Motorola School Spirit Awards
Motorola School Spirit Awards, Motorola.
In the first annual Motorola School Spirit Awards to recognize educational institutions that have taken innovative measures to increase school safety and efficiency, two schools (one primary school and one secondary school) will receive 12 Motorola Spirit Professional Two-Way Radios and $500 in cash.
Any educator may nominate a preschool, elementary school, intermediate, middle school, or high school in the continental United States. To enter, describe in 200 words or less (on official school letterhead) the innovative measures your school has taken to enhance school safety and efficiency. On the same or separate letterhead stationery, describe in 100 words or less how your school would (or has used) Motorola radios as a communication tool.
On each sheet, include the nominator's name, title, school, address, city, state, zip code, daytime telephone number, and fax number. Mail or fax the information no later than December 1, 1997 to: Motorola School Spirit Awards, c/o Hunter and Associates, Inc., 41 Madison Ave., 5th floor, New York, NY 10010; fax: (212) 679-6607. For a complete set of rules or official entry form, visit the Web site at http://www.spirit.mot.com.
Team up to Save Lives
Team up to Save Lives: What Your School Should Know About Preventing Youth Suicide, The University of Illinois at Chicago and the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
As adolescent suicide climbs to epidemic proportions, educators are faced with the challenge of assisting at-risk or suicidal students, communicating with parents, and formulating crisis plans. This suicide prevention CD-ROM is designed to supplement the procedures a school and community may already have in place. The suicide prevention curriculum was piloted in a three-year research program conducted by the Institute of Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The complementary CD-ROM also includes the brochure "Five Minutes of Your Time Can Mean a Lifetime to a Suicidal Adolescent" with questions and answers on firearm disposal. For example, what happens if someone wants to turn in a firearm and doesn't have a license or registration? What options exist when the family is unwilling to dispose of a gun?
For more information or to order copies, call McDonald's Resource Center at (800) 627-7646. 1996. $4.70 for shipping and handling.
Blauvelt On Making Your Schools Safe
Blauvelt On Making Your Schools Safe, Peter D. Blauvelt.
The need to make schools safe for all of our children is the motivating factor in writing this book, says Blauvelt, a former law enforcement officer and former director of the Department of School Security for the Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland.
This binder with loose-leaf pages allows you to add your own ideas to 15 chapters that cover national trends in school violence, security resources, crimes against people and property, and developing a crisis plan. The chapter on property crimes offers prevention strategies for arson, bombs or other explosives, burglary, larceny, theft, and vandalism.
Available from the National Alliance For Safe Schools, 9344 Lanhan Severn Rd., Suite 102A, Lanham, MD 20706; (301) 306-0200; fax: (301) 306-0711. 1996. $29.95 plus $4 for shipping and handling (book rate) or $6.50 first class. Discounts for bulk orders above 10 or when purchased with a workshop.
Breaking the Silence
Breaking the Silence: A Guide to Help Children with Complicated Grief: Suicide, Homicide, AIDS, Violence, and Abuse, Linda Goldman.
This book is a resource for those who deal with grieving children—especially children chronically exposed to violence. It presents methods to help initiate discussions of difficult topics and tools to help children understand the experience of complicated grief.
Chapter 8, "Educators Can Help: Let's Get Involved," covers support for the bereaved student, crisis intervention, inservice staff training, school memorial commemorations, and school-based loss and grief curriculums. Chapter 10 includes an annotated bibliography of books, videos, manuals, guides, and curriculums.
For more information, write to Accelerated Development (a member of the Taylor and Francis Group), 1900 Frost Rd., Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007; (215) 785-5800 or (800) 821-8312; fax (215) 785-5515. 1996. 231 pp., Paperbound. $28.95 plus $2.50 shipping and handling.
Resources for Science Literacy
Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development, American Association for the Advancement of Science Project.
This practical CD-ROM and workbook cover the contents of Science for All Americans (1989), a summary of the association's science literacy goals for high school graduates.
These topics include scientific inquiry, patterns and relationships in mathematics, technological design, the Earth and universe, heredity and cells, the diversity and interdependence of life, the human organism, human society, the designed world (agriculture, materials, and manufacturing), information processes, health technology, and habits of mind.
Available from Oxford University Press, Inc., 18 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016; (800) 451-7556. 1997. Book is 120 pp., Paperbound. $49.95 for package, 40 percent discount for orders of 10 or more. CD-ROM can be used with IBM Windows or a compatible computer system running Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Microsoft Windows 95, a Macintosh computer system running System 7.5 or higher, or a 2x or faster CD-ROM reader.
For more information, contact Project 2061, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1333 H St. N.W., P.O. Box 34446, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 326-6666 (e-mail: Project 2061@aaas.org). Project 2061's home page: http://www.aaas.org/project2061.
The Professional Collection for Elementary Educators
The Professional Collection for Elementary Educators, Patricia Potter Wilson.
