On Subbing is a quiet classic. It's impossible to put down, or forget, Dave Roche's vivid, self-deprecating tales of woe from working as a substitute teaching assistant in Portland's elementary schools in the early 2000s. Roche writes candidly about the great days and the terrible ones, the triumphs and failures, both personal and institutional. He recounts helping kids who can't function in normal classrooms focus on their work, keeping kids from fighting, and keeping his composure while ...

A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere: this is the goal of the Khan Academy, a passion project that grew from an ex-engineer and hedge funder's online tutoring sessions with his niece, who was struggling with algebra, into a worldwide phenomenon. Today millions of students, parents, and teachers use the Khan Academy's free videos and software, which have expanded to encompass nearly every conceivable subject; and Academy techniques are being employed with exciting results in a...

The inspiring true story of how one special education teacher got his class to Space Camp—now a Hallmark Hall of Fame television event."A heartening story, sure to inspire other teachers struggling with students who often seem beyond their reach." — Teacher magazineMike Kersjes always believed that his students could do anything—even attend the prestigious Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, where some of America's best and brightest ...

M. That's what I'd like you to call me please. I'll tell you why later.Welcome to M's world. It's tipsy-turvy, sweet and sour, and the beast of anxiety lurks outside classrooms ready to pounce. M just wants to be like other teenagers her age who always know what to say and what to do. So why does it feel like she lives on a different plane of existence to everyone else?Written by the students of Limpsfield Grange, a school for girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder wi...

Roaming the country by bus and train, on a budget and without any institutional support, Linh Dinh set out to document, in words and pictures, what life is like for people. From Los Angeles, Cheyenne, Portland, and New Orleans, to Jackson and Wolf Point--Linh walked miles and miles through unfamiliar neighborhoods, talking to whoever would talk to him: the homeless living in tent cities, the peddlers, the protestors, the public preachers, the prostitutes. With the uncompromising eye of a W...

Growing up in a Roman Catholic household and working at a Protestant school can be incongruous. Youre working for the enemy, insisted author Fran Finns father. In this memoir, Finn recalls not only this dissonance, but provides the captivating story of many of his intriguing adventures.From his upbringing in Torrington, Connecticut, to his first position as a house parent at a rural Pennsylvania private school at the age of twenty-three, to his worldwide travels, Temporary Sanity g...

This book was developed to compare the real life educational experiences of an average child during the last generation in which the United States led the world in education to a real child’s experiences today (when the United States is no longer in the top 20). The practice of labeling students with a disability has reached the status of a dangerous standard practice. Increasing demands for educational accountability will lead to more students being labeled and left behind. Written from a un...

In increasing numbers, general education teachers are faced with the task of educating students with disabilities in their classrooms, and many beginning teachers are not prepared for the diverse classroom that awaits them. The cases in this book are written from the viewpoint of general education teachers, with the goal of providing them with the information and tools to improve their ability to approach this task with confidence. As participants process the cases in this book, they will ...

Incidents in an Educational Life chronicles the educational journey of John M. Swales. A leading scholar in the field of Applied Linguistics and its subfield of English for Specific Purposes, Swales has taught across the globe in places such as Italy, Sweden, Libya, the United Kingdom, and the University of Michigan. His memoir offers a rare glimpse into the professional journey of a prominent scholar and educator.Incidents in an Educational Life explores the less...

In 1969, Mark Edmundson was a typical high school senior in working-class Medford, Massachusetts. He loved football, disdained schoolwork, and seemed headed for a factory job in his hometown—until a maverick philosophy teacher turned his life around.When Frank Lears, a small, nervous man wearing a moth-eaten suit, arrived at Medford fresh from Harvard University, his students pegged him as an easy target. Lears was unfazed by their spitballs and classroom antics. He shook things up...

While writing a novel set in South America, John Hopkins travelled back there to "reacquaint himself with the scene". In 1972-3, he travelled by train, bus and boat from Mexico City to the centre of the continent, through Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua and on to Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. Hopkins travelled slowly, deliberately, savouring every experience along the way. But the journey was fraught with his angst-ridden strivings to write his novel and with the troubled ...