Leader

Lindstrom, P.H. & Speck, M. (2004). The principal as professional development leader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

If you are batting for the intelligent, renewist and compassionate approach to student learning you are in the same team as Linda DarlingHammond, Richard Elmore, Raymond Barth, Linda Lambert and others, and you will enjoy this book.

The principal as a professional development leader is a new way of looking at the principal's role. This approach re-states teachers' professionalism. The hegemony of the blighted concept instructional leadership is predicated on the now dated view of the mythical hero principal who almost single handedly turns around failing schools. Far better to have a collaborative, shared leadership that builds on and strengthens teachers' professional skills and knowledge.

The difficulty in bringing about long-term change in schools has re-focussed attention on teachers' professional learning. A feature of this book is the "big-picture" thinking such as the nine components of professional development and the evaluation rubric (Table 2.1) which have international appeal.

This book is an excellent mix of theory and good practice, and will provide some of the best professional learning that most principals will undertake this year.

Corwin Press is to be congratulated also for its quality publications and support for education.

I have used the book in a variety of my educational administration classes including Introduction to Educational Leadership,The Principalship and Educational Administration Internship. The book provides the student with an opportunity to simulate many of the activities a principal typically engages in on the job. In addition, the In Basket Simulations, which are real scenarios, provide the student an opportunity to engage in problem analysis. The book serves to complement more traditional textbooks in educational administration.

In Prisoners Of The Paradigm, Alan Hafer presents what all school board members, legislators, and community leaders need to know in order to effective reform all aspects American public education. The reader will discover that with the creation of proper conditions the overwhelming majority of America's children can achieve at the same academic levels as students considers to be elite learners by today's public school students; that learning can be fostered under any circumstances; that the notion of educating children in schools directed, managed, and financed by local communities is still very much in the experimental stage; that future economic prosperity depends on increased productivity; and that knowledge is the key to a productive, secure, democratic society. Prisoners Of The Paradigm is basic and necessary reading for education professionals and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in seeing the public education system improved for future generations of children.

The Privilege For Which We Struggled surveys the fifty-five year epic struggle of Minnesota women to win the right to vote. Showcasing twenty five women who lead the political fight to enfranchise women, the informative text is enhanced with rare historical photographs and the reproduction of a little-known article from the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune from April 4, 1915, featuring a cartoon of Minnesota suffragists planting their gardens with the yellow flowers symbolic off the suffrage movement. The Privilege For Which We Struggled is an important, seminal, scholarly, highly recommended and welcome contribution to women's studies in general, and the history of the women's suffrage movement in particular.

If you are striving to understand why you are experiencing difficult circumstances and other pressures, perhaps, you are a leader in the making. This book gives amazing insight into the process of balanced development required for one who wants to know God more deeply and to be used by Him more effectively. Read this book and be encouraged and challenged. It is a must for leadership training.

I thought this was a well written informative book

Oplinger's memoir puts the reader: on-point in the mountainous jungles with snipers in the trees, and in the doorway of helicopter gunships with the knowledge that incompetent officers were , unseen, calling the shots, and it puts the reader in military hospitals surrounded by tortured bodies, and it also puts us on rioting college campuses back home. Best of all this, thoroughly engrossing book puts a memory of the Vietnam experience on the "pass-it-around" circuit. I loaned my copy to my brother-in-law- (a Vietnam era vet himslf). I can't get it back, he's loaned it to another vet. But don't let me give you the idea that only vets want/need to read Oplinger's memoir. During the late '60's I spent my energies in anti-war demonstrations trying to get guys like the author and his platoon safely home to enjoy the decade the way we were enjoying it. This book is also a connector for the vets and those who weren't in 'Nam but who were home working so that no American "boys" had to be there. A bit of history worth re-visiting. Recently I visited D.C. with my teen-aged daughter. We found ourselves walking down the hill towards the Vietnam Memorial. At some point as we neared the Wall, I froze-up with emotions and pain as I discovered I could not approach any closer to the Wall and the memories of that war. Choked-up,I had to wait to attempt an explanation to my daughter. At home, handing her a copy of Quang Tri Cadence by Jon Oplinger, I said something like, "Read this, it'll help you understand the times, the War, and your Dad."

Although I have never met Bob Crisp, I consider him a friend and mentor. This book along with his tapes, will have great impact on anyone interested in network marketing. This book shows you how to effectively lead an organization. Our industry needs leaders, and here he teaches real leadership thinking and practice.

My children are 5 and 2 and we all loved the book. It is simple and easy to follow. My son (who is 5) can even recognize most of the words. We had the pleasure of meeting Linda last fall, and her love of education and children is evident in her book. We can't wait to read more.

Rebecca's Return will strike a chord with all middle school students. Have you every wanted to be in the popular crowd? No matter the cost? You will see through Rebecca and her experiences, that nothing is as wonderful as REAL friends.