History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change (Jossey-Bass Education)

Average customer rating:

Pedagogically provoking but also repetitive
One of the most important books I've ever read

Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change (Jossey-Bass Education)
Maxine Greene
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0787952915

Book Description

Now in Paperback

"This remarkable set of essays defines the role of imagination in general education, arts education, aesthetics, literature, and the social and multicultural context.... The author argues for schools to be restructured as places where students reach out for meanings and where the previously silenced or unheard may have a voice. She invites readers to develop processes to enhance and cultivate their own visions through the application of imagination and the arts. Releasing the Imagination should be required reading for all educators, particularly those in teacher education, and for general and academic readers."

--Choice

"Maxine Greene, with her customary eloquence, makes an impassioned argument for using the arts as a tool for opening minds and for breaking down the barriers to imagining the realities of worlds other than our own familiar cultures.... There is a strong rhythm to the thoughts, the arguments, and the entire sequence of essays presented here."

--American Journal of Education

Customer Reviews:

Pedagogically provoking but also repetitive.......2007-08-23

This was a required text for a literacy studies graduate class. The context was pedagogically provoking along the threads of progressive modern education standards that are taught to budding teachers. Some repetition was present as it is a lengthy text with a primary focus and one author. My classmates and I were a bit disappointed with the lack of example and proposals for the curriculum/pedagogy changes being presented. This is a text to be read for establishing perspective not for quick tips or golden ticket ideas.

One of the most important books I've ever read.......2004-01-08

Maxine Greene defends the role of the arts as social medicine and advancement. She brilliantly argues for maintaining art in curriculum. Art often requires of us to imagine things which do not exist in reality. This excercise is vital in creating social change. In order to create a new and better world, we must first imagine it. We must encourage our children (and adults for that matter) to imagine. That's the first step and I feel society becoming less imaginative and more homogenized. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!! AND BUY A COPY FOR A TEACHER.

Philosophy for Kids : 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder ... About Everything!

Average customer rating:

Too open ended for kids
It really is fun!
A+ for David White's "Philosophy for Kids"
The Author is Great
Wonder-ful Resource

Philosophy for Kids : 40 Fun Questions That Help You Wonder ... About Everything!
David A. White
Manufacturer: Prufrock Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1882664701

Book Description

Inspire animated discussions of questions that concern kids - and all of us - with this innovative, interactive book. Open your students' minds to the wonders of philosophy. Allow them to grapple with the questions philosophers have discussed since the ancient Greeks. Questions include: "Who are your friends?" "Can computers think?" "Can something logical not make sense?" "Can you think about nothing?" Young minds will find the range of 40 questions to be both entertaining and informative. If you have ever wondered about questions like these, you are well on the way to becoming a philosopher!

Philosophy for Kids offers young people (ages 10 and up) the opportunity to become acquainted with the wonders of philosophy. Packed with exciting activities arranged around the topics of Values, Knowledge, Reality, and Critical Thinking, this book can be used individually or by the whole class. Each activity allows kids to increase their understanding of philosophical concepts and issues and enjoy themselves at the same time.

In addition to learning about a challenging subject, students philosophizing in a classroom setting as well as the casual reader of Philosophy for Kids will sharpen the ability to think critically about these and similar questions. Experiencing the enjoyment of philosophical thought enhances a young person's appreciation for the importance of reasoning throughout the traditional curriculum of subjects.

The book includes activities, teaching tips, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading.

Grades 4-12

Customer Reviews:

Too open ended for kids.......2007-08-26

I bought this book to read with my nine-year old daughter. Lots of great questions posed, but we found they weren't explored deeply enough for our satisfaction. One could argue that this is precisely the purpose of the book, ie to encourage further discussion, but we're both quite new to the field of philosophy and lack the training and tools for a deep evaluation of the issues. Another book, Philosophy Rocks (Law), offers far deeper analyses (of admittedly fewer questions), but left us far more satisfied and inspired.

It really is fun!.......2007-07-25

While I have always been moderately entertained by the metaphysical, it has never been something I would quite describe as 'fun'. Until now that is! The chapter on existentialism tickled me rotten and the 'Wittgenstein game' caused uproar at my son's birthday party! If you want to keep the kids entertained for the day (and simultaneously teach them concepts of modal realism) look no further...

A+ for David White's "Philosophy for Kids".......2006-06-11

I'm not a teacher, but I am a student of philosophy who knows a great book when she reads one, and Professor White's "Philosophy for Kids" fits the bill. I appreciate this book not only because I think it's effective in getting youth to think about significant scholarly issues (this, I admit, it probably accomplishes quite well). Rather, I give PFK an A+ for its amazing ability to introduce *any* curious person to some of mankind's most timeless and pressing questions--and some of his most insightful thinkers--regardless of the age or academic background of the reader.

Organized into sections according to four major branches of philosophy--ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and logic--the book eases you into an exciting exploration of a myriad of connected but diverse philosophical questions. White's "leads" at the beginnings of the chapters, or "Questions," are always attention-grabbers, and I find the question-and-answer format helpful for framing the philosophical issue in a practical, concrete way before diving into a more rigorous investigation of the many facets of the Question and how they relate to one or more major philosophers. Far from being heavy-handed or tyrannical, these opening "situations" are thought-provoking engagements for the student. What a refreshing change from dry, overly cerebral, merely explanatory summaries of what a particular philosopher wrote about x, y, and z! The reader gets a stunningly broad introduction to major philosophical thinkers, their questions, and their answers without even realizing it. When a textbook is so inviting that it whets your appetite to read the more difficult, original works of both ancient and modern philosophers, you know you have something special.

The practical questions and answers are often amusing, but never trite. Many gently encourage self-reflection and make dense philosophical ideas actually personal and relatable, and in my opinion, philosophy and self-reflection are always a winning combination.

From an educational view, I think that Part IV on logic, or critical thinking, is alone worth the price of the book. This section helps students start to analyze the very foundations of what it means for a statement to be true, for a thing to be defined, for a thing to be caused. These kinds of cognitive skills are absolutely elemental--and essential--to further study in philosophy (as well as all sorts of endeavors), and so this section of the textbook is pure windfall for both student and teacher.

All of the "little things" also make this book stand out from the rest and show great craftsmanship in layout and details: many of the quotes located at the end of the Questions are exceptionally eloquent (all are relevant food for thought), the black-and-white illustrations of the philosophers are delightful, and even the cover and font are just downright attractive (and especially striking given the work's real potential as a formal textbook). Although I don't have much formal teaching experience, my impression is that the "Teaching Tips" at the end of the book could serve as a real catalyst for refining one's skills at facilitating and fielding classroom discussion. I especially liked the additional exercises and challenges White suggests in "Further Thoughts" and "Teaching Tips"; they constitute a wonderful continuation of the practical "question and answer" protocol highlighted throughout the book.

In summary, the excellence of this lovely textbook certainly speaks to the high caliber of an experienced teacher who knows much about philosophy (and life) and cares deeply about both. One can only desperately and impatiently hope for more luminous correspondence with a mind and heart like his, whether in the form of another book ... or through a different venue.

The Author is Great.......2005-11-21

I'm 14 and took a philosophy class for gifted students with the author teaching. He's a certifiable nutcase. He's also amazingly funny and intelligent. Buy this book or discriminate against insane geniuses everywhere.

Wonder-ful Resource.......2004-07-28

I used this book to help me frame out the philosophy segment of my middle school gifted and talented class. The book is organized in terms of branches of philosophy: values, knowledge, metaphysics and critical thinking. Under each heading are thought-provoking questions that draw the reader in. Each of these is followed by a brief activity that links the question to kids' lives. After they are hooked in, the author explains the idea being discussed, and introduces the philosopher responsible for the idea. This structure of focusing first on the practical implications and then working backwards to the idea worked very well to catch and hold students' interest. The way the book is organized also makes it more flexible. Each question provides an independent lesson. You can skip around, and answer as many as you like. The length of each lesson also supports the ease of use, although with many you may want to extent it with the For Further Thought section.

If you want to try something fresh with your students, but philosophy intimidates you, don't worry. There is even a section in the back called How to Philosophize if you are not a Philosopher, which is loaded with practical advice, suggestions for classroom procedures, and specific teaching tips for each of the questions discussed. It even includes typical student reactions.

Overall, the students enjoyed the activities and questions in this book. It was not always easy for them to accept that there are no easy answers, but they were definitely engaged and challenged by the material. I found it to be a wonderful, helpful, handy, practical resource for introducing young people to philosophy.

Average customer rating:

This book has little to do with SES and more to do with Communication
Essential
Absolutly one of the best books you'll ever read!
Finn looks at working-class literacy versus elite literacy
Too many oversights and contradictions

Literacy with an Attitude
Patrick J. Finn
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Content Area Literacy: An Integrated Approach
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Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading
I Read It, but I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
The Multicultural Classroom: Readings for Content-Area Teachers

ASIN: 0791442861

Book Description

This book is for teachers, parents, and community organizers who are on the side of working-class children. It's about the resistance of working class children to the kind of education they typically receive, education designed to make them useful workers and obedient citizens. It's about working-class habits of communication and ways of using language that interfere with schooling. It's about a new brand of teachers, followers of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire who are developing effective methods for teaching powerful literacy in American working-class classrooms. It's about teacher networks where teachers devoted to equity and justice find mutual support. And it's about community organizers who are bringing working-class parents together around education issues and helping them mount effective demands for powerful literacy for their children.

Customer Reviews:

This book has little to do with SES and more to do with Communication.......2007-03-06

Set aside the terms literacy and the socioeconomic status that most readers of this book focus on. Read the book in terms of communication development, and develeopment of higher oder thinking and reasoning skills. These higher order thinking skills and communication styles are found in schools who's student are successfull, and in homes where learners are engaged in functional dialogue that enables them to shape their environment and act upon it. This is the heart of Literacy with an Attitude. As a teacher, this is a must read for every teacher to evaluate their own biases and provide direction for students who do come from "under-resourced" backgrounds. This book can also be useful for parents who want to evaluate their own teaching practices- becausae we all know, as Literacy with an Attitude teaches us too, that parents are a student's first and most influential teacher.

If you are teacher- read this book! Today! With the mandates of NCLB (closing the gap- even between low SES and higher), this book can provide some valuable insight and inspiration.

Essential.......2005-02-20

I found this book to be one of the most important books I've read. I was a working-class student, and Finn's description of typical attitudes astounded me, because I had those attitudes, but thought I was fiercely independent and radically individual. Oh, well.

It is written in a friendly and encouraging way, and offers proven methods to improve education across class and cultural divides.

Absolutly one of the best books you'll ever read!.......2002-08-24

If you have ever wondered what the difference is between children of working class families verses those of more afluence, (hint, it isn't simply the money) if you ever wondered what the difference could possibly be that leads some children into the chute toward dead-end factory jobs, while others have jobs that hold some promise, this is the book to read! Read it, then take a closer look at your child's classsroom, their homework, they way they are spoken to, etc. Take it with you as a guide and visit the classroom often, and at different times! You may be shocked at what they are actually learning. Be warned--that reading this book gives validity to the saying "The truth will set you free, but first, it will [upset] you ... !"

Finn looks at working-class literacy versus elite literacy.......2001-10-29

This book shows literacy at a socio-economic level, and what teachers of the working-class schools need to strive for in their classrooms. It answers descriptively the reasons schooling and literacy for the America's working-class children are not the same for other levels of the social spectrum. It is insightful and inspirational!

Too many oversights and contradictions.......1999-12-31

Finn contends that the degree of literacy that is taught and exercised in schools is a key determinant in attaining social position and agency. Professionals, managers, and executives acquire an empowering literacy that emphasizes evaluation, analysis, and synthesis in contrast to the functional literacy that is taught in working-class schools which leads to routine, non-creative work and diminished social role. It is Finn's mission to empower working-class kids through changes in the educational system that will create, what he calls, literacy with an attitude.

Finn arranges schools along a line including working-class, middle-class, affluent-professional, and executive elite schools.

Working-class schools are strictly teacher-directed emphasizing order and discipline. The subject matter is largely fragmented facts with little relevance to working-class lives. An uneasy standoff exists between derogatory teachers and reluctant students.

Middle-class students also have minimal input to the educational process but see the value in the information in textbooks and teachers' efforts. Anxiety-producing testing is emphasized but is accepted as essential for success in white-collar jobs. Competency is the goal, not creativity.

It is only in affluent-professional and executive-elite schools where empowering literacy is found. Students are able to participate in planning their own education. Creativity and problem solving take precedence over getting the facts right. The executive-elite schools stress academic excellence and the exercise of control. The affluent-professional schools are more wide-ranging and even willing to critique the social status-quo.

Finn finds that working-class culture itself has an impact in school settings. The dominant form of communication is implicit which relies on unspoken, shared opinions and beliefs. However, success in schools is dependent on the ability to fully use language. Also, working-class parents tend to emphasize obedience in younger children, not exploration. But constrained personalities can be at some disadvantage in settings where personal initiative is key for success, as in good schools.

So working class culture itself must be overcome to gain equal footing with articulate elites. But the Finn mission of extricating working-class kids from dead-end schools is fraught with other contradictions and difficulties.

It is difficult to understand Finn's claim that "the savage inequalities in schools are not the result of a conspicuous conspiracy to oppress the working class." It is Finn that describes the suppression of the fledgling corresponding societies in 1790 England who had a mission to empower the English working class via the extension of literacy. He further shows that a main factor in establishing public education was to control the working class. Why wouldn't the same sort of policies deployed by many levels of government and supported by business interests against the American labor movement throughout most of its history be reflected in the public education of the working class?

Finn proposes that "transforming" intellectuals who see schools as sites of social struggle for the working class will initiate change. He does not clearly address where sufficient numbers of these agents for change can be found. Nor does he explain why their actions would be tolerated by school officials and the larger society. It is somewhat disturbing to see proposed the use of children to achieve a social agenda.

It is unclear as to whether Finn fully appreciates the individualizing that occurs in the elite schools. It is individual creativity and excellence that is developed. But in Finn's new working-class schools, students become "collective" actors for social change. Is student solidarity equivalent to maximizing education? Where would the new schools fit among his school models?

A glaring piece that is missing from the book is the location and numbers of the various types of schools that he describes. One can only speculate that the middle-class school model predominates in the US. That data is necessary to get a handle on the feasibility and relevance of his proposal.

Finn's book ultimately does not come to grips with the contradictions within the working class itself as well as the demands of capitalism. Despite an emphasis on social class in the book, Finn does very little to acknowledge that working class education occurs within and is shaped by capitalistic class relations. And what he proposes would have ramifications for those relations. Capitalism does not require extensive education for most of its workers. Somehow the reader gets the feeling that close to an invisible hand is going to guide working- class students to empowerment nirvana despite the real obstacles noted.

Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education
Average customer rating:

Schools should all be learning organizations

Length appeared overwhelming--but well worth it

A great resource book for educators

Well Researched Current Education for all Student's Success

Helps Design the School of the Future

Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education
Peter M. Senge , Nelda H. Cambron McCabe , Timothy Lucas , Art Kleiner , Janis Dutton , and Bryan Smith
Manufacturer: Currency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385493231
Release Date: 2000-09-12

Book Description

Created by bestselling author and MIT senior lecturer Peter Senge and a team of educators and organizational change leaders, this new addition to the Fifth Discipline Resource Book series offers practical advice for educators, administrators, and parents on how to strengthen and rebuild our schools.

Few would argue that schools today are in trouble. The problems are sparking a national debate as educators, school boards, administrators, and parents search for ways to strengthen our school system at all levels, more effectively respond to the rapidly changing world around us, and better educate our children.

Bestselling author Peter Senge and his Fifth Discipline team have written Schools That Learn because educators—who have made up a sizable percentage of the audience for the popular Fifth Discipline books—have asked for a book that focuses specifically on schools and education, to help reclaim schools even in economically depressed or turbulent districts. One of the great strengths of Schools That Learn is its description of practices that are meeting success across the country and around the world, as schools attempt to learn, grow, and reinvent themselves using the principles of organizational learning. Featuring articles, case studies, and anecdotes from prominent educators such as Howard Gardner, Jay Forrester, and 1999 U.S. Superintendent of the Year Gerry House, as well as from impassioned teachers, administrators, parents, and students, the book offers a wealth of practical tools, anecdotes, and advice that people can use to help schools (and the classrooms in them and communities around them) learn to learn.

You'll read about schools, for instance, where principals introduce themselves to parents new to the school as "entering a nine-year conversation" about their children's education; where teachers use computer modeling to galvanize student insight into everything from Romeo and Juliet to the extinction of the mammoths; and where teachers' training is not just bureaucratic ritual but an opportunity to recharge and rethink the classroom.

In a fast-changing world where school violence is a growing concern, where standardized tests are applied as simplistic "quick fixes," where rapid advances in science and technology threaten to outpace schools' effectiveness, where the average tenure of a school district superintendent is less than three years, and where students, parents, and teachers feel weighed down by increasing pressures, Schools That Learn offers much-needed material for the dialogue about the educating of children in the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

Schools should all be learning organizations.......2004-08-07

Senge became famous for his book on learning organizations. In this book, he and his co-authors apply those concepts and ideas specifically to educational institutions. While much of their focus is on K12, the ideas and process are applicable to higher education as well. So many management books are really fads with superficial value, but Senge's books are very practical and valuable. This book in particular demonstrates a great deal of passion on the part of the author's for their topic.

Length appeared overwhelming--but well worth it.......2004-03-14

Having been given the instructions to select a book of vision for a reading group in a graduate class, I didn't expect to choose one of over 500 pages. The length, however, is indicative of the power this book has for changing minds about schools and the way to structure them for learning. I found myself often reading passages aloud to other educators and anyone who would listen. Instead of stifling my curiosity, the book inspired me to dig deeper on the five disciplines. A great book for creating a vision of education that includes schools where students are learning. I may purchase another one to loan out!

A great resource book for educators.......2001-08-31

This is an essential book for anyone interested in education. Its comprehensive coverage gives much background, even at the risk of being distracting when you want to follow-up on the leads to so many interesting source-books and links. Though you are told to dip in anywhere, you must read the first section, esp. "The Industrial Age System of Education" by Senge and "A Primer to the Five Disciplines" (Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning and Systems Thinking) (pp. 27-93).

The authors consider this book a "prequel" to their other books about learning organizations (p.7). That's true. Though this is the most recent book, you can start with this one and go on to the others for further depth. Some repetitions may only serve well for mastery.

The whole book is very readable and informative. Concepts are clearly explained. It follows the same excellent editing format as The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and The Dance of Change.

When you get too enthused by so many ideas and success stories of innovations, heed the advice for "The Strategy of Organizational Change". "Focus on one or two new priorities for change, not twelve. Most school systems are already overwhelmed with change. They don't need a new initiative; they need an approach that consolidates existing initiatives, eliminates "turf battles," and makes it easier for people to work together toward common ends." (p.25)

There are just too many passages that you wish to quote. The book is a treasure mine. However, for those (esp. busy administrators) who find the volume too daunting or verbose (592 pages!) and still want to get a handle on launching into transforming their schools into learning organisations, I would recommend, "Ten Steps to a Learning Organization" and start with the simple questionnaire given there.

Well Researched Current Education for all Student's Success.......2001-03-13

If you are an educator, parent or administrator, this handbook will enable you to obtain the crucial, leading edge knowledge in learning styles, multiple intelligences, personal neuro-physiology that enables one to "know thyself." Self-esteem and self-awareness, cognitive learning, including the necessary skills to make one prepared for "life at 21 years old," are also main considerations when teaching students to capitalize on their individual strenghts and wisdom.

Schools that Learn also emphasizes the importance of mastery, synergizing curricula presented, and authentic assessment vs. basing students knowledge purely on standardized test-taking.

This helpful manual is extremely important for educators, administrators, and parents, to read as it combines the aforementioned information and applies it to "building strengths that will be useful in career decision making."

Finally,Schools that Learn emphasizes the importance of keeping a "spirit-filled" outlook while learning, the extreme helpfulness of a mastermind group, accelerated and lifelong education, and of course giving back what you have learned to the community. This "cause and effect" is often forgotten in busy professtional lives, but truly ensures success for those who "get it."

Helps Design the School of the Future.......2000-11-03

SCHOOLS THAT LEARN is both a visionary and practical guide for how schools must evolve to meet the needs of students in the next 20 years. The use of multiple authors and perspectives mirrors some of the changes our schools must make to meet the needs of a new age. As Professional Development Director at a diverse Jesuit high school in San Francisco, I recommend this book to any educator, K-college. Senge's work will help prepare students for an era requiring a strong traditional academic foundation coupled with the need for creativity, and the social, emotional, and intellectual skills to work in high performing teams needed to rebuild our world.

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Great resource
Reading and Learning in the Content Areas 2nd edition
Reading and Learning in Content Areas 2nd edition

Reading and Learning in Content Areas
Randall J. Ryder , and Michael F. Graves
Manufacturer: Wiley
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ASIN: 0471391417

Book Description

With its easy-to-read format and hands-on approach, this book retains many of the basic themes that made it popular, while presenting new and exciting ideas that reflect the advances in technology and the emphasis on multiculturalism. Based on a constructivist approach, the book introduces numerous ways for teachers to facilitate students' ability to gain understanding through reading, thinking, and communicating in subject matters.

Customer Reviews:

Great resource.......2005-09-22

This book contains educational research presented in a realtively easy to read form, and practicle classroom applications. Great for curriculum development.

Reading and Learning in the Content Areas 2nd edition.......2000-06-12

Reviewer: A reader from Appleton, Wisconsin As an Elementary Reading Specialist, I use Reading and Learning in Content Areas to plan my reading program. I like the organization and sequential way lessons are presented in the chapters. I use Reading and Learning in Content Areas to collaborate with teachers to plan for student instruction. As we read and share the ideas it provides us with a common dialogue. When planning lessons, we can integrate reading comprehension and writing strategies with the content areas. Using the content area strategies suggested in the book assists students to assimilate new information they have learned. Teachers have noted that it sparks new teaching ideas and methods. The authors motivate teachers to try new ideas and the format is easy to understand. I have used Reading and Learning in Content Areas for planning staff development inservices and teacher study groups. Teachers can easily update their instructional methods as they practice these new methods with their students. There are exercises which teachers can use at the end of each chapter. I especially like the reading comprehension and writing chapters. The authors clearly explain the best methods of instruction and strategic teaching based on research. I believe that using this book consistently as our guide to instruction has improved our standardized test scores. Reading and Learning in Content Areas is a valuable resource for Elementary as well as Junior high and High school teachers. One can adapt the lessons to the grade level they are teaching.

Reading and Learning in Content Areas 2nd edition.......2000-06-12

As an Elementary Reading Specialist, I use Reading and Learning in Content Areas to plan my reading program. I like the organization and sequential way lessons are presented in the chapters. I use Reading and Learning in Content Areas to collaborate with teachers to plan for student instruction. As we read and share the ideas it provides us with a common dialogue. When planning lessons,we can integrate reading comprehension and writing strategies with the content areas. Teachers have noted that it sparks new teaching ideas and methods. The authors motivate teachers to try new ideas and the format is easy to understand. I have used Reading and Learning in Content Areas for planning staff development inservices and teacher study groups. Teachers can easily update their instructional methods as they practice these new methods with their students. There are exercises which teachers can use at the end of each chapter. I especially like the reading comprehension and writing chapters. The authors clearly explain the best methods of instruction and strategic teaching based on research. I believe that using this book consistently as our guide to instruction has improved our standardized test scores. Reading and Learning in Content Areas is a valuable resource for Elementary as well as Junior high and High school teachers. One can adapt the lessons to the grade level they are teaching.

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Brief and Engaging
morality
The Optimistic Jew
Outstanding and prophetic
Ostensibly about education -- in reality, about life

The Abolition of Man
C. S. Lewis
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060652942
Release Date: 2001-03-20

Amazon.com

C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man purports to be a book specifically about public education, but its central concerns are broadly political, religious, and philosophical. In the best of the book's three essays, "Men Without Chests," Lewis trains his laser-sharp wit on a mid- century English high school text, considering the ramifications of teaching British students to believe in idle relativism, and to reject "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kinds of things we are." Lewis calls this doctrine the "Tao," and he spends much of the book explaining why society needs a sense of objective values. The Abolition of Man speaks with astonishing freshness to contemporary debates about morality; and even if Lewis seems a bit too cranky and privileged for his arguments to be swallowed whole, at least his articulation of values seems less ego-driven, and therefore is more useful, than that of current writers such as Bill Bennett and James Dobson. --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

C. S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society.

Customer Reviews:

Brief and Engaging.......2007-09-19

In this brief book, C.S. Lewis discusses the failing of relativism and affirms the existence of objective moral values. This system of objective values, which Lewis calls the Tao, must be granted if there are to be any values whatsoever. In a long appendix at the end of the book, Lewis shows that all (or almost all) cultures, both past and present, have affirmed some basic moral principles that are part of the Tao. Against the relativist claim that all socieities have their own moral codes, Lewis demonstrates that all humans are guided by an underlying system of objective values which they may or may not recognize.

In the third and final chapter, Lewis foresees a day when men have complete control over the destinies of the next generation. Should men achieve an take advantage of such power, it would not mean that man had finally dominated nature. Rather, it would mean the abolition of man. Unguided by the Tao, man's decisions about what future generations should be like would by guided only by natural impulses. Thus, by destroying the Tao and attempting to dominate nature, man can only succeed in destroying himself.

Like always, Lewis writes with great clarity and intelligence. "The Abolition of Man" is an enjoyable read and certainly worth checking out.

morality.......2007-09-15

I did not particularly like this book because it was a very hard reading. The moral lessons it teaches though are lessons that we cannot avoid. Yes, there is morality, but it would be almost impossible for a teacher to teach these lessons these days. Too many lawyers around.

The Optimistic Jew.......2007-08-31

"The Abolition of Man" rejects moral relativism and affirms "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kinds of things we are." This very tiny book makes cogent, witty and eloquent arguments against a nihilistic view of the world that has become the foundation of postmodernist deconstructionism. To proponents of this intellectual pose he says: "...you cannot go on `explaining away' forever...You cannot go on `seeing through' things forever...To `see through' all things is the same as not to see." This book reinforced my basic instinct that the pessimistic nihilism of postmodernism (as well as Jewish post-Zionism) are wrong at some very fundamental level. It's theme was one of the forces driving me to write my own book "The Optimistic Jew: a Positive Vision for the Jewish People in the 21st Century".

Outstanding and prophetic.......2007-08-16

Lewis does an outstanding job exposing the current school of thought and its destined direction. Unfortunately, we have not heeded his warning and are already headed at full speed in the exact path he exposed. In my opinion, this is Lewis's best non fictional work.

Ostensibly about education -- in reality, about life.......2007-06-13

While a short book (my copy has only 121 pages) this book is about teaching and learning and how we pas our culture from generation to generation. But the reality of the book is that education is used as a foil for talking about how and why we transmit culture from one generation to the next. Because ultimately, that's what education is about, and why it's so important: because in educating children, we are telling them and ourselves about what is important, and why. A fine book, deceptively easy to read, but taking a long time to digest and reason through.

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom

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Excellent colletction of essays
Hooks and Hate Speech
The Road Is Long
Critical Analysis of Teaching to Transgress
Essential for teaching freedom

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
bell hooks
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage (Critical Perspectives Series)
Where We Stand: Class Matters
Experience And Education

ASIN: 0415908086

Book Description

In this book, bell hooks, one of America's leading black intellectuals, shares her philosophy of the classroom, offering ideas about teaching that fundamentally rethink democratic participation. Hooks advocates the process of teaching students to think critically and raises many concerns central to the field of critical pedagogy, linking them to feminist thought. In the process, these essays face squarely the problems of teachers who do not want to teach, of students who do not want to learn, of racism and sexism in the classroom, and of the gift of freedom that is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent colletction of essays.......2007-07-31

I couldn't put this book down! The essays were very thought provoking and interesting. The only section I skipped was the one on Paulo Freire. It was a little too dry from the beginning. I feel that the only people who won't like this book are the ones who choose to judge hooks on her word choice and try to read her words with their own connotations rather than the way she intended. Yes, she uses terms like "white supremecist" a lot. If you take that in the way we tend to use it in common language, you would think she believes that white people knowingly have some sort of racist agenda against other people; to draw that conclusion, you have to assume that she's just another black person blaming white people for their situations. It is clear that hooks is not at all playing a blame game, but is instead just calling it how she sees it. You have to read the book in its entirety to grasp the points she's trying to make. I also really liked how she included little stories from her own personal experience. She also attempts to explain her theory with support from events in history. Overall, I thought it was a great book. The vocabulary wasn't extremely difficult, so it could really be read by anyone, yet the points are very difficult to understand if you come to this book with preconceived ideas of how black women think or believe that your own life experience is the only truth. I would recommend this book to ANY college student, anyone interested in education, and also people who enjoy thinking. Definitely not a book for someone who doesn't want to have to think as they read.

Hooks and Hate Speech.......2005-09-27

We read this book in class at the graduate level and her ideas caused a great deal of controversy. Some loved her and others were sure she was radical with no agenda except for blaming others for her anger. I thought that her book was non-academic because it was not an academic piece of writing. Color or gender have nothing to do with it. I was not impressed by her ranting against white middle class educational values because she was a beneficiary of a scholarship that helped her achieve her education. Besides, at least in this book, she can't get past her anger to give real examples of transformative education in the classroom, except to assure the reader she practiced it. Not good enough. Playing the race-card, flagrant self-promotion and hate speech is not enough. Being a revolutionary requires more than a polemic against the things you don't like. I wasn't impressed.

The Road Is Long.......2005-07-12

If you teach--whatever you teach; wherever you teach--please consider reading this book. Some of these reviews demonstrate the urgency of cultural transformation. Transformation begins with dialogue among learners--in a field, by the side of the road, in an urban classroom, even in the academy where transformative learning is most deeply challenged.

Critical Analysis of Teaching to Transgress.......2005-04-04

Bell Hooks is an a highly achieved academic who overcame the oppression of a family that discouraged free thought (p. 60), being a black woman in a "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy" (p. 71), and an education system wrought with oppression to teach a variety of courses as an adjunct in ivy league universities. Hooks states that education is the practice of freedom and challenges her students by aggressively opposing authorities, parents (p. 61), fraternities (p. 20), social norms, white oppression (p. 32), the English language, and white feminists, to name a few. By practicing engaged pedagogy, Hooks successfully rebels from the "banking system" of education that states students are to learn information provided by the professor. The system also-according to Hooks-encourages professors to remain uncontroversial as a means of ensuring security and tenure in their academic posts.
The following pages will investigate and critically review several positions proposed by Bell Hooks within the text, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.
Self Actualization
Though she does not define self actualization in her work, acknowledge the work of Abraham Maslow who spent a great deal of his career writing on the characteristics of self-actualized individuals, or mention the prerequisites to self-actualization (being devoid of psychopathology, using the extent of your natural abilities), Hooks refers to self-actualization and her disappointment in the lack of it with "the university" (p. 16). She states that as opposed to promoting self-actualization, academic institutions are instead havens for persons who are book smart and introverts-which Hooks describes as "unfit for social interaction" (p. 16). This addition of "necessary extroversion" for self-actualization is a dramatic and much needed contradiction to Maslow's study of self-actualized individuals, which shows self-actualized persons are generally more detached from others, as compared to the norm.
Regarding self-actualization still, though Maslow's subjects were profoundly non-religiously oriented, Hooks promotes an integration of spiritual and intellectual education, stating that separating spirituality from learning is to do a disservice and-in her educational experience-to find a professor that attuned to integrating his/her spiritual nature in teaching is a "rare treasure" (p. 17). She states further and brilliantly convolutes her point with a totally unrelated topic of dominance in the classroom: "Most of my professors were not the slightest bit interested in enlightenment. More than anything they seemed enthralled by the exercise of power and authority within their mini-kingdom, the classroom" (p. 17).
Though some white patriarchal academics maintain Hooks' work is non-academic solely because she is a black feminist (p. 71), Hooks proves otherwise by discovering the phenomenon of introverted academics becoming oppressive tyrants in the classroom.
In continued regard to dominance issues, they are exclusively presented as a characteristic of white males, as Hooks states:
It was particularly disappointing to encounter white male professors who claimed to follow Freire's model even as their pedagogical practices were mired in structures of domination, mirroring the styles of conservative professors even as they subjects from a more pedagogical standpoint (p. 17-18, italics added).
Safety
Hooks states regarding safety, "It is the absence of feeling safety that often promotes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement" (p. 39) and writes that with transformative pedagogy-which she encourages-the classroom is a democratic venue where all students have the obligation and privilege to participate. Though safety is important, a professor's focus should be on community, and a binding commitment to the common good (p. 40).
Community, according to Hooks promotes diversity, and students (as well as professors) need to spend time learning "different epistemologies" that are held by students, as well as "other ways of knowing." Reportedly, many of her students are dissatisfied with the time Hooks spends off topic during her classes and may state something to the degree "Why are we talking so much about feminism in a math class?" Hooks states that she has learned throughout the years to ignore these complaints, and that students who do not desire to talk about feminism in non-feminism related courses will realize it is good from them at a later time, and will often contact Hooks to tell her how right she is (p. 42).
Some additional interesting points by Hooks; who writes her text based completely on her experiences and reactions to others' works she has read that are based (I can confirm with many of them, Thich Nhat Hanh for example) completely on the reflective experiences of those authors, Hooks finds that her courses on feminism often go well except "those times when students abuse the freedom of the classroom by only wanting to dwell on personal experience" (p. 15).
Later, hooks criticizes white male students for valuing essentialist standpoints of logic, which oppress the "knowledge of experience" possessed by the minorities in the classroom (p. 81). It is stated voices from marginalized groups are given space to "speak from experience" only then the basis of experience is needed in a discussion. Instead, Hooks suggests that the "knowledge of experience" should be equal to any factual knowledge white male students possess. In addition, regarding the experiences of white male students-though white male students are preoccupied with objective knowledge-Hooks states:
The politics or race and gender within white supremacist patriarchy grants them their "authority" without their having name or desire for it. They do not attend class and say, "I think that I am superior intellectually to my classmates because I am white and male and that my experiences are much more important than any other group's." And yet their behavior announces this way of thinking about identity, essence, subjectivity.
These are very insightful points by Hooks, and her ability to read the minds of white students is compelling, trumped only by her ability to realize all white male students are homogenous in their perspectives of supremacy and dominance. Putting Hooks' tenets together in sum; white male students do not state that they are dominant even though they oppress, are attuned toward non-experiential objective knowledge, and incorrectly challenge minorities in the class who have "useful" experiential knowledge with their un-useful "white" experiential knowledge.
Lastly, such arrogance does not end with white males but transcends even to female white feminist academics, for Hooks states
Talking with academic feminists (usually white women) who feel they must either dismiss or devalue the work of Freire because of sexism, I see clearly how our different responses are shaped by the standpoint that we bring to the work (p. 50, italics added).
Language
Hooks most brilliant arguments are those regarding language. Hooks states, "This is the oppressor's language yet I need it to talk to you" (p.167), and repeats this line as a dramatic special-effect that is well placed in her academic literature (that is wrongly labeled by white supremacist researchers as "not academic enough").
English is the language of conquest and domination, and "it is difficult not to hear in standard English always the sound of slaughter and conquest" (p. 169) because the white people murdered Native Americans, according to Hook's knowledge of experience.
More profound than the claims Hooks makes is the information that Hooks omits from her writings. For example, black people are allowed to speak their native languages if they desire. It is not discouraged, and is comparatively equal to the situation of Caucasian men who's ancestors are indigenous to countries that do not speak English (France, Italy, Russia, etc.). Second, African persons do not speak one language that binds them as a group, but many different African languages. Third, the Americans that went into physical battle against the Native Americans are many years deceased. Fourth, English, the language of oppression, is not really spoken in America for English (from England) is significantly different than American English that this country speaks as its official language, and American English is constantly evolving/changing. Therefore, American English is different from the language used to exterminate Native Americans. Fifth, though it is true an academic submission written in Ebonics would not be accepted as appropriate, such may have to deal with the fact that Ebonics is promoted as a second language among its promoters-such as Russian or any other foreign language, which also would not be accepted in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published for English speaking readers. Sixth, if Ebonics is considered an ethnic dialect of English, it is not alone in being considered not appropriate for academic submission-for even white "hillbilly" or "country" dialects are not accepted as proper academic language. Seventh, regarding the "bounding limitations" (p. 171) of the English language, much research contests the notion that language can be "binding." For example, it was believed people speaking English could not understand snow to the depth that northern Native Americans can, for northern Native Americans have seven (approximately) words for snow, while the English language has only one. It was later found the additional words were descriptive, such as "wet snow," "soft snow," etc. Eighth, rap music, which according to Hooks "has become one of the spaces where the black vernacular is used to invite the dominant mainstream to listen-to hear-and, to some extent, be transformed" (p. 171) may not be embraced by everyone-not to oppress blacks but-because rap music is often blatantly violent, promotes hatred, greed, and sexual promiscuity. Also contributing may be the high incidence of rap music producers and performers becoming involved in illegal activity, or gang warfare. Ninth, not addressed by Hooks is that poets, musicians, and other writers often create and alter English words in their works, and this is considered acceptable-even encouraged. In fact, some commonly used words in the English language originated as "new" words in music and literature. Lastly, having one language that a nation understands and can communicate with together mutually may not be intrinsically oppressive, but liberating.
Conclusion
The 10 rebuttals above are not written as a sincere challenge to Hooks. Instead, they are a blatant "devils advocate" written to display how claims contrary to Hooks' positions are obviously incorrect. That stated, it is difficult for me to clearly see the truth of the situation, being an educated white male. After reading Hooks work Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, I am convinced of my oppressive white supremacist attributes; the domination, slaughter, and conquest of my native tongue; and of the uncontestable value of Hooks' experiential knowledge.

Essential for teaching freedom.......2004-08-17

This book is essential for faculty who believe in libratory education. When I got my first job as an instructor I read a few books on college teaching and they were fine for nuts and bolts like how to plan a syllabus. However, hooks writes about heart-matters that really affect teaching and learning like engagement, multiculturalism, theory, feminism, community, class, and eroticism.

For example, she discusses teaching which engages the learner (why is this taken for granted preK-12 but abandoned at grade 13?) and being a diverse teacher with diverse classes in a predominantly white male academy (if you're female, or not white, or not straight, or 'political', this is you), and other topics essential to understanding the undercurrents which happen every day in lectures across the country.

I must say that I am struck by the strongly negative reactions of some reviewers. For me this book was an oasis in the desert.

Understanding Diversity: A Learning-as-Practice Primer

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Understanding Diversity: A Learning-as-Practice Primer
Barbara F. Okun , Jane Fried , and Marcia L. Okun
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
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Book Description

This powerful book addresses the issues of diversity from the perspective of individual differences rather than stereotypes. Part I deals with development of self-awareness--from the inside out--and Part II deals with development of awareness of others--from the outside in. The authors make no assumptions about the cultural, racial, or ethnic background of their readers. The perspective of the book is that all people are strongly shaped by culture, including white, able-bodied, heterosexual persons of European ancestry who consider themselves to be the dominant culture in North America and Western Europe. The authors offer information and exercises that help readers learn to assess cross-cultural situations and interact personally and professionally with others who are likely, because of their cultural backgrounds, to have different values, perceptions, behaviors, and expectations of how people should act towards them. Throughout the book, readers will find examples that will help them see how cultural expectations may shape their own reactions to common situations. For example, readers may have experienced feeling offended when someone asks what they consider to be an intrusive question, or they may have felt anxious when alone in an elevator with a person of another race or a disheveled, unkempt person. As readers learn about their own ingrained assumptions, they will begin to develop an appreciation of others' values and beliefs. This primer provides a learning-as-practice model where readers, through the use of exercises, strategies , and conceptual material, first recognize and develop their own communication styles and then work on how they interact with others.

The Power of Reading, Second Edition: Insights from the Research

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In order to learn how to read: READ!
I made a change.
The Power of Silent Sustained Reading
Excellent Resource!
Very Important Research

The Power of Reading, Second Edition: Insights from the Research
Stephen D. Krashen
Manufacturer: Heinemann
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What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs (2nd Edition)

ASIN: 1591581699

Book Description

Continuing the case for free voluntary reading set out in the book's 1993 first edition, this new, updated, and much-looked-for second edition explores new research done on the topic in the last 10 years as well as looking anew at some of the original research reviewed. Krashen also explores research surrounding the role of school and public libraries and the research indicating the necessity of a print-rich environment that provides light reading (comics, teen romances, magazines) as well as the best in literature to assist in educating children to read with understanding and in second language acquisition. He looks at the research surrounding reading incentive/rewards programs and specifically at the research on AR (Accelerated Reader) and other electronic reading products.

Customer Reviews:

In order to learn how to read: READ!.......2007-05-03

throw away all your phonics rules and worksheets and Hooked on's.

If you wish to read, then read.

If you want to teach others to read, give them something they will read.

Lower your standards. Read the cereal box, the soup can, Calvin and Hobbes, Incredible Hulk, Barefoot Gen, Maus, whatever absolutely they want to read. Just read. Just do it.

The great Dr. Krashen here shows you how.

Here in this second edition, updated to the latest research of 2004 which serves to confirm his earlier conclusions, Dr. Krashen gives us and our students permission to read whatever interests us, so long as we will read.

By reading we learn to read.

No brainer.

Few people know that the great American comedian of film and stage WC Fields began his vaudeville career as a fantastic juggler, manipulating cigar boxes and pool cues and balls, etc. with great skill and alacrity. After years of this someone gave him a manual of How to Juggle, which had so many rules and advice, including regarding breathing and concentration, that in his next performance he failed while he tried to remember and observe the rules of good juggling. He could no longer concentrate as he focused on concentrating. He later recovered his incredible skills when he could finally again forget the rules and just juggle.

Same with reading. Throw away those high priced "how to read" and phonics books. Just read. The industry gives you nothing to really read, just exercises with no benefit and little interest. Just read what you want and you will read.

Only the great publication houses with phonics programs and worksheets to sell at a high price tell us (and the big government that now runs our schools) otherwise. There is too much profit to be lost, and too much lobbying going on in the halls of our state houses and Congress, and the w White house.

By the way, why does the current Secretary of Education have absolutely no experience in any kind of education? Kind of like that FEMA guy, or Gonzo, etc., etc. Still she forces us to buy worksheets instead of letting us READ freely in order to learn how to read. Library funds are decimated while the industry reaps great profit and the government its lobbying bribes.

It is in reading that we read. It is in reading that our reading skills grow, no matter what you read. As you read lower level materials, your mind will automatically seek more challenging materials and reach for more. After Marvel you will want Tolkein. After Harry Potter you will hunger for James Joyce, forever. And then Dante and the Bible remain.

I have been a bilingual teacher and practitioner for many decades, as my grandmother before me. I recall from my first hearing of words and of speech my bilingual Church (Latin with occassional English, briefly), etc. Dr. Krashen's method here serves all students, especially our bilingual students developing reading skills in their most comfortable language which are applicable later to the target language (here ENglish) without even their being aware of it. They will wonder when you taught them to read in English.

This book is based on solid research and bursts most of the popular and powerful misconceptions and myths regarding teaching methods and politicians with profitable interests who would stop those strategies which are most effective.

Please study this book carefully for the scientifically proven truth, based on reliable research methodology.

In order to learn how to read, read. Whatever you choose, whatever interests you, but easy reading, within your frustration level, within your enjoyment level.

There's plenty of good stuff to read right here on the amazon. Check out my reviews for a few!

And then read to your family, too, in joy and in peace, and relearn the love of reading together. Turn off that television and just read already!

I made a change........2007-01-06

I teach ESL at the middle school level. This book was so powerful and convincing that I immediately changed my lesson plans to include SSR on a daily basis.

The Power of Silent Sustained Reading.......2006-11-10

I am the Library/Media Specialist for a school district in Alaska on a grant to increase literacy through literature. I heard Stephen D. Krashen speak at a school librarian convention and was so impressed that I read this book. The district has Silent Sustained Reading as its number one directive to all the teachers, but the idea is difficult for some teacher's to accept. I am hoping that by lending this book to teachers we can get fuller compliance. Having taught children's literature class at the college level for six years, I have read a lot and firmly believe in the work done by Krashen as presented in this book.

Excellent Resource!.......2004-03-10

My friend casually slipped this book to me over the lunch table. She said I may find it helpful in my struggles teaching middle school and high school English to second language learners. Little did she know how helpful this book would be. After reading the book, I immediately consulted with my colleagues and we began a program of free reading. It's working! I actully have students thanking me for letting them figure out for themselves that they really didn't mind reading! I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a very readable compilation of the research that's been done and how to apply it! Worth every penny!

Very Important Research.......2003-06-25

Stephen Krashen does a wonderful job of presenting an easy to read book on research concerning children and reading. The info provided can be extremely useful when ordering books and planning programming for children. Some parts of the book get dry and a little slow but overall the results are fascinating. The copyright date of 1993 makes the book slightly out of date and I would love to see a second edition of the book to see if anything has changed since then.

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