Teaching Books

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children was a very informative book for educators that address the aspect of culturally relevant teaching. The author, Gloria Ladsen-Billings, talks about the relationship of pedagogy and how to fulfill the needs of African American children. Ladson-Billings also addresses seven critical points that many educators have brought up, which include: a case for separate schools, the growing educational and anthropological literature in ways schools can be made to be more compatible with all of the students' cultural backgrounds, the way that a classroom's social interactions are structured in a critical aspect of culturally relevant teaching, the teachers' conceptions of themselves and others, the teachers' conception of knowledge, the teaching of elementary literacy and mathematics, and ways for improving the academic performance and the school experience of African American students.I am only going to discuss three points that I agree with most which include the case for separate schools, how education literature is allowing the schools to be more compatible with a student's cultural background and how teachers teach elementary literacy and mathematics.
The first critical point that the author brings up asks if there is a case for separate schools. It does tell us that there is a growing isolation of those that are African American with the type of education that the children receive today in public schools. I am inclined to disagree with the case for separate schools because many teachers do have a growing disaffection towards African American students, as well as students of other minority status which is not discussed in this book. I am also sure that teachers do have a stereotype towards African American children as well because if they are not experienced on how to handle teaching their students of another race, they will be less likely to focus on them in class.
The author also discusses how educational literature is growing in ways that schools are able to be much more compatible with their students background. When I did an internship at an elementary school, I could tell that many of the teachers and principals showed interest in making sure their school was diverse. I do disagree in the fact that I have heard from others and also can see where they are coming from in that there definitely is a lack of literature of the African American experiences taught in class. It is rare to see a classroom in which the African American culture is taught, and it is something that should be considered.
Another critical area was how the teachers taught elementary literacy and mathematics. The teachers focused equally on those who were illiterate and literate as well as those who did or did not excel in math. I can definitely see why the teachers handled this because I have seen first hand at how some teachers do not cure and just continue teaching. Taking the time to make sure a child understands what they are learning in school; especially an important area such as reading is very valuable in their education. Making sure that children can read and add is very important and something that should not be ignored. However, I do disagree on how teachers taught elementary literacy and mathematics, I believe how they went about it was completely wrong. For instance, I think a child who is struggling in a certain subject should not be pulled out of class during the time that subject is taught. In addition to the class time, the student should have extra tutoring. Pulling them from class is not the best solution.
The quality of the book's argument convinces those who are likely to see things differently. She expalins in detail what is culturally relevant teaching. She also describes her observations and the components and results that had occurred throughout. Finally, she was successful in questinoning the teacher's views of how African Americans are schooled. The reasons that the author gives support the main argument in great detail. I believe that teachers are fully capable of allowing these students to succeed if they are willing to do so and give it their best effort.

Author Ladson-Billings (1994) book "The Dreamkeepers", gave me valuable inside on examples of various challenging and rigorous classrooms, and the emphasis the author put in presenting the cultural and social aspects of schooling when framing education as a whole, was evident. However the author makes the problems of African American children the main issue at stake in her book. Therefore I was presented with a fact and a different point of view based on statistics while conducting my research: One cannot lobby to change the system for one type of minority, to be successful at change. One has to see the "spreading tumor' per se, as a culturally diverse illness, affecting all of us. We, as a diverse society cannot try to make only one minority the beneficiary of our input, improvement, and educational reform. According the U.S. Department of Education (2004) NCLB (No child left behind) report, it showed that among the reading and math proficiency levels of performance for 4th graders in 2003, African American children were slightly lower, by one to five percent, under performing the Hispanics, meaning Hispanics proficiencies in reading and math are slightly better, just slightly, but this does not justify viewing the problem of minority children as being only an African American one. To be successful at change, one has to be more objective and start change for all minorities, why is it so vital to start with only one? I know poverty and lack of social skills are a major factor, but imagine how difficult it is to learn with a new language too.

Changes need to apply to all minorities, if one starts with only one minority, one is not addressing one method of change but only one perceived suitable application for one race. It just seems logical to improve all problems minorities face with the same vigor and dedication in order to truly make changes. I just do not see why is it that African Americans or any race should be the starting point. We are all culturally diverse, aren't we? Unless we are seeing this from the historical point of view again, and we are only to consider the many challenges one race has always faced historically in the U.S. school system, but that still does not justify starting -subjectively speaking- with a minorty that could have, or perceivably so, has been least served.

My two cents...SUSAN WILDBURGER

Though Ladon-Billings leans towards idealism constructing a perfect model of societal bliss, this book does show the underlying lack of knowledge many people have regarding educational issues. Those who say that the African-Americans' educational problems are their own fault show incredible short-sightedness to the truth of history. Have we forgotten that the Africa diaspora of colonialism was a forced migration to this country that treated blacks as inferior, and thus that it was a waste of time to educate them? In order for racism to stop, people have to recognize that there is no one race better than any other. All races have value and thus all races should be celebrated. God created them all. An understanding of this will lead to advances in the educational system which often has curricula that have no connection to many of its students. Ladson-Billings book, though primarily focused on African-Americans, is still an important blueprint toward removing some of the blinders people wear when it comes to historical truth. This book is for those who have ears to hear.

The author of Dreamkeepers makes the argument that African American children can be successful in school if changes are made by the education community. Gloria Ladson-Billings advocates for "culturally relevant teaching" which she believes will allow children to achieve academic success while maintaining a positive African American identity. By examining historical inequalities and the poor state of current education and achievement of African American children, the future may appear bleak or even destined for failure. Ladson-Billings offers examples of teachers, teaching methods, and ideas to keep the dream of education and success alive for African American children today. The focus of the book is the roles teachers have in helping children find success and examples of how teachers of African American children have been successful in this role. The way children should be taught is also discussed because she claims that the way children are taught is often more important than what they are taught. Ladson-Billings believes that these ideas could be used to get teachers, parents, and community members to redesign schools to better meet the needs of African American children, and after considering her reasons and evidence provided I am inclined to agree with these ideas.
The study was done in a predominantly low income African American community. To find successful teachers of African American children, Ladson-Billings asked parents and community members and then principals. When she had gathered a list of possible names, she chose only the names that had appeared from both groups. Ladson-Billings notes a distinction between excellent teaching and teachers because she does not want the examples to be dismissed as a cult of personality. Current problems in education will not be corrected if findings of success are viewed as exceptions, so she offers the examples in hopes that they can become the typical educational experience of African American children.
Through teacher interviews, classroom observations, and personal reflections the author develops the idea of culturally relevant teaching. To demonstrate how culturally relevant teaching might improve education, she describes three programs that are used in educating African American children. The first is to ignore differences that exist. It is designed to remediate or accelerate progress without attending or acknowledging to students' social or cultural needs. The second is the idea that problems are rooted in pathology and children need to be removed from it, so African American children are socialized into mainstream behaviors and values while teaching them basic skills. The third is culturally relevant teaching, where differences are seen as strengths. The concept of culturally relevant teaching is the cornerstone in Ladson-Billings' argument to improve the educational experience for African Americans. Student learning is facilitated by capitalizing on students' own social and cultural background. The broad nature of this concept is a strength to its usefulness because teachers can accomplish this using many ways. Culturally relevant teaching is valid teaching style because it does not expect teachers to follow certain steps. Pedagogy that tells teachers to follow specific steps like teaching is a recipe is unrealistic and useless. Culturally relevant teaching practices can be used in countless teaching styles and curriculum because the underlying theme of appreciation of culture and differences will create a better learning environment and better results for African American children.

