Education Book Gets Late But Great Debut

Title: This Business of Children

Author: Chloe Jon Paul
Author's Web site link: http://chloejonpaul.com
Genre or category: fiction
ISBN: 978-1-60047-580-1

Reviewed by Teresa Morrow (http://www.teresamorrow.com)

 

 Chloe Jon Paul wrote this book in the early 90s and tucked it away thinking that it would never get published. She wrotge This Business of Children because I wanted to capture the elements of this profession in a way that shows the struggles so many teachers face in trying to do their jobs well. At this particular time in my career she wasn’t very happy teaching in the school district I had transferred to out of state. She was forced to “teach to the test” and my creativity suffered immensely. Administrative support was non-existent so she took a leave of absence for a year and went back to Maine where she had done the best teaching of her career, and wrote the book.

Chloe Jon Paul says, "The message of This Business of Children  basically this: We teachers are human beings coping with the problems in our own personal lives. When we enter that classroom each morning, we have to shelve those problems and deal with students whose problems may be far greater than our own."

Bill Page said it best in his review: Teachers will identify with every element of this insightful, riveting glimpse of the education world. Parents will enjoy comparing their own schooling with Vera’s portrayal of getting an education. And, every reader will savor the reminder that life goes on.

Bill Page is a teacher. He is also author of At-Risk Students: Feeling Their Pain; goes on. Understanding Their Plight; and Accepting Their Defensive Ploys. He has written 60 articles for www.teachers.net/Gazette 

About the author:

Chloe Jon Paul, M.Ed., is a retired educator and writer of several published articles and a previous book entitled “What Happens Next: A Family Guide to Nursing Home Visits” and More…   Her many achievements since the age of 55 include:

• Title of Ms. Maryland Senior America 2003

• Recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship Seminars Abroad award to South Africa, 1996
• Volunteer internship during the 2005 Maryland legislative session as a Legacy Leadership Institute graduate
• Lead facilitator for the Alternatives to Violence Project in prison and community workshops on conflict resolution for ten years
• State representative for the National Family Caregivers Association’s caregiver community action network 2006-2008
• Advisory board member: MD, Healthcare Commission and the Interagency Commission for Aging Services: Maryland Dept. of Aging
• Hospice and homeless shelter volunteer
• Coordinator for the Good Samaritan Project at her church
• World traveler – all 7 continents

~Reviewer Teresa Morrow does Online Book Promotion for Authors & Writers
at Key Book Promotions, http://www.keybookpromotions.com.

My blog: Key Business Partners Writers & Authors: Allow Your Writing Passion to Drive your Online Book Marketing

----- The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using this little green retweet widget :

A Well-Researched Book for Those Interested in India and Education

Common School System: Examining the First Initiative in IndiaKhagendra Kumar
ISBN: 81-7714-327-1
By Dr K. Kiran, lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, M.A.M. College, Naugachia, T.M.Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur (Bihar)(INDIA)



In the book under review ‘Common School System: Examining First Initiative in India’, the author has tried to examine the recommendations of the first ever Common School System Commission of the country instituted by the Government of Bihar.

In the comprehensive preface the author has explained the reason for taking the task of examining the report of the Common School System Commission. The Education Commission of India recommended the establishment of a Common School System in the country way back in 1966. It was also endorsed by National Education Policy 1986 and Programme of Action 1992. While reviewing the implementation of this policy, the Ramamurti Committee (1990) considered the development of Common School System (CSS) to be a “very vital component of the overall strategy for securing equity and social justice in education. Over two thousand non-government organizations which have joined hands to promote the National Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education (NAFRE) launched a public campaign demanding the implementation of a Common School System in India. \

The Government of Bihar has shown the strong desire to provide equitable quality education to all the children of the state. Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of the state said “In my encounter with the public everywhere of the state, I found a ubiquitous desire among the people, particularly the poorest to send their children to a good school”. He further said “I have no option but to respond to the yearning of the people…” He announced his government’s intension to establish a Common School System (CSS) in Bihar on the 22nd July, 2006. Finally the Common School System Commission (CSSC) was constituted on the 8th August, 2006. The CSSC submitted its report on the 8th June, 2007

The Commission termed the intention of the Chief Minister to establish the CSS in Bihar as a development of historic significance for Bihar and possibly for the rest of the country as well.

The author says “In spite of my deep concern for the CSS and support for its early implementation, I strongly feel that the report of the CSSC needs to be examined and necessary changes should be considered before its implementation. The reason is very plain and simple. There appears to be contradictions between discussions made by the Commission on various issues and the Commission’s recommendations related to them at various places of the report. Its discussion is also loaded towards bureaucracy and elites of the society but in a subtle way…The PRI and urban bodies have hardly a place in the legal frame of the CSS…That is why I have taken the task of examining the CSSC report which is the first initiative in India towards the implementation of the CSS.”

The book has twelve chapters. In the first chapter of the book, present status of school education and teacher education has been described. The report is based on latest available data. In the second chapter the author has looked into the CSSC’s concept and rationale of CSS and identified some views of the Commission which explain some of the past events erroneously, perhaps due to poor understanding of the social and political situations of the state. The author has also identified some vital areas where many actions of the state justified by the Commission are not in consonance of its concepts and rationale of the CSS.

In the third chapter, the CSSC report on school administration and management under CSS has been examined. The Commission has recommended two bills for management of schools for consideration by the Bihar Legislature. The first bill, Bihar Primary and Middle School Education Committee Bill, 2007 is meant for constituting school education committee in the primary and middle schools of Bihar and the second bill, Bihar Secondary Education Committee Bill, 2007 for constituting school education committee in the secondary schools of Bihar. The author has tried to reveal the loaded arguments of the Commission in favour of bureaucrats and against the legislators in respect of the management of Rajkiya and Rajkiyakrit schools. He has also tried to visualize the Commission’s theoretical position regarding the vital role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the school management and its position in the recommended bills where PRIs role appears to have been diluted.

