how to draw manga like i do, DO NOT GET THIS BOOK!

This book is definitly for littler kids. The manga(is it manga?) looks nowhere near professional, but that would make it to intimidating for younger artists. It would definetly broaden they're skills, but I would NOT recomend it for more skilled artists.("Manga Mania" is good!)

The innovative 4 step process is simple but brilliant. My children picked up the technique effortlessly. Mr. Hart developed an excellent technique to teach younger artists. I hope he continues this concept. This book is highly recommended for young artists.

This book is more of a how to draw western comics but deffently not manga. The charaters are deformed the hair is huge and the eyes are wrong too. If you are a beginer and looking for a how to draw manga book don't buy this book. I have been doing manga for a long time and I know what I am saying. If you buy any books by Chistopher Hart you will fall into the wrong path and never really learn what real manga is. I'm not an Okuto but I hate Chistopher's pretend manga jut as much as they do. If you want a good how to draw manga book try "how to draw anime and game charaters" very good art and good step by step instructions.
~*~Purin~*~