by Four collections of recommended books
- The Constructivist Consortium has compiled an extensive online book store for creative educators. Be sure to peruse these recommendations!
- Wanna be a School Reformer? You Better Do Your Homework! Required reading for school leaders, administrators and policy makers.
- Tinkering resources for educators
- Overlooked gems, books kids (especially boys) will love
The two best education books of 2011
Tricia Tunstall’s beautiful new book, Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music, tells the story of El Sistema, perhaps the world’s most exciting large-scale (systemic) education project. At a time when presidential candidates call for children to clean toilets as a way of “learning the dignity of work,”, El Sistema, teaches hundreds of thousands of children to achieve their potential as productive citizens by learning to play classical music at a level previously unimagined.
This book is a must-read. It’s incredibly well-written and reminds us of how arts education can change lives. The lessons for all educators, politicians and parents are multitudinous. I sincerely hopes this book reaches a wide audience, it asks much of each of us, but the rewards are extraordinary. It reminds us what it means to be human. You should also get the fantastic DVDs, El Sistema: Music to Change Lives and The Promise of Music to bring music and motion to the ideas in Tunstall’s fantastic new book.
Teaching Minds: How Cognitive Science Can Save Our Schools by Roger Schank
Dr. Schank is one of the leading experts on artificial intelligence, storytelling, simulation, entrepreneurship and learning. His new book is another fearless volume about what is wrong with education and how it may be “fixed.” Schank is hilarious, provocative and not a person you want to argue with. This important book may help cleanse school leaders of the nonsense spread by Pink, Willingham and Marzano.
From Schank’s web site: “Unfortunately education and teaching rarely means either of these things in today’s world. The premise of my new book is simple. We have all gone to school. We all know that school is organized around academic subjects like math, English, history and science. But how else might school be organized? There is an easy answer to this: organize school around thought processes.”
Honorable Mention Book of 2011
Wasting Minds: Why Our Education System Is Failing and What We Can Do About It by Ron Wolk
While I profoundly disagree with some of his conclusions and views on educational technology, veteran academic and founder of Education Week, Ron Wolk does an exceptional job of describing the current educational landscape. The data within the book is invaluable.
|
Soon-to-be-released Books I Can Hardly Wait to Read!
|
|
|
|
 |
| The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformationby Edwards, Gandini and Foreman is the most comprehensive book on the phenomenal “Reggio Emilia approach” to education.The 3rd volume of this comprehensive anthology will be available any day now. It is a must read and re-read for many years to come.Lella Gandini has made a spectacular contribution to Constructing Modern Knowledge over the past few years. | One of the great honors of my life was being invited by legendary educator and author of 40 seminal education books, Herbert Kohl, to make a small contribution to this new book about the importance of the arts in education.Being included in a book with Deborah Meier, Bill T. Jones, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Ayers, Lisa Delpit, Rosie Perez, Phylicia Rashad, Diane Ravitch and Maxine Greene leaves me speechless.I cannot wait for The Muses Go to School:Inspiring Stories About the Importance of Arts in Education to arrive! |
Deeply moving & often hilarious book
Regardless of your politics or how you feel about his films, Michael Moore’s new book, Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life, is a poignant, witty and exceptionally well written memoir of growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. This book really captures one person’s realization of the American dream. I highly recommend this page-turner for idealistic teens and their parents.
| My Ten Favorite Jazz Recordings of 2011 | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Unsung Heroes by Brian Lynch | Songs of Mirth and Melancholy by Branford Marsalis and Joey Caldarazzo | In the Element by Emmet Cohen | Roy-alty by Roy Haynes | Road Shows volume 2 by Sonny Rollins |
| This extraordinary new album of modern jazz in tribute to unsung trumpet heroes is by my friend Brian Lynch and earned five stars from Downbeat Magazine. | I’ve known Branford for 30 years. This new album is a duet with his longtime pianist, Joey Caldarazzo. The result is quite beautiful. | I met young Emmet almost a year ago and we’ve hung out ever since. He recently placed 3rd in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition. His debut recording is quite good and he is going to be a monster in years to come. | I heard Roy Haynes for the first time when I was 14 and his music has brought me more joy than perhaps anything else in life. He not only represents the history of American music, but at 86 years old, Mr. Haynes swings harder than any drummer alive. | Sonny Rollins may be the world’s greatest living musician and he’s finally enjoying the respect he deserves. He was given a Presidential Arts Medal and Kennedy Center Honor in 2011. This recording includes recent live recordings, including a rare duet with Ornette Coleman. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Forever by Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke & Lenny Whtite
|
Pinnacle by Freddie Hubbard
|
LIVE in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 by Miles Davis
|
||
| The first CD in this 2-CD album is unbelievably exiting and hard swinging. The second disc? Not so much. | I saw Freddie Hubbard perform live dozens of times and each note he played was exhilerating. This live recording is available for the first time. | Unreleased “bootlegs” by Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter & Tony Williams – what’s not to love?? Here’s my credit card! | This young vibraphonist has been called the “Mike Tyson” of the Vibes. Check out his terrific major label debut recording produced by mentor Christian McBride. | It’s been a busy year for the hardest working man in jazz. Christian McBride’s big band and all-star duet recording are must-haves. |
The weather outside may be frightful, but summer is right around the corner. You deserve to spend four days next July reigniting your creative flame, recharging your battery and learning with world-class educators, artists and inventors.
Join us to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Constructing Modern Knowledge, the world’s premiere project-based learning event in Manchester, New Hampshire – July 9-12, 2012!
Why not replace visions of sugarplums with the opportunity to learn storytelling with award-winning filmmaker Casey Neistat; tinkering with the Editor of Make Magazine, Mark Frauenfelder; project-based learning from one of its originators, Dr. Lilian Katz and explore the ultimate 21st Century toy factory, the MIT Media Laboratory, with Dr. Leah Buechley? Nine year-old faculty member, Super Awesome Sylvia, reminds us of the meaning of education.
Give yourself the learning experience of a lifetime and register today!
Veteran educator Gary Stager, Ph.D. is the author of Twenty Things to Do with a Computer – Forward 50, co-author of Invent To Learn — Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, publisher at Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, and the founder of the Constructing Modern Knowledge summer institute. He led professional development in the world’s first 1:1 laptop schools thirty years ago and designed one of the oldest online graduate school programs. Gary is also the curator of The Seymour Papert archives at DailyPapert.com. Learn more about Gary here.
Subsequently, you need lots of entertainment for your special car and motorbike coupled with you have taken on an absolute car dvd player. Effectively, I you have made a fantastic choice as it would be prefer delivering your main home to your personal car and motorbike and bringing trips, and many more. This is intending to make it easier for youngsters and in some cases older people if you’re ever dreary directly on those incredibly long 22 60 minute block trips country wide.Brand but by product a really good in car dvd player, I always recommend that you search at about a only a few information prior to going out and buying some.
Hi, I’d like to send you a copy of my education book, “Learn Your Way! SelfDesigning the Life You Really Want, Starting Now”, for review.
LYW, published in late 2011, is based on leading-edge insights from science, holistic learning and professional coaching and aimed at youth, 15-25 years.
Now a career planning and health education text in BC Canada, the book has garnered many accolades and offers many practical solutions to nurture self-responsible, self-empowered learning, which is the most promising direction of education, though most schools are loathe to support it.
Paper and e-version available.
Thanks!
– Michael Maser
http://www.learnyourway.ca