Contemporary Methods Books

The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

Freedom Writers, Zlata Filipovic

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 141 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.


As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust—only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”

With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition—appearances on “Prime Time Live” and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley—and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.

With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.

The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.

Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement

Stephanie Harvey, Anne Goudvis

Amazon Price: $27.00 List Price: $30.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Stenhouse Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $23.15

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Reference & Nonfiction -> Language Arts -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Reference & Nonfiction -> Language Arts -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Education Theory -> Contemporary Methods -> Language Experience Approach

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

great for english language arts teachers 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book. I learned so much. I've become a better reader myself and can't wait to use these strategies with my students.

Usefull book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement has easy to read useful information that should be easily transferred into a classroom.

Great Product 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement

Book came fast and secure. Almost new, but did have some hightlighting.

Would buy again!

easy to understand and lots of good ideas 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book was purchased as an optional textbook for a graduate level class. I can see myself employing several of the strategies in my first grade classroom with very little effort on my part. Easy to read and understand.

These Strategies do work! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a English Teacher, I use the information in this book to help me with crafting some reading strategies within a workshop model for my high school students. Students are engaged and they learn life-long reading skills. I highly recommend this book for your personal library and classroom resource.

Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All

Debbie Diller

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Education Theory -> Philosophy & Social Aspects

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Really good book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is really good. I saw it in a workshop I was in and definitely recommend it. It has a lot of really good information and for a good price on here.

Great resource 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Whether you have taught for a while or are just starting out, this book is a good resource. It goes through the components of reading and shows how to plan lessons according to what your students need. I found it very helpful in organizing materials and plans.

Good Purchase 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Being a teacher I found this to be a valuable asset to my personal library. I have referred to it several times.

Wow! What an improvement! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a must have for any classroom. I had trouble organizing groups for all my different levels. Now I feel like each child is getting the attention they need to become a skilled reader.

Great Gift for new teacher 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Such a great resource I always buy it as a gift for my student teachers - both books make a valuable investment - in th elives of their future students!!!

Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth

Jim Merkel

Amazon Price: $13.11 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Society Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $10.54

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Popular Economics -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Happiness

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Imagine you are first in line at a potluck buffet. The spread includes not just food and water, but all the materials needed for shelter, clothing, healthcare, and education. How do you know how much to take? How much is enough to leave for your neighbors behind you—not just the six billion people, but the wildlife, and the as-yet-unborn?

In the face of looming ecological disaster, many people feel the need to change their own lifestyles as a tangible way of transforming our unsustainable culture. Radical Simplicity is the first book that guides the reader to a personal sustainability goal, then offers a process to monitor progress to a lifestyle that is equitable amongst all people, species, and generations. It employs three tools to help readers begin their customized journey to simplicity:

>It builds on steps from Your Money or Your Life so readers can design their own personal economics to save money, get free of debt, and align their work with their values.
It uses refined tools from Our Ecological Footprint so readers can measure how much nature is needed to supply all they consume and absorb their waste.
Combining lyrical narrative, compassionate advocacy, and absorbing science, Radical Simplicity is a practical, personal answer to twenty-first century challenges that will appeal as much to Cultural Creatives and students as to spiritual seekers, policy makers, and sustainability professionals.

Jim Merkel quit his job as a military engineer following the Exxon Valdez disaster and has since worked to develop tools for personal and societal sustainability. He founded the Global Living Project to further this work and conducts workshops around North America on this topic.

Razzle Dazzle Writing: Achieving Success Through 50 Target Skills

Melissa Forney

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Maupin House Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $10.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Resource! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After borrowing this book from a colleague, I decided I had to have my own copy. It's a resource I keep going back to each year. My sixth graders love the activities, which are fun and easy to follow. Melissa Forney knows how to motivate students to improve their writing.

Editorial Review:

Get ready to transform "ho-hum" intermediate-grade writers into mature writers who love to write -- and perform well on assessments.

Razzle Dazzle Writing shows you how to teach narrative and informational writing through mastery of 50 key, target writing skills.

Your students succeed because Razzle Dazzle Writing:
- organizes writing craft teaching into standards-based single-lesson chunks for easy modeling practice, and mastery.
- addresses different learning styles, preferences, and interests with a variety of student-friendly formats to teach writing strategies.
- makes learning easy and fun wtih student-oriented writing craft lessons, checklists, models, student exercises, and graphic organizers.

Move your students to the next level with Razzle Dazzle Writing!

Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction

Ellin Oliver Keene, Susan Zimmermann

Amazon Price: $26.55 List Price: $29.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Heinemann Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $22.00

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> Literacy
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Mosiac of Thought Online Course available to all adopters of 25 copies or more of Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition.

Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann have returned with a new edition of Mosaic of Thought that features 70 percent new material. When the first edition published ten years ago, Mosaic of Thought became a runaway best seller as the first book to explicitly describe the use and benefits of strategy-based comprehension instruction. Since then comprehension strategy instruction has exploded, leading to numerous inspiring variations on Mosaic's instructional principles, as well as a widening of the comprehension research base. Now the second edition offers up-to-the-minute insight for classroom teachers, literacy coaches, and school leaders everywhere, and reminds everyone of precisely what effective, long-lasting comprehension teaching looks like.

Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, has been carefully revised and reflects Keene and Zimmermann's latest thinking. It's designed to help teachers implement practical, thoughtful ideas for teaching comprehension in contemporary classrooms through the seven core strategies that successful readers use to engage with texts. 