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children
By, Gloria Ladson-Billings

Gloria Ladson-Billings starts this book by posing this question, "Do African American students need separate schools?" She concludes her studies by saying, "What African American students need are better schools." Her main argument throughout this book is that culturally relevant teaching practices would be a huge part of creating these "better schools." Ladson-Billings suggests that there are many key characteristics of culturally relevant teachers. Some of these consist of the teachers seeing themselves as an artist and teaching as an art, they believe that all students have the ability to succeed, they demonstrate a connectedness with all of their students, and they help students develop necessary skills for their lives. These are just a few of the many characteristics that have to do with culturally relevant teachers.
In order to find out more about culturally relevant teaching, Gloria Ladson-Billings conducted a study to find and examine culturally relevant teachers. She started out this study by asking parents and community members for the names of some teachers who were very successful at teaching African American students. Next she asked the principals of area schools to provide a list of successful teacher's names. Once eight of the same teacher's names appeared on both lists, and those teacher's agreed to participate, she stared her investigations. She combined classroom observations, interviews, and personal experience to come up with her argument for culturally relevant teaching.
Ladson-Billings' argument for culturally relevant teaching came about because she saw negative effects on students whose culture and history did not appear in their textbooks or in their lessons. She believes that African American students need to achieve academic success while still maintaining a positive African American identity. She believes that it is the teacher's responsibility to help the students want to choose academic success. In her study she had multiple teachers who were just like this. They did not care where these students were or what other people had said about these students, they knew that they could succeed and that they would succeed with their help. They, many times, would work with them on an individual level to help them in whatever way that they could. In the end, all of the students who were thought of as being difficult or not intelligent enough to learn certain skills, ended up learning what they needed to know and sometimes more. That is what made these teachers such great teachers.
Personally, I agree with these reasons to support culturally relevant teaching. I think that if students do not see their cultural history correctly displayed in textbooks or in lessons in the classroom this could cause the children to see themselves as insignificant or inferior to those of a different cultural or racial background. I also agree that African American students should and can achieve academic excellence while still maintaining a positive African American culture and identity. I think that it is a wonderful teacher who can do both of these things, help them achieve academic excellence and maintain a positive image of themselves and their background. I hope that I can be one of these wonderful teachers who can do that.
I also believe that Ladson-Billings' evidence for culturally relevant teaching is both convincing and relevant. Most of her evidence is given through her classroom observations and her interviews with the teachers. She shows that when a teacher is culturally relevant, the students end up learning more and in many cases the students like that class more. In situations where the teacher is not culturally relevant the children do not learn as much or as easily and do not enjoy the class to the same extent as the other students with culturally relevant teachers. In the final chapter of this book she talks about one of her student teachers who is too impatient and does not bring in any cultural relevance when trying to teach three sixth graders math. That teacher ended up sending those students back to their seats with homework that they had no idea how to complete. This would be an example of a teacher who is not culturally relevant. The result was that the students did not find it interesting and did not learn anything from the lesson.
The one problem that I do see with her study is that she only examined eight teachers. I think that is hardly enough to base a whole argument off of. I do think that is definitely a great start but it may be more helpful so study many more teachers. She also only studies African American students. She does not even begin to look at any other races. I believe that culturally relevant teaching would be a wonderful idea for both African American students and students of any other race.
Altogether, I think that Gloria Ladson-Billings makes a wonderful argument for culturally relevant teaching. Her main point is that students will learn better and will enjoy learning more if the lessons are culturally relevant and if the teacher is also. The only weakness that I saw with this argument is the amount of people that she studied. Overall, I think that this is a good argument and was a great book for a future teacher to read.

I used this book with my barely 4 year old (developmentally normal) who has 'anger management' issues that originate with anxiety. There are pages in the book that we were able to write or draw pictures of how he felt. The scale of 1 (calm and safe) to 5 (out of control) was a concept that he grasped right away. He is getting better and better at recognizing when he's getting worried before he gets to a 5. If he does lose control and melts down, just the verbal cue "what number are you at" or asking him to calm down and try to get back to a 1 or 2, and he immediately starts to use his strategies - deep breathing, squeezing hands, thinking happy thoughts. I love this book.

This is a great book to work with your child. You can personalize it and change it as they grow.
Barbara V

This is a really cute book for kids who worry. It is not real meaty but the concept is great. It helps them put worry into perspective and gives a scale to help prioritize worries.

This book is an excellent tool for children having diffiulties controlling their emotions. The visual thermometer and the "social story" makes it very helpful to assist these children to learn how to respond to their feelings/emotions more appropriately. My four year old likes to look at his thermometer and read the story every time he has reached a "5". It's been very helpful for him.

