Textbooks are symbols of centuries-old education. They're often outdated as soon as they hit students' desks. Acting "by the textbook" implies compliance and a lack of creativity. It's time to ditch those textbooks--and those textbook assumptions about learning In Ditch That Textbook, teacher and blogger Matt Miller encourages educators to throw out meaningless, pedestrian teaching and learning practices. He empowers them to evolve and improve on old, standard, teaching methods. Ditch That Textbook is a support system, toolbox, and manifesto to help educators free their teaching and revolutionize their classrooms.
The author of the acclaimed Proust and the Squid follows up with a lively, ambitious, and deeply informative book that considers the future of the reading brain and our capacity for critical thinking, empathy, and reflection as we become increasingly dependent on digital technologies. A decade ago, Maryanne Wolf’s Proust and the Squid revealed what we know about how the brain learns to read and how reading changes the way we think and feel. Since then, the ways we process written language have changed dramatically with many concerned about both their own changes and that of children. New research on the reading brain chronicles these changes in the brains of children and adults as they learn to read while immersed in a digitally dominated medium. Drawing deeply on this research, this book comprises a series of letters Wolf writes to us—her beloved readers—to describe her concerns and her hopes about what is happening to the reading brain as it unavoidably changes to adapt to digital mediums. Wolf raises difficult questions, including: Will children learn to incorporate the full range of "deep reading" processes that are at the core of the expert reading brain? Will the mix of a seemingly infinite set of distractions for children’s attention and their quick access to immediate, voluminous information alter their ability to think for themselves? With information at their fingertips, will the next generation learn to build their own storehouse of knowledge, which could impede the ability to make analogies and draw inferences from what they know? Will all these influences change the formation in children and the use in adults of "slower" cognitive processes like critical thinking, personal reflection, imagination, and empathy that comprise deep reading and that influence both how we think and how we live our lives? How can we preserve deep reading processes in future iterations of the reading brain? Concerns about attention span, critical reasoning, and over-reliance on technology are never just about children—Wolf herself has found that, though she is a reading expert, her ability to read deeply has been impacted as she has become increasingly dependent on screens. Wolf draws on neuroscience, literature, education, and philosophy and blends historical, literary, and scientific facts with down-to-earth examples and warm anecdotes to illuminate complex ideas that culminate in a proposal for a biliterate reading brain. Provocative and intriguing, Reader, Come Home is a roadmap that provides a cautionary but hopeful perspective on the impact of technology on our brains and our most essential intellectual capacities—and what this could mean for our future.
Discover the possibilities of immersive technology to deepen student engagement; activate learning through hunts, breakouts and labs; and explore global collaboration. Our classrooms are full of individuals who learn in diverse ways, and educators need creative teaching approaches to enrich learning for struggling students. When applied effectively, immersive technology in teaching can target students’ interests, provide flexibility for a range of skill levels and empower students’ choice in their learning. The Immersive Classroom highlights the possibilities of immersive technology to make a greater impact and reach all student populations. The book: • Provides step-by step instructions for how to mix individual tools to create an ecosystem of immersive technology. • Offers examples from leading educators who have implemented the tools and techniques discussed, giving readers easy-to-implement takeaways they can incorporate in their classrooms right away. • Includes interactive content, with more than 30 images that can be scanned in order to experience AR/VR tools for yourself! • Contains a robust index of more than 100 AR/VR tools along with device specifi cs and requirements. With this book, readers gain insights into customizing tools through app hacking and app smashing, and discover how pushing the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools beyond their intended purpose can maximize their benefits, helping meet the needs of all students.
Master one of the most popular word processors ever with this essential, visual reference Teach Yourself VISUALLY: Word 2019 provides readers with a thorough and visual exploration of the 2019 edition of Microsoft Word. Written by the celebrated author of over 100 books on computing, Guy Hart-Davis, Teach Yourself VISUALLY: Word 2019 allows you to quickly get up to speed with one of the most popular word processors on the planet. The book covers all the topics you’ll need to comprehensively master Word 2019, and includes: Full-color, step-by-step instructions showing you how to perform all the essential tasks of Microsoft Word 2019 How to set up and format documents, edit them, and add images and charts How to post documents online for sharing and reviewing and take advantage of all the newest features of Word Newly updated to include the latest features of Microsoft Word, like how to collaborate on documents in real time, draw and write with the digital pen, new accessibility options and the new Resume Assistant, Teach Yourself VISUALLY: Word 2019 belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants to improve their effectiveness with this essential word processor.
