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Teaching the Teachers

Berrett-Koehler Publishers - A community dedicated to creating a world that works for all

V 9:3  July 24, 2014
Happy Birthday, Amelia Earhart
Take Me To:

    
  









    







  





  
      







    
  





  
   











               



























 
Well...duh!





BK Communiqué

 
Spotlight
  
Why Read It? What does teaching
look like at its very best? How
are great teachers able to ignite a love of learning and change students' lives? What are the keys to accelerating learning for both teachers and students?

In this work, author Bob Quinn and his colleagues provide revealing answers to these important questions. For six years, the authors worked with highly effective teachers to examine the mind-sets, behaviors, and change processes that accelerate and deepen learning. The authors discovered a common pattern in these teachers' practices. Highly effective teachers stretch beyond conventional foundations of good teaching -- such as content, pedagogy, and classroom management -- to transform their classrooms into exciting, dynamic places where teachers and students cocreate the learning experience. 

 

These teachers cultivate a classroom community that gives rise to transformative learning.

 

Read a free excerpt here and buy the book for 30% off here

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For academic desk copies, please contact Mike Crowley.

For media review copies, please contact Katie Sheehan.
Publishing News
Teaching Teachers   

In this issue of the Communiqué, we explore how teachers can become the best at what they do and have the sort of impact on young minds that they have always wanted to have.

But what do we really know about teachers and teaching? For this issue's list, we present Five Things That Will Surprise You About Teachers and Teaching.
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Other News  

+ Hey, authors! Amazon wants you to settle down.

+ If you think your friends are annoying now, just wait until they're able to sell their ebooks on Facebook.

+ When Amazon launched its Amazon Unlimited plan, the big 5 publishers decided to get their revenge.

+ Singapore has halted the pulping of gay-themed children's books due to public and international outcry.

+ HarperCollins will now let you buy an ebook edition of a hardcopy you already own for just a few bucks.

+ The author of Cloud Atlas (recently made into a major motion picture) has decided to tweet his next work in a series of 280 tweets.

+ To some, the Amazon-Hachette standoff has taken on the rhetoric of class warfare.

+ Russia has slammed Marvel Comics for propagating a "cult of violence."

+ Hachette authors aren't responding too well to Amazon's gambit.

+ Barnes & Noble promises to be nicer to breastfeeding mothers.

+ Hillary Clinton received $14 million as an advance for her recently-released memoir -- a memoir that has sold dismally. Now, heads are going to roll.

+ The effectiveness of free e-books is declining.

+ For those who remain nervous that George R. R. Martin will pass away before completing his Game of Thrones series, the author has something special to give you.      


+ It's an unfortunate fact that the greatest diversity to be found in literary characters seems to come from comic book publishers.
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Freebies 

+ Free Excerpt from a NY Times Bestseller: One Nation, by Dr. Ben Carson. Read an excerpt here.

+ Free Tools: Convert text from image files into editable text using NewOCR.com.
+ Free Resources: Find fifteen different bar code scanner apps to try out here
Marginally Unethical Life Hacks
Some things are ethical; some things are not. And then there are those things that help you get ahead that, technically, are not unethical, but, well --
Reading Books in China
Jim Bryant is the CEO of Trajectory Inc., a global digital book distributor working with publishers in numerous nations, including one of the biggest markets in the world: China.

Over the years, Jim has learned a lot about this robust new marketplace and so presents his list of Five Myths About Publishing Books in China.
Be a Pretentious Literary Snob
We provide you with obscure and impressive knowledge about  literature and writing so that you can be a pretentious literary know-it-all.

Free E-Book (for 48 Hours)
For forty-eight hours, we are giving away e-copies of Teaching That Changes Lives, by Marilee Adams, and all you need to do to get it is answer just this one multiple-choice question. (And no, we won't ask you for your name or email or anything else.) This offer is available exclusively for BK Communiqué subscribers. But act fast! After midnight on July 25, 2014, you're going to have to plunk down $18.95 like everyone else. Go now.
And if you're curious about the results of the last one-question survey (which asked just how much of your life you feel you settled for), you can see them here.
We Recommend
DonorsChoose.org is probably the best way to help teachers and students out directly without a third party. The idea is simple: teachers post requests indicating what resources they need for their classes and how much it will cost to obtain those resources. You then make a donation toward the request and get to see the students using what you helped to provide. Get started here.
End Notes



  

Last time, I issued this challenge. The answer to the challenge can be found here. The first correct answer came from Eric Carlson. But here's the problem: Eric didn't send his address or a photo or a link to an online bio -- so which Eric Carlson won the challenge? Was it this Eric Carlson? This one? Or this one?

Maybe it was the do-gooder Eric Carlson? Or artsy-fartsy Eric Carlson? Maybe surfer-bro Eric Carlson?

We may never know. However, a special mention goes to our tech correspondent-at-large Bob Lewis for his own creative response.

Your next challenge can be found here.

Email me with any comments or rants. Also, here is your new deceptively simple yet incredibly demanding addiction.

Oh, and here is your biweekly dose of random.

                       Jeevan 


P.S. -- this isn't real, is it?
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Enough, for god's sake, enough...
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