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Ackerman, Richard H. & Maslin-Ostrowski, Pat (2002)
The Wounded Leader: How Real Leadership Emerges in Times of Crisis.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
For this reviewer, The Wounded Leader was a difficult book to stop
reading. The readability results in part from the authors' "case story" approach, an
intervention they have pioneered. The case story combines elements of the traditional
case study with storytelling. Wounded leaders tell, in their own words, about painful,
career-threatening situations. In the case story approach, the role of the person, or
facilitator, hearing the story is not to offer advice, but to ask the probing questions that
help the person discover his or her own answers. Thus, asking the right questions
becomes a key element of healing.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part sets the stage by describing
tensions and situations that can leave a leader vulnerable, and by describing the meanings
of wounding found in mythology and medicine. The second part is devoted to nine
wounded leaders telling their own stories, and these stories are compellingly and vividly
told. One superintendent recounts being forced to choose between upholding a court
order to desegregate and the wishes of a school board headed by a man who can only be
described as villainous. Another dedicated principal fights to improve test scores, only to
find that even heroic efforts could not make the scores rise high enough or fast enough to
satisfy her supervisor or colleagues. Another principal tells of her inability to prevent a
student from entering a life of crime and, more importantly, her lack of power to prevent
his inflicting violence on other students. The stories are both unforgettable and moving,
but they are not stories with traditional happy endings. Even though the authors claim
that the book is "ultimately optimistic," most readers will find the situations described to
be discouraging and sobering. The last part of the book explores the questions raised by
the stories, discusses some of the lessons that were revealed, and offers suggestions as a
"cure" for leadership. There are no easy answers, however, and the authors end by
concluding that real leadership is a "very personal matter." The source of optimism is the
potential for transformation and growth.
The Wounded Leader is not, however, just highly a readable book. It is also
a fine scholarly work, resulting from the authors' ongoing research agenda. A series of
four phenomenological studies and their interpretations and reflections on the findings of
these studies form the basis of this well-documented and thoroughly researched book.
All libraries serving current or aspiring school administrators should own The
Wounded Leader. It is a powerful book, and it may well become a classic.
Pages: 143
Price: $28.00
ISBN: 0-7879-6110-8
Reviewed by Sharon Naylor, Illinois State University
Brown, Dave F. (2002)
Becoming a Successful Urban Teacher.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Becoming a Successful Urban Teacher is an excellent resource for any
teacher who is thinking of working in an urban environment. The author gives an honest,
objective overview of the urban school environment. Through the voices of teachers who
have established successful urban classrooms, we see how it is possible to develop these
inclusive and productive environments. These classrooms allow diverse populations to
succeed by allowing for relevant, flexible, communication and work processes. Brown
gives the book a linear structure that helps in exploring the complexities of culturally
responsive teaching. He first discusses the reasons why one might want to teach in an
urban school and then he relates how selected teachers have adapted their teaching for the
urban environment.
Chapter Two asks prospective urban teachers to examine their cultural influences
and points out that the urban classroom does not reflect the majority culture. In reflecting
on traditional practice teachers are encouraged to recognize that their urban students'
learning needs are very different than those of suburban or rural students. Learning in an
urban classroom looks very different than learning does in a more traditional setting.
Brown states that, "Significant change will occur only when your reflection on these
issues helps you to see that what you believe about school culture is a limited view of
how schools should operate." (p. 17)
Chapters Four through Nine give detailed explanations of how all aspects of
teaching need to be examined for cultural relevancy. Brown addresses how curriculum,
instruction, assessment, educational standards and evaluation need to be modified for the
urban classroom. Chapter Ten looks at the necessity of developing a support network of
fellow teachers, parents and administrators. Each chapter gives practical advice on the
development and implementation of culturally relevant lessons and concludes with a list
of further references.
The major strength of this book is Brown's use of real-life examples to examine how
teachers have reflected on the realities and inequities of the student's outside world.
There is an understanding that the majority of teachers who will be teaching in these
schools are unfamiliar with the cultures of their urban students. It is vital that teachers
unfamiliar with these diverse cultures realize that they can not teach effectively without
understanding how these cultures affect their students. The concluding chapter returns
the focus to the prospective urban teacher's ability to examine their own preconceptions,
attitudes, and cultural beliefs and how these affect their teaching. Brown brings the
process of reflection full circle and in doing so has given an invaluable orientation to the
urban school environment.
Pages: 261
Price: $23.00
ISBN: 0-32500-361-0
Reviewed by Laura Koltutsky, University of Houston
Cazden, Courtney B. (2001)
Classroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning. 2nd
edition.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Education is a social, interactive process in which language and communication
skills play an important role. Effective teaching, dependent on effective communication,
is critical to establishing the intellectual common ground between teacher and student
that cultivates classroom discourse. Consequently, the language of teaching is an
essential component of the learning process for both teachers and students.
In the first edition of Classroom Discourse, Cazden, Professor of Education
Emerita at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an international specialist in
child language and education, seeks to answer the following questions:
- How do patterns of language use affect what counts as "knowledge," and what occurs
as learning?
- How do these patterns affect the equality, or inequality, of students' educational
opportunities?
- What communication competence do these patterns presume and/or foster? (p.
3)
The second edition, building on the research, concepts, and practice presented in the
first, provides teachers and researchers with discussion articulating the complex social
and intellectual issues that have impacted education. "Significant changes in the nature of
the workplace and of civil society" (p. 4) as well as race, ethnicity, religion, and the
conceptions of knowledge and learning have shifted the teaching emphasis from
"products, facts or procedures to be learned by heart" (p. 5) to those that build on the
development of higher order thinking skills. Cazden has done a masterful job of detailing
the challenges for teachers and indicating techniques and strategies for addressing these
issues and implementing changes in ways that benefit teachers and students.
