C.C. Thomas
Activities to enhance social, emotional, and problem-solving skills; seventy-six activities that teach children, adolescents, and adults skills crucial to success in life, 2d ed.
Malouff and Schutte's (U. of New England, Australia) first edition of this volume was titled Games to Enhance Social and Emotional Skills. The changes in title note this edition's enhanced emphasis on problem solving as an important skill in the management of a variety of psychological problems, as well as a shift in focus from games to other activities. The 76 activities are designed for use by psychological caregivers leading groups of varying ages and types of problems. The activities range from game-like to more challenge oriented, include background and suggestions for adaptation, and are intended to teach how to identify and talk about emotions, solve problems and cope, build self-confidence, set goals, persist, and engage socially. Additional materials introduce positive psychology and offer advice for leading activities. The spiral binding allows for ease of reference. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Campus crime; legal, social, and policy perspectives, 2d ed.
Fisher (criminal justice, U. of Cincinnati) and Sloan (justice sciences, U. of Alabama-Birmingham) present 15 essays on research in campus crime, especially student victimization and security issues. They cover the legal, social, and security contexts, particularly the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, student victimization rates, the role of alcohol abuse, the spatial distribution of frequently occurring offenses, crimes against women such as rape and stalking, and campus policing. Topics have been updated and new ones in this edition include high tech crimes and community-oriented policing. The book is aimed at students, parents, academics, practitioners, and administrators. Contributors are criminologists, political scientists, sociologists, planners, lawyers, security experts, and policy advocates from the US. Both subject and name indexes are provided. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The essential special education guide for the regular education teacher.
Burns (emeritus, State University of New York) suggests strategies for enabling children with disabilities to participate in the regular classroom, identifying classroom needs and curriculum involvement, and planning individualized education programs (IEPs). The 100 short chapters allow teachers to quickly access advice on measuring fluency and comprehension, selecting accommodations and supplementary services, addressing behavioral issues, and implementing disciplinary decisions. The guide also clarifies legal requirement under the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the referral process, the concept of the least restrictive environment, and meaningful inclusion. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Excellence in college teaching and learning; classroom and online instruction.
The statistics are stunning. In the US about 15 million students attend about 3,400 degree-granting higher education institutions to be taught by more than 1.1 million faculty, whether tenured or adjunct. What are all these people doing in all those buildings? From their research Henderson and Nash believe that students are not receiving the quality of instruction they need, particularly in the early years of college, and that faculty members need to upgrade their teaching skills, whether lecturing face-to-face or conducting courses online. The authors include exercises with their text to cover the aforesaid lecturing, collaborative and cooperative learning, classroom group dynamics, e-learning, virtual learning, and situated learning in cyberspace. They provide anecdotes, observations from the real world and discussion points and provide handouts, samples and analyses of exercises in appendices. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Improving police response to persons with mental illness; a progressive approach.
Twelve American academics, researchers and law enforcement executives contribute ten chapters examining the current developments, trends, and emerging protocols to improve services provided by law enforcement to persons with mental illness. Topics addressed include social policy concerning people with mental illness, the nature of police contact with persons with mental illness, police response alternatives, law enforcement training models, legal constraints, and cooperative agreements with mental health service providers. For police practitioners, mental health professionals, and social policy scholars. No subject index. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Legal ease; a guide to criminal law, evidence, and procedure, 2d ed.
Campbell, a forensic science instructor, and Ohm, a municipal judge, explain principles of criminal law, break down steps for arrest, search, and seizure, and take readers on a walk through the criminal justice system, incorporating the viewpoints of all the players involved. The book will serve as a reference for readers who need a primer on search and seizure, a blueprint for the rules of order for the court, and a reference on the definitions and parameters of crime. Appendices offer the Bill of Rights with brief explanations for each amendment, and a list of Web sites. B&w photos are included. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Music education; cultural values, social change and innovation.
Walker (music and music education, U. of New South Wales, Australia) argues that the goal of music education is to "teach music as representative and embodying cultural values," and that children should learn by doing. He describes the state of education internationally and how it has affected music education, in one chapter comparing the practices in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia with those in Asia and Russia, where the teaching of Western music has become increasingly popular. He focuses on the Western art tradition and its link to culture, and notes that a distinction between education and entertainment must be made, particularly when teaching popular music has become the norm. Other topics cover music and meaning through history, the power of music in people's lives, art music of the twentieth century, keeping education relevant to what contemporary musicians are doing, the importance of music education throughout history, classroom innovations, and the influence of psychological and sociological research. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Police vehicular pursuits; constitutionality, liability, and negligence.
Hicks (criminal justice, Loyola U.) synthesizes and summarizes the policy research and legal developments concerning police vehicular pursuits in the United States. Seven chapters cover public and police policy; previous research; liability and negligence; state tort law; federal liability law; use of force and vehicular pursuits; and national pursuit policy, technological proposals, and legislative advancements. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Self-instruction pedagogy; how to teach self-determined learning.
Mithaug (Teachers College, Columbia University) first identifies some of the reasons that special educators resist the use of self-instruction strategies when teaching students with disabilities, and then presents a four-step pedagogical strategy for empowering students to become self-directing learners. The method is designed to foster autonomous learning in all students, including mainstream students as well as those with disabilities. Appendices provide a bibliography of research on self-instruction and direct instruction pedagogies, and a validated self-assessment for evaluating teaching. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Teaching at the university level; cross-cultural perspectives from the United States and Russia.
While professors in colleges and universities are recognized as being highly knowledgeable in their subject area, few entering the profession have undergone formalized training to prepare them to teach their subject to others. Seven academics from the U.S. and Russia contribute nine chapters to a text for university faculty, particularly those at the beginning stage of their career, which offers an important social-pedagogical bases of teaching in higher education. Topics addressed include the uniqueness of the higher educational environment, motivation and classroom management techniques, student-centered and teacher-centered teaching techniques, active teaching methods, specialized processes of teaching and personal development in a multicultural group, and criteria for student learning outcomes. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
