Education Teaching Books

This book i got for school. It is so basic... kind of a backward move.

In Search of Understanding is the most logical, and effective paradigm in education. It helped me clarify and understand my own thinking and also changed how I see the education process for my students. If you need iron-grip control of your classroom at all times, this book is not for you. If you are ready open your mind, your classroom, and your students to new possibilities, this is a step in the right direction.

I first read the 1993 edition in 1993, and I was sold on it. There is no more clear nor concise book on constructivist instructional design in the business. The book is practical and can be read quickly. It doesn't get bogged down in too much jargon or theory. I object to one critic who claims the book is "ivory tower" and leans to much on science and math examples. The book is just the opposite from "ivory tower" and as for math and science examples, as a science teacher who spent years reading theory pitched toward humanities teachers that I had to adapt to my realm, I found this book refreshing. I would counter that creative,constructivist, dedicated teachers of English, World Languages, and Social Sciences would be able to adapt the Brookses's examples to their fields with ease.

The author's case for constructivism is predicated on unrealistic notions not only concerning the realities of education, but also the fundamentals of social diversity. The book seems to take the view that the more radical a notion is the more bookworthy it becomes. This concept is promoted by outlandish recommendations that clearly could not be practically implemented ... or even reasonable to consider. The author does not provide empirical evidence to support his opinion. The author seems to rely on a self-aggrandizing style to entrap other educators who may embrace his liberal ideas more as a defense against being labeled the traditionalist villian in this fictional work. Any educator who embraces this book has a parallax view of the classroom ... one that is upside down and inside out. In that case, the problem is not the classroom, but the teacher.

The authors in this text present a clear and organized overview of constructivist learning that is accessible to the beginner interested in the topic. The text is geared toward primary education, but I have been able to implement modified constructivist techniques presented in the text in my college courses. Constructivism is valuable for any learner.

I am disturbed at the negative comments regarding this book. I would not suggest that the book is above critisim, but the current retoric outlined in other reviews is without intellectual substance and is demeaning to many learners. As a student in primary and secondary education I struggled in with traditional educational methods. (I also see the same traditional methods being inflicted on my children.... education is slow if not impossible to change!) Not until I reached college and entered design and architectural education did I realize that different methods of instruction could be used effectively. For those who look down on constructivist methodology they are also disregarding the excellent educational practices in disciplines such as architecture, music, theater, design, art, and other forms of learning that require students to make judgments and create tangible proposals that impact the quality of society. Many would like you to think that constructivism is a radical and "new" educational method. But actually it has been part of our learning process in many disciplines long before the educational community formally recognized the theory.

Without dedicated professors that mostly unknowingly implemented constructivist methods in undergraduate and graduate education I would have never made my way though architectural school and become a design professor. I use this book in my design studio when I have my students create architectural proposals for schools of the future. It is interesting to hear the rhetoric of protecting traditional educational methods that I have had to un-teach on the college level. The most common comment I receive from my college students when they read this book is "Why did I not get learn this way?"

The authors are to be commended on creating a text that is accessible and usable to diverse disciplines.

Do you teach in a classroom in which there are no behavior problems. Where students sit at there desks with arms folded and smiles on their faces, eager to jump at the challenge you are about to put before them? No? This book assumes you do. Not only is this book an excersize in Utopia, it is very liberal by design. Several times, known communists are quoted and their ideas taken as gospel. Do you want our children being taught by a teacher following a socialist agenda? Do you want to teach your classroom in this manner? Then do not follow this book. The book is peppered with a few good ideas, but I have a problem with the message delivered. Comments such as "truth is often a matter of interpetation", and "grades are used to communicate that some students are smarter than others" are liberal ideas communicated throughout this book. If you want to improve your teaching by using research based instructional strategies, there are many pieces available that address this without being so radical.