I have bought and given several copies of this book. It helps give a language to feelings that might otherwise be hard to describe.

The text is exactly as described and promised. A very practical tool for the bachelor's or master's student.

the shipping for this item took forever! book is in nice condition though.

It's interesting that books on fieldwork tend to exclude extended discussions of note-taking as a part of fieldwork. The focus of many guides on fieldwork methods usually is on completing audio or video interviews and on the use of photography in fieldwork. This book fills this gap in research methodology. The writers show good, practical techniques for taking notes during ethnographic and oral history field research. More importantly, they convincingly demonstrate how creating good fieldnotes is essential to completing good ethnographic studies. Each section of the book blends practical ideas with theoretical generalizations in ways that not only show readers how to complete field research, but the discussion also reveals why these techniques are useful. The chapter that provides ways to turn fieldnotes into written ethnographies is an especially helpful discussion of a challenging task. In this particular chapter, and in the book in general, readers can find ideas that can also be applied to the use of other field-generated resources such as structured audio/video interviews and photo sessions. This book is also valuable as a resource for understanding and examining various written ethnographic studies. In this respect, the insights offered by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw give readers good ideas for evaluating written ethnographies and useful perspectives for understanding the process of completing ethnographically-grounded research and how ethnographic study contributes to the representation of culture.

I had checked out several research methodology books to find out 'how' to keep fieldnotes. I had been looking for very 'practical' and 'down to earth' reference which can offer me the real examples and approaches of fieldsnotes. Although there were good research methodology books, I could hardly find the reference for 'fieldnotes'.



The content of this practical and theoretical guide to fieldnotes is quite satisfactory and now I think I know how to keep my own fieldnotes. The text size, however, is so small that I got tired of reading it. On the whole, I am satisfied with this little booklet (small in size but big in quality) and I would love to recommend this book to those who are interested in writing qualitative research articles.

Jimmy Lee, PhD Student, mmed, Florida State University

Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw have put together not only an excellent handbook for writing ethnographic fieldnotes, but an insightful study of the practical issues confronting anyone doing interpretative writing about culture.

The book's primary focus is on how to effectively take and maintain fieldnotes. They appropriately begin at the ground by discussing how to take jottings and other quick notes, providing memory cues for the later write up of complete fieldnotes. Always keeping the focus on the task of writing, while balancing that with the task of honest and rigorous reporting, they give excellent advice for how to create a clear record of your field experience. While their focus is primarily on an ethnographic style of careful observation of interactions, their ideas remain useful to those with other theoretical concerns. Because they are always keeping an eye toward the end product of a finished, written document, this book also provides and excellent resource for how to use your fieldnotes in order to write a finished ethnography.

But this is not just an excellent book for ethnographic fieldworkers. Reading the book not only gave me solid ideas for my fieldwork, but also for the task of reading and note-taking around text-based and image-based culture. Additionally, I see this as an invaluable tool for someone engaged in more journalistic research, and for those of us who teach and tutor writing.

This book provides a great foundation for math skills grades K-3. I consult this resource for nearly every math lesson I teach. This book supplements what other textbooks take for granted or leave out. I highly recommend this book!

This book is an excellent resource for those teaching mathematics to students in the primary grades. The authors provide rationale for concepts taught, games to be played, and templates of materials needed. There is also a website to get additional resources from. My students have enjoyed the games and I have enjoyed using it.

I really like this book as a source for conceptual Math activities. I recommend purchasing only 1 either K-2, 3-5, depending on which you think you would use more. They overlap alot.

I am so glad I bought this book. I have been teaching for over 10 years, but I always felt something was missing from my math lessons. This book fills in the gaps.

It explains how kids learn math and the connections that need to be made from one concept to the next. It also has assessments to help determine each student's level of understanding and how they are solving problems.

I can't wait to start trying these activities in the fall. A must-have book for all K-3 teachers!

Easy to read and understand. Complete math center ideas and teaching strategies. Great easy ideas for differentiation.