In the next chapter, the author has examined the CSSC report on teachers. Enumerations for creating conditions for optimum performance of teachers of the CSS and norms relating to pay and allowances of teachers suggested by the CSSC were examined taking justification of the Commission regarding some of the practical conditions of the newly appointed teachers. The author says, “The Commission describing the norm said that the pay and allowance of teachers should match their qualification and professional responsibility. There is no denial that professional responsibility of a teacher is very high, perhaps highest. Describing the essential criteria for fixation of salary and allowances of school teachers the Commission says that pay and allowances of school teachers should be fixed at a level high enough to enable them to live a life of dignity. But the Commission in its discussion on concepts, rationale and content of CSS in chapter three of the report justified the appointment of large number of school teachers on a very low salary, even lower than a fourth grade employee. School teachers from primary to senior secondary get consolidated meager monthly salary of rupees 4000 to7000. It is ironical that this salary structure has been adjudged as reasonable salary by the Commission. It appears that the Commission which talks of the abdication of conscience of the society in general lost its own conscience and could not speak against the wrong decision of the Government that constituted it.”

In the chapter five, the author has examined the CSSC report on the teacher education in the Common School System and in the chapter six, the CSSC position on different types of schools in the CSS has been examined. The author has found some of the views put by the Commission need to be reconsidered as they are not in consonance with constitutional rights of the people.

In the chapter seven, the author has tried to look into the curriculum and pedagogy for the CSS. A brief summary of National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 and draft Bihar Curriculum Framework (BCF) 2006 has been presented. A critical review of draft BCF has also been presented.

In the chapter nine, the author has tried to summarize and examine the financial implications of CSS suggested in the CSSC report.

In the last three chapters the author has suggested his own plans for the development of DIETs in Bihar, On-service training program of untrained serving teachers and development of Education Faculties in the universities of Bihar.

The book critically examines the report of the CSSC and raised many important issues which must be addressed before its implementation. The presentation of the CSSC’s theoretical positions, recommendations and their examination has been done so well that the book becomes very interesting and readable even for common readers. One can get holistic picture of the CSS. The author is bold enough in putting his views straight. This is the first and only book of its kind on the CSS, an issue of great public importance.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.

Valerie Landau Tells Teachers How To Develop an Online Course

Title: Developing an Effective Online Course
Author: Valerie Landau
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
ISBN-10: 0072587024
ISBN-13: 978-0072587029
My Rating - 4 out of 5

Reviewed by Judi Silva

Author Valerie Landau is very thorough in helping you to develop and evaluate a successful online course. Each topic comes complete with goals, objectives, warm up activities, famous quotes, instructor’s notes, student assignments and a list of resources.

Topic 1: Course Introduction
A discussion of the production process of online media (Web sites and multimedia) pros and cons will be the crux of this topic. Features of the online medium and the four stages of it, namely, concept definition, design, production, and testing and quality assurance phases will be discussed in detail.

Topic 2: Evaluation and Criteria
How to find review and evaluate existing online courses will be shown. Included are links to sample courses and a list key questions your course needs to be able to answer.

Topic 3: Survey of Online Courses
The objectives in this topic include: reviewing existing online courses related to your topic, using "Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain" to identify levels of cognition, analyzing the advantages and drawbacks two different approaches the student-centered approach and the teacher-centered techniques

Topic 4: Goals and Objectives
You will learn to write a broad overall goal for the course you are developing, measurable objectives for the course, a broad goal for one module of instruction and measurable objectives for the module of instruction. You will also learn to categorize each learning objective according to "Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain".

Topic 5: Developing the Course Outline
Learn just what a course outline is and how to write one using your goals and objectives discussed in the previous topics.

Topic 6: Developing Assignments
Here Ms. Landau teaches the most difficult part of developing an online course - how to developing engaging assignments. She also discusses how to describe the type of feedback students will receive, categorize the assignment according to Bloom’s Taxonomy and describe how the assignment leverages the Internet.

Topic 7: Developing Instructor’s Notes
This topic shows how to create properly developed instructor’s notes in order to close the gap between what people already know and what they need to know in order to perform the module objectives.


Topic 8: Web Design
The goal in this topic is to draft a plan outlining the guidelines you will use to design your course so it is accessible and easy to read and navigate. You will also learn to identify basic Web design principles and accessibility requirements.

Topic 9: Course Management & Planning
Here you will define a policy for group work, ‘netiquette’, and student expectations, along with developing a plan on how to complete your course

Topic 10: Planning a Formative Evaluation
Prior to publishing a course, two basic types of testing is recommended: Quality assurance and Formative evaluation (usability studies). This topic will walk you through both of them. Learn when to test, what a test plan should include, examples of commonly used testing methods and formative evaluation reports.

Topic 11: Conducting a Formative Evaluation
Once you have developed a plan for formative evaluation, the next step is to test your course via the target audience. This topic will show you how to conduct a successful evaluation of your course. The 8 top priorities in doing this will be discussed so that you will know what to do with all the useful information that you’ve collected to your course’s benefit.

All in all, a very detailed and informative writer’s guide to developing an effective online course.

You can purchase Ms. Landau’s book at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0072587024/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Reviewed By Judi Silva
judi.silva@gmail.com
http://www.dark-horse-adaptations.com/
Originally published on Assoicated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/1968/simran.html


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.