To Dolores Hiskes:

I would like to thank you for your wonderful book! I am a 58 year old woman who learned to read without phonetics....the word recognition method. This method has not served me well either as a young student or as an older reader. I have always been a very slow reader and my spelling has been poor. I have always wanted to improve my reading skills but felt pretty discouraged about ever being able to do so. I saw your book advertised somewhere and got the idea to start myself back at the beginning (as it was) and work through Phonic Pathways. Your book is beautifully organized. The material is presented in a format very easy to take in and learn (not that I don't have to work at it though!!!!!).

It has taken me 6 months of daily disciplined study, but the results are very gratifying. I am also working through Reading Pathways, which is very helpful. I think my eye tracking ability is improving little by little as I go.

I am so grateful that you have provided me with a way to improve my reading and spelling skills.

B. Meltzer

I bought this book to start teaching my 4 yr old how to read It is very well organized and step by step , which I need.The way it is laid out you do not need any other books to teach reading with. The only complaint I would have is that it's all in black and white. No color which a 4 yr old likes. Wouldn't be a problem for an older child. This book is great for the parent who has no idea how to teach a child to read.

Excellent, excellent practice for my first grade daughter. She can read in her head faster than she can speak. The exercises in this book has been so helpful for her to read aloud more fluently. We love it.

This book has a lot of great phonics activities, but the little "worm" character that leads you through the book is a bit strange. I don't know that older students would really "buy into" it, although it is touted as being usable for multiple grades. The games are great, but some of the pages are kind of visually "busy," and I have had to retype the information for my kids so that they can focus on what they really need to learn. (Keep it simple!!!)

I teach in the resource room at my school and use your program with
grades K-7. My students range from IEP's to just struggling readers. I use both the Reading Pathways and Phonics Pathways books. I have seen HUGE success with my struggling kids; especially the younger ones. Parents are telling me over and over how much better their children are reading! Even the children are excitedly telling me "I can READ!" Needless to say, I am so thrilled at their success!

I just want you to know how much I love your program!! Even though I thought I had the training and resources I needed, I could tell I still wasn't reaching some of my students. So, I went searching and luckily found Reading and Phonics Pathways. I've had some training in Orton-Gillingham and I love Pathways so much better. I do incorporate a little of OG as well as some Morgan Dynamic Phonics, but your books are by far superior to them both. They make teaching and learning FUN!!

I have students begging me to do the pyramids. They can't wait to get
into my room and see what we'll be doing that day. Thank you, thank
you!

"Innumeracy" goes beyond the expectation of a non-mathematician, user-friendly book. It wakes up your awareness of what passes as "statistics", "experts", "economics", and various numeric analysis in the popular media.

I bought the book after seeing it referenced in another science book. I was interested in a basis for how much bias, or straight ignorance, was posing in the guise of expert. I was more than satisfied with "Innumeracy" in this regard.

Read it twice. Put it down for a month, pay attention to what's in the news, etc. then read it again. You will be a much better consumer of numbers.

I have read several "mathematics for a popular audience" books as a high school math teacher who has done graduate work in mathematics. This is considered a classic, but I felt like it was no longer up to date at times. Also, I had the feeling I had read many of the better examples and such in other places - again this book is now a classic. It is good, but I have read similar books that I enjoyed more.

I felt like I knew about numbers before the book, and now I realize that I need to review and study numbers! I asked a bunch of friends about some of the simple problems in the book and found that many of them could not figure it out! Definitely read this

Numbers - hearing that word makes a lot of people feel a certain numbness in their brains. Well, at least that is true for a rather large portion of the Earth's population. The human populace seems to be divided between those who love numbers and those who love words. There are perhaps a mere handful that can lay claim to loving BOTH with equal passion.

And it is for simply this reason that whenever a Mathematician comes along with a certain passionate feel for language, his works seem to suddenly adorn the shelves of even the most innumerate literary reader. People from one camp, often wonder how the other lives, and thinks. John Allen Paulos happens to be one of those people who has ventured where others of his peerage dare not tread: the world of the Mathematically Illiterate.

In this book, he attempts to look at how numbers simply don't seem to register with some people. In particular, how statistical probability seems entirely unrelated to our associated fears about daily existence. Although this book was written around 1988, and most of the actual numbers may have altered somewhat since that time (the number of people dying annually from smoking, for instance) it is easy to see why a large portion of people simply switch their brains off when numbers are involved: the truth is simply too shocking. Would you ever get into a car, knowing that you had a one in 5,300 chance of dying in an accident? Or, would you ever light up your next cigarette knowing that you had a one in 800 chance of dying as a result of that activity?

J.A. Paulos not only shows you the numbers but also takes a mental microscope to certain misconceptions on what the numbers are telling you. Being blind to figures is one thing - but not seeing things correctly, can sometimes be even more dangerous.

One thing is for certain when you are done reading this book: you WILL look at the world you live in differently. That is, unless you are among those who already use numbers to make sense of the world around you. For me, the book was somewhat of a vindication of my point of view on Life itself. If you want to know anything at all about it and the world you live in - you simply HAVE to look at the NUMBERS!

(I would have given this book FIVE stars had I only read it sooner... say back in 1988 when I was in High School. It would have made my life A LOT easier, back then!)

An otherwise interesting, thoughtful book is marred by the phrase that seems obligatory in most popular mathematical books, "the occasional difficult passage can be ignored with impunity." As the title suggests, this book addresses the general public's inability to deal with numbers and their uses. To provide another excuse for avoiding "difficult" mathematics really tends to defeat the purpose of the book and could possibly be considered as a psychological "put down." Are these passages really important to the reader or are they in some manner more important to the author and merely serve to distract the reader? Most often, as is the case in this book, such passages have reasonably comprehensible explanations. Why not use the space to provide another paragraph of explanation?
With this initial hurdle addressed, it should be pointed out that Paulos does a very good job in presenting interesting examples of the use and misuse of numbers, many of which are used in our society, and to some extent are being used to shape it. For example, consider the fact that in general female workers earn approximately 59% the salary of males, which has been used as the argument for stiff equal pay legislation. This fact alone does not take into account the additional information that a greater percentage of women work part-time and many have only recently entered the job market and so have yet to work their way up the hierarchical job ladder. Many other examples deal with the continued popularity of pseudoscience, despite the alternative "reality" that all the "evidence" for it can easily be explained by random variations in the data.
Written in the author's relaxed style and sporting an occasional pun, this book should be read by anyone concerned with the general lack of mathematical sophistication among the general public. Unfortunately, the conditional probability that a person will read it, given that they are themselves innumerate, is no doubt quite low.

Human Diversity in Education is a great supplemental or support text for a diversity course in education or for any teacher or student who wants to know more about the historical and social perspectives of student diversity in American schools. The importance of language use and learning styles is emphasized and research is presented (although the text does not present an in-depth discussion of current research or applications). The only negative is the lack of coverage on individual diversity, although the absence of text book opinions and presentation can spark great discussions in class!! Overall, an extremely well organized and easy to read text!!

One thing is certain - no matter how much US Americans may wax poetically about the good old days when things, including public education, were much more simple, those days are not going to return. As recent census data has indicated, the demographics of the US are continuing to change and the nation is getting more and more diverse. Within the next forty years, those of us living may witness a changing of the majority guard from White to Biracial and Hispanic/Chicano Americans.

That being the case, pre-service teachers and those considering a career in education need to be able to work with those most unlike them. They will need to examine the barriers they have build in their own mind, and create new categories for dealing with difference. The text points out that most pre-service teachers want to work in communities similar from whence they came. With the present teaching force being made up of an 88% White-Middle-Class and 66% female, well, that may not be a reality for those pre-service teachers once they become certified. Human diversity in education: an integrative approach addresses many of the issues that pre-service teachers and others who wish to (or actually do) work in education must understand.