This is one of the best resources for teaching writing that I have ever purchased. It's very "user friendly" with the "Your Turn" lessons and it's packed with great strategies and plenty of quality picture book titles to use for classroom "read like a writer" lessons on author's craft. As a literacy facilitator for my school, I have recommended that my principal purchase more copies for our third grade teachers to use this year for process writing minilessons and strategies that link reading to writing. Congratulations to the authors for an outstanding resource! Katie Wood Ray would approve, I'm sure!

"Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6" is the collaboration of Lynne R. Dorfman (a writing extension teacher for the Upper Moreland School District in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania with more than thirty years experience) and Rose Cappelli (a primary-grade reading specialist in the West Chester Area School District in West Chester, Pennsylvania with more than twenty years of experience). These two seasoned and expert reading teachers explain just how the authors of children's books create the wonder felt when boys and girls become immersed in them. They address just what students and teachers learn from these authors and their books if utilized as writing mentors. "Mentor Texts" is very nicely organized around the characteristics of good writing: focus, content, organization, style, and conventions. Classroom teachers and novice reading tutors are shown that 'mentor texts' can serve as a practical scaffold for student work; are provided with student writing examples demonstrating how students take risks as writers; teacher writing examples illustrating the power of the teacher as writer; and a comprehensive annotated list of children's literature including specific suggestions for teaching points. Of special note are the 'Your Turn' lessons at the end of each chapters showing how to put the ideas discussed in that chapter into practice. Expertly written in a conversational style, employing numerous illustrative anecdotes, and thoroughly 'user friendly', "Mentor Texts" should be considered mandatory reading for anyone charged with the responsibility of teaching writing at the elementary school level.

This book is an excellent resource for anyone teaching writing to children (K-6). It has easy-to-read formatting and has lots of examples woven throughout. It has lists of mentor texts that can be used to share the craft of writing and show children how authors use writing for many different purposes. The books and strategies in the book lend themselves to helping students take risks in their writing. Great book!

Shelley Harwayne's recommendation for this outstanding resource says it all in her first line. Harwayne states that Mentor Texts is "a trustworthy book". It truly is. Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli have crafted a remarkable resource for teachers, parents and writers. Every school district should order multiple copies for their staff development departments and hand it out to veteran and beginning teachers.

One of the primary reasons this book works so well is that Dorfman and Cappelli are in classrooms living what they write about - this is a real difference-maker in a teacher resource book.

The thrust of this book is using real literature as mentor texts for writers. Dorfman and Cappelli write that mentor texts are books that are filled with possibilities for writers to learn from and that they can become "as comfortable as a worn pair of jeans". This book will, no doubt, become as tattered and worn and comfortable as a worn pair of jeans for me as I teach writers of all ages. However, just like I buy multiple pairs of jeans that I know fit well, I plan to buy multiple copies and keep them on my bookshelf.

Buy this book if you write, teach teachers, teach writers or even if you are an editor.

I can't wait for their next book, Non-fiction Mentor texts!

Bravo!
The Legend of the Teddy Bear

All the reviews written on this Amazon site for FIRST ART explain why this book is exceptionally good for toddlers, twos and other little guys. But what I like is that it also gives the adult in charge some clear hints for success as well as suggestions for easy prep and collection or selection of materials. This is the key to making things work for the little guys...if we are ready as adults with a clear idea of what's happening, we can make sure it is smooth and fun for the kids too. I also like how materials are very flexible: If you don't have cardboard, then use an old poster. If you don't have paint, use food coloring. If you don't have paper, use the evening newspaper. Many people whose kids are grown already know some of this (some, not all!!!), but if you're new to art with little ones, this is a life-saver. EXCELLENT!!