Specific chapters explore wonderful transcripts of student conversations divulged in
"sharing time," excerpts from traditional and nontraditional lessons with discussion of the
dimensions of structural and functional differences, descriptions of classroom discourse
and related relevant topics, working with peers and computers, and equity and cultural
issues and concerns.
The author presents a diverse variety of ideas, theories, analytical strategies, and
empirical research representing many perspectives and viewpoints. Readers will
appreciate the rich repertoire of relevant literature selected by the author based on "the
importance of how the researchers did their research and what they found, their
prominence in professional dialogues, and their position and perspectives as members of
underrepresented groups" (p. 7). A list of references, and subject and name indexes
complete the book. For those teachers and researchers interested in classroom discourse,
this book is not to be missed. The discussions, research, and classroom applications give
the reader a solid view of the diversity of classroom communication and the impact
discourse plays on teaching and the learning environment.
Pages: 216
Price: $23.50
ISBN: 0-325-00378-5/2001(paper)
Reviewed by: Francine M. DeFranco, University of Connecticut
Michaels, Judith Rowe (2001)
Dancing with Words: Helping Students Love Language through Authentic
Vocabulary Instruction.
Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of
English.
Judith Michaels, a published poet and teacher, shows teachers how to transform
high school vocabulary and language learning from mere memorization into a life-long
love of language. Her book is filled with questions to contemplate and examples
for teaching vocabulary in context, often repeating entire classroom discussions
and liberally using student writing. Michaels provides a wide range of ideas
for integrating language learning into lessons about novels, poetry, Shakespeare,
newspapers, slang or grammar. This book will be of interest to writers as well
as English teachers of all ages, and will inspire all who read it to contemplate
words and their meanings. Michaels includes annotated bibliographies at the
end of each chapter and an annotated reading list for further study at the end
of the book.
Pages: 164
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 0-8141-1051-7
Reviewed by Kathy Irwin, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Opitz, Michael F. & Ford, Michael P. (2001)
Reaching Readers: Flexible & Innovative Strategies for Guided Reading.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Michael Opitz, from the University of Northern Colorado, is the author of several
books on teaching strategies for primary/elementary reading teachers. In Reaching
Readers he teams up with University of Wisconsin author Michael Ford to offer
reading teachers a highly practical and example-laden book on how to implement guided
reading as a teaching strategy. Opitz and Ford have both written before on classroom
grouping practices, so it is not surprising that their suggestions for the successful use of
guided reading as a teaching tool are supported with extensive advice about and examples
of student groups in classrooms and how to manage them. Opitz and Ford emphasize that
knowing how to create classroom groups that work with your teaching strategies, and
then knowing how to manage those groups are two skills critical to the successful
introduction and practice of guided reading in your reading classroom.
Fortunately for the reader, Opitz and Ford not only explain the reasons why various
group sizes and types work best for different teaching purposes, but they also provide
many realistic classroom scenarios, set in classrooms from Grade 1 to Grade 6, to clarify
and illustrate their comments. The text is presented in five chapters that move from an
overview of the practice and purpose of guided reading to chapters that focus on
assessment and groups, the range and selection of appropriate texts, and then the nine
guided reading instructional scenarios. The final chapter offers the authors' experience
and advice on the organization and management of guided reading in a busy classroom.
The inclusion of ten examples of classroom literacy centers with details about how
reading teachers use the centers to promote reading improvement offers readers concrete
methods of preparing for guided reading time with one small group while other students
work without direct teacher intervention.
The authors urge teachers to take their sub-title to heart, and to recognize that
guided reading is a teaching practice that can be used in innovative ways in various
classroom settings to meet multiple student needs. The authors caution against the view
that guided reading is a limited practice meant to be used only in particular grades in
particular ways. If it makes sense to use guided reading in your Grade 6 classroom, these
authors urge you to go ahead and adapt the practice to your needs. Reading teachers will
find this book to be useful for reasons well beyond its focus on guided reading. The
chapters on both grouping and on the classroom management of small groups will be of
interest to all elementary teachers. Extensive appendices include all the forms and
children's literature referred to in the text, as well as professional readings and reading
assessment procedures.
Pages: 174
Price: $17.00
ISBN: 0-325-00358-0
Reviewed by Brenda Reed, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Peterson, Kent D. & Deal, Terrence (2002)
The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
This brief follow-up companion to Terrence Deal's and Kent Peterson's
national bestseller, Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership
provides insight into fostering a successful school environment through
exploring its culture. The Shaping School Culture Fieldbook is divided into
two parts.
Part one is devoted to examining the primary components of school culture
and to the function of leaders in school culture. The focus is on
distinguishing positive cultures from toxic cultures. Toxic cultures and
subcultures create negative school environments and impinge on the
efficiency and morale of co-workers. Practical examples gleaned from model
schools assist in illustrating the concept of positive school cultures.
Part two outlines the process for leaders to cultivate a positive culture.
The key components discussed are examining, reflecting, and assessing
previous successful and unsuccessful events that have shaped culture in
their schools. The final and most crucial component is executing a plan of
action.
The individual and group activities interspersed throughout the book are
useful. From reading and implementing these exercises, leaders are afforded
the opportunity to engage in careful thought, consideration, and reflection
about their existing school culture. In addition to these activities, a
concise listing of references and a useful index increase the value of this
book.
The book is a worthwhile expenditure. Highly recommended for school
administrators, teachers, and education students.
Pages: 140
Price: $29.00
ISBN: 0-7879-5680-5
Reviewed by Janell R. Carter, Wilkes University
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