THE SKILLFUL TEACHER

The Skillful Teacher by Stephen D. Brookfield
Narrated by Jack de Golia
Genre: non-fiction / teaching / education
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook

About The Skillful Teacher:

Energize your classrooms with these key techniques for college teaching Students say the best teachers get them excited about learning, stretch their thinking, and keep them actively involved in class. But with increasingly diverse classrooms and constantly changing technology, each semester throws up new challenges for engaging students.

Discover how to keep your teaching, and your students, energized with The Skillful Teacher, a practical guide to effective techniques, approaches, and methods for today's college classrooms. Providing insights, reflections, and advice from his four decades of college teaching, Stephen Brookfield now adapts his successful methods to teaching online, working with diverse student populations, and making classrooms truly inclusive. As well as being completely revised, updated, and rewritten, this edition adds six brand new chapters on:

Teaching critical thinking Using play and creativity in the classroom Teaching in teams Helping students take responsibility for learning Teaching about racism Exercising teacher power responsibly Readers will delve into what learning feels like from a student's perspective, as well as absorb the wisdom of veteran college faculty with whom the author has worked. Themes from the bestselling previous editions remain, but are revisited and expanded with the perspective of an additional decade in the classroom. This authoritative guide is now even more comprehensive to better serve teachers looking to improve. Whether you are new to the classroom or are looking to rise to new challenges, The Skillful Teacher will provide answers, expand your repertoire of techniques, and invigorate your teaching and your classrooms.

Source: Info in the "About The Skillful Teacher" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23059188-the-skillful-teacher on 11/11/2021.

Buy Link(s):

 

My Thoughts:

The author has said that the target audience for this book are teachers. College teachers. From the newly minted teacher to the oldest veteran with the hopes of helping them out. Very noble objective. I know for a fact that this book is written for adult teachers because of the language he uses. "Digital immigrant". Polemical. Truculent. I had to look them up to understand some of the words he used, and I am an adult teacher. ...When I encountered "truculent",... cactus and vegetables like spinach came to mind.

The author did succeed in trying to be helpful to teachers like me with this book! Kudos to Stephen D. Brookfield! I also like the honesty and the humour in the story telling quality. Especially when he is trying to explain a concept.

I don't actually know what & how Stephen D. Brookfield sound like, but, now to me he sound Jack de Golia.

Empirical Evaluation:

Writing Style = 4.5
Pace = (9 hrs and 33 mins)
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Meet The Author

About Stephen D. Brookfield:

Since beginning his educational career in 1970, Stephen has worked in England, Canada, and the United States, teaching and consulting in a variety of adult, community, organizational and higher education settings. His overall project is to help people learn to think critically about the dominant ideologies they have internalized and how these can be challenged. He is particularly interested in methodologies of critical thinking, discussion and dialog, critical reflection, leadership, and the exploration of power dynamics, particularly around racial identity and white supremacy. To that end he has written, co-written or edited twenty books on adult learning, teaching, critical thinking, discussion methods, critical theory, leadership and teaching race, six of which have won the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education (in 1986, 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011 and 2012). His academic appointments have included positions at the University of British Columbia, Teachers College Columbia University (New York), Harvard University and the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul. He has consulted with numerous organizations and institutions across the world and delivered multiple workshops and conference keynotes. He is currently part-time Antioch University Distinguished Scholar, Adjunct Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University (New York) and Emeritus Professor at the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis-St. Paul).

His most recent book - Becoming a White Antiracist: A Practical Guide for Educators, Leaders and Activists (co-authored with Mary Hess) is published by Stylus Publishers.

He also leads a pop punk, rock & roll band - The 99ers - who are currently recording their 7th album. Listen to The 99ers at the99ersband.com and at https://the99ers.bandcamp.com/music. Also on I Tunes, Spotify & other streaming services.

You can find Stephen’s educational Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/BrookfieldWorkshops/

His Wikipedia Entry can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Brookfield

www.stephenbrookfield.com | twitter | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Jack de Golia:

Jack records in a Gretch-Ken Pro double walled sound isolation booth, using a Studio Projects C1 mic, Scarlett Solo interface, and MacBook Air computer running the Twisted Wave recording app.

A veteran audiobook narrator, e-learning voice, video game actor, and storyteller: Jack will give you winning, ahead-of-schedule voice work for audiobooks, e-learning, political ads, cartoons, commercials and videogames, and anything involving character voices. With a PR & stage-acting career spanning four decades, Jack brings a seasoned and always fresh approach to voiceover work. It’s been said he has the voice of “every man’s man.” While Jack is based in Las Vegas, his studio lets him work all over the world as a male voice actor.

website | twitter | facebook | linkedin | soundcloud | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
This book in it's various formats were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

Review: HUNTER

Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
Book 1 of the Hunter series
Narrated by Amy Landon
Genre: dystopian fantasy YA
Format: hardback, ebook, & audiobook

About Hunter:

They came after the Diseray. Some were terrors ripped from our collective imaginations, remnants of every mythology across the world. And some were like nothing anyone had ever dreamed up, even in their worst nightmares. Monsters. Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it’s taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous creatures fighting to break through. Others are not so lucky.

