MBR: The Education Shelf
Midwest Book Review
Collaborate, Communicate & Differentiate!
Wendy W. Murawski and Sally Spencer
Corwin Press
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
9781412981842, $34.95, www.corwin.com
Collaborate, Communicate & Differentiate provides teachers and special
education classrooms with a fine survey of how to educate students in
general education equally, across the board, and is a pick for any
college-level educator's collection. It provides easy strategies for
daily tasks ranging from communicating with families to co-teaching
and planning differentiated instruction. Case histories, reproducible
forms, points to share with administrators, and a companion website
make this a powerful teacher's tool.
Schools in the Forest
Denis Heyck
Kumarian Press
c/o Stylus Publishing
Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605
9781565493506, $24.95, www.kpbooks.com
Schools in the Forest: How Grassroots Education Brought Political
Empowerment to the Brazilian Amazon documents how the Brazilian
government aggressively developed the Amazon and provides a history of
Projeto Seringueiro, a radical educational experiment based on the
ideas of Paulo Freire designed to bring literacy to the rubber tappers
who were at the mercy of the developers. It provides a history of the
project and shows how the rubber tappers succeeded in forming
different alliances that benefitted all, and is an invaluable pick for
education and Latin American collections alike!
The New Digital Shoreline
Roger McHaney
Stylus Publishing
Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605
9781579224608, $29.95, www.styluspub.com
The New Digital Shoreline: How Web 2.0 and Millennials Are
Revolutionizing Higher Education offers a fine survey of the complex
effects of Web 2.0 on higher education, documenting forces that
educators need to know about to modify interactions with students and
peers. From understanding how the population of the new Web is
different with different expectations to understanding the new mind-
set of Web 2.0, this is packed with details supporting a reinvention
of higher education to meet these new perspectives - a support which
goes beyond just adding new technology to the learning mix. Higher
education collections must have this new approach!
Come and Play
Aerial Cross
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul MN 55117
9781605540221, $29.95, www.redleafpress.org
Education collections reaching early childhood teachers will find COME
AND PLAY fine key to promoting productive play. From five common play
challenges to finding tools to support these challenges plus help a
child's overall learning, this pairs purposeful activities and ideas
with individual play plans that discuss how play may be managed for
optimum results, making this a pick for any early education
collection.
Individualized Autism Intervention for Young Children
Travis Thompson
Brookes Publishing
Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624
1598571737, $29.95, www.brookespublishing.com
Individualized Autism Intervention for Young Children is a pick for
educator and health collections alike, discussing two different
approaches to use with young children with autism and helping
professionals consider two competing behavioral models to respond to
an autistic child's individual needs. This approach was developed by
one of the nation's leading experts on autism and provides a fine set
of practical tools and case studies to thoroughly teach and understand
the different approaches.
The Insider's Guide for High School Students
Tim Healey and Alex Carter
Vandamere Press
Box 149, St. Petersburg, FL 33731
9780918339751, $11.95, www.vandamere.com
The Insider's Guide for High School Students provides 9th-year
students with a basic key to success in high school and beyond, and is
a pick for middle to high school collections alike. It imparts an
organizational plan for success and shows students how to develop a
focus on goals, offering advice on everything from obtaining good
grades to becoming involved in school activities. A fine primer, this
will appeal to goal-oriented students.
Creating a Digital-Rich Classroom
Meg Ormiston
Solution Tree
555 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404
9781935249870, $19.95, www.solution-tree.com
Technology and education are terrific partners, if teachers take
control to establish them as such. "Creating a Digital-Rich Classroom:
Teaching & Learning in a Web 2.0 World" discusses how technology can
be used to its fullest as a learning tool as author Meg Ormiston
suggests ways to use Web 2.0 to make it so the internet is the class
room, helping them find information, and find new ways to teach old
curriculum. For any tech savvy teacher who rightfully believes the
internet is the future, "Creating a Digital-Rich Classroom" is the
road map you need to make the web-infused classroom a reality.
Mapping Your Thesis
Barry White
Australian Council for Education Research
c/o International Specialized Book Services
920 NE 58th Ave., Suite 300
Portland, OR 97213-3786
9780864318237, $89.95, www.isbs.com
Research is a big portion of making a work well informed and
acclaimed. "Mapping Your Thesis: The Comprehensive Manual of Theory
and Techniques for Masters and Doctoral Research" is a guide for
researching for a thesis, providing the rules and tricks for working
with research and studying. A thesis has much to do with the related
term theory, and all theories must be backed with solid and thorough
research. Chapters discuss the basics of education, reason, and
thought through the works of many thinkers and philosophers throughout
history, creating a concept, creating and editing the work, and the
high importance of self-review of your work. "Mapping Your Thesis" is
a must for anyone who is being tasked with the challenge of crafting a
thesis, no matter the purpose.
