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The New York State Model is the centerpiece of NYSSCA's effort to transform Professional school counseling in our state. The model offers cutting edge theories on building andmanaging school counseling programs in schools around the Empire State. Also publishedby NYSSCA - New York State Comprehensive School Counseling Program: High School Activity Book; New York State Comprehensive School Counseling Program: Middle Level Activity Book; and New York State Comprehensive School Counseling Program: Kindergarten Through Elementary Activity Book. ... Read more

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Welcome to the Kaplan's Test-Taking Strategies course! This book will prepare you to do your very best on the New York City English Language Arts Test. There are 10 units in this book. Each unit is filled with hints and strategies (ways to help you work through questions) that you can use when you are answering English Language Arts questions. You will learn ways to approach and answer questions about main ideas, inferences, vocabulary, informational texts, and lots of other topics, too. The more practice using thestrategies you learn, the more prepared you will be for the real test! The best part about using Kaplan's Test-Taking Strategies course is that you can use what you learn in this book to help you on any kind of test you take from now on. So, sharpen your pencils and get ready to learn some strategies that will help you be the best test-takeryou can be! ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Education, published by Project Innovation (Alabama) on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 4894 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Adult's perception of field trips taken within grades K-12: eight case studies in the New York metropolitan area.
Author: Stefanie Pace
Publication: Education (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: Project Innovation (Alabama)
Volume: 125Issue: 1Page: 30(11)

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Simple text and photographs describe the duties and responsibilities of Captain Cruz, a ferry boat captain who takes people back and forth from Staten Island to New York City. ... Read more

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Describes the adventures of a twelve-year-old Bronx boy who ventured out on homemade snowshoes to help his neighbors during the Blizzard of 1888. ... Read more

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Follows an urban park ranger as he tends to the ponds, fountains, plants, and animals in his care and teaches people about the parks that form an exciting outdoor classroom. ... Read more

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New York ELA Advantage is a supplemental, research-based instructional program that introduces students to the content and structure of the New York state ELA Test. This program will help you prepare for the New York State English Language Arts test. Contains mini practice tests and strategies on how to take the test. Based on Kaplan's expert analysis of the New York state assessments, the Advantage programs use a scaffolded approach to prepare students for the unique challenges of the exams and help them practice with test-like questions to improve results. Would be a wonderful tool for those parents homeschooling their children. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1965 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The K-12 dilemma: what can be done? Joel Klein, at the frontier of schools reform in New York, urges CEOs to lobby Washington on behalf of public education.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT)(chief executive officers)
Author: Paul Rogers
Publication: Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Issue: 205Page: 70(4)

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This digital document is an article from Radical Teacher, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 467 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: K-12.(a case on First Amendment activities on public sidewalks in front of schools)
Publication: Radical Teacher (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 73Page: 46(2)

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In-Depth Teacher's Guide. A comprehensive Teacher's Edition guides instructional delivery and provides: 1) Presentation notes annotated to each student page 2) Analyses of common student errors. 3) Answers to practice exam questions. Proven Effective for Higher ScoresNew York Math Advantage is a supplemental, research-based instructional program that introduces students to the content and structure of the New York state Math Test. Based on Kaplan's expert analysis of the test, the program provides teachers with step-by-step approaches to help prepare students and enable them to apply and practice strategic approaches that improve results. Volume 2 covers: Using Number Sense and Operations; Working with Data, Statistics, and Probability; Understanding Geometry and Spatial Sense; Making Sense of Measurement; Investigating Algebra; Full-Length Practice Test; Putting It All Together: Final Review. ... Read more

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Sarah goes to New York City with Seänora Sanchez and her little dog Bonita, and when the dog runs away she feels responsible. ... Read more

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Mauricio Londoño's goal for his freshman year at St. Stephen's is simple: basic survival.

"I had no idea what could come of packing all those boys into one school building, how the competition would play out in relentless insults, the constant sorting-out that went on every day, all day, to determine who was okay and who was worthless."

Terrified and feeling like an uninvited guest at the all-boys St. Stephen's School, Mauricio Londoño sets his main goal for freshman year: basic survival. But despite his efforts to tiptoe through the school year, Mauricio can't resist the allure of the world inhabited by his precocious classmates and the drama that plays out on FaceSpace. When a cruel digital scheme sweeps through the school, Mauricio not only becomes one of its victims but also starts to think that maybe it's not so bad to be honest about who he really is.

Customer Reviews (7)

great primer for prep school boys
Great book for boys to read who are starting or in prep school.I went to a prep school not unlike the one detailed in this story.I had no idea what I was to encounter and would have appreciated a story like this to get me up to speed on all the craziness within and around school life.So many things happened that I would never have expected.This book captures the overall feeling that you get in these places very well.Great job! to the author and I hope she writes more...