This text is excellent for illuminating diversity and multiculturalism. It is rich in information and resources and information. It will be a most welcome addition to the shelf of any educator or student serious about diversity and multicultural education.

The book was required for a literacy class I took. Practical applications and information are contained.
Great for reading teachers, elementary classroom teachers, and literacy leaders.

I am a student at Illinois State University studying to be a special education teacher. My roommate let me borrow this book, and I immediately went online to order it! It gives you examples of problems a student may be having, a reason why they may be having it, and then a bunch of strategies to help you help them. i showed it to my teacher, and she regrets not having it a requirement for class. It is good for regular or special ed students. It comes highly reccomended by me!!!

thought it would of been in a wrapper because it was new, but other than that it was a good purchase. A

The book was filled with ideas and resources to use to correct and identify reading problems. It is a very good resource book to have on hand.

This book was very helpful in diagnosis and remediating reading difficulties for students in my classroom.

Like the other Words their Way materials, this volume continues the wonderful tradition of combining excellent teaching ideas with the black line masters so you can use the strategies immediately. This level is especially appropriate for students learning letter/sound relationships. It gives dozens of poems and stories which have sorts to support teaching them. There are old faithfuls such as "It's raining, it's pouring" to new poems that teach phonemic awareness, rhyming, visual discrimination and sight words. My favorite is the alphabet printed in several different fonts so students can learn all the ways 'A' might look. I wish I had this 21 years ago when I started teaching. I use it daily now.

Sorts 1-5 are concept sorts, 6-11 are picture sorts for phonological awareness, 12-14 are alphabet knowledge sorts, and 15-27 are sorts for beginning consonant sounds. Assessments are included for each group of sorts. Instructions for introducing/demonstrating the sorts are given, as well as notes for the teacher, literature links for read-aloud, extension activities and my favorite - shared reading texts. I think that this is a fabulous resource and after teaching first grade for 5 years, I plan on implementing Words Their Way in my kindergarten classroom in September. I also think that this is a must have for anyone planning on implementing the program. I don't think that the WTW textbook offers the range of resources in this book.

This is a very helpful book for ESL Kindergarteners! I have all the Words Their Way books and have used them at every grade level in my elementary school.

Excellent book to help young children learning basic addition skills. We started this book when my son was 4 years, 8 months. The going was slow for a while, but now we are more than halfway through the book, and I no longer have to guide him on every step. Prior to this book, he had not spent a lot of time learning to write his numbers (this was his first numbers workbook), and now he can write his number 1-29 without help.

For the reviewer who mentioned the pages were full of too many math problems for one sitting, I agree. We improvise, and I divide each page in half with a marker. He gets a sticker for each half-page he completes.

Most importantly, my son's confidence has dramatically improved. When we began the book, he was unsure of himself and easily confused by the many numbers, but time and patience has won out--and he races to get his book now.

I received this product in a timely manner,product in good condition.

I just love the Kumon workbooks because they are so well organized, with pages that are simply laid out and they introduce the information incrementally. It appeals to the learning style of my five year old. I was a tiny bit disappointed by how extremely simple this workbook is. It only covers adding 1 and 2 to the numbers 1 through 29. It says it right there on the cover but somehow I missed it. I would say it's definitely pre-school level and not kindergarten as I'd hoped. I'll probably just do a few of the pages with my five year old and order the next book to do this year with her and let my four year old use this when I need her to have busy-work. The information builds very slowly in this workbook and so it might not be ideal of the child who likes variety in their workbook pages or who struggles with being under-challenged or gets bored really quickly. However for my daughter this will be perfect.

I have brought all of the Kumon workbooks. Most of the other workbooks are full of bright colorful pictures with lessons containing just the right amount of sit down work. That is not true with this book. It is just pages full of problems -- too many of them for one sitting. They call it simple, because you are only adding 1 to numbers 1 to 29, but it is a bit much for a child trying to learn this for the first time. The book is fine for speed improvements, but find a different book for first time learners.