Loving Learning: How Progressive Education Can Save America's Schools


Tom Little - 2015
    In this book, his life’s work, he interweaves his teaching experience, the knowledge he gleaned from his trip, and the history of Progressive Education. As Little and Katherine Ellison reveal, these educators and schools invigorate learning and promote inquisitiveness by allowing the curriculum to grow organically out of children's questions—whether they lead to studying the senses, working on a farm, or re-creating a desert ecosystem in the classroom.We see curious students draw on information across disciplines to think in imaginative yet practical ways, like in a "Mini-Maker Faire" or designing and building a chair from scratch. Becoming good citizens was another of Little's goals. He believed in the need for students to learn how to become advocates for themselves, from setting rules on the playground to engaging in issues of social justice in the wider community.Using the philosophy of Progressive Education, schools can prepare students to shape a vibrant future in the arts and sciences for themselves and the nation.

A Student's Guide to the Study Of History


John Lukacs - 2000
    And to fail to grasp the importance of the past 151 to remain ignorant of the deeds and writing of previous generations 151 is to bind oneself by the passions and prejudices of the age into which one is born. John Lukacs, one of today s most widely published historians, explains what the study of history entails, how it has been approached over the centuries, and why it should be undertaken by today s students. This guide is an invitation to become a master of the historian s craft. Author: John Lukacs. Pages: 50. Paperback. Publisher: Christendom Press. ISBN: 1-882926-42-2

The Fluent Reader


Timothy V. Rasinski - 2003
    It opens with a clear research-based rationale for teaching oral reading, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. From there, Rasinski provides the strategies themselves - read aloud, repeated reading, performance reading, and many more. The strategies are fun, easy to implement, and -- most important -- effective in helping children read with ease, confidence, and understanding.Praise for The Fluent Reader:"What I find remarkable about The Fluent Reader is the way Timothy Rasinski leads us from the theoretical to the practical...I suspect that teachers who read this book will be quick to take the ideas and apply them in their classrooms." ---From the foreword by James Hoffman, University of Texas at Austin

Prepared


Courtney Konstantin - 2017
    She always thought her father was insane, raving about an apocalypse she never believed in, but when a plague hits the United States and the dead no longer stay dead, Alex discovers heeding her deceased father’s advice is what will keep her family alive. Before he died, Alex’s father created a compound in Montana just in case situations like this arose.Hell has arrived on earth.The dead walk, hungry for human flesh. Living in a highly populated city like Las Vegas makes the reality of the plague imminent to Alex. With little time to spare, Alex must make split-second decisions to prevent her family from being devoured. Facing the end, Alex has three goals.Escape Las Vegas. Get to the compound. Survive.As the outside world crumbles and grows darker, Alex faces adversity from not just the infected, but the uninfected as well. Government assistance is nowhere in sight, and rumors fly that the nation’s only solution to the growing plague is execution.Not everyone will outlast the plague. Doomsday is here. Will Alex be up to the challenge, or fall, and rise again as one of the undead?

The Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958


Herbert M. Kliebard - 1986
    This new third edition is thoroughly revised and updated, and includes two new chapters on the renewed attacks on the subject curriculum in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as the way individual school subjects evolved over time and were affected by these attacks.

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain


Brock L. Eide - 2011
     In this paradigm-shifting book, neurolearning experts Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide describe an exciting new brain science that reveals that dyslexic people have unique brain structure and organization. While the differences are responsible for certain challenges with literacy and reading, the dyslexic brain also gives a predisposition to important skills, and special talents. While dyslexics typically struggle to decode the written word, they often also excel in such areas of reasoning as mechanical (required for architects and surgeons), interconnected (artists and inventors); narrative (novelists and lawyers), and dynamic (scientists and business pioneers). The Dyslexic Advantage provides the first complete portrait of dyslexia.

Blackmark


Jean Lowe Carlson - 2016
    Inked with the Blackmark and despised for it, Elohl uncovers the truth and exposes ancient enemies. Now, he must give everything to shatter the hidden sect that usurps power from the throne. A bloody war will be reaped in the shadows, that will burn nations and bring kings to their knees.This dark and gritty sword and sorcery series from award winning author Jean Lowe Carlson explores a complex world of treachery, passion, sex, and magic. Readers who enjoy George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, or Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time will love this fantastic adventure.

The Letter Writer


Ann Rinaldi - 2008
    She feels accepted and important only when she is entrusted to write letters for her blind stepmother. Then Nat Turner, a slave preacher, arrives on her family’s plantation and Harriet befriends him, entranced by his gentle manner and eloquent sermons about an all-forgiving God. When Nat asks Harriet for a map of the county to help him spread the word, she draws it for him—wanting to be part of something important. But the map turns out to be the missing piece that sets Nat’s secret plan in motion and makes Harriet an unwitting accomplice to the bloodiest slave uprising in U.S. history.Award-winning historical novelist Ann Rinaldi has created a bold portrait of an ordinary young girl thrust in to a situation beyond her control.

The Apocalypse


Peter Meredith - 2013
    It's a time of misery and death for most, however there are some who are lucky, some who are fast, and some who are just too damned tough to go down without a fight. This is their story.

Chased by Fire


D.K. Holmberg - 2014
    Terrifying creatures from dark and dangerous Incendin... And long-forgotten elementals again unleashed on the world. As an earth senser, Tan is tasked with helping guide the king's servant through the dangerous mountain passes in search for the artifact before Incendin can reach it first. But after losing his father to the war, Tan wants nothing to do with the king's demands. When everything he knows is lost, he is forced to risk himself to save the one person who can find the artifact, a beautiful girl who has lost as much as Tan. In doing so, power the world hasn't seen in nearly a thousand years is awoken, and a warrior long thought dead returns to claim the artifact for himself.

The Seventh Knight


Robert Ryan - 2020
    Of old, the Kingshield Knights were founded. They were warriors and men of learning. The six of them wandered the land and dispensed wisdom, knowledge and justice. But they bore a sacred charge greater still.Their solemn trust was to guard against a primal evil. But they have fallen to its lure. Dark things stir. Beasts of nightmare stalk the land and haunt the skies. Blood-drenched sorcery casts its shadow over the realm.Ancient prophecy foretold that when the Kingshield Knights failed the Seventh Knight would rise to challenge them. But the knights know this, and they seek to kill him before he comes into his destiny.But fate will not be denied. And the Seventh Knight will stand tall to defy the powers of darkness...

The Secret Teacher: Dispatches from the Classroom


Anonymous - 2017
    I will teach them The Waste Land! I will be the Best Teacher Who Has Ever Lived! Or so The Secret Teacher thinks. On his first day at an inner-city state school he gets nuked. The class he is made to cut his teeth on are an unruly mob stuffed with behavioural issues. There is:Milosz, who is put in detention for committing the sin of Onan with a Pritt StickKieran, the class rebelDonnie, a hard-working kid desperate for approvalMercedes, a volatile rude girland Salim, who loves Bollywood and the number 5.Somehow, The Secret Teacher needs to enthuse this lot with a love of books. Or at least keep them sitting at their desks until the end of the lesson. And then he's got to deal with the Observations, marking, standardisations, book checks, OFSTED, Educational Consultants, spreadsheets, personal statements, school trips, strikes, class, race, love, death, birth, manhood, dry cleaning, the end of literary culture, the end of the Old World, the whole shebang ...In this vivid account of his first few years in the classroom, The Secret Teacher grapples with the complicated questions of how to teach, how we learn - and how little he actually knows. He celebrates the world's greatest stories, the extraordinary teachers he has worked with, and the kids: bolshy, bright, funny and absolutely electric. The result is a book brimful of wit, insight and tenderness.

Free Voluntary Reading


Stephen D. Krashen - 1992
    Stephen D. Krashen, PhD, is an advocate for free voluntary reading in schools and has published many journal articles on the subject. Free Voluntary Reading: Power 2010 collects the last ten years of his extensive work and reconsiders all aspects of this important debate in light of the latest findings.The book provides an accessible examination of topics, such as free voluntary reading's value in language and literary acquisition domestically and worldwide, recent developments in support of free voluntary reading, whether rewards-based programs benefit the development of lifelong reading, the value of phonics in reading instruction, and trends in literacy in the United States.

Human Insanity


Kamikaze Potato - 2021
    His moment of heroism results in being torn away from everyone he knew and loved, kidnapped by an unknown force that leaves him with a note in his pocket stating: "Good luck."After being thrown into the wilderness of Elatra, a hostile fantasy world ruled by levels, stats, progression, and bizarre video game logic, he finds himself entirely out of his depth. Armed with nothing but a sword and the clothes on his back, he sets out on his the first day, and almost dies. On the second day, he almost dies again. On the third, he began to notice a worrying trend. And almost dies.It doesn't get any easier from there.Overcoming the wilds is just the first step in his journey; the society of Elatra is incredibly hostile to humans, having just come off of a devastating war that left over half the population dead, and getting the locals to trust the last human in existence is a struggle in and of itself. Between being powerless in a world that hates him and suffering under a System that is altering his mind in unwanted ways, Rob quickly finds that monsters aren't nearly the biggest thing to worry about.As far as LitRPG isekai adventures go, Rob drew the short straw in many ways. But that's okay - all the bullshit in the world won't keep him down. He'll carve out a place in this world with his bare hands if necessary. He'll survive, and then he'll thrive.Whether anyone wants him to or not.

Classical Education: The Movement Sweeping America


Gene Edward Veith Jr. - 2001
    It is not more spending or a new and innovative program. Rather the solution, according to authors Gene Edward Veith, Jr. and Andrew Kern, is classical education.“America education cannot improve until we have a new theory of education. Fortunately, one exists,” Veith and Kern write. “An increasing number of schools and educators are returning to an approach to education that is the bedrock of Western culture: classical education.”Veith and Kern examine contemporary education theories that have failed during the 20th century. Among them are modernism, postmodernism, and multiculturalism. They in turn produced Whole Language, Goals 2000, School-to-Work, critical thinking and technology in the classroom. It is clear that these approaches are not working.In Classical Education, the authors examine six different approaches elementary and secondary schools use to tie the “3 Rs” to the moral and civic education of the Western tradition. They include Christian Classicism, which is advocated by the Association of Classical and Christian Schools; Democratic Classicism, which has been adopted by over 100 public schools; Moral Classicism, which is based on the idea that education is a path to virtue; and Liberating Classicism, Marva Collins’ program for minority children in poor neighborhoods that emphasizes phonics and character education.This revised and updated edition includes new chapters on classical education in Catholic schools and in the homeschooling movement.Veith and Kern also review the best liberal arts colleges in the U.S. that teach Western tradition and they provide a directory listing of organizations that work for a return to classical education.