I wanted to thank all of the folks who have taken the time to review "First Art", a book of art projects and experiences for toddlers and two's. I've read every single review! How happy I am that this book is bringing great experiences to kids, and to their moms too. Thank you so very much to each of you for your wonderful reviews that remind me I am doing the right thing with my life!!!!
~ MaryAnn
w w w dot brightring dot com

I purchased this book so I could have more fun with my daughter, about a year and a half at the time of this review, and teach her a thing or two about creativity along the way. When I first got the book and read it, I LOVED it. There were tons of homemade recipes for saving money, ideas seemed relatively simple, yet fun, directions thorough... However, when I started implementing the ideas with my toddler, I slowly changed my mind.
I see a number of problems with this book:
Homemade recipes sound wonderful. You save money, you use ingredients you already have in your pantry, and you feel like such a handy supermom, what's not to love, right? Well, wrong...
First, the recipes often call for things I definitely don't have in my pantry, I was not even sure what some things were. For instance, cream of tartar. I wrote down a list of things I needed for a project and asked 3 employees at the store for it and all of them pointed me to tartar sauce. So, I had to go home empty-handed and do research online to find out what it was and why I needed it and where I could buy it, what I can substitute it for, etc. Most of the sources online seemed to indicate that it is something that used to be big in baking, but hardly ever needed now that we have baking powder. It'd be nice if the author provided some substitutions. I ended up using baking powder and it seemed to work alright. I later accidentally found cream of tartar in the spices section of my grocery store - and I looked in baking to no avail.
Another things is that a lot of recipes (80%, I'd say) call for tempera paint... If I'm going to buy paint, why buy tempera paint and mix it with stuff to make finger paints, might just as well buy finger paints - will probably end up cheaper. Same goes for, for example, a home-made blackboard. You need to buy the tape that has that chalkboard surface or chalkboard spray paint. Well, both are rather pricey, so it is almost as cheap to buy a ready-made chalkboard easel (not to mention much less trouble). Also, some recipes call for things like "an old grater you no longer use" (because you're going to be grating a bar of soap, for example) or "a big appliance box". I don't know if it's just me, but I think my Mom still uses the same grater she had when I was a year and a half and I don't buy big-screen TVs on a monthly basis... So, I don't really have all these lying around the house, nor is it always easy/cheap to find/buy one just when you want to try a project - often it really is easier and maybe even cheaper to just buy whatever it is you were going to make (case in point - beads).
Also, many recipes call for huge amounts of flour, salt, cornstarch, and food coloring. While those aren't that expensive in and of themselves (and food coloring CAN be), they add up! 4 cups of flour here, 4 cups of flour there, with a lot of these recipes not having the same shelf life as the store-bought equivalents. So, once again, the savings are questionable, even if we don't factor in the time we have to spend preparing stuff versus buying it ready-made.
The quality of projects.
My daughter is a pretty determined and focused toddler when she wants to be, but a lot of those projects are too contemplative to really keep her attention for more than 10 seconds. For instance, exploring the sounds and textures of a piece of foil or the much-favored by many feeley goop. My daughter was done exploring the sounds and textures of foil in 5 seconds and she did not want to explore the feeley goop at all after the initial try, so how was I supposed to make her realize that it has some unique qualities? The same goes for quite a number of projects that are meant to just "explore", but I realize that it is highly individual and there might be children out there who love those projects, just be aware that it is not automatic. Perhaps some of these activities would work well in a group, where children can feed off of each other's ideas and where interaction is already exciting enough, but for one child they can be a tad on a boring side and are over too quickly to be called an "activity".
Another thing in the projects I often have issues with is their messiness. The author does do a good job of outlining how to prep the working space, but with some projects, the colors will get splashed all over the place - it's toddlers we're talking about! I can cover a relatively large portion of the floor and the whole table, but I can't cover the walls and the ceiling... Not to mention that toddlers are known to run away in the middle of a project. So, unless you have a whole room you don't mind getting dirty and where you can contain your child (porch, sunroom, child-proof play room?), some of those projects will be just too much of a risky business to attempt in a nicer room. We live in a fully-carpeted apartment, and there is no way I'll be able to clean it up nicely if my child decides to have too much fun with one of the messier projects.
Finally, I find some "cooking" directions a little too sketchy. I have never made this thing before, I don't know what it should look and feel like, I actually ruined a couple of projects because I did something too soon or too late, even though I thought I was following the instructions religiously - there went 4 cups of flour and 2 cups of salt :-). Just so you don't think I'm a complete idiot, I do bake regularly and cook quite a bit too, and while sometimes my pizza dough made from scratch does turn out a little drier than I like, it is always edible, never a complete failure.
Overall, I'd say it's a good book with good ideas. If I were a kindergarten teacher, or had 2 or more kids of different ages, I'd probably rate this book better. But as a parent of only 1 child, I'd probably ever use only 1/3 of all the ideas of the book, with 2/3 being eliminated for one or several of the reasons mentioned above, which I find rather disappointing, since I am not paying only for the ideas I'm using...
Our favorite project so far? The bread. It did not taste spectacular (although was edible), but my daughter loved messing with the flour, watching it turn to dough, playing with the dough, etc.

I'm not very imaginative when it comes to "projects" for my kids (who are currently 3 and 1) so I love this book. I am thankful that there are people in the world with great ideas who share them in books. :P

First Art : Art Experiences for Toddlers and TwosI teach children 18 to 24 months great book with great ideas

The book was what I had ordered and the condition of the book was perfect. Thanks for the fast delivery.

While I can't imagine anybody buying this book unless required to for a class, let me warn you away just in case. It's bad. I mean really bad. The writing is completely without any sort of character or flair. It's only point seems to be that white men are all super lucky and they suck. Personal agenda by the authors, perhaps? Anyway, if it is a required text for a class, complain to the instructor. I wish I had.

Hated it. Could not believe I was forced to endure this text for an entire course. Totally insulting and biased.

I am an undergrad, and I was ready to compose a lament upon reading this work. I can't imagine why grad students would be exposed to this book, it's not very good. The authors are tackling a very real problem - given the pluralism prevalent in most public (and many private) classrooms, how does an educator go about maneuvring within that classroom to successfully engage and instruct all it's members?

Good question.

The book attempts to tackle the areas of class, race, gender, exceptionality, religion, language, and age; they want to illuminate the nature of these topics and explore the issues involved in approaching and including them in a multicultural classroom. Unfortunately, even though they divide the various demographics represented in our American pluralistic classrooms well, they rarely get into dealing with this problem very effectively.

The prolegomena they have (the first chapter) was supposed to explore what we mean by "culture". They co-opt Goodenough's definition, "a way of perceiving, believing, evaluating, and behaving," and that's, ironically, good enough as a starting point for trying to wrap your mind around these issues. Unfortunately, they immediately endorse a hyper-relativist perspective regarding the legitemacy of various ways of "perceiving, believing, evaluating, and behaving," which doesn't really set them up to grapple with this problem. Basically, they never provide a foundation of unity from which various groups can be included in a pluralistic classroom other than via their notion of democracy, defined through "cultural relativism", "social justice" and "equality". Though they try, there are no satisfactory explanations given to legitemate these ideas. They should have stuck to discussing how educators can effectively teach in classrooms where the students have a variety of worldviews/cultures than dabbling as amateurs in philosophy, anthropology, and politics. This book is, practically speaking, worthless.

Because their epistemological, anthropological and political assumptions color _everything_ that they say for the rest of the book, if you're not familiar with these areas, you'll never be able to meaningfully engage with this book, whether you agree or disagree. These assumptions of the authors guide the portraits they paint and evaluations they make of culture and the present pluralism, as well as informing their advice on how we ought to navigate a pluralist classroom as educators.

I suggest reading a bit in philosophy before trying to tackle this problem. Routledge has a great series to familiarize yourself with philosophical problems, I especially suggest their book on _Ethics_ by Harry Gensler. It is simply written, and very practical. That is a _perfect_ place to start figuring out how to deal with these practical (and partly theoretical) problems without introducing a "solution" that only brings more bad weather in the future.

While this book may contain some good information on multicultrual education I find it difficult to get past the bias presented in it. Based on statements like

"A crucial fact in understanding racism is that whites see themselves as superior to persons and groups of color, and as a result exercise their power to prevent people of color from securing the prestige, power, and privilege held by whites."

and

"Whites go through a developmental stages as they develop their racial identity and abandon racism."

The authors seem to presume that all whites are racist, power hungry, pigs. Knowing that such a generalization is patently false how can I trust the content describing peoples of other cultural backgrounds.

