eBooks

March 21st, 2013 | Tags: ,,,, | Posted in eBooks, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Compiled by Helga Vissscher, head McLure Education Library

 

Electronic Books come from many resources.  Most people regard the e-Book as an electronic copy of the traditional book published in paper.  Other items that populate the e-Book collection include published reports by research organizations and government entities.  Some ERIC Documents in microfiche are e-books; some reside in other databases, such as Lexis-Nexis, and Gale Virtual Reference Library. The largest general e-book resource is the database  ebrary: Academic Complete    Other agencies provide their books and reports within such agencies as the National Bureau of Economic Research.  Items from databases such as Dissertations and Theses  also show up as e-Books. 

E-books are easily divided by chapters, and can be downloaded as a complete book, or selected parts. This makes them ideal for linking to RESERVES for courses.  Please let the McLure Education Library staff know if you plan to do this, so additional access can be acquired. Most e-books allow for one user at a time.

Ebooks allow you to open the item at your computer for immediate viewing. Like e-journals, e-books are produced by a variety of publishers and vendors, so the platforms vary; they can be searched and accessed alongside the print books in SCOUT, then set the Source Type to ebooks. They can also be searched on the E-Resources search page, the same location where you search for electronic journals. Databases such as Gale Virtual Reference Library, Oxford Reference Online and Springer Link also offer books in electronic format.

12-minute video on how to use ebrary

2-page Quick Guide on how to use ebrary 

Here are some titles relating to Education Research for your perusal, which come from a variety of resources:

Education: Meeting America’s Needs? Gale Virtual Reference Library (database)   

Education: Meeting America's Needs?

Education: Meeting America’s Needs?

 

 

http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/fdlp930/readingfirst-final.pdf 

 

Higher Education in the 21st Century

Higher Education in the 21st Century

Higher Education in the 21st Century, NBER   

 

 

 

http://www.crcnetbase.com/ISBN/978-0-415-48000-0

 

 

Online Learning and Teaching inthe 21st Century

Online Learning and Teaching inthe 21st Century

Online Learning and Teaching in Higher Education  e-brary

 

 

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/alabama/docDetail.action?docID=10197006

 

Learning in Communities

Learning in Communities

Learning in communities.  Springer 

 

 

 

 

http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-84800-332-3/page/1

 

 Reading First implementation evaluation. U.S. Dept. of Education .  online Gov. Doc. ED 1.2:R 22/14 

Reading: first implementation Evaluation

Reading: first implementation Evaluation

http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/fdlp930/readingfirst-final.pdf 

 

 

 

 

ebooks

March 21st, 2013 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

50th Anniversaries: Children’s Literature Classics

November 30th, 2012 | Tags: ,, | Posted in Children's Literature, Uncategorized | No Comments »

50th Anniversaries

Wrinkle in Time: By Madeleine L’Engle

Wolves of Willoughby Chase: By Joan Aiken

To Kill A Mockingbird: By Harper Lee

Blogpost by Benita Strnad, Curriculum Materials Librarian,  McLure Education Library

 

The book world celebrated the Golden Anniversaries of three very important works of Young Adult Literature in 2012.  In February the publishing firm of Farrar Straus & Giroux threw a big 50th birthday party for “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle.  This fall Doubleday celebrated the publication of “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase” by Joan Aiken.  Here in Alabama the 50th anniversary of the coming out of “To Kill a Mockingbird” passed without much fanfare.  All three of these books were landmark publications and brought fame, if not fortune, to their authors, and hours of pleasure to millions of readers over the years.  Each of them was iconic in their own way.  If you are looking for books to give to children and young adults in your lives in the next few weeks consider giving one of these three books. 

