Some new books coming across my desk.
Mitch Pearlstein’s Broken Bonds (Rowman & Littlefield) looks at family structure but has education implications.
Hugh Price takes a look at what the military can teach schools in Strugglers Into Strivers (Small Batch Books).
Doug Lemov has updated Teach Like A Champion (Jossey-Bass) with a 2.0 version. It’s not just some new stuff, it goes deeper. One wag said recently that when your favorite band puts out a deep tracks album, of course you buy it. So if you’re a Lemov fan, there you go.
Dan Willingham is out soon with Raising Kids Who Read (Jossey-Bass). Classic Willingham deconstruction of the confusion around an important issue. For parents and teachers.
Liz Arney has a sensible and sober look at educational technology in Go Blended (Jossey-Bass). Based on her work at Aspire Public Schools it’s about the hard work of making ed tech pay off for students.
Jack Jennings takes a look at the history of federal policy and some new ideas for next steps in Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools (Harvard Education Press). Worth it for the history alone.
For those interested in how apps can change the classroom, we at Books That Grow have an app that offers a HUGE library with a diverse set of reading materials, each of which is offered at multiple reading levels, to ensure that a classroom with a diverse body of students can all have their needs accommodated and move with the material at the same pace. See more at http://www.booksthatgrow.com/
On this day, Feb 6th, in 1939, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep was published. Chandler was fifty-one, an ex-oil company executive who had taken up writing at the age of forty-five, after being fired for alcohol-inspired absenteeism.
Hugh P. Price straddles two worlds, seeing common ground for the public good with ‘Strugglers into Strivers.’ Yes, the military does a fine job providing structure, instilling purpose, and encouraging passion. And, as Price’s data show, this has largely been successful turning around troubled youth, so that they may better provide for themselves and contribute more fully to society. The challenge here is not merely to read the book, but to initiate conversations between teachers, parents, educators, administrators, and the many facets of military training and education. All may benefit, with best practices shared and adapted approaches developed. America will be better for this professional interaction.