Book+Suggestions+for+Second+Semester

//Gee J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning. New York: Palgrave Excerpts form Amazon.com:// "Gee astutely points out that for video game makers, unlike schools, failing to engage children is not an option."--Terrence Hackett, //The// //Chicago Tribune// "These games succeed because, according to Gee, they gradually present information that is actually needed to perform deeds."--Norman A. Lockman, //USA Today//"James Paul Gee's //What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy// has been a transformative work. Gee might be described as the Johnny Appleseed of the serious games movement, planting seeds that are springing new growth everywhere we look. More than anyone else, he has forced educators, parents, policy makers, journalists, and foundations to question their assumptions and transform their practices. Gee combines the best contemporary scholarship in the learning scientists with a gamer's understanding of what is engaging about this emerging medium."--Henry Jenkins, author of //Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide//

//Medina, J. (2008). Brain Rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at home and school. Seattle, Wa Pear Press I like the sound of this one for the second semester book. It recognizes that the brain isn't designed to multitask--its optimal state is to focus on one thing at a time and visuals come first. this seems to echo wha tI read in the article focusing the Digital Brain from Educational Leadership.//

Publisher's Weekly: Multitasking is the great buzz word in business today, but as developmental molecular biologist Medina tells readers in a chapter on attention, the brain can really only focus on one thing at a time. This alone is the best argument for not talking on your cellphone while driving. Medina (//The Genetic Inferno//) presents readers with a basket containing an even dozen good principles on how the brain works and how we can use them to our benefit at home and work. The author says our visual sense trumps all other senses, so pump up those PowerPoint presentations with graphics. The author says that we don't sleep to give our brain a rest—studies show our neurons firing furiously away while the rest of the body is catching a few z's. While our brain indeed loses cells as we age, it compensates so that we continue to be able to learn well into our golden years. Many of these findings and minutiae will be familiar to science buffs, but the author employs an appealing style, with suggestions on how to apply his principles, which should engage all readers. DVD not seen by //PW.////(Mar.)//

//Lantierri, L. (2008) Building emotional intelligence. boulder, CO: Sounds True//

//Publisher's Weekly:// Although this book doesn't have a specific te//ch angle, these skills are touted as some of the most important traits of a well-rounded student. With cyber noise coming at teens in the six hours a day they spend hooked up, the ability to quiet the mind and cultivate inner resiliency become even more important.// What's the most important piece of your child's educational program? If you think it's math, science, or grammar, you might be overlooking an element that is fast becoming essential in today's stressful world: cultivating inner resiliency. In Building Emotional Intelligence, pioneering educator Linda Lantieri joins forces with internationally renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman to offer a breakthrough guide for helping children quiet their minds, calm their bodies, and identify and manage their emotions. Now available to the public for the first time, here are Lantieri's proven techniques arranged according to age group, complemented by a spoken-word CD with exercises presented by Goleman. "We need a new vision of education that includes the mind and the heart," says Lantieri. With Building Emotional Intelligence, parents, teachers, and caregivers have the tools necessary to help build these invaluable skills in the children they raise.

//A Whole New Mind// by Daniel Pink

This title looks at the importance of developing creative, right brain abilities, the very skills that can not be outsourced to India and China. Read the synopsis and weigh in: [|Amazon Synopsis]