 

PZ7 .L5385 Wr 1962 Education School Library – Newbery

“A Wrinkle in Time” was a book that couldn’t find a publisher because it was so different.  L’Engle was studying, what was then, the revolutionary field of quantum physics while she was taking a ten week camping trip across the U. S. with her family in 1959.  She states that she saw landscapes that were totally alien to her and combined with the material she was reading she began to imagine a who new world.  The genre of science fiction was only in its infancy when L’Engle completed the book and started sending it to publishers.  They weren’t sure how this genre was going to be accepted by the public and so were leery of the manuscript when it arrived on their desks for several reasons.  It featured a female protagonist in an area that in the early 60’s was considered a male profession, it dealt with sophisticated scientific concepts that weren’t yet widely known, it dealt with evil in a very real way, which was not part of children’s literature, making it difficult for publishers to decide if it was a book for children or adults.   As a result, the book was rejected by 26 publishers before Farrar Straus & Giroux accepted it.  The year it was published it was awarded the Newbery award from the American Library Association, an edgy and somewhat radical departure from more mainstream titles that had won past awards.  The novel has stood the test of time and is still widely read and has been in continuous print since its publication.  Eventually, L’Engle published four other books about the Murry family that are known as the Time Quintet.

 

PZ7. A2695 Wo2 Education School Library Book

“Wolves of Willoughby Chase” was first published in Great Britian in 1963 and subsequently in the U. S.  The author, Joan Aiken, was the daughter of famed American poet Conrad Aiken, and was born and raised in Great Britain.  Like “Wrinkle in Time” this was book that had a hard time finding a publisher.  It defies genre categorization and sometimes is classed as supernatural fiction, alternative fiction, and fantasy fiction.  When it was published it was one of the first works for children that featured alternative history and geography.  Ultimately the book was the first in a series of 12 books that have come to be known as the “Wolves Chronicles.”  These books vary in length from 150 pages to 250 pages and fit into that nitch of readers in grades 4 through 6 or 7, who are past introductory chapter books and yet might not want to read a novel of greater length than 250 pages.  With time the “Wolves of Willoughby Chase” sort of faded from the view of teachers, parents, librarians, and readers, but with the renewed interest in fantasy and series books for children the book is back in the limelight.

 

PS 3562 .E353 T6 Hoole Special Collections and Gorgas

2012 is the Fiftieth anniversary of the film version of the book.  The movie is readily available in Netflix if you want to watch the film, but it might be a good idea to revisit the novel during this anniversary year.   Alabamians are mostly aware of Harper Lee’s masterpiece of a civil rights novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” as it has certainly become one of the pillars of American literature and its place as a classic is assured.  The myth and legend of the book has only been enhanced by the reclusive nature of the author and the fact that no other book by her has ever been published leaving her with a perfect record in the bestseller category.  Lee was well connected in the New York publishing literati of the era and so unlike the previous mentioned titles, she did not have much of a problem finding a publisher for her book.  After it was published it was well received by the critics and became an immediate bestseller.  It also won the Pulitzer Prize in the same year.  Unlike the other two titles this one was not a children’s novel.  It was published, and remains, an adult novel.  However, it is now required reading in many high schools and so has found a place in young adult literature.

 

All three of these novels, once published, were successful titles, winning an immediate following and with the passing of time each of these titles has become an accepted classic in children’s and young adult literature.  With the cooling temperatures outside, it is a good time to read, or in some cases reread, these 50th Anniversary titles.  All of them can be found in McLure Library and in Gorgas Library.  There are also copies at the Tuscaloosa Public Library.  They can be purchased at either Books-A-Million or Barnes & Noble.  (They would make great stocking stuffers!)

 

 

The Olympic Games

July 2nd, 2012 | Tags: ,, | Posted in The Olympic Games, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The London Olympics begin July 27th.  There are many ways to look at the Olympic movement as a media, social and cultural phenomenon, as well as the largest world-wide athletic event.  Most books about an olympiad are written after it takes place.  At the McLure Education Library, we offer some reading to prepare you for watching the 2012 Olympics.

Helga Visscher, McLure Education Library

 

 

A Century of Olympic Posters

A Century of Olympic Posters

A century of Olympic posters, Margaret Timmers.

London : V&A, 2008

GV721.75 .T55 2008 Education Library  (book stacks)

Published in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and amid the increasing hype of London 2012, this book displays the evolving iconography of the modern Olympics, from the 1900 Paris Games to the present day.

 

 

 Swifter, higher, stronger: a photographic history of the Summer Olympics,  by Sue Macy ; foreword by Bob Costas. Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, c2008.

Macy, a seasoned writer of sports history for children, opens with background on the games, then turns to broader themes, such as controversies and sportsmanship. Though her approach isn’t strictly chronological, one comes away with a strong sense of how defining Olympian moments can provide a springboard to world history. Macy concludes with almanac-like features, a general note on her research methods, and titles for further reading.

GV721.5 .M25 2008  Education School Library

 

 

 

 Berlin Games : how the Nazis stole the Olympic dream , Guy Walters.

New York : William Morrow, c2006

GV722 1936 .W35 2006  Education Library (book stacks)

In 1936, the Nazis hosted both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games in Germany. The Nazis used the politics of the Olympic Games to glorify the new Germany. Walters depicts how the Nazis hid the discrimination of the Jews, the political oppression of its opponents, the economic misery, and the military domination to give the world a false picture of the new Germany. Walters summarizes the complete details of these Olympics with all the world politics thrown in.

 

 

 Beyond the final score : the politics of sport in Asia,  Victor D. Cha

New York : Columbia University Press, c2009

GV649 .C43 2009  Education Library (book stacks)

Beyond the Final Score takes an original look at the 2008 Beijing games within the context of the politics of sport in Asia. Asian athletics are bound up with notions of national identity and nationalism.  For China, the Beijing Games introduced a liberalizing ethos that its authoritative regime could ignore only at its peril.

 

 

 

 Olympic dreams: China and sports, 1895-2008, Guogi Xu

This book is available full-text in ebrary Academic Complete. On Campus or Off Campus Access, CLICK HERE.

Drawing on newly available archival sources to analyze a hundred-year perspective on sports in China, Olympic Dreams explores why the country became obsessed with Western sports at the turn of the twentieth century, and how it relates to China’s search for a national and international identity.

 

 

Olympic media : inside the biggest show on television,  Andrew C. Billings.

London; New York : Routledge, 2008.

GV742.3 .B55 2008  Education Library (book stacks)

What Billings has accomplished in his examination of NBCs telecast of the Olympics is remarkable. He offers in-depth observations and analyses of the telecast by focusing on organizational processes, production influences, and viewer perceptions of this cultural (and often political) mega-event.

 

 

 

Watching  the Olympics:  politics, power and representation.  Edited by John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson.

London; New York: Routledge, 2012.

GV721.5 .W33 2012      (book stacks)

With particular focus on the London Games in 2012, the book casts a critical eye over the bidding process, Olympic finance, promises of legacy and development, and the consequences of hosting the Games for the civil rights and liberties of those living in their shadow.

Books on Bullying

April 18th, 2012 | Tags: ,,,, | Posted in Bullying, School Violence | No Comments »

Books on Bullying

 

On April 15, 2012, the Tuscaloosa News informed its readers that the Tuscaloosa City School System has extended its efforts to prevent bullying.  In 2010 the system had already expanded its jurisdiction over students to any location off school property involving interference in a student’s educational opportunities.  Now, the system is taking further measures against bullying once again.  The director of student services for the Tuscaloosa City Schools has created a 35-40 member task force to address bullying consistently and systematically.  The anti-bullying task force will develop a system where bullying is treated the same at every school in the system with regard to disciplinary measures and how teachers and administrators should respond to such instances.

To further awareness of this topic, the McLure Education Library has created a bullying booklist focusing on how to prevent bullying in schools, including two books which focus on cyberbullying.

 

Banishing Bullying Behavior : Transforming the Culture of Pain, Rage, and Revenge

Authors: SuEllen Fried and Blanche Sosland

Publication Information: Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Education, c2009.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.3 .F748 2009

Fried and Sosland bring their combined experiences together to present a blueprint to reduce the pain, rage and revenge cycle of bullying. Their strategies have been captured from hands-on interaction with educators, parents and students. Their premise comes from the apocryphal village that is being ravaged by dysentery. Do you treat each person for their intestinal disorders or do you put in a sewer system? Do you work with each individual student or do you change a culture that hosts cruelty. Can you do both? The core of the book is the Student Empowerment Session that has been crafted and refined over fifteen years. This carefully organized, powerful system of questions has effected dramatic changes in children’s insights about their behavior. The book also explores topics which include cyberbullying, children with disabilities, ‘mean girls,’ teachers who are bullies, parents who refuse to accept that their children are bullies, and academic vs. social emotional learning concerns to help readers change the culture and banish bully behavior.

-Publisher’s Description

 

Bullies, Targets & Witnesses: Helping Children Break the Pain Chain

Authors: SuEllen Fried and Paula Fried.

