Best of
Education

2022

Fierce Love: Creating a Love that Lasts—One Conversation at a Time


Susan Scott - 2022
    This can lead to fighting, resentment, or, worse, complacency--where you are just going through the motions, more like roommates than two people in love. As Susan writes, "It's as if we've pulled off our own wings." As couples, we don't stop to think how important our conversations are. And we certainly don't understand that what we talk about and how we talk about it determine whether our relationships will thrive, flatline, or fail.In Fierce Love, New York Times bestselling author Susan Scott guides couples through eight must-have conversations that lead to deep connection and lasting commitment. Through the use of true stories and hands-on exercises, Susan helps usunderstand that the conversation is the relationship;identify and dispel five relationship myths that mislead and derail us;learn eight conversations that are critical to enriching relationships; andstop fighting or ignoring issues and start connecting in a deep and meaningful way.After a season where many relationships were tested and tried, where some relationships thrived and others have exposed cracks couples didn't even realize were there, or realized but didn't acknowledge, now is the best time to learn to communicate well. By having honest, compelling conversations with our partners, we can foster true connection and a fierce love that will withstand the test of time and grow stronger over the years.

Command and Control


David Bruns - 2022
    But shortly after an Iranian vessel delivers a surprise attack to a U.S. Navy Warship in the Arabian Gulf, a series of seemingly unrelated attacks crop up around the globe.The U.S. military is rapidly being drawn into full-fledged shooting wars on multiple fronts. Now Riley must sift through the layers of deception in time to discover who - or what - is behind these events...before the clock reaches zero hour.* 'COMMAND AND CONTROL' is the explosive first book in a brand-new series cowritten by former submarine officer David Bruns and former retired naval intelligence officer J.R. Olson. Dive into this nail-biting techno-thriller today, and brace yourself for an electrifying dose of military action, political intrigue, twist-filled espionage.©2021 David Bruns, J.R. Olson (P)2021 Severn River Publishing

Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent's Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age


Julie Bogart - 2022
    At a time when online media has created a virtual firehose of information and opinions, parents and teachers worry how students will interpret what they read and see. Amid the noise, it has become increasingly important to examine different perspectives with both curiosity and discernment. But how do parents teach these skills to their children?Drawing on more than twenty years' experience homeschooling and developing curricula, Julie Bogart offers practical tools to help children at every stage of development to grow in their ability to explore the world around them, examine how their loyalties and biases affect their beliefs, and generate fresh insight rather than simply recycling what they've been taught. Full of accessible stories and activities for children of all ages, Raising Critical Thinkers helps parents to nurture passionate learners with thoughtful minds and empathetic hearts.

Absurd Words: A kids’ fun and hilarious vocabulary builder for future word nerds


Tara Lazar - 2022
    "This revolutionary dictionary-thesaurus hybrid puts more than 750 high-level, wondrous, and wacky words in fun, engaging, and hilarious context"--

Race to the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education


Luke Rosiak - 2022
    Improved STEM literacy. Greater achievement for inner-city children. Happiness for all children. So why are liberals spending billions of dollars working against those goals?In Race to the Bottom, Luke Rosiak uncovers the shocking reason why American education is failing: Powerful special interest groups are using our kids as guinea pigs in vast ideological experiments. These groups' initiatives aren't focused on making children smarter--but on implementing a radical agenda, no matter the effect on academic standards.Nonprofits pump billions into initiatives meant to redress racial inequities. Rather than fixing the problem, districts with a big gap between white and black test scores hire consultants who claim the tests are meaningless because they are "racist." These consultants' judgments allow school districts to ignore their own failures--ultimately hurting minority students and perpetuating racism.That is just one example. Drawing on his years in investigative journalism, Rosiak did a deep dive into school files, financial records, and parents' stories. What he found is that nonprofit influence has crept into the educational bureaucracy all over America. Corrupt school boards and quack diversity consultants abound. Teachers drawing government pay claim it's unsafe to return to in-person school, but "double dip" teaching in-person private classes. And amid all this focus on money and equity, academic standards are crumbling, which hurts American kids in ways we'll be suffering for decades.Race to the Bottom is the first comprehensive expos� of the way radical ideology and self-serving administrators are destroying academic quality in America's K-12 schools. Rigorous and deeply-researched, this is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of our kids.

