Worst Enemy, Best Teacher presents a powerful system to identify and learn how to best approach the person or problem that plagues us most — whether it’s a neighbor, a brother-in-law, a new boss, or the factory’s fiercest competitor — Combs breaks down problems and threats into more easily understood categories, such as conflicts that threaten physical harm, emotional pain, constriction of one’s ability to be unique, and intellectual threats and how they affect one’s world view and beliefs. Hands-on exercises, parables, and real-life stories show readers how to apply the wisdom gained from studying the opponent to any challenge, whether within one’s self, with friends or family, or between companies or nations, Worst Enemy, Best Teacher offers ingenious tips and techniques for learning from the enemy and converting conflict into resolution.
For fans of Andrew Smith and Frank Portman and the movies Election and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off comes a hilarious and satirical novel about the highs and (very low) lows of the electoral process, proving that the popular vote is the one that matters most. Stacey Wynn was the clear front-runner for Lincoln High student council president. But then French-Canadian transfer student Julia Romero entered the race…and put the moves on Stacey’s best friend/campaign adviser, Brian. Stacey also didn’t count on Tony Guo, resident stoner, whose sole focus is on removing the school’s ban of his favorite chocolate milk, becoming the voice of the little guy, thanks to a freshman political “mastermind” with a blue Mohawk. Three candidates, three platforms, and a whirlwind of social media, gaffes, high school drama, and protests make for a ridiculously hilarious political circus that just may hold some poignant truth somewhere in the mix.
Aida is planning to go to university and study science to get a practical in-demand job. However, there is a catch: Aida is a talented actress. When a famous theatre school invites her to audition for a spot, Aida's friends and relatives are excited about the opportunity. Everyone has advice for her, but Aida must make her own decision about her future. Her Own Worst Enemy is part of the Integrated Skills Through Drama series that teaches speaking and communication skills through the performance of a one-act play. This flexible curriculum is perfect for a class project, elective course, or drama club. As students prepare to perform the play, they study intonation and pronunciation skills such as sentence and word stress for meaning. They learn about body language and gesture as ways to communicate. They analyze the script as a work of literature and also mine it for language and rhetorical strategies to encourage someone, give advice, tease a friend and respond to teasing and talking through an issue. And they learn to apply those strategies to their performance and to real-life situations. A variety of performance options are featured, including Reader’s Theater. Background readings discussing the benefits of the Liberal Arts and STEM majors, as well as profiles of a computer programmer and an opera director round out the curriculum. A number of creative writing projects to rewrite the script, adapt the play, or even write a sequel allow you to extend the learning further. Your students will look forward to class with this innovative resource that utilizes drama in language teaching!
The Way of Conflict teaches strategies for using ancient wisdom and modern techniques to confidently engage in any dispute and reach a balanced resolution. This groundbreaking book integrates the wealth of conflict skills found throughout the world’s major religious and indigenous traditions with the latest scientific systems and conflict resolution theory. It uses the cross-cultural metaphor of the four natural elements — earth, water, fire, and air — to identify the innate conflict personality types and propose a productive path through the chaos of conflict. Combining her extensive experience as a licensed mediator and corporate trainer with wisdom gained from years of spiritual study, Combs uses assessment tests, anecdotes from indigenous and religious traditions, and illustrative folktales to show how to quickly assess a conflict and implement an appropriate resolution strategy.
Babblings of a Burned Out Teacher, Book Description There are many “experts” in our country that know what is exactly wrong with education, and they have the ideas to make it right. The sad thing is that many of these “experts” have spent very little time, if any in a school. It’s like having an operation with your surgeon only have seen a 15 to 20 second clip on how to complete the operation, if they have seen that much. It’s very easy to sit on the sidelines or in the stands and tell someone what to do and how to do it. That’s today’s society, it’s easier to complain about the situation rather than do something about it. There are plenty of items and people that are wrong with education who are working some how in education. This book discusses many of these people. You have people in every group dealing with education that have their own agenda and will do anything to get their ideas and agenda through. People need to be able to recognize those people who have the “hidden agenda” and get them out of the educational process. Education needs to be the quest for being self-sufficient. The educated person will be able to provide for themselves and their family. Education should provide people with skills to be able to solve problems they encounter. Today’s school systems are more interested in having their students become game show contestants rather than problem solvers. Schools are more interested on making sure students can answer questions on standardized tests, instead of teaching them skills they will be able to use later in life. The short term often is more important that long term, not just in education, but for many facets of life. Education should not be a means to learn how to beat or play the system. I have written several stories that can make you laugh or cry. When you are working with children, you experience many valleys and mountain tops. That’s just the nature of education. I have been in education for the past 25 years in some capacity or another. During this time I’ve been a teacher’s aide to principal in public schools. I have taught students from pre-school students to seniors. The students ranged from severe and profound to students who are quite gifted and talented. I can’t count the number of Individual Education Plans that I have attended. Some of my students could look at a book and get a 100% on a test over the contents of the book without reading it. In education, you teach students who run the spectrum of ability. Reading this book, you need to realize the students are talented in different areas. A student who likes science might not be the best at physical education. Students are just like everyone else in society, they have their own unique skills, talents and abilities. As Americans, we can use these to our advantage. We can find a career that best fits the skills, talents, and abilities we possess. Coaching offered me another aspect of education. Being a coach, you need to be aware of the politics involved. The best part of coaching is working with the student/athlete and other coaches. Practices and games are a blast! You get to get to see and interact with student/athletes in an atmosphere outside of the classroom. A high school coach should not be judged on their win/loss record. Not every team will be a state champion. It’s how the players perform and act on the playing field and in the class room. Most parents think their child is going to be a professional or college athlete in the sport they are doing. It’s the coach’s fault that their child is not getting the scholarship offers they deserve. The school administration could end up being the worst enemy of the coaches. Sometimes they have their personal agenda which they impose on their staff, which includes coaches and other staff members. My post-secondary experience includes being an adjunct instructor, tutor to being English as a Second Language instructor. While teaching at th
Life can dish out some nasty circumstances: we get fired, suddenly lose someone we love or get really ill. Deidre Combs provides eight practical techniques to overcome difficult times by drawing from twenty years of cross-cultural research and consulting. Recognizing that tough times are universally referred to as battles or death and rebirth experiences, she integrates perennial conflict resolution and death/mourning cultural practices into simple approaches to help us reach stability once more. Combs introduces the four key phases of tough times and how to move through each with greater ease and support.