Packed with new classroom examples, grounded in the latest research, and written in the same accessible tone as the first edition, reaffirms the essential elements of powerful comprehension teaching introduced in the first edition while adding and updating features, including:

• Key Ideas sections for each strategy that describe crucial comprehension concepts
• new classroom examples that show comprehension strategies put into action in dynamic, literature-rich, current classrooms
• new opening vignettes that illustrate the concepts students will learn through explorations of the thinking used by proficient adult readers
• new tools to help teachers create effective reader's workshops
• innovations from teachers around the country for fine tuning think-alouds and conferring practices
• new advice on long-term instructional planning.

Keene and Zimmermann have also created an invaluable Q-and-A section with smart, informed responses to the questions that today's teachers most frequently ask about strategy-based teaching.

 

Whether you are just now joining the hundreds of thousands of teachers who have made Keene and Zimmermann their central resource for comprehension teaching, or whether you've relied on their advice for years, Mosaic of Thought, Second Edition, will change your literacy instruction - and possibly your own reading - forever. It's filled with vital, new information, new research, and proven practices. Read it today and give your students strategies for connecting with texts that will last a lifetime.

 

Brain Gym (Teachers Edition: Revised)

Paul E. Dennison

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $19.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Should have bought a diffrent edition 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought this because I read that Brain Gym was good for kids with special needs. Never having seen it done or used any other Brain Gym products- I naturally ordered the TEACHERS EDITION, thinking all the directions would be there for implementing this is my classroom. This manual would be for someone already familiar with the basics of Brain Gym exercises who wanted to find creative ways to use it within a classroom setting. I will be looking for Brain Gym products that meet my needs better.

Brain Gym 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a good book to get your students really thinking. It gives you ways to get them back on track and keep them there. It also gives your students an option of doing something on their own to help get them back on track.

Not up to standard! 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Although the content is very interesting, the quality of the graphics, typesetting and production is terrible! The illustrations are all line drawings by an amateur, and poorly illustrate the movements and postures described in the text. If the publishers didn't have a monopoly on the content, they simply couldn't get away with such a low standard. Considering the premium price point for this slender tome, one should expect a higher standard.

Editorial Review:

Brain Gym is made up of simple and enjoyable movements and activities . These activities make all types of learning easier but are especially effective with academic skills.

The Crosscultural Language and Academic Development Handbook: A Complete K-12 Reference Guide (3rd Edition)

Lynne T. Diaz-Rico, Kathryn Z. Weed

Amazon Price: $69.12 List Price: $76.80 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Allyn & Bacon Amazon Marketplace: 55 new & used starting at $49.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

CTEL Study Guide 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book seriously saved my life while I was studying for the CTEL. I read it from cover to cover in a week. All of the information was useful and helped me pass the test!

CTEL 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

It helped me pass the CA CTEL test on the first try. I read no other book, this did it for me.

Editorial Review:

The third edition of this popular handbook brings together theories, ideas, and resources for promoting crosscultural awareness, language development, and academic progress for English learners. It ties together culture and language in a comprehensive format and delves deeply into the educational challenges faced by classroom teachers. Written specifically for the mainstream teacher, the guide clearly shows the effects of cultural differences on learning and presents an excellent treatment of cultural diversity and learning styles. It comes at a time when more than two million students nationwide with limited English proficiency fill our classrooms -- a time when today's teachers desperately need practical, effective resources to help these students succeed in school.

Practice With Purpose: Literacy Work stations for Grades 3-6

Debbie Diller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Practice with PURPOSE 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is just what I've needed. Excellent source for getting kids motivated and on tasks that help THEM to learn. Outlines possible problems and solutions ahead of time. Great ideas for taking centers I already want and making them real learning stations in the classroom.

Other teachers on my floor are already looking to "borrow" it.

Great 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

Practice with Purpose 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This was an excellent resource! With our school getting ready to teach combination grades-I will highly recommend it to all teachers. The ideas are practical and with a limited budget, will be attainable in our classes.
Finally- a book to help right away, simple ideas that we can all use!

Patrice Third grade teacher 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

When I received the book, I sat down and read it through and through. This book is exactly what I need for my third grade class. The concept of practice centers for intermediate students makes sense. Debbie Diller's book
gave me the written "how" and provided the blackline masters to put those ideas into practice. I just completed my first week of school and I have already used several of her ideas. This book is easy to read, understand,and most importantly practical.

Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind

Graham Hancock

Amazon Price: $12.89 List Price: $18.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks By: The Disinformation Company Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $10.85

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Education -> Education Theory -> Contemporary Methods -> Multicultural

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Less than fifty thousand years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious "before-and-after moment" and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind.

His quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural beings" identical to the animal-human hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves. Hallucinogens such as mescaline also produce visionary encounters with exactly the same beings. Scientists at the cutting edge of consciousness research have begun to consider the possibility that such hallucinations may be real perceptions of other "dimensions." Could the "supernaturals" first depicted in the painted caves be the ancient teachers of mankind? Could it be that human evolution is not just the "meaningless" process that Darwin identified, but something more purposive and intelligent that we have barely begun to understand?

This newly revised edition of Supernatural is now available for the first time as a paperback original.

Graham Hancock is the author of the international bestsellers The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies.