Showing titles in Educators

Brendan James Murray has been a secondary school teacher for more than 10 years. In that time, he has seen hundreds of kids move through his classes - troubled, brilliant, funny, passionate, struggling: every single one brings unique qualities or circumstances into school with them, every day. In this astonishing powerful portrait of a single school year, Brendan James Murray shows the ups and downs of school for teachers and students.

A Place Called Home: Quilting a Life of Joy on the Colorado Plateau is a place-based creative non-fiction memoir at its heart. It is a collection of stories about how finding my “place” was essential to finding my happiness. It is a template for others to find their own happiness within natural and human communities, inspired by a love of a place that calls them home.

Our existence is fragile. The being we are today may not be the same tomorrow. I learned that in many intricate ways, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, so I do not take today for granted. On the eve of Thanksgiving 2016, I received the diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. I have survived over three years now. But I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I do not even know if tomorrow will come.

The Criminal Class is based on the true-life experiences of an everyday teacher who makes the precarious career transition to an Education Officer in the prison system. Dealing with both the law enforcers and the law breakers, but not bound by any normal allegiances, he finds himself having to thread the rocky path of an outsider on the inside.

On a therapist’s advice, a teacher begins journaling about her school year in an effort to be more present for her family. Her journal documents the school year from beginning to end. Since her school year starts with a bad evaluation, which gets her put on a performance plan, the journal becomes a lifeline for saying everything a "good teacher" would never say.

Do you have hills interfering with your soul’s radio waves that keep you from connecting to God and living a life of peace? Struggling with depression after a painful divorce, Jeff Copeland found himself questioning God’s power when his radio lost connection to the worship music's signal as he drove through the hills. The Lord then confronted him about the hills he had in his life that kept him from receiving a signal he greatly needed: communion with God. The Hill in Our Lives dives into this innate longing for the one thing humans were created for, a real relationship with God, and ...

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.

In 1972 Lorene Cary, a bright black teenager from Philadelphia, was transplanted into the formerly all-white, all-male environs of the elite St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, where she became a scholarship student in a "boot camp" for future American leaders. Like any good student, she was determined to succeed. But Cary was also determined to succeed without selling out. This wonderfully frank and perceptive memoir describes the perils and ambiguities of that double role, in which failing calculus and winning a student election could both be interpreted as betrayals of one's skin.

In his first nine years as a teacher, Brendan Halpin goes from wide-eyed idealist to cynical, heartbroken idealist. Unique among teaching memoirs, Losing My Faculties is not the story of a heroic teacher who transforms the lives of his hardbitten students; rather, it's the inspirational and often unpretty truth about people who choose to get up ridiculously early day after day and year after year to go stand in front of teenagers.

After devoting half of his lifetime transforming his start-up business into a multi-million dollar industry leader, author John McLaughlin set out in a new direction: to teach what he had learned to others. Due to a lack of teaching experience, his only job offer was to teach entrepreneurship to prisoners at a minimum-security camp in North Carolina. John gradually builds an effective program until a scandal involving prison officials blindsides his progress and threatens to bring his teaching career to an unceremonious end.

This audiobook tells the story of the Brown family of Caswell County, NC, and their journey over four generations, captured in short stories, vignettes, and whimsical narrative glimpses. The Brown family’s journey began two generations earlier with my grandmother’s grandmother, Queen Evans, who was kidnapped in Africa and brought to North Carolina as a slave on a plantation of a White slave owner. One of the many duties of Queen, the seven-year-old enslaved girl, was to serve as a “foot-warmer”.

Betty Pacutho Udongo was an elected member of the Ugandan Parliament when she founded the Nebbi Standard Academy, a secondary school in Northern Uganda. The school was founded to serve the needs of students in the region, but quickly became much more when orphans from a nearby refugee camp started to arrive after receiving word that they would not be turned away.

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.

Trouble is a Gift is the story of a recovered alcoholic who humbly asked for help in finding a purpose and meaning in his life, whose prayer was answered, and who then turned his dream into a reality devoted to the care and treatment of millions of sick and suffering addicts and alcoholics. James S. Cusack, alcoholic, caregiver, and astute businessman, recounts his inner struggles and self-doubt, the stages of his recovery from alcohol addiction, and the moment of clarity when his mission came to light and he saw how, with the help of God and a Twelve-Step program, he could fulfill his purpose.

Christy Engel Wilson began her educational journey working in youth camps and has since taught every grade from kindergarten to eighth. Her 25 years of work in professional development, student management, and instruction with English Language Learners has helped establish her as a primary advocate for high-risk students and school leaders promoting equity and restorative justice.

Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a literary titan who straddled the American 19th and 20th centuries. More than just a humorist, Twain was a multifaceted author, essayist, social critic, and entrepreneur whose legacy transcends mere entertainment. His prose shimmered with wit, his satiric scalpel deftly exposing the societal hypocrisies of his time. Yet, his empathy for the marginalized and disenfranchised pulsed beneath the surface, lending depth and nuance to his narratives. Twain's literary landscape is vast and varied. He immortalized the idyllic boyhood ...

On August 15, 2014, I received a phone call that would forever change my life. My husband of 19 years, Larry, and only child, nine-year-old Landon, had just died in a plane crash. This is my survival story. I say survival because at times I thought I would die of a broken heart. Although this story is the raw, vulnerable truth of grief, my survival is anchored in hope and faith that was shaken to its core. God met me right where I was and walked with me on the most difficult and burdensome journey of my life. My prayer is that my story helps pave the path for others on this journey.

Frederick Stewart, born in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was the first headmaster of the Hong Kong Government Central School for Boys (now Queen's College) and second inspector of schools. His consistent policy was to educate pupils in Western knowledge while preserving their Chinese identity, and he insisted on equal time for Chinese and English studies. By the end of his life, Stewart’s intimate knowledge of Hong Kong was considered unequaled among non-Chinese in Hong Kong at the time.

Born into slavery, Booker Washington suddenly gained his freedom after the American Civil War. This is a firsthand account from a slave around the events of the Emancipation Proclamation. The book covers the inspiring story of a young man as he works to rise up from being enslaved as a child, overcoming massive obstacles to obtain an education, to eventually become an advisor to the president. A truly inspiring and informative story.

With Inside Greatness, you're going to learn how different people express themselves through their professions and how they spend their lives on an everyday basis. The contributors to this book have spent hours upon hours honing their crafts. Their crafts are their lvies. This book helps you peer into their souls and see what gets them out of bed in the morning, and you can learn from them.