Teacher Training Books

This is the impression and the influence I got from reading "Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio": that is the sense that you grow up as an individual and a teacher if you realize, think and organize in a personal and structured way your ideas, knowledge, competences and educational materials. Documentation and reflection are key words, but also originality and creativity. As a teacher and a teacher trainer I suggest this book to all my colleagues.

This book is a helpful guide for a grueling project. I have to create and maintain a portfolio throughout my year-long certification program, and I didn't really know how to get started until I discovered this book.

It outlines the areas that should be in any professional teaching portfolio, and clearly lists the types of documents that could be contained in each section. Looking at your own work with a critical eye and reflecting on what you did and how you can do better is one of the key ideas in this book.

There is a section on how to use your portfolio, and even an overview of creating an electronic portfolio. I found the examples of portfolio entries the most helpful section. It shows there are many ways to present your portfolio in creative and eye-catching ways, without being "cutsey".

The best message I got from this book is that your portfolio should not be shoved aside after you get a job, but continuously updated and reflected upon. This not only will keep you prepared if that "dream job" comes available, but it will help you grow as a professional educator. Any student teacher would find this book extremely valuable, and I believe professional educators would gain insight in revising their own portfolios.

Haven't really had a chance to use it yet...and hoping to this summer! I'm sure it is sufficient as i have bought others like it that were.

I am unfortunately not able to review this product for it's quality, since I have not used it yet. However, in reviewing the service by amazon, regarding my purchase, etc, i can say that i have no complaints whatsoever. From the initial purchase on line through the timely delivery, the service provided by Amazon was 'good'!
i would be happy to give you a 'product review' at such time that i begin my study program with it, if you want; pls send me a reminder in a few months.
thanks!
dcl

I just received this book and also have the XAM CSET: English study guide. Because the Cliff's Notes one just came out, I used the XAM book to study for the first three parts of the CSET (which I took and passed!). I now am going to take the fourth subtest.

In comparing the two books, I found that the XAM guide provides a LOT more information to study regarding the content. For example, the Cliff's version has two pages (essentially just a list) of major works of literature and the periods in which they were written. The XAM guide lists many of these same works, but also will provide a short synopsis of what the story is about. It also explains features of the different periods. The Cliff's version says that Dryden wrote during the Neoclassic period, but doesn't say what Neoclassism is or who Dryden was. The XAM guide does describe what Neoclassism means and when it was. It also tells you more information about Dryden.

In the Cliff's guide, out of 234 pages, only 23 cover content. 27 pages are on test-taking strategies. The remainder is two practice tests.

The practice tests are very good and, I think, very representative of what the actual tests are like. The answers to the questions are very well-written and are full of useful information. To continue using Neoclassism as an example, an answer to one question defines the period very nicely. If you have the patience and the organizational skills to dig through the answers to weed out the bits of useful information, then I think the practice tests will help you very much. But I prefer to have the information all in one place to begin with, and then use the answers to fill in what's missing. (The XAM version also had a very good answer key.)

The Cliff's version explicitly says that it is not meant to be a complete resource and the XAM version is not complete either. (I needed to supplement my studies with additional information from internet sources.) But I feel that, in terms of content and ease of study, the XAM study guide is a better source. I would probably buy both, however, use the XAM as a base for studying, and take the practice tests in both books because they ask for different skills (especially for subtest IV).

This book has begun great conversations in our school with our teachers. It has allowed teachers to talk about the ideas about numeracy through a friendly lens of literacy. The book is written in a manner conducive to inviting readers to reflect on their own practice in light of the ideas shared in the book. We have loved it and will continue to offer ongoing conversation time as we develop our numeracy instruction strategies.

This book is an easy read for getting started on making connections between reading comprehension strategies and math strategies to enhance math instruction in the elementary classroom.

This book is a complete embarrassment. I teach test prep and am therefore very familiar with many, many (high school) test prep books. Some are better, some are worse, but this book is not even in the same running with even the worst of them.
It's broken into three sections; the introduction to the test section has illuminating info. such as: "What score do I need to pass the test...? Each subject has it's own passing score..." Basically, the answer to every FAQs question is "Contact...[...]..." These questions can be answered in about two minutes on the CSET site, but I bought the book for a bit more insight into such things as the scaled scoring (they don't even mention it) and how long the test is. Any prep book worth anything would give these answers and more. If you need the test-taking tips they provide you shouldn't be let near a classroom.
The second section is a joke summary of the subject matter. If you're going to have such a section, take it seriously. This book is more expensive and thinner than any SAT etc. book and yet has this poorly written, pathetic and often inaccurate summary of all world history.
The worst offense is that the two practice tests are terrible. The questions don't reflect the test questions, are often almost incomprehensibly or woefully vaguely written, are often wrong, and regularly have hopeless explanations as mentioned in the above post. My favorite not only said that A, B, and C were obviously wrong as an explanation, but then marked the answer as...C!
Needless to say, my advice is, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!

Well, I have now completed the Social Science tests this weekend and with this text and the all important test fresh in my memory, I must say that Cliffs Test Prep was a good way to distract me from what I needed to know. Much of the information in this book was a simple list of terms and names with little reference as to why they are important or why they are relevant to the test. Likewise, I found that many of the test questions came in a different format than found within this book's sample exams.

