Customer Reviews (2)

Absolutely wonderful; I provide it to my substitutes
I've used it for years by putting it in my file for substitutes of my classes. I also recommend it to new teachers as a useful resource and very handy when all else fails. I'm now giving it to my daughter who isembarking on teaching.

Great source for cool lesson plans.
Freedman and Perl's Source for Substitutes is a great resource for short notice substitute situations. Rather than let the kids go wild and disrespect the sub, why not come in with a real lesson plan that is fun and rewarding ... Read more

Product Description
INSTANT SUCCESS has on-the-spot teaching activities divided into Rapport Builders, Break Activities, Spare Time Assignments, Lesson Plans, and Specific Discipline Techniques.No planning is needed as the new and substitute teacher may use the activities along with the students.The only section where reading is required is the Discipline Techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great Ideas
I highly recommend Barbara Cawthorne's "Instant Success" It obviously is the result of many years of experience.I found it abundant with activities I could use in my own classroom.I always liked to leave a copy handy for my own substitites.I gave it to several new teahers and they found it indespensible.Every substitute teacher should have a copy.Thank you, Barbara, for this book of great ideas.

Shirley Ryder

Help for the classroom teacher for such a modest price!
Barbara Cawthorne's book is a wonderful resource of meaningful activities--which are both educational AND fun--for a substitute teacher to use when insufficient plans and materials have been left by the regular teacher.Any teacher, in fact, will love the ease of use of these copy-ready puzzles and exercises, for his/her own students--and also the many helpful hints provided by this experienced teacher!

A Lifesaver For New Substitute Teachers
This book,Instant Success For Classroom Teachers, New & Substitue Teachers, has been a lifesaver for me. Since many teachers do not leave lesson plans for one reason or another,the On the Spot Teaching Activities and Lesson Plans have saved the six hour day for me and the students many times. The Rappport Builders section gave me many helpful suggestions on how to quickly build rapport with students that I had never met before. The book content covers all necessary subjects - Math, Geography, Language Arts, Art, Discipline, Critical Thinking, Classroom Management, Routines, Games and more.There are activities for Grades K - 8, which is great, since I sometimes never know until the last minute, which grade I will be in on a particular day. This book is a necessary part of my substitute pack which goes with me on each substitue assignment. The book is well written and it is evident that the author is an expert in the field of teaching/education. Thank you for offering this book.

what to do when there's nothing to do!
Anyone who has taught and certainly anyone who has Subbed in the public school knows how hard it is. The kids see a sub in the room and they instantly try to think how they can avoid learning that day..They have dozens of tricks to play on the sub and they play them. This book gives the sub some ammunition of his/her own.The practical and useful tips in this bookwill help to build rapport, fill in lag times, prepare the setting for learning and generally help to get the job done!! I know, I've been in the trenches for 25 years!

TIME FOR INSTANT SUCCESS
As an educator for nearly 40 years,dealing with all grade levels in a variety of capacities, many publications and books come my way fromcolleagues and through my personal investigation.I recently receivedBarbara Cawthorne's INSTANT SUCCESS.This booklet has something forall--from the new substiute teacher to the experienced classroomteacher.

The format of a wide variety of readily available activitieswill save many substitute teachers--whether new to the job or front lineveterans--from the anxiety of down time or the very true possibility ofsketchy plans or lessons which may not be appropriate for teaching by asubstitute.

A classroom teacher might indeed leave the entire bookletor selected activities in the "Substitute Folder."Why spendyour valuable and already too little time seeking out those extra fill-insand appropriate substitute activitieswhen Ms. Cawthorne has done that foryou--and has done it well!

I enthusiastically recommend BarbaraCawthorne's book as an inexpensive, but most effective way to provide afeeling of security to both the substitute teacher and the classroomteacher --and very appropriate activities for the kids in the class.

So--when you are filling your totebag or briefcase for the start of a newschool year--please do save a little room for your INSTANT SUCCESS! ... Read more

Product Description
Whether you're a retired teacher supplementing your income, an aspiring teacher working towards certification, or a working as a permanent substitute, the classroom can be a challenge to handle when you juggle settings and situations with a diverse population of students and staff. The days may seem long and neverending but don't throw in the towel just yet.Do what it takes to enjoy the benefits of a career that offers extensive holidays, a variety of opportunities, and reliable income in today's shaky job market. Learn the basics for survival in any classroom. Explore opportunities at elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools to find the right match for you.If you are thinking about getting a job as a substitute or starting a career in education, you've made a decision that can be rewarding and fulfilling on so many levels.Sharing what you know and helping others is a gift to society that is immeasurable and everlasting.P.O. Box 216 West Palm Beach, FL33402 ... Read more

Product Description
Join Gina Blue, Master Substitute Teacher, as she spars with the stars of the K-12 public school classroom: a sure fire recipe for incredible and satirical tales. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

desperately seeking humor review
this is a great read about the lives of regular people in public education...the author is a substitute teacher in ohio...but she could be anywhere...she teahes all grades and all levels...it is her first hand knowledge and long time experience as well as what she finds humorous that makes this book so easy to connect with...and it's really funny...i found myself laughing out loud and wanting to read it out loud to whoever was in the house...she has a website at ginablue.com...i think she's compiling info for another book...so go to her site and take her survey...

A Teacher's Response to Desperately Seeking Humor
I don't usually write reviews. So why am I writing this one? Come on-look at

the title! It's right up my alley. For those of you who don't know, I'm also an adjunct professor, which makes me a close cousin to the substitute teacher. True, there are differences. I have my students for two-four months, depending upon which semester it is, while Minick meets new students every day.

I'm also living on the edge with insufficient funds to pay my student loans, maxed-out credit cards, and so forth. Another difference is that I don't work with children; but there are teens in my class, some of which are enrolled in dual-certificate programs and others who "graduate" from high school early to attend college.

Oh yeah, and my students say that I'm kinda funny. Bizarre. But funny.

If you've ever wondered about the life of substitute teachers, you must read this book. Remember when we were kids? I can think of a few times I wished a substitute teacher would stay and the other "evil-meanie-teacher" go away for good. Ms. Minick-we'd want you to stay...

I have another confession to make. I was mean to a few subs. Please accept my apologies...We had no idea what you went through...Now that we're older and maybe even wiser, we feel really, really, really bad. It's my karma to be an adjunct, I suppose...Let this be a warning to all kids who are mean to subs-and the administrators who take advantage of them...

And we will laugh at you again! Yes, big belly laughs. Oops-laugh with you, not at you.

That said, I'd like to share one of my favorite tales.

Tale 21: "An Urban Legend"

Ms. Minick is subbing for a high school class whose task it is to make Name Charts. The task is to take "each letter of their first name and matching it up with an adjective or noun", stressing their positive attributes.

After explaining the assignment, there is a flurry of activity, a veritable creative frenzy, as the students are "instantly sucked from their seats and magnetized to The Box!"

What's in this box? Wonderful, messy stuff like colored numbers and paper and crayons and stencils and pictures of presidents and fruity markers!

The students relax into a creative flow, and Ms. Minick inquires as to where Mrs. Cosmos got all this stuff. The students tell her that Mrs. Cosmos used to be a preschool teacher.

I rest my case. Everything we need to make us happy, creative beings hails from preschool and kindergarten...Why, oh why can't we just keep playing like this?!

It gets better...A student comes into the classroom on behalf of another teacher, Mr. Rose, and asks for magazines. Mrs. Cosmos' classroom is filled with those, too. It seems that Mr. Rose's class is "making a collage of all the good and bad things kids do".

Then the kids practice their "intercommunication skills" by playing UNO and other games.

Ms. Minick's epiphany is priceless, complete with her powerful portrayal of a Queen in her own right.

"Suddenly, my stupor is vaporized by a flash of insight: this is not an ordinary, normal classroom. This is The Media Center of the Whole School, and Mrs. Cosmos is the Media Queen."

This, is what makes teaching-substitute or otherwise-worthwhile. Where else can you be at the center of a glowing, creative "cosmos"? As Minick says, "it just doesn't get much better than this!"