Disappointing debut from a promising author
St. Stephen's is one of the most elite all-boys school in New York City. Mauricio Londoño is thrilled to attend the school. On the first day, however, Mauricio realizes he is an outsider and is not welcomed. Most of the boys have known each other all their lives and have wealthy lifestyles. Mauricio, half-Cuban half-French, has none of that. Now, Mauricio only wants to survive freshman year and the rest of his time at St. Stephens. Then, Mauricio is swept into an internet scandal along with the rest of the school. He soon realizes that people are not what they seem to be...

This is a hard review for me to write because I have so many thoughts about the novel, but none of them seem to make any sense together. Initiation's cover is an upside-down tie that looks like a noose. This suggests that some evil stuff happens in the book. While some bad stuff does occur at St. Stephens, I have read of stories where so much worse things happen at private schools (i.e. The Chocolate War) In fact, some of the stuff that happens in Initiation is not near as bad as stuff that happens in public schools. This just made the novel seem melodramatic. The way Mauricio reacted to these events only made him seem naive.

Now, here's the weird part. Even though I did not like the main character or the plot, there was something about Susan Fine's writing that made me want to read more. Admittedly, the novel became slow in the middle, but that did not stop me from wanting more. I guess I wanted more because I wanted the novel to improve, and I truly feel that Fine has potential to write great novels. Unfortunately, Initiation did not live up to (what I think is) her potential. Having said that, I look forward to other novels Fine writes.

From J. Kaye's Book Blog
INITIATION is an appropriate title as the story tells of Mauricio Londono's first year at one of Manhattan's most elite private schools, St. Stephen's School for Boys. At first, I really thought this book would be more of a coming-of-age story. It had all the right ingredients. He deals with bullies as well as his social status or his lack of it. Joins the wrestling team and sucks at it, finds a friend who doesn't seem to care about all that and falls in love - well, it's more like lust with his friend's sister. And then, the real chaos begins.

Trouble had been brewing all year. As much as possible, Mauricio stayed low, tried not to be noticed. That didn't work out. When things blew up, he was right in the center of things. The bad part was he had no clue what was going on.

I thought this was an exceptional book. What caught my attention about the book was its cover. I love it and can't for the life of me explain why. As far as the contents, this was a nice change. I normally read books with a female as the lead character. Jimmy, my son - age 15, felt it "portrayed life realistically." I couldn't agree more.

Smart, moving, impressive debut novel
Susan Fine captures the emotional life of boys and their confused acts of bullying with clear and memorable detail. Her experience as a teacher comes through in her sympathetic portrayal of her characters and her experience as a mother comes through in the way she cares for her protagonist--however, what I was most struck by is the author's creative voice. She is a writer to be watched as there is surely more to come from her. A great read.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
INITIATION, the debut offering by Susan Fine, follows Mauricio Londono through his first year at St. Stephens School for Boys. Mauricio, newly graduated, looks back and tells how he survived his first year. The cover of the book has a tie made into a noose on it.I know a lot of people who have gone to prep schools and from what I hear, the prep school arena is, in many aspects, survival of the fittest.Just as the GOSSIP GIRL series has drawn in the female reader, this book will draw in the male reader.

High school can be tough.You've got academic pressure and, of course, you have to deal with social issues as well.It can be the best time of your life or it can be the worst.

For Mauricio, the new boy at St. Stephens, it is a little bit of both.There is definite awkwardness as he navigates the hallways, classrooms, and social hierarchy of the school.He, as both the new kid and a freshman, is basically on the bottom rung.Mauricio learns very quickly that St. Stephens School for Boys is a very affluent school and rules that apply to most of the free world don't always apply to the boys here. Drugs, drinking, and casual hookups is nothing unusual.

These boys, most of whom have known each other from the time they were in cribs, have their own set of rules and their own agendas.They have no problem setting people up and watching them fall. If scheming was offered as a course, I am sure that most of the boys at St. Stephens would pass with flying colors.They have the means and the intelligence.Technology allows these kids to take schemes to higher levels.

For most of the book, Mauricio is in awe of the people who fall into the "haves" category. The huge apartments, summers in the Hamptons, jet-setting to this country or that country has a certain allure - especially when your upbringing is not even remotely on the same plane.Even though Mauricio doesn't want to get sucked into all the drama that unfolds around him, he can't help it since his raging hormones and heart's desire- Elizabeth - is smack dab in the middle of it.

The question is, will he walk away unscathed and getting what he wants, or will he fall victim to the cruel games many teens at times play?

After reading this book, all of sudden public school is a lot more desirable.

Reviewed by:coollibrarianchick ... Read more

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Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he burst onto the literary scene with Angela's Ashes, the Pulitzer Prize -- winning memoir of his childhood in Limerick, Ireland. Then came 'Tis, his glorious account of his early years in New York.