What was far more valuable for my time and my study were the California State standards: those are free, and give some connection as to why a specific person or vocabulary term is relevant. Don't waste your money on this book!

Some people seem to think that a study guide will give you the exact material that will be on the test. Well, they are wrong. I looked all over for a good social science cset study guide and could not find one. I bought this book because it provides a guide on how to take the test, rather than spending hundreds of pages recapping information available in the survey books that we all own already (hopefully). There is, however, some review, but the book is valuable for familiarizing you with each subtest. I read this book cover-to-cover and completed all of the practice sections (took two days) before taking the tests. I passed all three subtests on my first attempt. You should have learned all you need from school (considering you paid attention and made reasonable effort), but this book will show you the areas that you need to study as you assess your performance on the practice sections. There is no single book that will adequately prepare you for the cset. Using the practice guidelines from the cset website, reviewing your education, reading this book, and researching areas that you show weakness, in my opinion, will prepare you for the test. I recommend this book to supplement your studies. Good Luck!!!

Because I have appreciated Cliffs products in the past, I was suprised by this one. It will not help you pass the CSET. First of all, the section that tells you what you need to know for each subtest is so incredibly brief as to be annoying. And it doesn't even include enough information for the question in their sample tests. The sample test answers are sometimes inaccurate and often unhelpful (a,b, and c are clearly wrong, so it must be d--gee thanks). I regret purchasing this book and wish I could find something better. In the meantime, I'm just using the CA state standards for history grades 4-12.

This book is okay. The written simulation portion gives you a descent idea of what the test will be like. The multiple choice questions are less practical in preperation for the exam. This book has a lot of questions focused on nutrition, which is not a large focus at all on the NATA-BOC. I would not recommend purchusing this book.

Please save your money and don't purchase this review book. After doing several of the practice questions I began to realize that many of the answers in the answer guide were wrong. Some of the answers also blatantly contradicted themselves. I called the publisher to bring this to their attention and they did nothing about it. How can a person study for this caliber exam when the study material is not accurate? Don't buy this book!

This book is great for the CD-ROM that comes with it to study for the Written portion of the Exam. On the other hand I don't think it does a very good job explaining the Practical, it may be out of date because they changed the format a little. The practice test for the Written Sim is to easy compared to the real one that you will take. Overall it is O.K., but maybe out of date even though it is only a few years old.

The first chapter is a little dry and tedious but the book picks up speed and practicality the further it goes. I like the discussion questions at the end to help apply what I had read.

I just finished reading this book as part of a Christian Education course for my degree on Religion and I say that this book should be placed in the hands of every Christian teacher and in the hands of those who wish to become Christian teachers. Sunday schools are usually filled with teachers who are not well trained, prepared, or evaluated. Though it is not their fault that these teachers are not prepared or trained, it happens. God deserves our best as well as the students which every week sit under the teaching of someone who is supposed to correctly explain the word of truth. Most Sunday schools classes that I have been in are usually ones that are mediocre in nature because the teacher started the class period late, they were not prepared, no objective or goal were mentioned (we got no where every time), the room was not arranged for teaching, audiovisual aids were not effective or were not present, the teacher couldn't keep the class' attention, and among other things the teacher did not encourage the students to ask questions. These and many other areas are covered in this book. Though I have 4 years as an Instructor in a military technical training environment, I know that there is much to learn in the field of teaching, especially in the teaching ministry of the Church which, mildly put, it sucks. Get this book, you won't be disappointed.

Teaching in Bible college I've reviewed and used scores of texts over the last 25 years. Some have been simplistic and others mentally congest being encyclopedic. This produced raves from the students, both from its biblical insights, and from its well-written inductive review questions. It is pure, godly delight, and a great introduction to Christian education. More students wanted to change their major to Christian Education or commented that they received an exciting vision for it after this one than those before. Success is its best evidence that this is a great book.

Lindstrom, P.H. & Speck, M. (2004). The principal as professional development leader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

If you are batting for the intelligent, renewist and compassionate approach to student learning you are in the same team as Linda DarlingHammond, Richard Elmore, Raymond Barth, Linda Lambert and others, and you will enjoy this book.

The principal as a professional development leader is a new way of looking at the principal's role. This approach re-states teachers' professionalism. The hegemony of the blighted concept instructional leadership is predicated on the now dated view of the mythical hero principal who almost single handedly turns around failing schools. Far better to have a collaborative, shared leadership that builds on and strengthens teachers' professional skills and knowledge.

The difficulty in bringing about long-term change in schools has re-focussed attention on teachers' professional learning. A feature of this book is the "big-picture" thinking such as the nine components of professional development and the evaluation rubric (Table 2.1) which have international appeal.

This book is an excellent mix of theory and good practice, and will provide some of the best professional learning that most principals will undertake this year.

Corwin Press is to be congratulated also for its quality publications and support for education.

Lucy West gives the reader an inside view to the coaching position. The CD's let you see an expert in action and then read about what the author/coach is thinking. This was extremely helpful in moving me to the next step in becoming a good math coach.