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Resources for Teachers |
"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an
open one."
- Malcolm S. Forbes
The owners and operators of Calculo have spent hours researching and scanning
the Internet for anything and everything that might increase the reader's
love for a certain book or author. We've provided you with easy access to
a wealth of information that can be reached simply by following the links
throughout this site. To illustrate how to best use the resources here, we've
written a brief tutorial, as well as some hints and tips that
might help your students appreciate a great book.
Tutorial
Teaching Tips and Ideas |
Tutorial |
1- William Goldman |
2 |
3 "I'll do my best to stay awake..."
4 Born August 12, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois |
| 5 - William Goldman has been writing books and
movies for more than forty years. He has won two Academy Awards (for "Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men"), and three Lifetime
Achievement awards in screenwriting. His novel Marathon Man has made him
very famous in dentist's offices around the world. |
6 - Reference Tools:
An
Interview With William Goldman
by "Moriary" of Aint-it-cool-news.com |
|
To Best Illustrate the ways to use all of our resources to
their full extent, we've created a miniature model of the William Goldman
information page on Calculo. (for the actual page, click
here) Each item is numbered and will be explained below. Let's get started:
1: Obviously, this is the author's name. Each book is separated and
organized under the author's information page. For instance, when you click
on "The Princess Bride" from the Titles list, it will take you to William
Goldman's page, since he was the author. This is a lot more compact then
if we had given each book its own page. |
| 2: We always try to feature a photograph,
drawing, or painting that shows the author. A few authors do not have depictions
because they were either impossible to find, or nothing was available.
3: At the head of each author page, there will be a quote from either
the author themself, or from one of their books.
4: Quick, to the point, basic information about each other is listed
directly below the quote. Birthdate, marriages, and death dates (if applicable)
will be listed here for quick reference.
5: Short, concise biographies have
been provided to help you understand where the author's
coming from. More often then not, books include insight from the author's
own experiences and hopefully we can shed some light on those with these
short biographies, or by providing links to more extensive accounts of their
life.
6: Reference Tools: Pretty self-explanatory. This list will be like
a map for the internet, making it easier to find information about specific
topics, authors, or books. Each book will also have reference tools,
but the will be specificly for the books, either lesson plans, notes, etc.
|
7- The Books
8 - The Princess Bride |
9-
Buy
This Book At Amazon.com |
10 - First printed: 1973
11 - Resources:
Random
House: The Princess Bride
Little bits of information here and there, and a really mean
link that doesn't do what it says it does. Made me mad! But otherwise a good
site. |
12- Calculo Review |
13 - Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yackety
schmackety, this book rocks, etc etc etc.
14 - Megora McGonagall, Senior Calculo |
15 - top of page |
|
Each author section has at least one review of one of their books. Here's
how the book section of the author information page works:
7 & 8: Number seven is a listing of the book(s) that we have
access to, or that we have reviewed. In some cases, only one of the authors
works have been read and reviewed by the Calculo staff, but they are
listed there to inform you that information will be coming as soon as one
of the staff members can get to it. It's a long process to read,
review, and collect information, but every single book on the list will
be reviewed eventually. |
| 9: This is a link to the cheapest possible edition of
the book at Amazon.com. Why did we choose Amazon.com? Because through
experience we have found that they provide the cheapest books, and the fastest
and most cost effficient shipping on the Internet for the most part.
Are we sponsored by Amazon? No, we are not. We provide the links as
a service to you. Sometimes it can be quite tedious to search through
many different online stores in order to find the cheapest version
of one book. We've simply done the searching for you. We do receive
a small kick-back from Amazon.com if you follow any of the links on
this site to Amazon, and purchase anything. It helps support the site as
we continue to expand.
10: It's important to know when a book was published, because in some
cases, the book takes place in that time period, or it helps you understand
a certain style of writing. That is why the first printing date is
at the top.
11: Again, pretty self-explanatory. These resources can range
from lesson plans, to games. Under each link, there will be an explanation
of the site, the services it offers, etc. Each site that is listed is
reviewed and examined by a member of the Calculo staff to ensure it is 'safe'
for families, fun, and useful.
12: Calculo Review is basically a review by a member of the staff
who has (obviously) read the book. As we've said, each author section will
have at least one Calculo review of one of their books, and each section
will continue to be expanded until each of the author's works is reviewed.
13: This is the actual review, and yes, it is always more informative
than "blah, blah, blah, yackety schmakety."
14: This is the signature of the reviewer. There are currently four
people who review books for Calculo: Megora McGonagall, Liz Malfoy, Alex
Granger, and Lindsay Tigerwand. Every review will be attributed to at least
one of those people.
15: This is a link back to the top of the page, obviously. |
Teaching Tips
and Ideas |
| Calculo has compiled a list of a few things that we believe
might help children get involved in reading, and most of all, enjoy it! A
lot of kids are convinced by that age-old myth; "reading's boring!" Calculo's
purpose, as well as the purpose of teachers, is to shatter that myth and
present young people with a new world to explore. Here are some ideas that
might help with that:
1) Start with the classics.
I've toured a lot of schools, and talked to a lot of children about
what they read, and I'm shocked by what's 'Required Reading' these days.
A lot of teachers have forgotten the classics for modern, ill-written novels
containing graphic plot-lines and horrid writing styles. It's no wonder a
lot of highschoolers dread their reading courses. Why make reading
a drudgery? There are hundreds of real classics out there! Find out
what it is that interests your class and fit your 'Required Reading' list
to match. Start out with books that envelope the reader, and that
aforementioned myth will shatter as those kids realize that there are books
out there that interest them. Then, they'll become excited about it. Isn't
that what teaching is all about? Instilling in your students a love for learning.
Like that Chinese Proverb says: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for
a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his
life." Give a child a book and they'll speed-read for the test. Teach a child
the joys of a book, and they'll read for the rest of their life.
2) By all means, don't just show them the movie
Unless you have to cover 'Hamlet' in a few days, don't just cop out
and show them the movie. Most of the time the movies never capture the
true essence of the book. For heaven's sake, Alfred Hitchcock's The Thirty-Nine
Steps , albeit a good movie, was entirely different from the book!
He even changed the meaning of 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' at the end! Some
books you can cheat and show them the movie, but please, please, let
them read it!
3) Don't make reading a chore.
Threats never made anyone feel comfortable, and really, how is that going
to help them learn to love books? Don't make reading a chore. There
are so many ways to make reading fun, and still find out if your students
really read the assigned material. Heck, you can use Savant
Society as a guide if you want! We'd be happy
to help. Make your reading course a book club. Once
a month, a week, or whatever, have a picnic lunch and discuss the book. Theorize
about what the author thought about when they were writing. Once you involve
everyone on a casual basis they will learn to appreciate literature.
There is so much you can do, threats aren't necessary. Threats and forceful
words only make the book a drudgery, and no one likes to do anything if they're
forced against their will.
4) Use Calculo.
We're here to help you, the teacher. Feel free to email us if you have
questions about anything literary. We'd be more than happy to help you come
up with ways to entice kids to read, get them involved in your
class, or even help you come up with ideas for book clubs. Calculo was developed
to help people love reading; teachers included. Use us! We're here to help,
free of charge. |
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