Breaking Ground: Charting Our Future in a Pandemic Year


Anne Snyder - 2022
    A social crisis cracked open by the filmed murder of George Floyd. A leadership crisis laid bare as the gravity of a global pandemic met a country suffocating in political polarization and idolatry.In the spring of 2020, Comment magazine created a publishing project to tap the resources of a Christian humanist tradition to respond collaboratively and imaginatively to these crises. Plough soon joined in the venture. So did seventeen other institutions. The web commons that resulted – Breaking Ground – became a one-of-a-kind space to probe society’s assumptions, interrogate our own hearts, and imagine what a better future might require.This volume, written in real time during a year that revealed the depths of our society’s fissures, provides a wealth of reflections and proposals on what should come after. It is an anthology of different lenses of faith seeking to understand how best we can serve the broader society and renew our civilization.Contributors include Anne Snyder, Susannah Black, Mark Noll, N. T. Wright, Gracy Olmstead, Doug Sikkema, Patrick Pierson, Jennifer Frey, J. L. Wall, Michael Wear, Dante Stewart, Joe Nail, Benya Kraus, Patrick Tomassi, Amy Julia Becker, Jeffrey Bilbro, Marilynne Robinson, Cherie Harder, Joel Halldorf, Irena Dragas Jansen, Katherine Boyle, L. M. Sacasas, Jake Meador, Joshua Bombino, Chelsea Langston Bombino, Aryana Petrosky Roberts, Stuart McAlpine, Heather C. Ohaneson, Oliver O’Donovan, W. Bradford Littlejohn, Anthony M. Barr, Michael Lamb, Shadi Hamid, Samuel Kimbriel, Christine Emba, Brandon McGinley, John Clair, Kurt Armstrong, Peter Wehner, Jonathan Haidt, Dhananjay Jagannathan, Phil Christman, Gregory Thompson, Duke Kwon, Carlo Lancellotti, Tara Isabella Burton, Charles C. Camosy, Joseph M. Keegin, Luke Bretherton, Tobias Cremer, and Elayne Allen.

Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis


James A. Lindsay - 2022
    That is, Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism. The evidence of this claim is so overwhelming upon even casual examination that it is a shock that it isn't immediately plain to everyone who encounters it. Therefore, this book by James Lindsay, the leading investigator of Critical Race Theory, serves less to make the case that Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism and more to serve as a long permission slip to the public to call Critical Race Theory what it plainly is.Race Marxism exists to tell the truth about Critical Race Theory in unprecedented clarity and depth. Across its six weighty chapters, Lindsay explains what Critical Race Theory is, what it believes, where it comes from, how it operates, and what we can do about it now that we know what we're dealing with. It exposes Critical Race Theory for what it is by ranging widely across its own literature and a survey of some of the darkest philosophical currents of the last three hundred years in Western thought. Readers will come away understanding Critical Race Theory and be able to speak the truth about it with authority: Critical Race Theory is Race Marxism, and, like all Marxist Theories before it, it will not work this time.

The Urban Sketching Handbook Color First, Ink Later: A Dynamic Approach to Drawing and Painting on Location


Mike Yoshiaki Daikubara - 2022
    The result? Sketches that are more vibrant, dynamic, and fun!  Designer, urban sketcher, and author of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Sketch Now, Think Later, Mike Daikubara is your guide to this exciting method in The Urban Sketching Handbook: Color First, Ink Later:Start with a detailed overview of the process, from optional light pencil sketch to finishing touchesFollow along several step-by-step demonstrations that apply the approach to a range of subjects, from still life to figures to architectureGet inspired by an extensive gallery of on-location sketches You’ll learn how to let watercolor do the hard work of urban sketching and enjoy the spontaneous effects and delightful surprises you’ll see in your artwork.  The Urban Sketching Handbooks series offers location artists expert instruction on creative techniques, on-location tips and advice, and an abundance of visual inspiration. These handy references come in a compact, easy-to-carry format—perfect to toss in your backpack or artist’s tote.Also available from the Urban Sketching Handbooks series: Understanding Light; Panoramas and Vertical Vistas; Drawing Expressive People; Techniques for Beginners; Complete Urban Sketching Companion; Drawing with a Tablet; 101 Sketching Tips; Working with Color; Sketch Now, Think Later; Understanding Perspective; People and Motion; and Architecture and Cityscapes.