Where's volume two, Ms. Minick? Oh, and may I have the recipe for those horseradish deviled eggs-please!

Minick, Virginia L. Desperately Seeking Hunor: Incredible and Satirical Tales of a Substitute Teacher. San Jose: Writers Club Press, 2002. ... Read more

Product Description
Suggested procedures for being-in-charge, establishingrapport, and getting the support of regular classroom teachers and staff. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Fair, Overpriced, Shorter Than Advertised!
A quick read, only 32 pages of text as opposed to the 50 stated on Amazon's page for the book. Too much pholosophy ("If you have identified your standards and values and have honed your style accordingly....", too few concrete classroom management rubrics.

In spite of the above, this book contains a few good ideas and approaches.

Blah!
This is the worst book I have ever purchased in my life. It was not a book, but a booklet and the advice was irrelevant, and out of date. When I started substitute teaching, I was desparate for some advice on how to manage behavior in the classroom and I definitely did not find my answer here.

Don't want to be asked back?
Follow suggested comments to absent teacher and you will soon be waiting for the phone to ring."Although you didn't provide me with any information" slap on the wrist to absent teacher will make you subject of teacher lunch conversation and assure teachers do not request you in future.

Read this first
This manual is an excellent resource for the fledgling substitute.It discusses how to gain the attention of your students quickly and subversively to be able to get on with the business of learning.Also it is full of suggestions on how to report back to the regular teacher. ... Read more

Product Description
The Ultimate Supply Teachers Handbook is the insiders guide to successful supply teaching. It guides you through the process of choosing your route into supply teaching and equips you with the tools and the confidence to get other peoples' classes working for you. Topics covered include:

* finding the best route into supply teaching
* choosing the right agency
* gaining control and respect in the classroom
* conduct and professionalism
* lesson management
* setting tone and expectation
* keeping track and marking
* teaching practical subjects
* dealing with unacceptable behaviour
* essential tips and tricks for primary and secondary.

This book is indispensable reading for cover supervisors, supply teachers or anyone making the transition to supply teaching. ... Read more

Product Description
Timesavers for Teachers, Book 2: Report Card and IEP Comments, Substitute Teacher Instructions Kit, and Classroom Awards and Passes combines three great resources into one that will help all teachers simplify their work, personal organization, record keeping, and classroom management, including:

• Over 1800 ready-to-use and easy-to-find report card and IEP comments for any situation
  
•  A complete substitute teacher instructions kit, with all the forms your substitute might need to keep the class running smoothly
•  A comprehensive set of attractive classroom awards and useful passes

Customer Reviews (2)

AMAZING
Amazing... Stevan's Book one is terrific and helpful - but Book 2... Amazing! Glad I bought the second book as well and had to add this review for my colleagues to see. I personally found the teacher report card comments part most useful as it is a beautifully organized, very large collection. The Substitute Teacher's Kit pages in the book is a bonus! I am done with rushing and scrambling to leave clear instructions for my substitutes. I like the fact that I can type info directly onto the forms, save them and even then modify each year - beautiful. Glad to see the CD included in the second book too as I can use it on my home and school computer. Excellent resource!

A winner
Well, I ended up also buying this second book also as the first one was totally useful and a winner for me! It was so nice to see that this book also includes an interactive CD! I wish I discovered these two books earlier in my career... so much wasted time. I find the Report Card Comments section extremely useful as it contains the nicest collection of comments that I have ever seen. Writing comments when rushed and on tight schedule has always been a pain for me. The other two parts of the book are just as useful... I am tired of writing my substitute instructions every time I am away. Can you imagine typing all the info only once, saving it and using it year after year! Can't wait too show it to my administration! Wow, what a resource! Are there any more books by this author? ... Read more

Product Description
This work skeptically explores the notion that the internet will soon obviate any need for traditional print-based academic libraries. It makes a case for the library's staying power in the face of technological advancements (television, microfilm, and CD-ROM's were all once predicted as the contemporary library's heir-apparent), and devotes individual chapters to the pitfalls and prevarications of popular search engines, e-books, and the mass digitization of traditional print material. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pretty funny and embarrasing for Mr. Herring
This book is hilarious, although not for the reasons the author intends. Other reviewers have commented on Herring's laughable attempts to show his erudition by sending the reader to the
dictionary to look up words like cacoethes and gallimaufry.

The most revealing aspect of the book is the amount of ink devoted to sex on the web. Herring treats the subject with a Puritan's prudishness but a connoisseur's familiarity with the details of Internet pornography. Speaking of cacoethes...

Credibility Problem
Oh, the irony of it all.Mark Y. Herring, the librarian and author of "Fool's Gold: Why the Internet is No Substitute for a Library," is at pains to convince us that the Internet has a credibility problem.What Mr Herring is unaware of, apparently, is that he himself has a credibility problem.

Publishing this book the old fashioned way implies that Mr Herring's work was vetted by an editor, if not also a professional fact checker.Perhaps he should have just thrown it up on the Web instead.

On page 46, Mr Herring laments:"Once again, we're victims of our own success, or, as Oscar Wilde once put it, 'nothing exceeds like success.'"Pity you didn't capitalize the "n," but oh well.It's only grammar.Pity you didn't bother with a footnote citing your source.Pity, too, that Oscar Wilde never said those words.What he said was, "Nothing succeeds like excess."But oh well.We know what you meant.

On page 33, you mention:"...[webs]ites like 'Anexoric and Proud' and 'Anexoric Nation'...".Google those terms, Mr Herring."Did you mean: Anorexic?"Really, any of those pesky little spell checkers would have caught this.But oh well.What's all the fuss?

On page 3:"I worry about what we doing."I worry, too, Mr Herring.

On page 52, we find you talking about:"...patents (which are devilishly difficult to tract anyway)...".To tract?Ah, but we know you meant to say track.Or maybe trace.Whatever.

And what about the page (I can't be bothered, like, (going back to find it (if you know what I mean()) with the orphanage-ful of parentheses.Oh I get it:those were emoticons?

On page 23:"I see these turn of events as so powerful...".This turn of events?These turns of events?You had a 67% chance of getting it right, and you still didn't.

On page 3, you boast:"...after [my] article had been translated into eight different languages that I know about...".HELLO?Hola?Bonjour?Sacre bleu.

On page 54, you lament:"...and will only worsen (ingravesce, as physicians would say)...".Which physicians, exactly, do you mean, Mr Herring?Dead ones?"Ingravesce" does not appear in any dictionary that I know about.(Okay, so maybe I only know about eight of them.)

Again on page 54:"But, what, me worry? as Alfred E. Newman made famous."Mr Herring, any 13-year-old knows:Alfred spells his name "Neuman".But no matter.It's okay to be wrong as long as you can be righteous at the same time.

And isn't it a shame that neither you nor your ersatz editor has grokked the difference between "which" and "that".Page 53:"For example, the vendor which supplies access to the online catalog where I work, Innovative Interfaces, is considered by many in our profession to be the Cadillac, the Rolls-Royce, of automated systems."So you got a job with Innovative Interfaces?As what:their hood ornament?

And here's the real clincher.Page vi (Acknowledgments):"The Quellenforschuung for this book, the source-hunting, could not have been more ably done."Google it, dude."Did you mean: Quellenforschung?"
Incroyable!

And on page 55:"Sadly, the American Library Association (along with the usual suspects like the ACLU and First Amendment absolutists) have gone to great lengths...".Sadly, Mr Herring, the ALA HAS gone to great lengths to secure your book's right to reside, along with all the others written under the protection of the First Amendment, in any public library in America--despite its sloppy grammar, poor punctuation, inaccurate quotations, pretentious word choice, and, in sum, utter lack of credibility or scholarly value.

But oh well.

Fool's Gold not for fools
Herring, Marl.Fool's Gold: Why the Internet is no substitute for a library. McFarland & Company, Inc.:Jefferson, North Carolina, 2007.