Yikes! As if being the new girl isn't bad enough, Charlotte just made the biggest cafeteria blunder in the history of Abigail Adams Junior High. There's no way that Katani, Avery, and Maeve will want anything to do with her now. Can a mysterious landlady, a romantic evening gone wrong, and a cryptic key to nowhere help four very different girls become the best of friends? Or will they remain worst enemies forever?
It's 1941 and ten-year-old Norman Mineta is a carefree fourth grader in San Jose, California, who loves baseball, hot dogs, and Cub Scouts. But when Japanese forces attack Pearl Harbor, Norm's world is turned upside down. Corecipient of The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award A Horn Book Best Book of the Year One by one, things that he and his Japanese American family took for granted are taken away. In a matter of months they, along with everyone else of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, are forced by the government to move to internment camps, leaving everything they have known behind. At the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, Norm and his family live in one room in a tar paper barracks with no running water. There are lines for the communal bathroom, lines for the mess hall, and they live behind barbed wire and under the scrutiny of armed guards in watchtowers. Meticulously researched and informed by extensive interviews with Mineta himself, Enemy Child sheds light on a little-known subject of American history. Andrea Warren covers the history of early Asian immigration to the United States and provides historical context on the U.S. government's decision to imprison Japanese Americans alongside a deeply personal account of the sobering effects of that policy. Warren takes readers from sunny California to an isolated wartime prison camp and finally to the halls of Congress to tell the true story of a boy who rose from "enemy child" to a distinguished American statesman. Mineta was the first Asian mayor of a major city (San Jose) and was elected ten times to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he worked tirelessly to pass legislation, including the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. He also served as Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Transportation. He has had requests by other authors to write his biography, but this is the first time he has said yes because he wanted young readers to know the story of America's internment camps. Enemy Child includes more than ninety photos, many provided by Norm himself, chronicling his family history and his life. Extensive backmatter includes an Afterword, bibliography, research notes, and multimedia recommendations for further information on this important topic. A California Reading Association Eureka! Nonfiction Gold Award Winner Winner of the Society of Midland Authors Award’s Children’s Reading Round Table Award for Children’s Nonfiction A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Title A Junior Library Guild Selection A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Bank Street Best Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit
Thirteen-year-old Holly's relationship with her best friend Andie is threatened when they both fall for Jared, the new boy in the seventh grade and a fellow Christian.
Worried about mean girls? Help your daughter respond and react to bullying where it starts---in elementary school As experts in developmental psychology and each a mother of three, Dr. Michelle Anthony and Dr. Reyna Lindert began noticing an alarming pattern of social struggle among girls as young as five, including their own daughters. In today's world, it is likely that your daughter has been faced with bullying and friendship issues, too---and perhaps you're at a loss for how to guide her through these situations effectively. Little Girls Can Be Mean is the first book to tackle the unique social struggles of elementary-aged girls, giving you the tools you need to help your daughter become stronger, happier, and better able to enjoy her friendships at school and beyond. Dr. Anthony and Dr. Lindert offer an easy-to-follow, 4-step plan to help you become a problem-solving partner with your child, including tips and insights that girls can use on their own to confront social difficulties in an empowered way. Whether your daughter is just starting grade school or is already on her way to junior high, you'll learn how to: OBSERVE the social situation with new eyes CONNECT with your child in a new way GUIDE your child with simple, compassionate strategies SUPPORT your daughter to act more independently to face the social issue By focusing squarely on the issues and needs of girls in the years before adolescence, Little Girls Can Be Mean is the essential, go-to guide for any parent or educator of girls in grades K-6.
