Showing titles in Educators

Dr. Mervin Jenkins—hip-hop artist, educator, husband, and father—takes readers on a journey in leadership unlike any other. It is a story of a reluctant learner/leader and how his lived experiences, sometimes referenced as “sword in the stone” moments, have contributed to his life’s purpose. His life transformation from average to spectacular did not come without its share of crucial and heartfelt moments. Dr. Jenkins took a pair of things that many said could never coexist, hip-hop and “traditional” education, and made the melding of the two his life’s work. In To the Beat ...

You Smell Better Than Soap: Education, Humanity, and Hope in Lockdown is a compelling collection of stories by a college professor who shares her transformative journey teaching inside the prison system. With honesty and insight, she recounts the emotional and intellectual complexities of bringing college-level education to incarcerated men and women. The title, inspired by a student’s disarming compliment, reflects the raw humanity and unexpected connections formed behind bars.

In An Entrepreneurial Journey Through Life: Learning, Loving, and Laughing, Ralph Z. "Bud" Sorenson, former president of Babson College, shares his own experiences to illustrate an important truth: being entrepreneurial" goes far beyond starting new businesses—though that is certainly a part of it in fact, the "an entrepreneurial" mindset applies to all aspects of life, from choosing a career to finding a place to live to making the most out of your retirement.

Arthur Manning was a college student in the late sixties and early seventies and was part of the counterculture which was prominent at that time. Shortly before he graduated with a degree in biology, he gave his heart to Jesus Christ. This book is his account of his pre-Christian days and mostly what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in his life in the nearly fifty years since then. It details his time in a radical Christian commune, service in a storefront ministry in Baltimore city, service in a household ministry in the Baltimore suburbs, career in teaching science from a biblical ...

Today’s children, especially teenagers, live in a world that is much different than the one that existed just twenty years ago. A drastically changed family dynamic and the advent of social media have forced young people to grow up in a more fragile environment, one without the stability they need and with the constant pressure of scrutiny from peers and others they don’t even know. The effects of these factors have led to suicide becoming the second leading cause of death in teenagers in America! Circumstance has deprived these kids of the stability and perspective that they so ...

Jim Zervanos, a seasoned high-school English teacher and father of two, embarks on a mission at the cusp of a new school year. He realizes that today's youth are thrust into a tumultuous world and burdened with saving it. To chronicle this extraordinary period in America, he assigns himself a unique task: keeping a journal.

The year is 1940. The place is Amsterdam, Holland. In a Europe that is torn apart by a Nazi regime, Sonia is forced to come to grips with unbelievable losses: her husband, her family, her way of life - all by the age of 21. In And No More Sorrow, Pelzman, Sonia's daughter, vividly and masterfully presents her mother's story against the historical backdrop that took place during Hitler's regime. Sonja's story teaches the listener that ultimately, it is hope, love, family, and friends that motivate and guide us through our most challenging moments.

As a young English teacher keen to make a difference in the world, Michelle Kuo took a job at a tough school in the Mississippi Delta, sharing books and poetry with a young African-American teenager named Patrick and his classmates. For the first time, these kids began to engage with ideas and...

Music in the Halls reveals the inner workings of a high-poverty District of Columbia Public School. In it, Jankowski brings to light the visceral and emotional nature of childhood poverty and trauma and how it not only impacts a student’s ability to learn but also how it restricts their ability to live a full life.

Life is never easy, but there are times when it feels like everything is against you. Tyra Hodge grew up feeling the world's weight pressing down on her. A nagging feeling awakened, whispering how she would never amount to anything the older she got. Daunted by the increasing demands of education and her private struggles, Tyra turned away.

I traveled from Washington to California when I was 18 years old to receive missionary training. What I found when I arrived here was a handsome young man that wanted to date me. He was John Hargrove, a brilliant student of the Bible. We saw each other daily and fell in love. Two and a half months later, we married and stayed together for 58 years until he passed away. The best thing he gave me were five wonderful children. This is his story.

One teacher. One school. One year. Brendan James Murray has been a high school teacher for more than ten years. In that time he has seen hundreds of kids move through the same hallways and classrooms - boisterous, angry, shy, big-hearted, awkward - all of them on the journey to adulthood. In The...

Maria Montessori non fu certo una donna comune. Capace di destare le più entusiastiche adesioni e le critiche più malevole, fu oggetto al suo tempo di illazioni, maldicenze, pettegolezzi e, ancor oggi, il suo senso di libertà e le scomode novità del suo pensiero suscitano reazioni contrastanti.

Before she was an author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels, N. D. Jones was an educator. In her essay, she reflects on her 20-plus years as an educator in a field where most public school teachers and administrators are middle-class White women responsible for the academic future of more than 20 million students of color. Jones’ insights come from her years of facilitating cultural proficiency professional development for employees in a White-dominated public school system where all is supposed to mean all, yet racial inequity and disproportionality persist.

In childhood, Amy Hallberg receives a dollhouse that—while given with love—carries steep expectations. Forty years later, Amy walks away from her teaching career to forge a new life as a writer. The dollhouse reemerges as a mirror on Minnesota Nice, that familiar culture Amy’s been afraid to examine too closely.

Born 1706 in Boston, Benjamin Franklin was the 15th of his father's 17 children. He went to school as a child with the intent of becoming a minister, as his father, Josiah, intended. However, that idea was dropped after Franklin showed a keen interest in reading and writing. He was apprenticed to his brother, James, at a young age, but after fighting with his brother he quit the job and moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for a man named Samuel Keimer.

From the author of international bestsellers A Circle of Children and Lovey comes an inspiring true story of a gifted teacher’s determination to understand the ‘rotten’ city kid everyone has given up on. Sitting quiet and withdrawn at a battered school desk, Luke had the looks of a shy...

Vince Copley was born on a government mission into poverty in 1936. By the time he was 15, five of his family had died. But at a home for Aboriginal boys, he befriended future leaders Charlie Perkins, John Moriarty and Gordon Briscoe. They were friendships that would last a lifetime. 'Always remember you're as good as anybody else,' his mother, Kate, often told him. And he was, a champion footballer and premiership-winning coach. But change was in the air, and Copley knew he had more to contribute. In The Wonder of Little Things, Copley tells his story.

Love and Fear — to own one is to own (have) the other, for both are found in the same entity. How would I, as Danny the child, and I, as Abe the teacher, run to and not from my Fear-to-Love? Perplexed, life throws me into this conundrum. So, teacher, love me for I am afraid.

The story of the teacher who changed Brad's life. Originally published in Parade Magazine...