Recommended Books for Holiday Gifts

For kids of all ages:

George's Secret Key to the Universe

by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2007) Curious George's author, H.A. Rey, was an amateur astronomer and friend of Albert Einstein. Now Stephen (this generation's Einstein) and Lucy Hawking have accepted this generation's challenge of explaining the universe to kids. If you haven't been able to finish A Brief History of Time, this book, written for children ages 9-12, might help.

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!

by Dr. Seuss (Picture Lions, 2001) This book was published posthumously and completed by Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith. In addition to being a fabulous ( and timely) fable about the dangers of reducing education to test prep, the second half of the book is an exploration of Dr. Seuss' creative process and a behind-the-scenes look at how the book was created.

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure

by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Rotraut Susanne Berner, and Michael Henry Heim (Owl Books,2000) Imagine a whimsical novel, plus math, and you get the picture of this book, which can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Pippi Longstocking

by Astrid Lindgren (Author), Lauren Child (Illustrator), Tiina Nunnally (Translator) (Viking Juvenile, 2007) This classic children's book has been illustrated by popular contemporary illustrator and children's author, Lauren Child.

Educational technology:



Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms

by Will Richardson (Corwin Press, 2006) District Administration columnist Richardson explains the emerging technologies of blogging, podcasting, wikis, social networking and other innovations based on RSS.

The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer

by Seymour Papert (Basic Books, 1994) The "father of educational computing" provokes us to think hard about the incredible potential to construct knowledge using computers.

Never Mind the Laptops: Kids, Computers, and the Transformation of Learning

by Bob Johnstone (iUniverse, 2003) A fascinating history of educational computing from WWII through the laptop revolution of the early 1990s.

MySpace Unraveled: What it is and how to use it safely

by Larry Magid and Anne Collier (Peachpit Press, 2006) takes the incredibly novel position of suggesting that you know what you're talking about before setting policy at home or in school. The book teaches adults how to use MySpace.com so that they may more rationally discuss social networking with children.

Internet & Computer Ethics for Kids: (and Parents & Teachers Who Haven't Got a Clue.)

by Winn Schwartau, D. L. Busch (Illustrator) (Interpact Press, 2001) This terrific book should be read
by every parent, educator and teen.

Learning:



Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of Youth

by Herbert Kohl (Bloomsbury, 2007) Herb Kohl's poetic meditation on life, art, teaching and learning is a gift that keeps on giving.

 

The Book of Learning and Forgetting

by Frank Smith (Teachers College Press, 1998) Smith may have written the most beautiful and thoughtful book about learning in the past decade.

Raising children:



Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors

by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint (Thomas Nelson, 2007) Cosby and Poussaint explore the problems plaguing child rearing in our poorest communities and offer no-nonsense practical advice for adult caregivers and educators.

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason

by Alfie Kohn (Atria, 2005) Popular education author Alfie Kohn focuses on parenting in an informative book that might make Supernanny crazy.

Reading instruction:

Reading FAQ

by Frank Smith (Teachers College Press, 2007) This book poses the countless questions educators and parents have about reading, and answers them succinctly and in plain English.

School innovation:

The Big Picture: Education Is Everyone's Business

by Dennis Littky and Samantha Grabelle (ASCD, 2004) Now on his fourth decade of successful school reform, Littky demonstrates how it is possible to create successful schools for the 21st century with innovations that are replicable.

The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections, 2nd edition

by Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini, and George Forman (Ablex Publishing, 1998) American educators of all grades can learn from the municipal preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. This book explains their educational ideas better than any book.

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In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization

by Deborah Meier (Beacon Press, 2003) A fantastic book about creating learning communities within the four walls of the school and beyond by a Macarthur Genius

Teaching in these times:

Letters to a Young Teacher

by Jonathan Kozol (Crown, 2007) For more than 40 years, Kozol has given voice to the voiceless children in our cities. In his latest book, he uses the literary device of writing to a new teacher in Boston as a vehicle for exploring issues of pedagogy, politics, social justice and the joy of teaching.

Stupidity and Tears: Teaching and Learning in Troubled Times

by Herbert Kohl (New Press, 2005) A terrific collection of essays by the legendary educator and author.

Tested: One American School Struggles to Make the Grade

by Linda Perlstein (Henry Holt, 2007) Perlstein, a celebrated journalist, chronicles the story of a school that raised test scores dramatically by exploring the sacrifices made and whether continued progress is possible.

The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial

by Susan Eaton (Algonquin Books, 2007) Eaton writes an in-depth analysis of the crises plaguing urban education through the story of one school in Hartford, Conn., over a period of 18 months.

The Game of School: Why We All Play It, How It Hurts Kids, and What It Will Take to Change It

by Robert Fried (Jossey-Bass, 2005) Fried offers thoughtful critiques on the state of public education and what we might do to improve matters.

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Vision, leadership and management:



Letters to the Next President: What We Can Do about the Real Crisis in Public Education (2008 Election)

by Carl Glickman (Teacher's College Press, 2007) This collection of essays by leading educators and citizens offers unsolicited advice about education policy for our next president of the United States.

Selling the Dream : How to Promote Your Product, Company, or Ideas-And Make a Difference-Using Everyday Evangelism

by Guy Kawasaki (Collins, 1992) Kawasaki has inspired countless readers to gather and sustain support for their products and innovations.

Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency

by Tom DeMarco (Broadway, 2002) A management expert, DeMarco makes a compelling case for granting employees some much needed time and space.

The Inner Principal

by David Loader (Routledge, 1997) Loader, one of the world's boldest and most accomplished principals, lets readers inside his head and heart as he does his job.

Predict education's future by reading about the past:

The New Education: Progressive Education One Hundred Years Ago Today (Classics in Progressive Education)

by Scott Nearing (New Press, 2007) Originally published nearly 100 years ago!

How Kindergarten Came to America: Friedrich Froebel's Radical Vision of Early Childhood Education (Classics in Progressive Education)

by Bertha von Marenholtz-Bulow (New Press, 2007) Read about the inventor of kindergarten, his radical ideas from a book originally published in 1894 and the fascinating story of how his ideas came to America.

The Public School and the Private Vision: A Search for America in Education and Literature (Classics in Progressive Education)

by Maxine Greene (New Press, 2007)

From Amazon.com - "Maxine Greene, one of the leading educational philosophers of the past fifty years, remains "an idol to thousands of educators," according to the New York Times. In The Public School and the Private Vision, first published in 1965 but out of print for many years, Greene traces the complex interplay of literature and public education from the 1830s to the 1960s—and now, in a new preface, to the present. With rare eloquence she affirms the values that lie at the root of public education and makes an impassioned call for decency in difficult times, once again a key theme in education circles. A new foreword by Herbert Kohl shows how the work resonates for contemporary teachers, students, and parents."

A Schoolmaster of the Great City: A Progressive Education Pioneer's Vision for Urban Schools (Classics in Progressive Education)

by Angelo Patri (New Press, 2007)

From Amazon.com - Angelo Patri's eloquent 1917 chronicle of multicultural education in the inner city remains as relevant today as it was ninety years ago. Long out of print, A Schoolmaster of the Great City illustrates Patri's commitment as a long-time principal at a New York public school to integrating all backgrounds into the classroom and to nurturing a community that extends beyond the school yard. The New York Times Book Review called it "an inspiring and an aspiring vision, an ideal of a force that would be a greater power in molding and Americanizing and democratizing American life than it would be possible to find in all other agencies together."

The Progressive Education Movement: Is It Still a Factor in Today's School?

by William Hayes (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2006) 3/4 of this textbook is a terrific history of progressive educators and its unsung heroes. The chapters on the modern era are of less value.

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Books by Pulse Contributing Editors:



Gerald Coles

Ken Goodman

Alfie Kohn

Etta Kralovek

Stephen Krashen

Susan Ohanian

W. James Popham

Roger Schank

Mind-mapping What?

Will Richardson's blog reminded me to share some thoughts I've been ruminating over for several years. Will does an outstanding job of spotting and sharing new software tools, particularly those of the Web 2.0 variety. Some of these tools demonstrate human ingenuity, many make a small improvement on existing software and one or two may even make a real splash, in either social impact or as a commercial product. Will's recent blog posting, Mind Mapping Love, discussed new online tools for brainstorming, mapping and planning.

Upon reflection I felt compelled to ask, "After all of this mapping, brainstorming and planning, what do the students actually do? Is it better than what they wrote, filmed, acted, composed or constructed before such tools existed? What's the point?"

I began asking such questions a few years ago when I keynoted a national educational technology conference overseas. The walls of the convention center corridors were lined with display boards containing student work. One would assume that this work exemplified the most extraordinary efforts from this nation's classroms. However, upon further inspection I saw walls covered in three bubble Inspiration maps. Plants need... Water, Sunlight, Cool-Whip... That sort of stuff.

I was horrified. Why would we display such crap on the walls of a national conference?

This is like publishing an outline of a novel, without the novel, except it is worse than that. What I routinely see in schools is the equivalent of publishing the first three words of the outline of a novel without ever writing the novel. It's then printed in fancy fonts and framed by brightly colored construction paper before affixing to a bulletin board. I've seen it a zillion times in classrooms all over the world. The pride educators gain from such incomplete work is an acute example of what Seymour Papert calls verbal inflation.

Again, what's the point?

I have no reason to doubt that Will Richardson was an amazing teacher who inspired his students to express themselves with a clarity and fluency beyond their years. With Will's guidance mind-mapping, brainstorming or outlining resulted in exceptional writing or journalism. But what about his protegés? Do the students of Will's many followers produce work they can be proud of? Do their efforts justify the investment in hardware and software? Based on my observations, I fear not.

I often wonder why the package, Inspiration, has been such a runaway success. Almost every school with a computer owns a copy, while countless schools have it installed on every computer. One would think that all of this planning would lead to an explosion in creativity and dramatic improvements in student communication abilities, but aside from small anecodotal examples, no such evidence exists. Admittedly, my inner cynic gets curious whenever large numbers of educators are suddenly excited about anything. I like to know why.

Perhaps the enthusiasm for pre-writing tools, such as the Inspiration and the ones Will writes about, is based on the fact that schools hate process. Pre-writing/planning/brain-storming represents the first stage of a four or five part writing process. In order to gain benefit from this process, each stage must be completed. No step of the process is more important than another. They are equally critical. Well, at last that's the theory.

The reality of school is that teachers routinely cherry-pick the part of the process which best suits them or fits within their time constraints. This has a lot to do with why "whole language" was vilified. Teachers embraced the invented spelling aspect of the pre-writing and writing stages, but never got around to actual editing or publishing. Putting invented spelling on the wall or in publications that leave the classroom is asking for trouble.

Some teachers focus on an essay's cover, word count or fonts used while others brainstorm, but never get around to having the children write anything of substance.

This might be because writing is so hard and teachers are insecure about their own writing. An even more likely hypothesis for why the writing process rarely leaves the starting gate is time. It takes a wizard or decathelete to edit 150-200 pieces of student writing, so why require it? Even orchestrating effective peer-editing procedures takes time few teachers enjoy between the bells and other structural distractions of the modern school day. So, we skip a few steps. Favoring one step over the others tends to undermine the entire process.

We all had at least one teacher who required that an outline be turned in, even if it was written after the essay. Such requirements are profoundly indifferent and disrespectful to each distinct learner. With modern outlining tools the curriculum is too often on identifying the form of brainstorming or the shape of a mind-map, rather than on what should be the product resulting from the tool's use. Too many teachers focus on the mechanics of these tools at the expense of developing articulate creative students. Not every writer requires an outline and most "real" writing results from a much more fluid process.

Another potential reason for the emphasis on brainstorming and mind-mapping is that the activity lends itself to being teacher-centric. I've seen countless demonstrations of pre-writing in which the teacher solicits ideas from the class (with differing degrees of coercion) and then creates the visual representation on the board or computer via projection. The locus of control shifts away from the learner to the teacher. The proliferation of expensive "interactive" white boards ensures that the teacher will never relinquish control or stop dominating the life of the classroom.

Writing is inherently learner-centered. Great writers know that writing may only really ever be taught mano a mano. Effective teachers use a bag of tricks to distract the rest of the class or create peer editing situations, but writing is a recursive process of continual writing and revision. That's MUCH harder to do than make a diagram, print it out and stick it on a wall (or web page).