The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America


Deepa Purushothaman - 2022
    For too long, corporate structures, social zeitgeist, and cultural conditioning have left us feeling exhausted and downtrodden, believing that in order to "fit in" and be successful, we must hide or change who we are.As a former senior partner at a large global services firm, Deepa Purushothaman experienced these feelings of isolation and burnout. She met with hundreds of other women of color across industries and cultural backgrounds, eager to hear about their unique and shared experiences. In doing so, she has come to understand our collective setbacks--and the path forward in achieving our goals.Business must evolve--and women of color have the potential to lead that transformation. We must begin by pushing back against toxic messaging--including the things we tell ourselves--while embracing the valuable cultural viewpoints and experiences that give us unique perspectives at work. By fully realizing our own strengths, we can build collective power and use it to confront microaggressions, outdated norms, and workplace misconceptions; create cultures where belonging is never conditional; and rework corporations to be genuinely inclusive to all.The First, the Few, the Only is a road map for us to make a profound impact within and outside our organizations while ensuring that our words are heard, our lived experiences are respected, and our contributions are finally valued.

Imagine If . . .: A Manifesto on the Creative Revolution in Education and Beyond


Ken Sir Robinson - 2022
    The embodiment of the prestigious TED conference, his TED Talks are watched an average of 17,000 times a day - a figure that Chris Anderson, Head of TED, says is the equivalent of selling out the Millennium Dome every night for fifteen consecutive years. A New York Times bestselling author, Sir Ken's books have been translated into twenty four languages.In his final years, Sir Ken was working on a book that would serve as his manifesto. This book was being written for both new and dedicated audiences alike as a coherent overview of the arguments that he dedicated his life to, and as a pivotal piece of literature for the education revolution he began. When Sir Ken received his cancer prognosis in August 2020 he asked his daughter and collaborator, Kate Robinson, to finish writing this manifesto and continue his work.At its core, Sir Ken's work is a love letter to human potential, it is a celebration of what we as a species are capable of doing, and of being, if we create the right conditions. It is a rallying cry to revolutionize our systems of education, and the ways in which we run our businesses and structure our social systems, so that they bring out the best in each and every person. Sir Ken often observed that what separates us from the rest of life on Earth is our power of imagination - the ability to bring to mind things that are not present to our senses. It is imagination that allows us to create the world in which we live, rather than just exist in it. It also gives us the power to recreate it.

The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny


Bradley Schurman - 2022
    Societies all over the world are getting older, the result of the fact that we are living longer and having fewer children. At some point in the near future, much of the developed world will have at least twenty percent of their national populations over the age of sixty-five. Bradley Schurman calls this the Super Age. Today, Italy, Japan, and Germany have already reached the Super Age, and another ten countries will have gone over the tipping point in 2021. Thirty-five countries will be part of this club by the end of the decade. This seismic shift in the world population can portend a period of tremendous growth--or leave swaths of us behind.Schurman explains how changing demographics will affect government and business and touch all of our lives. Fewer people working and paying income taxes, due to outdated employment and retirement practices, could mean less money feeding popular programs such as Social Security and Medicare--with greater numbers relying on them. The forced retirement or redundancy of older workers could impact business by creating a shortage of workers, which would likely drive wages up and result in inflation. Corporations, too, must rethink marketing strategies--older consumers are already purchasing the majority of new cars, and they are a growing and vitally important market for health technologies and housing. Architects and designers must re-create homes and communities that are more inclusive of people of all ages and abilities.If we aren't prepared for the changes to come, Schurman warns, we face economic stagnation, increased isolation of at-risk populations, and accelerated decline of rural communities. Instead, we can plan now to harness the benefits of the Super Age: extended and healthier lives, more generational cooperation at work and home, and new markets and products to explore. The choice is ours to make.

Memory Activities Book for Seniors: 7 Tested Solutions to Strengthen Your Memory Quickly and Easily Using the Montessori Method. Also Useful for Alzheimer's, Post Stroke, and Dementia


Michel Brain - 2022
    This affects our ability to learn new things, as well as how well we remember old information. This is often referred to as “age-related memory loss.” Memory and memory exercises come in handy for a number of reasons. The elderly are especially vulnerable to memory loss and should therefore be aware of the importance of a solid memory routine. A variety of different ways to train your memory are available, and this is where the book Memory Activities Book for Seniors comes in.The Memory Activities Book for Seniors is a special book for seniors, which helps them to improve their memory. In this book, you will learn about the following:• The tested solutions for strengthening memory• Quick and easy to learn MONTESSORI METHOD• Activities that stimulate creativity and coordination for elderly• Exercises suitable for persons with Alzheimer’s, post-stroke, dementia, and many more!It’s your time!

Literacy Is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching


Kimberly N Parker - 2022
    

Teaching for Spiritual Formation: A Patristic Approach to Christian Education in a Convulsed Age


Kyle R. Hughes - 2022
    

The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression Reflection


Anne H. Berry - 2022
    Excluded from traditional design history and educational canons that heavily favor European modernist influences, the work and experiences of Black designers have been systematically overlooked in the profession for decades. However, given the national focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the aftermath of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, educators, practitioners, and students now have the opportunity—as well as the social and political momentum—to make long-term, systemic changes in design education, research, and practice, reclaiming the contributions of Black designers in the process.The Black Experience in Design, an anthology centering a range of perspectives, spotlights teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens. Through the voices represented, this text exemplifies the inherently collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of design, providing access to ideas and topics for a variety of audiences, meeting people as they are and wherever they are in their knowledge about design. Ultimately, The Black Experience in Design serves as both inspiration and a catalyst for the next generation of creative minds tasked with imagining, shaping, and designing our future.

The Identity-Conscious Educator: Building Habits and Skills for a More Inclusive School (Create a Research-based Learning Environment That Allows Students ... Backgrounds to Learn and Grow Together.)


Liza A. Talusan - 2022
    

Disabilities of the Color Line: Redressing Antiblackness from Slavery to the Present


Dennis Tyler - 2022
    Disabilities of the Color Line maintains that the Black literary tradition historically has inverted this casting by exposing the disablement of racism without disclaiming disability.In place of a triumphalist narrative of overcoming where both disability and disablement alike are shunned, Dennis Tyler argues that Black authors and activists have consistently avowed what he calls the disabilities of the color line: the historical and ongoing anti-Black systems of division that maim, immobilize, and stigmatize Black people. In doing so, Tyler reveals how Black writers and activists such as David Walker, Henry Box Brown, William and Ellen Craft, Charles Chesnutt, James Weldon Johnson, and Mamie Till-Mobley have engaged in a politics and aesthetics of redress: modes of resistance that, in the pursuit of racial and disability justice, acknowledged the disabling violence perpetrated by anti-Black regimes in order to conceive or engender dynamic new worlds that account for people of all abilities. While some writers have affirmed disability to capture how their bodies, minds, and health have been made vulnerable to harm and impairment by the state and its citizens, others' assertion of disability symbolizes a sense of community as well as a willingness to imagine and create a world distinct from the dominant social order.

Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands


Jonna Perrillo - 2022
    These German children were bused daily from a military outpost to four El Paso public schools. Though born into a fascist enemy nation, the German children were quickly integrated into the schools and, by proxy, American society. Their rapid assimilation offered evidence that American public schools played a vital role in ensuring the victory of democracy over fascism. Jonna Perrillo not only tells this fascinating story of Cold War educational policy, but she draws an important contrast with another, much more numerous population of children in the El Paso public schools: Mexican Americans. Like everywhere else in the Southwest, Mexican American children in El Paso were segregated into “Mexican” schools, where the children received a vastly different educational experience. Not only were they penalized for speaking Spanish—the only language all but a few spoke due to segregation—they were tracked for low-wage and low-prestige careers, with limited opportunities for economic success. Educating the Enemy charts what two groups of children—one that might have been considered the enemy, the other that was treated as such—reveal about the ways political assimilation has been treated by schools as an easier, more viable project than racial or ethnic assimilation. Listen to an interview with the author here.

Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools


Tom Greenwell - 2022
    Commissioned by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and chaired by leading businessman David Gonski, the 2011 review made clear that school education policy wasn’t working, and placed a spotlight on the troubling and growing gap between the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children and their more privileged peers.Gonski proposed a model that provided targeted funding to disadvantaged students based on need, a solution that promised to close the gaps and improve overall achievement.And yet, over a decade later, the problems have only worsened. Educational outcomes for Australian schoolchildren continue to decline, and there is a growing correlation between social disadvantage and educational under-achievement. So why hasn’t Gonski worked, and what should we do now?Written by teachers Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor, Waiting for Gonski examines how Australia has failed its schools and offers inspired solutions to help change education for the better.

Probabilistic Machine Learning: An Introduction


Kevin P. Murphy - 2022