Now, here at last, is McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Teacher Man is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises he faces in public high schools around New York City. His methods anything but conventional, McCourt creates a lasting impact on his students through imaginative assignments (he instructs one class to write "An Excuse Note from Adam or Eve to God"), singalongs (featuring recipe ingredients as lyrics), and field trips (imagine taking twenty-nine rowdy girls to a movie in Times Square!).

McCourt struggles to find his way in the classroom and spends his evenings drinking with writers and dreaming of one day putting his own story to paper. Teacher Man shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents. McCourt's rocky marriage, his failed attempt to get a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, and his repeated firings due to his propensity to talk back to his superiors ironically lead him to New York's most prestigious school, Stuyvesant High School, where he finally finds a place and a voice. "Doggedness," he says, is "not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights."

For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in Teacher Man the journey to redemption -- and literary fame -- is an exhilarating adventure.Amazon.com Review
For 30 years Frank McCourt taught high school English in New York City and for much of that time he considered himself a fraud. During these years he danced a delicate jig between engaging the students, satisfying often bewildered administrators and parents, and actually enjoying his job. He tried to present a consistent image of composure and self-confidence, yet he regularly felt insecure, inadequate, and unfocused. After much trial and error, he eventually discovered what was in front of him (or rather, behind him) all along--his own experience. "My life saved my life," he writes. "My students didn't know there was a man up there escaping a cocoon of Irish history and Catholicism, leaving bits of that cocoon everywhere." At the beginning of his career it had never occurred to him that his own dismal upbringing in the slums of Limerick could be turned into a valuable lesson plan. Indeed, his formal training emphasized the opposite. Principals and department heads lectured him to never share anything personal. He was instructed to arouse fear and awe, to be stern, to be impossible to please--but he couldn't do it. McCourt was too likable, too interested in the students' lives, and too willing to reveal himself for their benefit as well as his own. He was a kindred spirit with more questions than answers: "Look at me: wandering late bloomer, floundering old fart, discovering in my forties what my students knew in their teens."

As he did so adroitly in his previous memoirs, Angela's Ashes and 'Tis, McCourt manages to uncover humor in nearly everything. He writes about hilarious misfires, as when he suggested (during his teacher's exam) that the students write a suicide note, as well as unorthodox assignments that turned into epiphanies for both teacher and students. A dazzling writer with a unique and compelling voice, McCourt describes the dignity and difficulties of a largely thankless profession with incisive, self-deprecating wit and uncommon perception. It may have taken him three decades to figure out how to be an effective teacher, but he ultimately saved his most valuable lesson for himself: how to be his own man. --Shawn Carkonen ... Read more

Customer Reviews (273)

Wonderful Mr. McCourt
Angela's Ashes was a masterpiece, so I felt a bit disappointed by his second book, 'Tis. Teacher Man is again wonderful. Full of great stories and honest insights with sentences that read like music.

An Honest Look into the Heart of Education
McCourt reveals such an honest look at himself, that one has to look at our own selves with such honesty.

He still wrestles with his painful youth, struggles to find his place in the classroom, flounders in his marriage and hungers for approval among his peers and women.

As he does so, we see a gradual doff of his "mask" and an entrance into self acceptance.
It is sad to see McCourt cling for so long to false hopes and fanciful ideals that really are not true about him.

Does he ramble? Yes, but it is a pleasure to read his exaggerated and imaginative observations.

Does he stray from talking about teaching? Yes, but that is because what his struggles outside the classroom manifests itself in the classroom. No matter where we go we bring our junk.

Does he have teaching tips? Not really. This isn't for teachers to get creative lesson plans, or clever classroom disciplines. It is about us as adults coping with growing older and a younger generation "pushing us out of the world."

We read books like this to know we are no alone in the way we feel and think about fitting in this world.

Teacher Man
This is an excellent series for anyone teaching or who has taught.Great gift idea.

Worthwhile but flawed
This book refreshingly relates the realities of teaching. Rather than offering a "quick fix" sappy story, as do so many stories of teaching, the book outlines McCourt's gradual metamorphosis into a good teacher. It was pretty tough going at the beginning, though. McCourt's derogatory view of women as nothing but sex objects was tiresome to endure as he told tales of his sexual escapades. His "chip on the shoulder" attitude to college professors - who work every bit as hard as he does - was offensive. His tales of his teaching at technical schools was a bit mystifying: did he ever actually teach anything, or simply read at his desk while they chatted? The book gets a lot better toward the end, as McCourt hits his stride in creative writing classes at an elite high school. Is the moral of his story that good teachers need good students?

My favorite Frank McCourt book.
A "must read" for every teacher and for anyone wanting a rich, well written story of classroom life in the trenches in the New York school system. My favorite Frank McCourt book. ... Read more