Designing and Implementing Effective Adapted Physical Education
Programs
Luke E. Kelly
Sagamore Publishing
1807 N. Federal Dr., Urbana, IL 61801
9781571676733, $34.95, www.sagamorepub.com
Physical education should not be pushed aside, especially with today's
rising levels of obesity. "Designing and Implementing Effective
Adapted Physical Education Programs" is a discussion of physical
education and how teachers and leaders can create a physical education
program that can cater to the various levels of mobility of students,
from the typical to those facing motor issues like being wheelchair
bound. For anyone who wants to keep their physical education program
all-inclusive, "Designing and Implementing Effective Adapted Physical
Education Programs" is a strong pick with plenty of tips and tricks in
staying true to it all.
Journey to Literacy
Krista Flemington, Linda Hewins, & Una Villiers
Pembroke Publishers
538 Hood Road, Markham, Ontario, Canada, L3R 3K9
Stenhouse (distribution)
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
9781551382616, $21.00, www.pembrokepublishers.com
Literacy is perhaps one of the most important aspects one can take
from education. "Journey to Literacy: No Worksheets Required" is a
guide for kindergarten and other young education administrators who
want to encourage literacy from a young age. Suggesting games and
other activities to encourage learning, the authors suggest many
alternatives to the standard worksheet educational method that has
been used for decades. "Journey to Literacy" is a strongly recommended
pick for community library education collections and for educators of
young children.
Teaching Teens with ADD, ADHD, & Executive Function Deficits, second
edition
Chris A. Zeigler Dendy
Woodbine House
6510 Bells Mill Rd., Bethesda, MD 20817
9781606130162, $24.95, www.woodbinehouse.com
Education is important, no matter what stands in its way. "Teaching
Teens with ADD, ADHD, & Executive Function Deficits: A Quick Reference
Guide for Teachers and Parents" is a guide for educators who want to
teach their students everything they need to flourish in spite of
learning problems and disabilities. The book is broken down into
sections with plenty of advice for such conditions as well as the law,
medicine, and the importance of pushing such things for teachers.
"Teaching Teens with ADD, ADHD, & Executive Function Deficits" is a
very highly recommended resource for any educator or educational
administrator.
Social Enjoyment Groups
John Merges
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849058346, $22.95, www.jkp.com
Friendship is something we all seek, and autism does not change that.
"Social Enjoyment Groups: For Children, Teens, and Young Adults with
Autism Spectrum Disorders" is a guide for encouraging growth of social
groups for young people with autism, and how to form and run such
groups effectively to encourage growth of such skills and lead to more
independence in life, along with greater fulfillment. "Social
Enjoyment Groups" is a strongly recommended pick for anyone in charge
of educating autistic pupils.
Alternative Approaches to Assessing Young Children, second edition
Angela Losardo & Angela Notari Syverson
Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co
PO Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624
9781598570878, $39.95, www.brookespublishing.com
Written tests aren't the best way to measure the skills of someone who
can barely write. Now in its second edition, "Alternative Approaches
to Assessing Young Children" is an educational discussion of early
childhood education and how to assess it appropriately and correctly.
Focusing on these methods, which include strengths and weaknesses of
each, how to approach the results of an assessment, and much more, the
new edition covers when greater intervention is required. "Alternative
Approaches to Assessing Young Children" is an excellent addition to
any educational reference collection for teachers and schools open to
alternative methods.
Successful Transfer Of Learning
Sandra Ratcliff Daffron & Mary Wehby North
Krieger Publishing Company
1725 Krieger Lane
Melabar, FL 32950-3323
www.krieger-publishing.com
1575242982, $35.25, www.amazon.com
In our post-industrial 'information age' society, the concepts and
values of adult education and 'life-long learning' are increasingly
salient and compelling issues for both the individual and our national
economy. The collaborative work of academician Sandra Ratcliff Daffron
(Professor of Adult Education, Western Washington University) and
training consultant Mary Wehby North (who also draws upon her
expertise and experience as a former Readiness Training Program Manger
for the Microsoft Corporation), "Successful Transfer of Learning" is
201-page compendium presenting and explaining the results of a complex
and comprehensive study of seventeen professional groups with respect
to the transfer of learning from one setting to another, one program
to another. Analyzing theoretical implications underlying successful
transfers, learner characteristics and motivation, designs and
deliveries, learning contexts, strategies, and implementation
techniques, "Successful Transfer of Learning" is enhanced with
appendices and an index making it a seminal work that would prove to
be a welcome and core contribution to professional and academic
library Adult Education instructional reference collections and
supplemental studies reading lists.