Publication Information: New York: M. Evans and Co., c2003.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.32 .F74 2003

In this timely and thought provoking book, the authors explore the effects of bullying on children and provide suggestions to end the cycle of child-to-child violence. Filled with personal stories from children and packed with practical ideas for parents, teachers and students.

-Publisher’s Description

 

Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying

Authors: Sameer Hinduja, Justin W. Patchin.

Publication Information: Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, c2009.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.3 .H566 2009

“An important contribution to the burgeoning literature on cyberbullying and a valuable tool for concerned adults that will enhance the safety and well-being of young people as they navigate their increasingly technological worlds. Backed by years of research and enhanced by the authors’ perspectives from the worlds of criminology, juvenile justice, and computer science, this book offers educators, families, and youth service providers an array of useful information, ranging from the social and legal context to concrete strategies for responding to cyberbullying.”

Review by Scott Hirschfeld, Director of Curriculum, Anti-Defamation League

 

Bullying in Schools: And What to Do About It

Authors: Ken Rigby

Publication Information: Melbourne, Victoria: ACER, 1996.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.3 .R53 1996x

Offering ways in which to tackle bullying within a school context, this study provides: strategies to identify both bullies and victims; ways to diffuse potentially troublesome situations; methods of dealing with bullies that are not punitive and damaging but can help make the abuser more aware of how the victim feels; and ways to enhance the self-esteem of the victims. The book is based on Professor Rigby’s research at the University of South Australia on the responses of over 20,000 students to bullying in their schools.

-Publisher’s Description

 

Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention

Authors: Maurice J. Elias, Joseph E. Zins, editors.

Publication Information: New York: Haworth Press, c2003.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.3 .B82 2003

The problem of bullying, peer harassment, and victimization is a serious one in our schools. It greatly affects the climate for learning and productivity and the emotional health of students and staff. This book presents empirical data and theoretical and legal case reviews to show how pervasive and serious these problems are and how they threaten both academic achievement and mental health within many of our schools. Taking a longitudinal and developmental perspective, the authors begin to outline the next generation of research in this field that will shape knowledge and practice for the next few decades. For practitioners, the book is a call to action, particularly at the school-wide level, focusing on reducing the substantial social/emotional harm done to perpetrators, bystanders, and especially, victims.

-From the Editors

 

Bullying, Victimization, and Peer Harassment: A Handbook of Prevention and Intervention

Authors: Joseph E. Zins, Maurice J. Elias, Charles A. Maher, editors.

Publication Information: New York: Haworth Press, c2007.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: LB3013.3 .B83 2007

Teasing, shunning, and bullying can have serious detrimental effects on both victim and perpetrator. Bullying, Victimization, and Peer Harassment: A Handbook of Prevention and Intervention comprehensively gathers emerging research, theory, and effective practice on this subject into one invaluable source. This thorough review of a wide spectrum of innovative, evidence-based practices targets the complex problems of victimization, peer harassment, and bullying in our schools. Interventions range from individuals and their peers to broad, systems-level change within schools and communities. The challenge of prevention is also explored, using the latest studies as a practical foundation. Suggestions are provided detailing effective strategies to make changes in the culture within schools while offering directions for future research and practice.

-Publisher’s Description

 

Cyber Bullying : Protecting Kids and Adults from Online Bullies

Authors: Samuel C. McQuade III, James P. Colt, Nancy B.B. Meyer.

Publication Information: Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2009.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: HV6773 .M395 2009

Because just about anyone can be the victim of cyber bullying, and because it often goes unreported, there are precious few resources available to victims, parents, teachers, and others interested in combating this new form of bullying. This book provides, however, a thoroughly developed, well-researched analysis of cyber bullying – what it is, how it is carried out, who is affected, and what can and should be done to prevent and control its occurrence in society. The book captures the sensational, technological, and horrific aspects of cyber bullying while balancing these with discussion from perspectives about social computing, various academic disciplines, possibilities for public policy and legislation formulation, education, and crime prevention strategies. Using case examples throughout, readers will come away with a new sense of indignation for the victims and a better understanding of the growing problem and how to combat it.

-Publisher’s Description

 

Preventing and Treating Bullying and Victimization

Authors: Eric M. Vernberg and Bridget K. Biggs, editors.

Publication Information: New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Location: Education Library

Call Number: BF637 .B85 P74 2010

Research evidence on bully-victim problems has accumulated rapidly in recent years. From this, there is little doubt that prolonged involvement in bullying, as a perpetrator, victim, or, not uncommonly, as both a perpetrator and target of bullying, conveys risk for many aspects of development. As in many emerging areas of psychological science, diverse research efforts evolved more or less independently, producing a very large and rich body of knowledge, but making it difficult to gain a comprehensive, integrated view of the overall evidence base. Preventing and Treating Bullying and Victimization looks across the sometimes disparate perspectives from school, clinical, and developmental researchers and professionals with an eye towards describing and integrating current knowledge into a guide for evidence-based practices and further research. The authors offer new directions for understanding this complex problem and for enhancing intervention approaches.

-Publisher’s Description

Recent Additions to the McLure Library Collection, March 2012

March 7th, 2012 | Posted in Educational Research, Reference books, Teacher Education Programs, Preservice Teacher Education | No Comments »

 These titles are some recent additions to the McLure Library.  Rebecca Tischler, SLIS Graduate Assistant has written these reviews.  These books will be on the New Book shelf in the Current Periodicals Room, and then will go to the regular book stacks at the end of March.

Through the Schoolhouse Door

Through the Schoolhouse Door, Paddy Bowman and Lynne Hamer, editors. Utah State University Press, 2011. Education Library: LB1583.8 .T47 2011

Classrooms can be some of the most diverse places in the United Sates with so many cultures and ethnicities that are thrown together.  For years, folklorists and educators have been trying to sustain learning beyond the school classrooms as well as better connect the students to their communities by expanding the curriculum through engagement with local knowledge and informal cultural arts.  This volume offers a collection of experiences from school programs and the analysis of an expert group of folklorists and educators sharing ideas and experiences on how to make this happen.  A must read for any future teacher or educator.

 

 

Enhancing Learning Through college Employment

Enhancing Student Learning through College Employment, Brett Perozzi, editor. Association of College Unions International, 2009. Education Library: LB3611 .E54 2009

College degrees are more important than ever, but unfortunately, they are also more expensive than ever.  More and more students have found that they need to have a job in order to go to college.  Most critics believe that this detracts from the college learning process, but this book provides examples of how working during college can enrich the undergraduate experience.  A student’s job can become part of the learning experience if handled right.  For teachers, it also offers helpful tips on the assessment of student learning in both the design of the student employment experience and in the evaluation of its end results.

 

 

Cyberbullying Prevention and Rsponse

Cyberbullying Prevention and Response: Expert Perspectives, Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja. Routledge, 2012. Education Library: LB3013.3 .C94 2012

For those who find, or will find themselves dealing with children, this book is an important resource.  As the incidence and severity of cyberbullying has risen in the past few years, the experts gathered to try and figure out how to diffuse these types of situations.  This book is a collection of essays from experts around the country offering an explanation of the concept of cyberbullying as well as what can be meaningfully done about it.  This exploration of the critical issues surrounding cyberbullying is written in an accessible manner even though it is informed by research.

 

 

 

Professors Behaving Badly

Professors Behaving Badly: Faculty Misconduct in Graduate Education, John M. Braxton, Eve Proper, and Alan E. Bayer. The John Hopkins University Press, 2011. Education Library: LB1778 .B74 2011

For those who have had experience with a difficult faculty member (everyone), they’ll find this book imminently relatable.  This book discusses examples of faculty misconduct (Ch.1, which contains the anecdotal examples the authors gathered), and how to avoid them. Using data collected through faculty surveys, the authors describe behaviors associated with graduate teaching which are considered inappropriate and in violation of good teaching practices, as well as behavior norms that should be followed.

Misery Memoirs and Teachers, by Benita Strnad, Curriculum Materials Librarian

February 7th, 2012 | Tags: | Posted in Memoirs | 1 Comment »

 

Memoirs have become a hot genre in the last few years.  A recent article I read claimed that memoirs comprised the largest title list in the non-fiction area of publishing, and it is growing.  The reason:  people are reading them.

Celebrity memoirs have always been popular.  Recent memoirs written by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews were well written and reached Best Seller status.  Even “tell all” memoirs like My Booky Wook:  A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up by Russell Brand and My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands by comedian and celebrity host Chelsea Handler are extremely popular.  (Both of those books were best sellers and helped to make their authors famous.)  In this type of memoir the author seems to be out to attract buyers with the use of the outrageously suggestive title.

Memoirs are not autobiographies.  Memoirs are how the author remembers his or her life.  They don’t have to be fact checked or footnoted with supporting documents.  In a memoir the facts don’t matter except in how they fit into the memories that the author is recording.   Since memoirs aren’t fact checked they tend to be vague and disputable.  It is for this reason that I don’t usually read memoirs.

There is a sub class of memoirs that those in the book world call “misery memoirs”.  They never interested me because they seem to have been written by author’s who are having a contest to see who can write about the most miserable horrible life ever lived.  If the details of the life aren’t horrendous enough some authors have even gone so far as to make up details and get away with their lying because it is a memoir and not an autobiography.  (Remember the James Frey/Oprah Winfrey controversy?)  When a book starts out with “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” The reader knows what is coming is pure misery, and probably asks why they should spend time reading such a book?  It is with that irascible series of sentences that Frank McCourt begins the first of his three memoirs, Angela’s Ashes.

Two things happened that caused me to take a second look at McCourt and his books.  I had long had in my possession a recorded version of “Angela’s Ashes” on cassette tape.  (That should be some indication of how long I had that book in my possession and put off listening to it.)  Then I read a short article about late blooming literary figures and learned that the oldest person to receive a Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography was Frank McCourt.  He was 66 when Angela’s Ashes was published.  This piqued my interest and I began to wonder about the book and the author even though the first book was more than 15 years old when I read that article.  I remembered that the book had a big impact when it was published.  People talked about it and the author had been a guest on CSPANN2 programs more than once.  Finally, this summer, on one of my trips back to Kansas, an event for which I am inside a car for nineteen hours, I hauled that copy off my copious book shelves and listened to it.  To my surprise, I liked it.  I do admit that the author had a tendency to be melodramatic and crying about “poor, poor pitiful me and my family” far too much, which lead more than one critic to blame him for starting the epidemic of “misery memoirs.”  Given my prejudices were so inclined in the other direction, I soon found myself engulfed in McCourt’s world.  On that trip home I found myself anxious to get back in the car just so I could listen to more of the book.

The second event was a discussion I had with a graduate student who had returned to UA to learn to be a teacher and was enrolled in the “fifth year program” in the College of Education.  This group of students is required to participate in a book discussion group that meets once a month.  They read books about education and educational issues as well as biographies and memoirs.  He stated that he really enjoyed this discussion group and when I inquired about what had been his favorite book, he replied that he liked the teacher memoirs the best.  Maybe it was time for me to read one for myself?

The book works on several levels.  It is written in the voice of a child.  At first it consists of short choppy segments and as the author matures the length and quality of the writing improves.  Then there was the voice.  The recorded version was read by the author and I am sure that part of the charm of the book was found in that Irish brogue whose thickness was mitigated by fifty years of living in the U. S.   It leant a degree of freshness and authenticity to the book.  I was not the only person to like “Angela’s Ashes.”  It was so well received that it was a best seller and stayed on the New York Times list for almost two years, and in 1997 it won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Eventually McCourt wrote a series of three memoirs that chronicled his life.  I ended up reading, or listening to, all three of them.  They are tied together but each could be read alone.  The first was “Angela’s Ashes” published in 1996 and details his childhood in New York City where he was born in 1930 to Irish immigrant parents.  In 1936 the family moved back to Limerick, Ireland where he lived until 1949.  The second book is titled “’Tis: A Memoir” published in 2000, and tells about his life after his return and re-immigration to the land of his birth, the U. S. A.  In this book the reader learns about how McCourt came to be a teacher using the G.I. Bill and his wits.  Basically he talked his way into New York University where he earned his English degree and met the qualifications for a teaching certificate in New York State.  The third book is titled “Teacher Man” published in 2005 and recounts his career as a teacher.

In many ways I found “Teacher Man,” to be the most interesting of the three books.  It is not a memoir, but it is not pedagogy either.  It is about teaching – learning to teach, teaching, and what teaching meant to the author.  Teaching was who he was, and without it he was lessened.  For the author teaching was a noble profession and he stated so many times.  All he ever wanted to be was a teacher.  And a teacher he was.

McCourt taught in the New York City school system for 28 years and was named New York State Teacher of the Year and received the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education. All-in-all, it is quite a career for a man who never graduated from high school.  McCourt died in 2007 at the age of 78.

All three of the memoirs by Frank McCourt are in the UA libraries.  “Angela’s Ashes” and “Teacher Man” are at McLure Library and “’Tis” is at Gorgas Library.  All three of the books are also at Tuscaloosa Public Library and that library has “Angela’s Ashes” and “’Tis” in the recorded versions.  Both are read by the author and there is no doubt that his voice is an asset in the recorded versions.

Frank was not the only McCourt to write his memoirs.  All of his surviving brothers have written something and three out of the four of them have written a memoir.  That is lots of material coming from one family.  It is also interesting to note that for most of his life Frank was not the famous McCourt.  That was his brother Malachy.  Malachy was and still is a New York City celebrity, sometimes actor, and well known personality.  Malachy has also written two memoirs.  “A Monk Swimming” in 1998 and “Singing My Hymn Song” in 2000.  Both of these books are at Gorgas Library.

If you would like to check these books out just come to McLure library and get them or call 348-6055 let us put them on the hold shelf for you.  They should provide hours of pleasant reading and perhaps help those of us who are teachers to remember why we teach and how hard it was to get to be a good teacher.  It is interesting to note that McCourt never thought of himself as an outstanding teacher.  He said more than once that it took him five years in the classroom to learn the rudiments of teaching and that it took him the rest of his 30 year career to learn to teach.  Even at the end of his teaching career he was still learning and writing his memoirs was part of that learning.

Even though these books are founding blocks in the “misery memoirs” genre and the first one is now more than fifteen years old, they might be just the thing for the teacher who is wondering if teaching is worth it.  For a series of “misery memoirs” I found these books surprisingly uplifting.  Perhaps you will as well.

Frank McCourt, 2007

Selected Reference Books Moved to Book Stacks

November 2nd, 2011 | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,, | Posted in Educational Research, Reference books | 1 Comment »

We are moving things around in the Education Library in order to update the study areas. The Reference Collection on the main floor will be compressed to  fit on the shelves in the north wall, behind the computer stations, and the microfiche reader printer will be on the main floor. The Reference Collection will focus on materials published after 2000.  The older Reference items will be sent to the book stacks, and anyone will be able to check them out for personal interest, or a research project.  Here are a few of the titles we have to offer:

 

Fundamentals of Educational Research, 2nd edition.  Thomas K. Crowl. McGraw Hill, 1996.  Education Library:  LB1028 .C77 1996x

According to the publisher’s review “Excellent writing and excerpts from current research articles enhance this book’s comprehensive look at the fundamental concepts of educational research and facilitate student understanding.”   Some details are out of date, such as how to do an ERIC search on CD Rom.  The basics on considerations in designing research still apply, but the chapter “The cutting edge, using technology in
educational research”  does not.

 

 

 

 

 

Handbook of Literacy and Technology:
Transformations in a Post-Typographic World.  Edited by David Reinking, et.al.  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. Education Library: LB1050.37. H36 1998.

 

The introduction states, “A printed book about electronic reading and writing is not a contradiction, but a testimony to the fact that we are in the midst of a transformation that is not yet fully consummated.” The authors in 1998 could not have known how far we have come with the World Wide Web, online articles and e-books.   It looks like they hit the mark.  The book is also available as an e-book.

 

 

 

 

Handbook of Research on School Supervision. edited by Gerald R. Firth, Edward F. Pajak. Macmillan, Library Reference, c1998.   Education Library: LB 2806.4 H 36 1998.

 

This book traces its lineage to the Handbook of Research on Teaching, edited by Nathaniel Gage in 1963. Its purpose is to assemble the major scholarship and research of the field in a single volume; identifying the boundaries, concepts, and methods of inquiry in the field of research on school supervision.  As in most research reviews, each chapter offers an historical overview.  These are still useful;  one has to keep the publication date in mind.

 

 

 

 

International Encyclopedia of Teaching and Teacher Education, 2nd edition Edited by Lorin W. Anderson, Pergamon, 1995.  Education Library:  LB 1025.3 I58 1995.

