Teacher Book Reviews Group at eNotes

Books with examples of creative nonfiction, for teaching writing

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:45:59 PST

I've been teaching writing for many years and I am always on the lookout for books I can use that stimulate student's minds with relevent examples of writing, using topics in the real world.

I am thinking about books that are compilations of news stories or web stories ... etc.

One book I like is "To Japan with Love: A Travel Guide for the Conoisseur" It is filled with interesting stories about Japan, told by people who lived...

Try a new program called Flocabulary. It is vocabulary in rap. The...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:54:35 PST

Try a new program called Flocabulary. It is vocabulary in rap. The songs are themed, there are great activities and the kids love it.

If you have to use the book, you have to; I have never liked it. The...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:35:36 PST

If you have to use the book, you have to; I have never liked it. The book that I had the most success with, one that I used as a freshman in HS in 1959, is "30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary." It has words that can be used in "real" life, most of which are demonstrated in context. But I still think that the only way you really ever learn vocabulary is through exercise in context, specifically through the literature we read and other...

I prefer Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis.

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:55:24 PST

I prefer Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis.

I don't use this book, but have you tried having the students draw...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:33:14 PST

I don't use this book, but have you tried having the students draw pictures of these words to differentiate between them? I like the Picture Vocabulary books for SAT and ACT words. Some of them are really corny, but it seems to work well. If the students draw their own pictures as opposed to just copying and memorizing preestablished pictures, they do even better. Good Luck!

Amsco's Voc for college bound

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:26:13 PST

Hi,

Would teachers please tell me how they are using Amsco's voc book? It is great until you get to the middle chapters that have scores of similarly defined words. Students complain about learning all these words and find it unmanageable.

How do you guys use the book and assess in these chapters?

Thanks!

Mr. M

Our school has used Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis for many years....

Mon, 11 May 2009 23:23:07 PST

Our school has used Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis for many years. It gets the students interested in new words and includes some grammar review sections. The book tends to focus on moving vocabulary words into short-term memory by continual reinforcement of key words in each section.

#5, that resource is a great one for visual learners, but I also find it...

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:53:31 PST

#5, that resource is a great one for visual learners, but I also find it patronizing to older students. In the past when I've used it, they look at me like I'm crazy and roll their eyes a lot. They do however learn the words.

You are right there is not a lot on the web yet about Woman at Point...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:01:53 PST

You are right there is not a lot on the web yet about Woman at Point Zero. I guess I couldn't say I enjoyed the book, it just isn't the type of book you can enjoy. However, I do think it is an important window into the abuse of women that is still rampant in our universal society. It hasn't been too many years since wives could take their husbands to court for rape in this country. Not sure why your school system would choose this...

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:55:24 PST

Not to throw a red herring onto the topic here, but a teacher in central...

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 12:56:18 PST

Not to throw a red herring onto the topic here, but a teacher in central Florida was FIRED (end of last year) for teaching The Handmaid's Tale in his classroom. The overt sexual nature of the piece outraged parents and administrators alike, and when the teacher was cornered about it, he defended it as literature. Just so you know...

In reply to #1: ther is a school called the tri county volcational...

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:50:31 PST

In reply to #1: ther is a school called the tri county volcational high school u should check it out it will help u

I have not read this book, but based on your description, why are you...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:43:59 PST

I have not read this book, but based on your description, why are you teaching it? Who made that decision? Surely there are other books with better writing which address the same or similar issues? The Handmaid's Tale would be a great substitute. Curiouser and curiouser...

Woman at Point Zero--literary criticism

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:55:53 PST

Ok, so this is a book that we're supposed to teach next year, and I can't find any real literary criticism of the book, only criticism of the author and her sensationalist topics: female mutilation; abusive spouses; prostitution, etc. I find it a dull read, poorly written, with little literary merit. Anyone?

In reply to #4: In tandem with Amsco's Vocabulary for the College-Bound...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:27:08 PST

In reply to #4: In tandem with Amsco's Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student, it's great, but HRW doesn't emphasize the Latin/Greek roots, suffixes and prefixes. I does, however, give great advice on context clues.

In reply to #1: HRW is great for vocabulary development, but use it in...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:24:56 PST

In reply to #1: HRW is great for vocabulary development, but use it in tandem with Amsco's Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student. The second reinforces the first with Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes and roots. That way you are reinforcing what HRW's vocabulary program offers but does not emphasize.

In reply to #3: As a matter of fact, that exact program is one that I...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:59:08 PST

In reply to #3: As a matter of fact, that exact program is one that I just requested a review copy of from the publisher. I looked at some sample pages on their Web site and it looked very promising. This is good news! Thank you.

I like to use the Illustrated Word Smart by the Princeton Review. It...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:43:42 PST

I like to use the Illustrated Word Smart by the Princeton Review. It helps kids put into cartoon pictures the word--visualizing it and making it more permanently in their visual brains.

Holt Rinehart Winston has a good workbook called Vocabulary Workshop. It...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:11:46 PST

Holt Rinehart Winston has a good workbook called Vocabulary Workshop. It covers word origins and stresses analogies.

I like Preswick House's Latin and Greek Roots: A Study of Word...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:10:01 PST

I like Preswick House's Latin and Greek Roots: A Study of Word Families. I've got levels I-IV that I use for SAT prep and they work well for my struggling students. The books give the meaning of the roots as well as related vocabulary words. After we've worked twenty roots, I have kids go on a search through the literature we are reading to find words using those roots.