Teacher Man

Author: Frank McCourt
Format: Print

Frank McCourt's account of his 30 year teaching career. It was a well written entertaining book that mixes in parts of his past as a child in Ireland and young adult in New York. Most striking is his meandering sense of adventure throughout his career. His 30 years is divided up by an attempt at getting a doctoral degree, getting fired and changing schools, lessons on cookbooks that don't seem to have any point.

The Way It Spozed To Be

Author: James Herndon
Format: Print

This book described Mr. Herndon's experiences during his first year of teaching in an urban environment in the 60's. It seems that Herndon goes into the school as a blank slate, he doesn't really have a plan, or a mission, or educational theories and practices. He doesn't attempt to "control the class" but observes as it chaotically organizes itself and he steers it towards education. In ways I had a similar experience: 5th period didn't change, they didn't decide to listen to my lectures, or quietly work like they should--I changed, I stopped lecturing, and stopped expecting quiet, I found a way to communicate to people who won't listen.

The Seven Habbits of Highly Effective People

Author: Stephen R. Covey
Format: Audio

Not exactly an audiobook version of "7 habits." It seems to be more of a supplementary audio program. Great intro to the 7 habits, definitely something I'd like to revisit.

Innumeracy

Format: Print
Author: John Allen Paulos

"A billion, a trillion, whatever." We say these things but do we really have a sense of magnitude for big and small numbers as well as the risk and probabilities associated with our daily lives. Paulos tries to give the reader a good number sense as well as an understanding of probability while explaining the effects and causes of "innumeracy." The book is pretty entertaining with some great examples.

Infinite Ascent

Format: Print
Author: David Berlinski

This was a great overview of Math History. This topic is lacking in my math education so this book was a great help. It is very poetically written and could be good for even non-math types all though some passages were a little difficult to wrap my head around. Point of interest: Cantor claims that there are different sized infinities, he calls the size of the natural numbers "Aleph null." Also, not only is Euclid the "Father of Geometry" he is the Father of Proof as well.