This volume is intended for those who wish to obtain an overview of a specific area of education in a relatively short period of time. Members of this audience include graduate students, university professors working outside of their area of expertise,  or elementary and secondary teachers searching for a body of knowledge to inform, guide and/or justify their teaching practices.   Computerized databases are more extensive and more readily accessed, but the encyclopedia’s
review articles are more selective, and their research summaries are set in aframework decided by distinguished contributors, all experts in their field.  This is their strength, and also the source for their potential weakness.  Examples of entries include:  Teachers as Researchers,by S. Hollingsworth  Class Size, by J.D. Finn.

Cover photo from Amazon.com Click to look inside.

Wallace Wade: Championship Years at Alabama and Duke

September 20th, 2011 | Tags: ,, | Posted in Football | No Comments »

When we think about Alabama national championship  football coaches we think of Nick Saban, Gene Stallings, and of course Bear Bryant. However, we often forget about the first national championship winning coach Wallace Wade. Wallace Wade was the head football coach at Alabama from 1923-1930.  During that time he won three national championships and four Southern Conference championships.  This book, written by Lewis Bowling, provides an inside look at Wade’s life and career as a football coach at the University of Alabama and Duke University.  Wade came to Alabama during a time of poverty and political turmoil.  As Alabama started to win national championships, the Crimson Tide became not only became a source of Alabama pride but to the South.  Wade brought a very clear vision of football to the University of Alabama. His time at Alabama would provide a foundation for the Crimson Tide’s winning tradition. Wade would leave UA to coach at Duke from 1931-1950.  He temporally left Duke to fight in WWII from 1942-1945.  At Duke, Wade would win six Southern Conference championships. The football stadium at Duke is named after him.  If you are interested in learning more about Wallace Wade and early UA football history, then this book is for you.  We have a copy of this book at McLure Library.

Education Library: GV 939 .W2 B68 2006

Review written by Robert Burgess, Education Library Graduate Assistant


Bama After Bear

September 20th, 2011 | Tags: ,, | Posted in Football | No Comments »

This book by Donald Staffo, professor of Health and Physical Education at Stillman College, gives a detailed account of Alabama football coaches after the death of Paul “Bear” Bryant. The filling of Coach Bryant shoes would prove to be a daunting task. No ordinary coach would suffice. Alabama expects their football coaches to win national championships.  The first man that they choose was Ray Perkins.  He seemed a logical choice since he played for Bryant in 1960s along with Joe Namath and Kenny Stabler. Perkins coached the Tide from 1983-1986.  Overall, Perkins did very well with his team.  He improved his team with each year. Perkins is the only head coach at Alabama to lead his team to victory over Notre Dame. He also coached Mike Shula, who would become the head coach at Alabama from 2003-2006. The next coach that the book focuses on is Bill Curry who coached from 1987-1989.   Even though he was hand picked by Ray Perkins, Curry was not a part of the “Alabama Family”.  Many Bama fans were outraged by the selection of Curry, because they viewed him as an outsider.  He also had a losing record with his previous team at Georgia Tech. Curry’s first two years at Alabama were winning seasons, but they were mediocre. In his last season at Alabama, the team went 10-2.  Alabama shared the SEC title for that year with Auburn and Tennessee.  He was even awarded the SEC coach of the year for 1989. However, he lost to Auburn (a team he was never able to beat at any school) and to Miami in the Sugar Bowl.  Under Curry the Crimson Tide was okay, but Bama fans were not satisfied with okay. They wanted championships.   Curry left Alabama for Kentucky because his vision and the vision of fans and boosters did not line up.  The book then goes on to discuss the career that Gene Stallings had at Alabama. This book was published in 1992, so it did not discuss most of Stallings’ time at Alabama including his national championship win.   However, praise is given to Gene Stallings for the things that he brought to Alabama.  There is certainly  a lot of optimism about what Stallings would accomplish at Alabama.  This book is full of interesting facts about the coaches such as Ray Perkins endorsing Frito Lays on the coaches television show instead of Golden Flake, which was Bryant endorsed for twenty five years.  If you are interested in modern Alabama football history and would like to learn more about the coaches at Alabama, then you should check out this book. We have multiple copies of this book at McLure Library.

Education Library:  GV 939.A1 S73 1992x

Review written by Robert Burgess, Education Library Graduate Assistant.

« Older Entries