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Gellert, Claudius. (1999).
Innovation and Adaptation in Higher Education: The Changing
Conditions of Advanced Teaching and Learning in Europe.
London: Jessica Kingsley.
Gellert defines a set of issues he hopes to address. He is
interested in higher education as it interacts with secondary education
and the larger community, particularly the world of work. Preparing
students for today's more highly technical jobs, helping mature
students into retraining programs, supporting research within the
academic setting, and offering programs that allow increased student
mobility within the rapidly integrating European community are the
issues that form the core of this discussion.
Having outlined the issues, Gellert turns his authors loose to
discuss them as they see fit. The predictable result is a variety of
approaches to the common theme. Some authors emphasize the historic
roots of current developments; some offer a case study approach,
looking at the development of just one or two disciplines; others look
broadly at the current situation. The book offers geographic variety
as well. There are articles from most of the major European centers of
scholarship, including England, France, and Germany. Some smaller but
historically significant traditions, such as Portugal, Italy, and
Greece are also represented. In all eleven country perspectives are
included.
The result of all this variety is a somewhat uneven book. The
reader cannot be sure that particular types of information will be
available for every country covered. For the reader less interested in
comparability, some of the individual essays are excellent, see for
example Guy Neave's "Utilitarianism by Increment (France)," or Johan L.
Venderhoeven's "Change Under Exogenous Pressure (Belgium)."
Pages: 320
Price: $39.95
ISBN: 1-85302-535-6
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
Graves, Donald H. (1999).
Bring Life into Learning; Create a Lasting Literacy.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
The many followers of Donald H. Graves will welcome his nineteenth
book. While it may not hold many surprises, it proves a welcome
addition to Graves' work by extending the writing process he espouses
into new areas of awareness. The title of the first chapter, "Let's
Bring People Back into the Curriculum" introduces the major theme of
the book. Graves notes that in our fast-paced, standards-driven
curriculum, we focus on facts, not why things happen. Taking a
multidisciplinary approach, Graves notes that people make historic
events happen, people observe and make scientific breakthroughs, and
people see the world in different ways and share their art with the
rest of us. "Bypass people and you bypass learning." (p.2) 20
The book is both theoretical and practical. Above all, it is
highly readable. Graves is eloquent in his cry for including people in
the curriculum, but he gives concrete examples of how to do this in the
classroom by including Actions, a device used in previous books.
Possibly the strongest application involves teaching history. Graves
uses letters and other writings of historical figures and then offers
students the chance to interpret their writings and actions. The
section on Artful Thinking examines Georgia O'Keeffe's way of looking
at life and art, and the section on Science: Change in Motion examines
the life and work of Jean-Henri Fabre. The Actions associated with
these sections include scripts for role-playing, charts for delineating
characters' motivation, art exercises, and interview scripts.
Readers interested in the writing process will find this book a
valuable resource. Teachers looking for instruction on how to teach
the mechanics of writing (e.g. punctuation, spelling, and grammar),
will be disappointed. Graves is operating on a different level. He
wants learning to be engaging, exciting, and relevant. Teachers may
consider carving the time to implement Graves' suggestions an
impossibility and his philosophy at odds with current trends, but his
impassioned plea against years of skill-driven activities may make many
teachers reevaluate their priorities.
Pages: 126
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 0-325-00170-7
Reviewed by Sharon Naylor, Illinois State University
Lewis, Anne C. and Barnett, Berry [1999].
Figuring It Out: Standards Based Reforms in Urban Middle
Grades.
New York: Edna
McConnell Clark Foundation.
The Clark Foundation has a record of involvement in middle school
education for urban youth. They sponsor the MiddleWeb site and have
supported standards base reform efforts since the early 90's. In this
book Lewis offers both a report of their funding activity and a look at
the standards based reform effort in action. After an orientation to
the project and the schools involved the book looks at implications for
teachers and students. There are brief case studies and numerous other
examples of lesson planning, classroom activities and student teacher
interactions. Lewis does a good job of making issues of pedagogical
change, teacher preparation and student involvement understandable.
While clearly written from a pro-standards stance, the challengesare
not ignored.
Barnett's contribution comes in the form of a survey he
administered to teachers at the funded schools. He reports the results
and discusses implications. This section was helpful in putting the
information presented in other sections in perspective. Even in the
most successful schools teachers differ significantly on a number of
issues related to standards based education. By reproducing not only
the survey numbers, but also comments from some of the teachers,
Barnett succeeds in providing balance to the overall presentation.
Anyone interested in standards based reform would find this book a good
introduction.
Pages: 141
Price: Free
ISBN: NA
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
Power, Brenda. (1999).
Parent Power: Energizing Home-School Communication.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
My first reaction to this book was, "shouldn't teachers who are
college graduates be able to compose their own letters to parents?" A
more careful look shows a whole lot more than a collection of letters
to parents. Brenda Power, an associate professor of literacy at the
University of Maine, with the help of a half-dozen teachers from the
Mapleton, Maine elementary school staff have put together a
how-to-do-it guide, including a CD, with essay, newsletter and brochure
suggestions. Most of the book's pages (Part 2) include one-page
reproducible essays, available in English and Spanish (on the reverse
side) to include in newsletters to parents. The essays are about
school/curriculum concerns and general parenting issues. The resources
are designed to be used with parents of children in grades K-3.=20
The opening pages of the book (Part 1) includes tips for designing
newsletters using the CD software that is included; examples of using
the Essays in a parent outreach program; lists of recommended books and
web sites on the topic of parent involvement; advice on reaching more
parents, including bilingual families; and grant-writing suggestions. 20
Most of the material in this book is easily available elsewhere. A
lot of this lively, easy-to-read writing style merely presents common
sense, such as, when planning a parent evening, "don't underestimate
the value of refreshments and doorprizes." The book's value consists
of its cumulation of ideas for involving parents, tools for
constructing a newsletter with the CD, sample calendar of events, tips
for community outreach, which all provide a one-stop resource for
improving home-school communication, for one teacher or school-wide.
For the price, it is a useful tool, which saves a lot of time. The
Essays, which are to be sent home to the parents, have a writing style
better than mine. I guess I would use some of them in the right
situation.
Pages: 127
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 0 325 00153 3
Reviewed by Helga Visscher, University of Alabama
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