Learning from Lincoln: Leadership Practices for School Success


Harvey B. Alvy - 2010
    The authors identify 10 qualities, attributes, and skills that help to explain Lincoln's effectiveness, despite seemingly insurmountable odds:1. Implementing and sustaining a mission and vision with focused and profound clarity2. Communicating ideas effectively with precise and straightforward language3. Building a diverse and competent team to successfully address the mission4. Engendering trust, loyalty, and respect through humility, humor, and personal example5. Leading and serving with emotional intelligence and empathy6. Exercising situational competence and responding appropriately to implement effective change7. Rising beyond personal and professional trials through tenacity, persistence, resilience, and courage8. Exercising purposeful visibility9. Demonstrating personal growth and enhanced competence as a lifetime learner, willing to reflect on and expand ideas10. Believing that hope can become a realityChapters devoted to each element explore the historical record of Lincoln's life and actions, then discuss the implications for modern educators. End-of-chapter exercises provide a structure for reflection, analysis of current behaviors, and guidance for future work, so that readers can create their own path to success--inspired by the example of one of the greatest leaders of all time.

The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction


Meghan Cox Gurdon - 2019
    Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioral research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children, whatever their class, nationality or family background. But it’s not just about bedtime stories for little kids: Reading aloud consoles, uplifts and invigorates at every age, deepening the intellectual lives and emotional well-being of teenagers and adults, too.Meghan Cox Gurdon argues that this ancient practice is a fast-working antidote to the fractured attention spans, atomized families and unfulfilling ephemera of the tech era, helping to replenish what our devices are leaching away. For everyone, reading aloud engages the mind in complex narratives; for children, it’s an irreplaceable gift that builds vocabulary, fosters imagination, and kindles a lifelong appreciation of language, stories and pictures.Bringing together the latest scientific research, practical tips, and reading recommendations, The Enchanted Hour will both charm and galvanize, inspiring readers to share this invaluable, life-altering tradition with the people they love most.

The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks With Charlotte Mason


Laurie Bestvater - 2012
    "We all have need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life." Charlotte Mason ~~~~~~~ "Composition books and blank journals are readily available at every big box and corner store, available so inexpensively as to be common and ironic as we reach that digital dominion, the projected 'paperless culture.' Shall we despair the future of the notebook? Is the practice an anachronism in an age where one's thoughts and pictures, doings and strivings are so easily recorded on a smartphone or blog,and students in even the youngest classrooms are handed electronic tablets with textbooks loaded and worksheets at the ready? Or is there something indispensable in the keeping of notebooks without which human beings would be the poorer?" THE LIVING PAGE invites the reader to take a closer look in the timeless company of 19th century educator, Charlotte Mason.

Home Education


Charlotte M. Mason - 1886
    Large margins make this edition a pleasure read or study.

Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year


Laura Brodie - 2010
    This is necessary reading for anyone with an interest not just in homeschooling but in education generally.” — David Guterson“As a parent involved in homeschooling, I highly recommend this book. It’s timely, beautifully written, and must reading for anyone who has ever wondered what homeschooling is all about.” — James Grippando, author of Money to BurnHumorous and heartfelt, this charming memoir tells of a year-long experiment in homeschooling in which the author decides to give her ten-year-old daughter a sabbatical from homework hell and the vicissitudes of one-size fits all traditional public school days.

Hacking Classroom Management: 10 Ideas To Help You Become the Type of Teacher They Make Movies About (Hack Learning Series Book 15)


Mike Roberts - 2017
    He shows you how to create an amazing learning environment that actually makes discipline, rules and consequences obsolete, no matter if you're a new teacher or a 30-year veteran teacher. Teachers they make movies about are innovative, engaging, and beloved Hacking Classroom Management is about putting the F word--FUN--into your teaching, and Mike Roberts shows you how to do this, while meeting your standards and teaching your curriculum.  Hacking Classroom Management shows you how to Build lasting relationships with your students Maximize teaching time Reduce behavior issues Enhance student ownership Improve parental involvement Experts love the Movie Teacher philosophy "No matter what grade you teach, there’s something of great value inside. Two Big Thumbs UP!" -Alan Sitomer, CA Teacher of the Year and Author of Short Writes"Immensely fun and illuminating to read!" -Jeffery D. Wilhelm, Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State University"Hollywood might not make a movie about you, even if you read and apply every suggestion in this book, but you and your students are much more likely to feel like classroom stars because of it." -Chris Crowe, English Professor at BYU, Past President of ALAN, author of Death Coming Up the Hill, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case; Mississippi Trial, 1955; and many other YA booksWave Goodbye to classroom management issuesGrab Hacking Classroom Management today, become a movie teacher tomorrow, and forget about classroom management FOREVER!

Homeschooling: A Family's Journey


Martine Millman - 2008
    What is it that homeschoolers do that the public schools can’t or won’t? There are at least as many answers as there are studies. But nothing can capture the homeschooling experience in all its richness like the story of a real family that homeschools its children in middleclass America. Homeschooling: A Family’s Journey is the perfect book for those millions of Americans who may know someone who homeschools, who may have read about it, thought about it, and wondered whether homeschooling is right for them. Sharing the concerns of committed parents everywhere, authors Gregory and Martine Millman are consistently practical, informed, caring, and no-nonsense in their approach. They pay special attention to homeschooling and college, the economics of home-learning, and how a parent can really handle a child’s full education. Homeschooling opens a window on an exciting, important way of education—and, even more, a way of life—that can make all the difference in your family’s world.

12 Principles for Raising a Child with ADHD


Russell A. Barkley - 2020
    Barkley has become a leading authority on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in kids and teens. He has learned what a huge difference parents can make in supporting their children's success--as well as how overwhelming it can be. This concise guide presents 12 key parenting principles for dealing with common behavioral, emotional, and school challenges. By cultivating a mindset of acceptance and compassion--together with an understanding of the executive function deficits of ADHD--you can strengthen your loving connection with your child and help your whole family thrive. Filled with practical suggestions and quick-reference lists and tips, this is the perfect book to read cover to cover or pick up any time you need extra support.

The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students


Thomas Armstrong - 2016
    Reckless. Impractical. Insecure. Distracted. These are all words commonly used to describe adolescents. But what if we recast these traits in a positive light? Teens possess insight, passion, idealism, sensitivity, and creativity in abundance--all qualities that can make a significant positive contribution to society.In this thought-provoking book, Thomas Armstrong looks at the power and promise of the teenage brain from an empathetic, strength-based perspective--and describes what middle and high school educators can do to make the most of their students' potential.Thoroughly grounded in current neuroscience research, the book explains what we know about how the adolescent brain works and proposes eight essential instructional elements that will help students develop the ability to think, make healthy choices, regulate their emotions, handle social conflict, consolidate their identities, and learn enough about the world to move into adulthood with dignity and grace.Armstrong provides practical strategies and real-life examples from schools that illustrate these eight key practices in action. In addition, you'll find a glossary of brain terms, a selection of brain-friendly lesson plans across the content areas, and a list of resources to support and extend the book's ideas and practices.There is a colossal mismatch between how the adolescent brain has evolved over the millennia and the passive, rote learning experiences that are all too common in today's test-obsessed educational climate. See the amazing difference--in school and beyond--when you use the insights from this book to help students tap into the power of their changing brains.

Radical Unschooling: A Revolution Has Begun


Dayna Martin - 2009
    It is different from homeschooling in that children are not forced to follow curriculum lessons and tests. Radical Unschooling philosophy focuses on trust of a child's innate ability to learn without coercion and invites children to explore their passions. The parent's role is to facilitate their interests and curiosity. The book focuses also on the evolutionary aspect of parenting and human consciousness. We are parenting and educating our children today to succeed in a joyful, productive life by following their passions, not someone else's agenda.

The Tao of Montessori


Catherine McTamaney - 2005
    Award-winning Montessori teacher Catherine McTamaney revisits the eighty-one verses of Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching and relates them to the life and work of teachers, parents, and children. Originally meant to remind rather than direct and to show the way toward natural harmony in the world around and within us, Lao-tzu's verses find a new meaning through McTamaney's skillful mixture of spirituality and education. Take a moment to read a single stanza, then put it aside and muse upon its meaning. By revisiting one verse each day, you can relate its images to your life as a teacher, parent, or child. Whether you are familiar with the writings of Lao-tzu or are simply ready to explore a refreshingly contemplative perspective on children and teachers, The Tao of Montessori is a profound work of intellectual stimulation.

A Mom Just Like You


Vickie Farris - 2000
    A Mom Just Like You is for all those moms who wonder, "Okay, so how do you do it?" Through her warm, practical style, Vickie Farris fills moms with encouragement and practical suggestions for those days when the challenge seems over-whelming.

Keeping the Wonder: An Educator's Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning


Jenna Copper - 2021
    

Coloring Outside the Lines: Raising A Smarter Kid by Breaking All the Rules


Roger C. Schank - 2000
    So begins this controversial and enlightened book by Roger Schank, Ph.D., a world-renowned expert on teaming, who believes that every day of the school year our children are being failed by an academic system that does nothing to stir a lifelong passion for learning.In this lively, sometimes alarming book, Schank shatters the myths about how children learn and offers candid advice for parents who want to raise kids with gumption, ambition, creativity, inquisitiveness, and analytic and verbal proficiency.

Stepmotherhood: How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated, Left Out, or Wicked


Cherie Burns - 1985
    You wonder if you’re doing the right thing and, as a stepmother, many of your specific questions are unique. In this second edition of Stepmotherhood: How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated, Left Out, or Wicked, journalist and stepmother Cherie Burns brings together countless insights and sound advice, based on the latest research and interviews with experts in the field (including dozens of other stepmoms), to answer questions such as:• How do you manage discipline when parents and stepparents disagree? • How can you help stepsiblings get along? • How do you handle birthdays, holidays, and weddings?• What’s the best way to get along with your stepchild’s mother?• When should you seek a therapist’s help?Burns’s wise and empathetic suggestions go beyond struggle, stigma, and compromise, showing how sensitive, informed stepmothers can take charge—and pride—in their role, becoming more effective and fulfilled.