To Joyeaux Charmand, who has been a Hunter in her tight-knit mountain community since she was a child, every Cit without magic deserves her protection from dangerous Othersiders. Then she is called to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the most important people.

Joy soon realizes that the city’s powerful leaders care more about luring Cits into a false sense of security than protecting them. More and more monsters are getting through the barriers, and the close calls are becoming too frequent to ignore. Yet the Cits have no sense of how much danger they’re in — to them, Joy and her corps of fellow Hunters are just action stars they watch on TV.

When an act of sabotage against Joy takes an unbearable toll, she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy in the city. There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex. And it may be too late to stop them…

Source: Info in the About Hunter was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24397041-hunter on 28/09/2015.

Buy Link(s):

My Thoughts:

It took me a while to get into the post-apocalyptic dystopian world. I don't know, it just feels like somehow it lacks reality in fantasy. Gives off the "too surreal" to be real vibes. I was having a difficult time suspending disbelief. This made the pace considerably slower than I expected for a Mercedes Lackey book, even with the convenience of the audiobook format. This brought the rating of this book a notch or two down. But I soldiered on because I am an old fan of this author. I usually like her story telling quality even if it doesn't seem to be so apparent in this book.

The ending is a cliffhanger. Does not even end a dilemma that would justify an ending of a book. This is just a chapter of a bigger book.

There isn't a plot. Just a beginning of a plot.

Amy Landon's voice sounds young and fits the teen protagonist like a glove. She reminds me very strongly of Jenna Lamia. They have the same style of reading. Automaton-like.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3
Writing Style = 3
Ending = 1
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 2
Plot = 1
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Hunter Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Mercedes Lackey:

Mercedes entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70's she worked as an artist's model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.

"I'm a storyteller; that's what I see as `my job.' My stories come out of my characters; how those characters would react to the given situation. Maybe that's why I get letters from readers as young as thirteen and as old as sixty-odd. One of the reasons I write song lyrics is because I see songs as a kind of `story pill' -- they reduce a story to the barest essentials or encapsulate a particular crucial moment in time. I frequently will write a lyric when I am attempting to get to the heart of a crucial scene; I find that when I have done so, the scene has become absolutely clear in my mind, and I can write exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is because of the kind of novels I am writing: that is, fantasy, set in an other-world semi-medieval atmosphere. Music is very important to medieval peoples; bards are the chief newsbringers. When I write the `folk music' of these peoples, I am enriching my whole world, whether I actually use the song in the text or not.

"I began writing out of boredom; I continue out of addiction. I can't `not' write, and as a result I have no social life! I began writing fantasy because I love it, but I try to construct my fantasy worlds with all the care of a `high-tech' science fiction writer. I apply the principle of TANSTAAFL [`There ain't no such thing as free lunch', credited to Robert Heinlein) to magic, for instance; in my worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. I try to keep my world as solid and real as possible; people deal with stubborn pumps, bugs in the porridge, and love-lives that refuse to become untangled, right along with invading armies and evil magicians. And I try to make all of my characters, even the `evil magicians,' something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.

"I suppose that in everything I write I try to expound the creed I gave my character Diana Tregarde in Burning Water:

"There's no such thing as `one, true way'; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good -- they're the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren't willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race."

Also known as Misty Lackey

www.mercedeslackey.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads

The Narrator

About Amy Landon:

Amy Landon is a classically trained actress with numerous off-Broadway, film, and television credits. Her voice can also be heard on many television and radio commercials. She has an easy facility with dialects, which she also coaches and teaches, and she is happy to find her lifelong obsession with books is matching up with her acting and vocal work.

www.landonamy.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | goodreads

Review: MAGIC SHIFTS

Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews
Narrated by Renee Raudman
Book 8 of the Kate Daniels series
Genre: urban fantasy

About Magic Shifts:

In the latest Kate Daniels novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews, magic is coming and going in waves in post-Shift Atlanta—and each crest leaves danger in its wake…

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece…

Source: Info in the About Magic Shifts was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12119529-untitled on 31/10/2013.

My Thoughts:

Admittedly I am an old die-hard fan of Ilona Andrews, so please forgive my fan-girling here. Because there simply is nothing I could see that is negative about this book! Compelling story telling quality, substantial plot build-up, masterful character development and wonderful world building... What else can I say? ...Having said that I wish that, Renee Raudman's voice is as pleasing to the ears as Therese Plummer's, but that is all forgivable given the goodness of this book! Couldn't wait to get my hands on the next book!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Kate Daniels Series: