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Barone, Diane (2002)
The National Board Certification Handbook: Support & Stories
from Teachers & Candidates.
Portland, Maine:
Stenhouse Publishers.
Read this book if you want to know about the national certification
of teachers. Throughout the six chapters, you are led step-by-step
through all aspects of the process and given testimony by teachers
who achieved certification as well as those who did not meet the
rigorous (200-400 hours and less than a 50% pass rate for first attempts)
and costly ($2300) requirements.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has
certified teachers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The organization rewards outstanding teaching which has a focus on
students, the curriculum, and the community. The reader is assured
by participants' comments that the journey for this prestigious,
voluntary certification is worth it because of the professional
and personal growth that takes place.
Pages: 136
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 157110349X
Reviewed by Kathleen E. Fite, Southwest Texas State University
Dorn, Linda J. & Soffos, Carla (2001)
Shaping Literate Minds: Developing Self-Regulated Learners.
Full text online
Portland, Maine:
Stenhouse Publishers.
In Shaping Literate Minds, Dorn and Soffos share
experiences of working with children and teachers and portray
"teaching and learning as a collaborative process between many
people with a common goal - literacy for children."(p. xiii)
Linda Dorn, assistant professor and the director of the Early
Literacy Center at the University of Arkansas, and Carla Soffos,
a literary coach at the University of Arkansas, write the book
in collaboration with primary teachers from across the State of
Arkansas. As coaches and mentors, the authors develop an
apprenticeship relationship with the teachers. The teachers,
in turn, apply apprenticeship-learning theories in their
classrooms.
Articulate, in an easily understood style, the book is an
authoritative work that is accessible to scholars and lay
people alike. The authors organize individual chapters
consistently—beginning with theories, followed by
authentic classroom examples. Chapters are replete with scanned
illustrations of student work, teacher logs, and informative
tables, all of which contribute to understanding the material.
The bibliography points to useful works for further reading and
the index makes the text more usable as a reference tool.
In chapter 1, the authors describe important theories of
cognitive development, with special emphasis on Dewey's ideas
regarding transfer. They describe the principles of modeling,
coaching, scaffolding, and fading using practical examples
gleaned from actual classroom observations and interactions.
In chapter 2, the authors lay out a curriculum for literacy,
citing nine common beliefs about reading and writing. They
give, as an example, a case study of a first-grade classroom
curriculum, complete with schedules and teacher/student
interactions. One helpful table matches each of the nine
common beliefs with daily instructional activities. Chapter
3 discusses the development of a literacy processing system,
and the acquisition of the print-sound code at standard
literacy levels. Examples of student work, teacher/student
interactions, and assessment logs demonstrate the practical
application of complex theories. Chapter 4 presents spelling
as a developmental process. Once again theories are presented
in the
context of practical, real-life, classroom examples. Chapter
5 talks about well-designed literacy corners as places where
learners become independent problem-solvers. The authors
describe many types of literacy corners, giving examples of
various tasks and materials, targeted at each literacy level.
Helpful photographs of real classroom corners abound. Chapter
6 argues for an apprenticeship approach to professional
development. Teachers, like students, need to become self-regulated.
The authors give examples of modeling, coaching, and mentoring
for teachers. An extensive appendix is filled with reproducible
assessment forms, report cards, literacy corner materials, and
observation forms for guided readings.
Educators developing a literacy curriculum will find
Shaping Literate Minds to be a practical, thoughtfully
written tool. Students of education will find insight in Dorn's
and Soffos's real-life classroom examples. Parents will find an
authoritative, but not too technical, treatment of theories of
literacy education, and examples of their practical application.
Pages: 160
Price: $17.50
ISBN: 1-57110-338-4
Reviewed by Frank Bridges, Salem State College
Harwayne, Shelley, compiler (2002)
Messages to Ground Zero: Children Respond to September 11th.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Messages to Ground Zero is a compilation of stories, poems
and drawings from children in response to the events of September 11th.
All production costs for the book have been donated by a variety of
companies and all proceeds will go to the Fund for Public Schools, NYC.
Please see the publisher's information page at
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/products/E00514.asp for
complete information.
The sample pages I received seem to indicate that this is a
well conceptualized project that may serve to assist teachers,
parents and other who interact with children. The coming first
anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center will
require an explicit response from many who work with children and
this book looks like it will contain (I have seen 12 pages of the
176) aptly chosen material to help kids understand and communicate
their response. I was struck by the similarity of the responses
to the tragedy from kids of varying ages: "So much depends upon
a plane zooming by..." (age 5) "The whole world froze for a second.
Now everything is different." (age 7) "Too many people died.
I'm scared. I cried." (age 10) "On September 11th I knew I was
not imagining anything. I knew it was a war." (age 13)
A good way to begin a conversation about a traumatic experience
with children at most any age. Can't imagine that anyone would
regret the purchase.
Pages: 176
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 0-325-00514-1
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
Page, Diane R. (2001)
The Paraeducator in the Elementary School Classroom: Workbook.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Page, Diane R. & Page, Deborah S. (2001)
The Paraeducator in the Elementary School Classroom: Facilitator's Manual.
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
A book about training "paraeducators" should be of interest.
Many school districts hire teacher aides or paraprofessionals, and
few good resources for training them are available. The material
presented in these two volumes is designed to be used in training
sessions for new employees and can be adapted to one-, two-, or
three-day workshops. Although much of the information seems useful,
I have some reservations about the approach and the format. The
level of detail seems unnecessary. For example, the script for
the facilitator includes the following: "Let's quickly turn to
page 36." ALLOW TIME FOR ALL PARTICIAPANTS TO TURN TO PAGE 36.
If one assumes that the presenter is a veteran teacher or an
administrator, this level of detail seems excessive, and it
causes the volume to be longer than necessary.
My first impression when I scanned the workbook was that it
was designed for an elementary student. The print is extraordinarily
large, and there are numerous lined pages for attendees to write on.
Throughout the book, drawings of a cat, E. Cat the paraEduCator, are
used to introduce new material. Also, some of the instruction hardly
seems necessary. I hope that most screening practices would weed
out employees who would need admonitions to Look Nice! Smell nice!
Brush your teeth! The workbook concludes with monthly calendars
and black line masters. I question the utility of including this
last section, and it causes this volume to be longer than necessary.
On the positive side, there is information about safety,
confidentiality, and current educational terminology that all
paraeducators should know. The module addressing special education
is particularly informative, and this is an area where many
paraeducators are employed. Despite my reservations, libraries
serving educators will find these volumes useful.
Workbook
Pages: 328
Price: $23.50
ISBN: 0-8108-3871-0
Facilitator's Manual
Pages: 216
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 0-8108-3872-9
Reviewed by Sharon Naylor, Illinois State University
Phenix presents a good overview of how to teach the writing process.
This practical guide is full of ideas, examples and checklists that can
be implemented easily and quickly. The material is appropriate for
elementary students, and could easily be adapted for middle school
students. Teachers may be especially interested in the chapters on
Organizing Time for Writing, Classroom Publishing, and Appendix I:
Linking writing purposes to relevant forms.
Pages: 80
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 1-55138-142-7
Reviewed by Kathy M. Irwin, University of Michigan, Dearborn
Smith, Michael W. & Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. (2002)
Reading Don't Fix No Chevys: Literacy in the Lives of Young Men.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Traditionally teenage boys have reputations as nonreaders
and as being difficult to engage in reading. However in
Reading Don't Fix No Chevys, Smith and Wilhelm found
their subjects much more involved in literate activities
than is generally supposed. By expanding their definition
of literate activities beyond the conventional classroom
definition, the authors found the study's participants
significantly engaged in non-classroom literacy; such as,
following a favorite sport through magazines or writing rap
lyrics. In analyzing these outside literate activities and
investigating the boys' attitudes toward reading, Smith and
Wilhelm search for ways in which curricula and instruction
can be designed to engage teenage boys in classroom literacy.
Interspersing the study with profiles of the study's
participants, the authors argue for understanding what the
subjects like to read and why, in order to create school
environments that encourage teenage boys to read. The
study indicates that while the teenage boys recognized
the importance of reading, they were unresponsive to school
literate activity because of the "schoolishness" of it. A
feeling of competence and control was also important to the
participants, and playing an important role in this is their
definition of good teachers: teachers who see them as
individuals. A personal connection with the reading material
is also key as participants who felt a relationship with the
characters they were reading about responded to literate
activities more positively.
Smith and Wilhelm's study provides a strong argument
for inquiry-based instruction and would be of interest to
academic libraries serving colleges of education.
Pages: 224
Price: $23.00
ISBN: 0-86709-509-1
Reviewed by Melissa Cast, University of Nebraska at Omaha
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