Rethinking textuality, mimesis, and the cognitive processing of texts in light of new modes of artistic world construction. Winner of the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies from the Modern Language Association of America Is there a significant difference between engagement with a game and engagement with a movie or novel? Can interactivity contribute to immersion, or is there a trade-off between the immersive “world” aspect of texts and their interactive “game” dimension? As Marie-Laure Ryan demonstrates in Narrative as Virtual Reality 2, the questions raised by the new interactive technologies have their precursors and echoes in pre-electronic literary and artistic traditions. Approaching the idea of virtual reality as a metaphor for total art, Ryan applies the concepts of immersion and interactivity to develop a phenomenology of narrative experience that encompasses reading, watching, and playing. The book weighs traditional literary narratives against the new textual genres made possible by the electronic revolution of the past thirty years, including hypertext, electronic poetry, interactive drama, digital installation art, computer games, and multi-user online worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft. In this completely revised edition, Ryan reflects on the developments that have taken place over the past fifteen years in terms of both theory and practice and focuses on the increase of narrativity in video games and its corresponding loss in experimental digital literature. Following the cognitive approaches that have rehabilitated immersion as the product of fundamental processes of world-construction and mental simulation, she details the many forms that interactivity has taken—or hopes to take—in digital texts, from determining the presentation of signs to affecting the level of story.
The bestselling author of Einsteins Dreams explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science with passion and curiosity. He looks at the dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws. Behind all of these considerations is the suggestion--at once haunting and exhilarating--that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.
A comprehensive study of the pervasive role of immersion and immersive media in postmodern culture, from a humanities and social sciences perspective. Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and other modes of digitally induced immersion herald a major cultural and economic shift in society. Most academic discussions of immersion and immersive media have focused on the technological aspects. In The 360° Gaze, Christian Stiegler takes a humanities and social science approach, emphasizing the human implications of immersive media in postmodern culture. Examining characteristics common to all immersive experiences, he uncovers dominant metaphors, such as the rabbit hole, and prevailing ideologies. He raises fundamental questions about opportunities and risks associated with immersion, as well as the potential effects on individuals, communities, and societies.
Microsoft 365 is a productivity software suite designed to provide businesses and individuals with a broad range of tools and solutions for enhancing productivity. It was developed by Microsoft to cater to the needs of the modern workforce, providing an array of tools for editing documents, storing files, and communicating with colleagues. Microsoft 365 is cloud-based, which means that users can access their files and applications from anywhere and at any time. Microsoft 365 includes popular software such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, along with other cloud-based services such as OneDrive, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams. One of the key benefits of Microsoft 365 is its versatility, as it can be used by small and large businesses, as well as individuals. It also provides users with different subscription options and access to updates and new features as they become available. Microsoft 365 can be accessed on a wide range of devices, from desktops to tablets and mobile phones, ensuring that users can remain productive regardless of their location. With its collaboration and communication features, Microsoft 365 is helping individuals and businesses stay organized, connected, and efficient.
Photographer Michael Thompson offers a grand, almost fantastical vision of fashion, glamour and style. A compelling yet enigmatic sequence of radiant images, plucked from his fashion spreads, portrait shoots, and personal projects.
FOUR STARRED REVIEWS! NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book ° Booklist Editors' Choice ° Jane Addams Children's Book Award, Finalist ° A Notable Book for a Global Society ★ "An alarmingly relevant book that mirrors current events." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Demonstrating the power of protest and standing up for a just cause, here is an exciting tribute to the educators who participated in the 1965 Selma Teachers' March. Reverend F.D. Reese was a leader of the Voting Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama. As a teacher and principal, he recognized that his colleagues were viewed with great respect in the city. Could he convince them to risk their jobs--and perhaps their lives--by organizing a teachers-only march to the county courthouse to demand their right to vote? On January 22, 1965, the Black teachers left their classrooms and did just that, with Reverend Reese leading the way. Noted nonfiction authors Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace conducted the last interviews with Reverend Reese before his death in 2018 and interviewed several teachers and their family members in order to tell this story, which is especially important today.