Speech to Print Workbook, second edition
Louisa Cook Moats and Bruce L. Rosow
Brookes Publishing
Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285-0624
9781598571622, $24.95, www.brookespublishing.com
Speech to Print Workbook packs in teaching methods and tips to using
phonics to increase reading skills and has been completely revamped
with new exercises in a second updated edition. Teachers learn the
basics of how to strengthen critical skills in a title which includes
over 80 new or revised exercises not found in the original text, new
quizzes to reinforce the basics of language learning keys, a new
layout to make the workbook easier to use, and more.
A Medical Teacher's Manual for Success
Helen M. Shields, MD, FACP, AGAF
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218-4363
0801897661, $25.00, www.press.jhu.edu
A Medical Teacher's Manual for Success: Five Simple Steps comes from a
clinician-teacher who has spent her career training future doctors,
researchers and medical school instructors. This shares her methods
for developing and teaching curricula for medical students and reduces
her program to five steps which cover preparation, logical
presentations, group explorations of topics, reinforcement of concepts
and a five-minute summary of points. Her guidelines for teachers
provide lists of do's and don't guidelines perfect for any who would
follow in her teaching footsteps.
Math Work Stations
Debbie Diller
Pembroke
c/o Stenhouse Publishers
Box 11020, Portland ME 04104-7020
9781571107930, $34.00, www.stenhouse.com
Math Work Stations: Independent Learning You Can Count On, K-2 appears
in a spiral-bound workbook format and provides a fine photo-filled key
to math work stations that teach kinds conceptual skills and math
vocabulary. Key concepts and ideas for modeling and assessment provide
a fine pairing of math station ideas with hundreds of color photos
showing them at work in classroom settings. Highly recommended for any
education library working with the K-2 audience!
The Unscripted Classroom
Susan Stacey
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul MN 55117
9781605540368, $29.95, www.redleafpress.org
The Unscripted Classroom: Emergent Curriculum in Action provides a
fine way to use new practices to tie into a child's emerging
creativity, offering a flexible set of routines for early childhood
educators interested in enlivening the curriculum. From using stories
for professional development to handling toddlers and embracing and
teaching the unexpected, this packs in invaluable learning tools in a
pick for any early childhood professional collection.
Corwin Press
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
www.corwin.com
Rick Auger's THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR'S MENTAL HEALTH SOURCEBOOK:
STRATEGIES TO HELP STUDENTS SUCCEED (9781412972734, $31.95) argues
that school counselors need to broaden their knowledge on mental
health disorders - and provides tools counselors can use to help keep
students on track. From addressing autism and anxiety disorders to
intervention strategies tested in the field and handling a range of
disorders, this provides definitions, approaches, and tested methods
that work and is a 'must' for any education collection. Nancy
P.Gallavan's NAVIGATING CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN GRADES 6-12: A COMPASS
FOR TEACHERS (9781412978484, $31.95) provides a fine survey discussing
cultural diversity and provides an eight-point 'cultural compass' for
teachers showing how to create an inclusive curriculum. From creating
a welcoming school environment to increasing teaching confidence, this
demonstrates exactly how to infuse cultural competence into a
curriculum. Math teachers working with grades 4-10 will find Leslie
Laud's USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TO DIFFERENTIATE MATHEMATICS
INSTRUCTION: SEVEN PRACTICES TO MAXIMIZE LEARNING (9781412995245,
$30.95) to be a specific and powerful teaching tool to help support an
entire classroom, from struggling learners to high achievers. This
book makes it easy to place formative assessment practices into
action, from establishing norms and using TRI models to creating
tiered lessons and multitasking a differentiated classroom. Highly
recommended! Also a top pick is Debbie Zacarian's TRANSFORMING SCHOOLS
FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS: A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL LEADERS
(9781412990400, $31.95) provides a fine guide to educating public
school ELs. Each chapter focuses on a key elements of English language
education programming with the entire school in mind, from selecting a
program model for school-wide implementation to using measures of
student performance to make decisions. Educators and school principals
will find this a fine assessment! THE PRINCIPAL AS LEADER OF
CHALLENGING CONVERSATIONS (9781412981156, $25.95) is a pick for
educator collections where principals seek a quick reference guide to
creating and maintaining positive conversations with staff, parents,
students and district leaders alike. From active listening and
feedback to assertive communication, this includes scripts, sample
dialogues, checklists and more gained from case study examples. Betty
J. Alford and Mary Catherine Nino's LEADING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FOR
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: A GUIDE FOR PRINCIPALS (9781412981606,
$31.95) offers case studies from school leaders who have created
effective chances for ELL learners. From applying instructional
strategies for best benefit to understanding resources, this offers
professional development tools key for teachers seeking to understand
second language acquisition.
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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review