The Book of Questions
This is a great little book with a lot of "oomph". It has all kinds of hypothetical questions, some of which involve moral/ethical implications (if you could choose between 20 people you don't know in another country dying and a friend of yours dying, what would you do?), some of which are introspective (if you could trade 5 years of your life to be exceptionally good looking, would you?), and other "choice" questions that can spark serious and fun discussions. It can also be enjoyed (not as much, in my opinion) alone.
I highly recommend this - it's good for almost all age levels - I'd say kids under age 10 or 12 might not yet have the perspective for all the questions, but, of course, there would be no upper age limit.

Love this book. I have a lot of similar books and it's one of the best. Love that it's so small and you can take it anywhere. Questions are pretty tame, which is great for when you're first meeting people. Nothing too sexual or anything...although there is a "sex" version, which is great for when you get to know each other a little better. The series called "Question This Book" is great for that, by the way.

This one is definitely the one of the best, if you're into this stuff. Worth $7 to check it out.

I thought this book would be a great book to jump start my journaling and bought it without looking at it indepth. To be honest, many of the questions made me really depressed, asking questions about killing, dying, etc. There are some good questions in the book and it isn't entirely about the "dark" side of life. Some of the questions are repetitive only given a different situation. I would say out of the 200 questions, there were only about 20 I cared to journal about.

this is the best book!!! bring to work, bring to parties...etc. this really gets people thinking talking and laughing.....THE BEST QUESTION BOOK OUT THERE!!! well worth the $$$

I purchased this book mainly because it's a great conversation starter. It's great to use on long trips, when you have company over, or even on dates especially. There's no right or wrong answers. :)

This is a terrific resource and one that I have been using all year in my classroom. We have begun using this book as a book study for a Professional Learning Community at our school for those teaching K-3. My Grade One class has never loved writing more and their enthusiasm for writing has been tremendous.

This book will definitely aid in developing your 6 + 1 writing classroom. It is filled with classroom ideas and great picture books to use to enhance each lesson.

This is a fantastic tool for lower elementary teachers. This is how writing should be assessed. This book is a practical tool. It includes practice assessments and lots of student example papers to help you better understand each trait and how to evaluate it. It also includes many wonderful teaching ideas and picture book examples!

I agree with the positive reviews. The concepts and lessons are great. However, this book must be "all the rage" because when I went online to purchase the trade book from the first lesson plan, I could not find it for less than $50! Of course, you can substitute in your own book selections, but if you want to rely on the lessons as written you MAY not be able to find every book. [...]

We asked. We pleaded. We begged, "Pretty pleeease." Ruth Culham responded to our request with great enthusiasm with 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades. And teachers across the globe cheered, "Wahoo!" Finally, a resource book for primary educators who have been searching for child tested ideas that tackle instructional strategies and assessment techniques in one comprehensive book. Thank you, Ruth, for doing a wonderful job of explaining each trait, equipping us with developmentally appropriate focus lessons, and reminding us that teaching writing to young authors is a process in which they need plenty of practice and opportunities, and an extra helping of patience on our part doesn't hurt. This must have book for all teachers - novice and experienced alike - won't be another resource that is shelved after a quick glance. It will be close at hand as it is used throughout the year to help develop the talents of young writers.

I usually teach graduate students and recently was asked to teach a freshman English class. In reviewing possible texts, I reviewed the DK Handbook and was puzzled. Is this a serious resource or a commentary on the sorry state of education in America? I am not sure of the audience to which the book was targeted. After thirty years in education, it seemed to me that most of the first part of the book is taught in fourth grade. Certainly, the main points should have been mastered by high school freshmen. The MLA, APA, and CSE documentation were college level but even they were incomplete. Each of the stated formats requires compliance by the entire paper, not just the citations.

It seemed to me that this book dummied down an important topic from the chummy 'you' and 'we' to the lack of sophisication in the text. Needless to say I was not impressed. I do not think I will be using this publication.

I have one last question. This book, as well as other examples I reviewed, use the word 'research' loosely. It seems that they are talking about writing a report using infomation taken from a variety of sources. At the most, this is a literature review. In no way should the student be lead to believe they are actually writing a research paper.