As a person who feels it's the quality of knowledge and the ability of the people that manage that information that count, this book gets a big thumbs up.Fool's Gold is actually an amplification Dr. Herring's 10 talking points on why the internet is no substitute for a library that became an article, and a poster. This is both the good and the bad news about the work. It is a long read and tends to be repetitive. Any book with a 23 page introduction has an author with a real passion for his subject and doesn't want you to miss it. If you are doing research and looking for an authoritative and comprehensive look at what the "The tower of Google" could do to our society, Fool's Gold is your source.The indexing and source notes are an interesting read in and of themselves. Many times I found my self muttering "yea, that's right!" You tell them!" However, if you want a more compact version look for his article and if "u r lukng 4 th 411" in a compact version, buy the poster and be sure to hang it where your students can read it. Better yet have them read from the original. It doesn't matter if your library gives it to them in print or e-formation dujour; the librarian will know which one will work best.
... Read more

Product Description
This collection of books features educationally-based articles and stories that will appeal to students of all ages and are appropriate for specific grade levels. This innovative series is designed to give the substitute teacher an excellent system for measuring each student's efforts with teaching material that meets the criteria for the National Standards objectives in the classroom. Permission is granted to make copies of each article and the included exercises and activities for every student in the class. Also, as purchaser (one book per teacher), you may take the books with you from class to class or even school to school as needed. Through pencil to paper activities, website research, reading comprehension, geographic and math questions, it is possible to use the articles for either a quick break between other subjects or as complete, comprehensive units. This series provides the perfect solution for the substitute teacher's needs the moment he/she walk into a new classroom! ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of educationally-based, cross-curricular activities is designed to give the substitute teacher a variety of material to use in any teaching situation. Featuring 12 articles and 26 reproducible activities that meet the National Education Standards, ''Substitute Teacher Solutions'' is usable by the teacher the minute the class begins. Able to be used as complete, comprehensive units or as a quick break in between lessons, ''Substitute Teacher Solutions'' is a must-have resource for any teacher on the move!Topics included in Substitute Teacher Solutions: ants, Balto, birds, Egypt s Abu Simpel temples, firefighters, the Olympics, pandas, pirates, Pilgrims and Indians, pizza, submersibles, and summer jobs. ... Read more

Product Description
Supply teaching can be very difficult - if it's not the students that are being difficult it's the permanant members of staff. Julia Murphy provides one hundred ideas on how to handle the pitfalls of being a supply teacher. The first twenty ideas are general practical ideas such as how to act in the staffroom and what equipment is needed to get through the day. The remaining sections each deal with a subject and include ideas such as warm up activities and how to carry on the topic if faced with more than one lesson with a class. ... Read more

Product Description
Michael Parry provides ideas on how to cope with being a supply teacher in a primary school. The first section contains practical advice such as how to deal with behaviour management and what resources you should bring with you to help you through the day. The remaining sections each deal with a subject and include ideas such as warm up activities, longer lesson plans and plenaries. ... Read more

Product Description
Teaching is a dedicated job for people who are interested in molding young lives. But when one is both black and a substitute teacher with an accent, the job becomes very challenging.

Teaching is a white color and middle class job. Alpha being black with an accent had a real trip to hell and back because he had a daily shower of humiliations torturous and sometimes disrespectful and overt racist instances.

His determination was stretched to the limits of physical and mental endurance in the public school where racism, ethnic cleansing, hatred for people of color and accent exerted their weight like lead. The result was frustration, demotivation and the feeling of hopelessness.

This novel is a true story of classroom encounter, but the names, places and scenes are fictitoius.Alpha stayed at the end of the line with all his qualifications and experience while those who came after him, less qualified and experience moved on.

But the organization and maintenance of the system was like a sinking old flag ship. ... Read more

Product Description

Complete! Concise! Easy to use! Now it's possible to have completesecurity and peace of mind when you're absent from your classroom. Theelementary substitute teacher folder only takes five minutes of yourtime to complete and it guarantees your substitute a great day. This 95/8" x 11 5/8" folder has a sturdy pocket to hold extra information.Holds 8 1/2" x 11" papers.

Customer Reviews (1)

Substitute Folder
It was just what I needed. Our local teacher store ran out and I didn't have to wait long to receive the one I ordered from Amazon. ... Read more