Faculty Books

A Companion to the Philosophy of Education, Randall Curren, associate professor, educational leadership; Blackwell Publishers, 2003, $124.95. Developed with the financial support of the Spencer Foundation, the book is a comprehensive guide to philosophical thinking about education. It is the only volume of its kind and contains articles by more than 50 international scholars of education, philosophy, political science, religion, law, psychology, and English. Contributors address topics as diverse as testing and measurement, critical thinking, the politics and ethics of schooling, church-state issues, educational choice, and knowledge and truth.

Tyll van Geel, Earl B. Taylor Professor and chair, educational leadership, and Randall Curren, with four colleagues, coauthored Ethical Standards of the American Educational Research Association: Cases and Commentary, American Educational Research Association, 2002, $35 ($30 AERA members). Van Geel also coauthored an article on the Supreme Court decision related to vouchers in the September 4, 2002, issue of Education Week (www.edweek.org then go to Archives, select the September 4 issue and scroll to commentary.)

Literary Discussion in the Elementary School, Joy F. Moss, adjunct associate professor, teaching and curriculum; National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), 2002, $26.95 (members, $19.95). The book offers a rich resource for pre-service and practicing teachers who want to build, extend, or enliven a program in which students explore the expanding world of children’s literature. Joy Moss draws on her 30 years as an elementary school teacher and student of literacy in order to present a theoretically grounded and eminently practical vision for teaching children’s literature in the classroom. Moss addresses specific teaching topics ranging from the selection of books for reading aloud, to the art of questioning, to an extended description of a thematic literary unit. (Taken from NCTE book description.)

From Literature to Literacy: Bridging Learning in the Library and the
Primary Grade Classroom, Joy F. Moss, adjunct associate professor, teaching and curriculum, and Marilyn F. Fenster ’00W (Mas); International Reading Association, 2002, $22.95 (20% members’ discount). The book describes how elementary school teachers and librarians can collaborate to provide rich and fulfilling literary and literacy experiences for the children they teach. Teachers will find that they can observe students’ responses to new challenges in a setting outside the classroom, and librarians will gain a deeper understanding of children that will help them plan literature programs and individualize their response to each child. (From
a review published by the International Reading Association.)