An Illustrative Dictionary of Semantics

The significance of “meaning” goes beyond the word-level. Few disciplines, if at all, would do away with the knowledge and principles of semantics in their spoken and written discourse. ILLUDS is an illustrative dictionary of semantics aiming to provide language researchers with the key terms, terminologies, and phrases with even slight or indirect relation to semantics that appear in linguistics coursebooks and reference books. About 150 references have been used to compile this dictionary, one feature among several others that makes this book the first of its kind in content, approach, and scope.

Basic Algebra

BASIC ALGEBRA

This is the best book around to teach the essentials of pre-algebra and first-year algebra in an easy-to-follow, low-anxiety way.

Basic Algebra makes complex ideas simple:

• Teaching material is broken down into one- or two-page lessons, each explaining a single principle.

• Clear explanations mean a minimum of intervention is required.

• Can be used for self-instruction or as a classroom text.

• A special section with practice exercises follows each lesson.

• Chapter checkout tests reinforce individual lessons.

Basic Decimals

BASIC DECIMALS

This book presents an easy-to-read format for the student who has difficulty with conventional math texts. There are graphic models, a step-by-step instructional format, both guided and unguided practice exercises – and an emphasis on world problems throughout.

The focus here is on hidden problems students typically have with decimals:

• • Misplacing the decimal point
• • Omitting zeros when adding and subtracting
• • Subtracting from a whole number

Students use the four operations with decimals, plus rounding decimals and making estimates – important topics in the current curricula and on tests.

Basic Fractions

BASIC FRACTIONS

This book consists of 38 evenly paced lessons written at a low reading level for easy comprehension.  Each lesson has:

• A single key concept

• Real-life word problems

• Examples, illustrations, and exercise questions

• Each exercise section has two levels of practice

• Guided practice with hints

• Independent practice

Contents include: equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, working with mixed numbers, finding the least common denominator, using fractions in the four operations and in word problems.

Learning, Healing, and Change: Notes on Teaching in Testing Times

Drawing on illuminating stories from thirteen years as a public school teacher, Ms. Coolidge challenges cultural assumptions about effecting learning and change, making a compelling case for a bigger-picture perspective in the classroom and in society at large. She shares personal insights about learning as an innate gift, similar to healing, which is fed by responsive interactions. Learning is at the core of all human endeavors and is essential for individual well-being, democracy, and social progress. Although rigid separation is our cultural habit, good teaching is embodied, integrated with the arts and play, and engaged with diverse perspectives. Ms. Coolidge offers food for thought on how 21st-century federal education reforms, by elevating the status of words and right answers at the expense of connection and meaning, have played a key role in a reactionary cultural backlash.

Nurturing Creativity Through Poetry Writing

After a few years of teaching high school English, Michael was disillusioned with uninspiring conventional curriculum. Good students simply tolerated the boring content-driven curriculum better than the less academically inclined students. He started reading about an old concept, through a new term: Emotional Intelligence. An epiphany struck: If emotional intelligence (EQ) development was more of an indication of future success than IQ and was vastly more teachable, why did schools not emphasize the development of emotional intelligence?

For the next 25 years as a high school English teacher, Michael drew and learned from vast resources to better understand, articulate, and embed Healthy Habits of the Mind in his everyday lessons. He developed a list of Healthy Habits of the mind which he could discuss with students. Appreciating a curriculum that became relevant and engaging, students invested energy and often discovered their own creativity and voices.

Eventually, Michael understood how developing writing skills and Emotional Intelligence strengthen and reinforce each other. Students who took more risks, succumbed to fewer fears, and developed a revision mentality were better at all life’s tasks, not just writing.

The Role of Language in Teaching Children Math

It can be difficult to recognize that in spite of the precision and power of mathematics, both the verbal and symbolic language it uses have the same qualities of ambiguity as every other human language. In The Role of Language in Teaching Children Math, Dr. Kastner reveals strategies to overcome the fact that traditional and current mathematics curricula, beginning in the early grades, fail to provide students with the conceptual understanding required to advance to levels where the delight of geometry and calculus become accessible. Kastner’s clear prose and organic organization assists teachers, parents, and students to untangle abstract meanings required for mastery in the field of mathematics.

"As teachers of mathematics, it is critical that we continually foster meaningful mathematical conversations with children in order for them to develop a deep understanding of the math. Bernice’s extraordinary, thought-provoking book is a primer on how the language we use to teach and talk about mathematics can either obscure or illuminate the profound beauty of mathematics. The Role of Language in Teaching Children Math should be read by any serious teacher of mathematics."

--Debby Halperin, Recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching 2014