Drawing on forty years of teaching and research, from primary school to adult education and workplace training, award-winning author Mike Rose reflects on questions related to public schooling in America. He answers them in beautifully written chapters that are both rich in detail - a first-grader conducting a science experiment, a carpenter solving a problem on the fly, a college student's encounter with a story by James Joyce - and informed by a deep and powerful understanding of history, the psychology of learning and the politics of education.

This book is a guide to the expanding world of indie gaming. It helps readers to understand why indie games are so important to so many people in the entertainment industry. The book covers puzzlers, platformers, beat 'em ups, shoot 'em ups, role-playing, and strategy.

The statistics come as a total surprise to most: 45 percent of college and university students do not enrol directly out of school. Many are part-time students, people who are returning to school after life intervened, or otherwise 'nontraditional' learners-and this segment is growing. Back to School is the first book to look at this population of 'second chancers', in a work that Make magazine calls 'optimistic yet simultaneously realistic.'

Proponents of education reform are committed to the idea that all children should receive a quality education, and that all of them have a capacity to learn and grow, whatever their ethnicity or economic circumstances. But though recent years have seen numerous reform efforts, the resources available to children in different municipalities still vary enormously, and despite landmark cases of the civil rights movement and ongoing pushes to enact diverse and inclusive curricula, racial and ethnic segregation remain commonplace. "Public Education Under Siege" examines why public schools are in such difficult straits, why the reigning ideology of school reform is ineffective, and what can be done about it."Public Education Under Siege" argues for an alternative to the test-driven, market-oriented core of the current reform agenda. Chapters from education policy experts and practitioners critically examine the overreliance on high-stakes testing, which narrows the content of education and frustrates creative teachers, and consider how to restore a more civic-centered vision of education in place of present dependence on questionable economistic models. These short, jargon-free essays cover public policy, teacher unions, economic inequality, race, language diversity, parent involvement, and leadership, collectively providing an overview of the present system and its limitations as well as a vision for the fulfillment of a democratic, egalitarian system of public education.Contributors: Joanne Barkan, Maia Cucchiara, Ansley T. Erickson, Eugene E. Garcia, Eva Gold, Jeffrey R. Henig, Tyrone C. Howard, Richard D. Kahlenberg, Harvey Kantor, Michael B. Katz, David F. Labaree, Julia C. Lamber, Robert Lowe, Deborah Meier, Pedro Noguera, Rema Reynolds, Claire Robertson-Kraft, Jean C. Robinson, Mike Rose, Janelle Scott, Elaine Simon, Paul Skilton-Sylvester, Joi A. Spencer, Heather Ann Thompson, Tina Trujillo, Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Kevin G. Welner, Sarah Woulfin.

The award-winning account of how America's educational system fails it students and what can be done about it Remedial, illiterate, intellectually deficient-these are the stigmas that define America's educationally underprepared. Having grown up poor and been labeled this way, nationally acclaimed educator and author Mike Rose takes us into classrooms and communities to reveal what really lies behind the labels and test scores. With rich detail, Rose demonstrates innovative methods to initiate "problem" students into the world of language, literature, and written expression. This book challenges educators, policymakers, and parents to re-examine their assumptions about the capacities of a wide range of students. Already a classic, Lives on the Boundary offers a truly democratic vision, one that should be heeded by anyone concerned with America's future. "A mirror to the many lacking perfect grammar and spelling who may see their dreams translated into reality after all." -Los Angeles Times Book Review "Vividly written . . . tears apart all of society's prejudices about the academic abilities of the underprivileged." -New York Times

Featuring a new preface for the 10th anniversary

As did the national bestseller "Nickel and Dimed," Mike Rose's revelatory book demolishes the long-held notion that people who work with their hands make up a less intelligent class. He shows us waitresses making lightning-fast calculations, carpenters handling complex spatial mathematics, and hairdressers, plumbers, and electricians with their aesthetic and diagnostic acumen. Rose, an educator who is himself the son of a waitress, explores the intellectual repertory of everyday workers and the terrible social cost of undervaluing the work they do. Deftly combining research, interviews, and personal history, this is one of those rare books that has the capacity both to shape public policy and to illuminate general readers.

The war with Germany had been over for two months. Still, more than 371,000 German soldiers were being held in prisoner of war camps in the United States. Some would not make it home for two years. A few would not make it home at all. Nine German soldiers lie in graves in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the tragic victims of a U.S. Army Private, for reasons known only to himself, who climbed onto a guard tower and opened fire with a .30 caliber machine gun into the German prisoners of war sleeping below. Nine captives were killed, twenty more were wounded. The "Salina, Utah, Massacre" is the story of interned men living out the last days of a painful war, what led to their being in a small corner of Utah farmland, and their hopes and dreams that were all changed on one horific night. It is the story of a cover-up by authorities and the remarkable resolve of a small town whose people rose up to befriend, help and embrace those who had once been the enemy. "They were just boys who wanted to go home."

For the teacher Mrs Troyd, the pressure is on. Christmas is coming to the little parish of Oddleton, and for Mrs Troyd Christmas means the children's Nativity play, awaited with great anticipation (or in some cases, trepidation) by the whole congregation. This year, however, all is not going quite as planned. Joseph is too shy to speak out loud enough to be heard. The little angels are squabbling over which way up to hold the Baby Jesus, and to top it all, Mrs Troyd's nemesis, Arianna le Grand, has taken her children (the Angel Gabriel and the Third King) on an unexpected skiing holiday. Who will stand in for the Angel Gabriel? Was it an unwise move for the Shepherd to have eaten three packets of Sour Squigglers and a Whistling Dayglo-pop before the play? And did donkeys wear sombreros in Ancient Palestine? Whatever happens, this will be a Nativity the parishioners will remember for a very long time....

Just when you thought it was safe enough to read the contents of a book, Twisted Tales was released. Compiling all new stories from 2004 - 2006 that thrill, chill and come direct from the twisted mind that is Mike Rouse-Deane.

Journey to far away worlds, modern life scenarios and dark and scary woods in this follow-up to Paperback Writer containing over 160 short stories all the twisted outcome of an over-imaginative writer.

From the imagination of writer Michael Rouse-Deane comes a book jam-packed with stories varying from the bizarre to the normal. This collection of short stories shows the development of his writing from 1992 to 2004--The Millennium Years, with the bizarreness that can only come from a mind that constantly over-imagines the world around him.

Michael merges both the normal workings of life, as well as the future prospects of "what if," to give you over eighty stories of immense strangeness and heartwarming pleasure. "Paperback Writer" is Michael's first book, and contains the writer's comments on why, how and what made him write such bizarre stories, commenting on each one of his stories in the Writer's Commentary.

Delve into his bizarre universe and emerge with a different perspective of the world around you. You won't be calling babies "cute" anymore.

"This big-shouldered book, full of ardor...offers us a reasonable hope that with attention and care we can again make public education what it was meant to be, and must yet be."—The Los Angeles Times.

Featuring engaging narratives, this "how-to" book delves into reflection as a concept and provides specific, replicable tools for professional practice. Each chapter draws on a particular school situation demonstrating the value of teacher reflection and describing the nuts and bolts of the process, including protocols for handling many different circumstances.