The language arts teacher in search of costume ideas for the Thanksgiving play, the social studies teacher who needs a list of trade books on the Civil War, the science teacher preparing a learning center on earthworms, the 3rd grade teacher who wants information on portfolio assessment—all can find what they're looking for in this annotated listing of print and nonprint materials for classroom lessons and activities.
The collection, also designed for library media specialists, includes listings of children's literature as well as professional books on health and physical education, special education, gifted and talented education, and instructional technology.
Available from H.W. Wilson Co., 950 University Ave., Bronx, NY 10452-4224; (800) 367-6770 or (718) 588-8400 (e-mail: hwwmsg@info.hwwilson.com). Internet: http://www.hwwilson.com. 1996. 296 pp., Hardcover. $38 plus 4 percent for shipping and handling.
Connecting Inner-City Youth to the World of Work
Connecting Inner-City Youth to the World of Work, Committee for Economic Development.
The Committee for Economic Development directs its recommendations for assisting inner-city youth to a number of players. The report urges employers to help young people gain greater access to career-oriented employment. It urges the federal and state governments to pass and enforce stronger gun control and antidrug laws. And it urges states and communities to address the societal problems that hamper learning, thus "lifting the burden of children's health and social needs from the backs of educators. . . ."
Recommendations for strengthening elementary and secondary schools are unequivocal: adopt rigorous content and performance standards, hire high school teachers based on their demonstrated mastery of the subjects they teach, revamp governance and management to emphasize results rather than compliance with rules and regulations, and integrate information technologies into classroom instruction.
Available from Committee for Economic Development, Distribution Division, 477 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022; (212) 688-2063 (Internet: http://www.ced.org). 1997. 38 pp., Paperbound. $12 plus 10 percent for postage and handling.
More Than 50 Ways to Learner-Centered Literacy
More Than 50 Ways to Learner-Centered Literacy, Laura Lipton with Deborah Hubble.
Although many of the ideas in this book lend themselves especially well to a language arts curriculum, they are easily adaptable for use across content areas. The authors tell how to design and orchestrate activities that promote collaboration, creative and critical thinking, and the joy of learning. They also offer nontraditional alternatives to standardized assessment.
Available from IRI/Skylight Training and Publishing, Inc., 2626 S. Clearbrook Dr., Arlington Heights, IL 60005; (800) 348-4474 or (847) 290-6600 (e-mail: info@iriskylight.com). Web site: http://www.iriskylight.com. 1997. 224 pp., Paperbound. $20.95.
Many Ways of Hearing
Many Ways of Hearing: 94 Multi-tasked Lessons in Listening, Claire Blatchford.
This collection of hands-on activities for grade 6 and up is designed to encourage students to explore the concept of sound through language arts, science, social studies, music, and art. The 12 chapters progress from the mechanics of hearing and the physics of sound to the loss of hearing and ways we acquire knowledge through other senses.
Among the intriguing topics: "Hearing What You Want to Hear"; "The Power of Music"; and "Inner Listening" (hearing feelings, your internal monologue, your stream of consciousness, your conscience). Each chapter has teaching notes and reproducible pages for students.
Available from J. Weston Walch, 321 Valley St., P.O. Box 658, Portland, ME 04104-0658; (800) 341-6094. 1997. 158 pp., Paperbound. $22.95.
Teaching Low-Achieving and Disadvantaged Students
Teaching Low-Achieving and Disadvantaged Students, 2nd Edition, Charles H. Hargis.
The author, who works with children at the University of Tennessee's Reading Center and at the alternative public high school that he developed, addresses the enormous increase in the number of children identified as learning disabled and the similar explosion in the diagnosis of ADD and the prescription of Ritalin.
The book also covers reading, writing, and other basic subjects; the student-centered curriculum; standards and norms; tests, grades, and failure; cooperative learning; and homework.
Available from Charles C. Thomas Publisher Ltd., 2600 South First St., Springfield, IL 62794-9265; (217) 789-8980. 1997. 190 pp., Paperbound. $36.95.
That's My Buddy!
That's My Buddy!, Developmental Studies Center.
What can elementary schools do to help students feel connected to their school? This book focuses on one approach: a buddies program. Buddy partnerships of big kids and little kids allow the older students to feel caring, competent, and valued, while the younger students feel worthy of special attention and kindness.
The book provides a rationale for such programs, tips for getting started with teachers and students, and activity ideas and resources. Students and teachers reflect on their personal experiences using the buddy program. The book also recommends teacher support materials.
Some of the cross-age buddy activity ideas include: journal-writing, portrait-drawing, dialogues, question games, reading, and field trips. Each activity offers separate sections on introducing the activity with older students and younger students.
Available from Developmental Studies Center, 2000 Embarcadero, Suite 305, Oakland, CA 94606-5300; (510) 533-0213; (800) 666-7270. 1996. 140 pp., Paperbound. $14.95.
