No comments about Blue Star: The Story of Corabelle Fellows Teacher at Dakota Missions, 1884-1888 (Borealis Books).

No comments about My Path Leads To Tibet: The Inspring Story of How One Young Blind Woman Brought Hope to the Blind Children of Tibet (Ulverscroft Large Print Series).

2 comments about The Hidden Curriculum.

1. The back cover of the book states that "In this informative and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the Rhode Island public school system. Perhaps the most glaring annoyance in this book is the use of capital letters FOR ENTIRE SENTENCES. More often than not, sections of the book seem to repeat what has already been said in a previous chapter. The only positive feedback I can give on this book is the fact that it is over quickly but not quickly enough to avoid being painful to read.



2. The Hidden Curriculum's preface states that it was written as encouragement for anyone considering a career as a teacher by "discussing the truly great things about the profession". It then goes on to discuss the truly horrible things the author experienced and continues to experience as a student and especially, as an educator.
   
   In fact, the book is a study in contradiction. Positive on the cover, (where Mr. Laporchio beams among his students), yet negative within. Positive in the subtitle (Life in the Public Schools), negative in the main title, Hidden Curriculum. As a result, the book lacks focus and cohesiveness;it is not so much about the hidden curriculum of the public schools in general, but the not-so-hidden political and disorganized nature of the Cranston School System. And chapters which deliver the promise to encourage new teachers occur at the end of this book.
   
   This is unfortunate, because Mr. Laporchio has some wonderful sections describing his truly creative and out of the box ideas for creating student enthusiasm in his class. He introduces his Top Ten students and discusses his success as Yearbook advisor. If he had focused more on his classroom success and less on his colleagues' failings, Mr. Laporchio would have delivered a sterling example of why anyone would want to be a teacher. Instead, he has created a bitter diatribe against his colleagues, especially in chapters 3 "The Skeptical Inquisitors" and 5, "There's Never a Traffic Jam on the Extra Mile", that encourages one to run--and fast--into a different career. One cannot help but wonder if Mr. Laporchio is less concerned about the hidden curriculum in today's public schools than with his own hidden agenda, where he is, in his mind anyway, a martyr persecuted by a corrupt system instead of an educator fighting for the rights of his students.

No comments about Delyte Morris of SIU.

No comments about The Life Of Richard Porson: Professor Of Greek In The University Of Cambridge From 1792 To 1808.

No comments about Alcuin And The Rise Of The Christian Schools.

1 comments about The Search for Thomas F. Ward, Teacher of Frederick Delius.

1. Since his achievements as a music publisher are familiar, may I recall that Don Gillespie's biography is a masterpiece of historical recreation--personal and yet factual, detailed and yet thorough--about an obscure but influential music figure in American music a century ago. For those who don't already know, Ward taught Delius, assigned to manage a plantation in northern Florida, more than he learned at the Leipzig music academy a few years later. One charm of Gillespie's book is incorporating his research efforts into the narrative. Indeed, were I a professor of graduate musicology, this is the sort of book I would give to my best students as an example of how to do uniquely valuable scholarship with otherwise forgotten eminences. The awards this book did not receive upon publication are hereby discredited

1 comments about I Dwell in Possibility: A Memoir (The Cross-Cultural Memoir Series).

1. Now in a newly revised and expanded second edition, I Dwell In Possibility: A Memoir by retired educator Toni McNaron is the personal history and testimony of a woman who grew up witness to southern apartheid in Alabama and who endured a long internal battle in search of her artistic and sexual identity. The thoughts, life history, and spiritually evolutionary experiences of an award-winning writer and educator make for a riveting, inspirational, and thoroughly absorbing read. I Dwell In Possibility is especially recommended for Women's Studies reading lists and academic reference collections.

No comments about The French Educator Celestin Freinet (1896-1966): An Inquiry into How His Ideas Shaped Education.

3 comments about Younger Than That Now: A Peace Corps Volunteer Remembers Morocco.

1. "Pure kif,"the legendary expatriate musician and writer Paul Bowles told me,"is the best thing in the world for a troubled mind." Younger Than That Now chronicles Michael Moran's hallucinatory trip through the labyrinths of Boujad,Morocco,where the Peace Corps volunteer lived and taught from 1981 to 1983. Part lyric,part fact,this book lays bare the inside workings of the Peace Corps and shows how each volunteer,no matter how estranged,struggles to make a difference.Through all the talk, repentance,and endless travel,one thing remains constant:Moran's experience is never PC.



2. I happened to come across this book in Austin, TX. The cover art was interesting and well done, very colorful, and it caught my eye. This guy has quite a tale about being in the Peace Corps in Morocco, among other things. There is a fascinating account of a meeting Mr. Moran had with Paul Bowles. He writes of personal experiences that were sincerely entertaining, and the man knows how to write. There is a sense of surrealism of this period of time, from 1981-1984 or so, that mirrors a similar mood of the early Reagan years. For a testament of the changing world around that time period, "Younger Than That Now" captures it as well as can be done. This book deserves to be read. It's just a great, all-around piece of writing.



3. Michael Moran writes an interesting book about his two years in the Peace Corps in Morocco. Although this book doesn't actually tell you much about the Peace Corps itself (something that Moran actually doesn't seem too interested in, despite his two year commitment to the program), it does show you one way a Peace Corps experience can go -- which is to say, he pretty much turned the two years of "service" into an opportunity for him to travel and have some experiences worth turning into a book later on. What makes this book worth reading is that Moran writes well and does not try to spare himself. He presents himself as a real person who is, at alternating times, naive, determined, pretentious, sympathetic, arrogant, or young. But throughout it all, he is intelligent and honest as he portrays his struggles with Moroccan culture and with his own life, a self-consciousness ultimately represented through his relationship with a Scottish woman, Janet Graves.

   A note: Don't bother to read the synopsis on the back of this book -- it isn't an accurate portrayal of the main themes or struggles of the book.

   I do believe that other Peace Corps writers (such as Thomsen in "Living Poor") allow their experiences to change and influence them. As Moran says in his introduction (excerpted above in the Editorial Reviews), he doesn't think that the PC really changes people, but rather dramatizes their flaws. I believe this viewpoint of his is a result of the mentality he had going into the experience-- he seemed to have been dissatisfied and somewhat lonely in his American life, and was seeking an escape in a somewhat strict and self-righteous way that didn't allow for him to be changed by the culture around him. Ultimately, I'm sure he did change, as we are all changed by our experiences, but don't expect this book to be a telling of how those changes occur. It's simply an interesting read about two years in an expatriate's life, but its honesty and the adventures contained within it will be captivating nonetheless.