New publications

Your Money $tarter – Insurance and Super: A financial literacy resource for secondary schools  is a new resource for use in conjunction with the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework. This recent winner of the inaugural Victorian eLearning Industry Excellence Awards has been published by Curriculum Corporation on behalf of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). The publication is an interactive resource which assists students in middle and upper secondary in the areas of financial literacy, superannuation and insurance. A hard copy has been sent to all Australian secondary schools. It is also available online on the FIDO website, which schools can access through State and Territory digital portals or the FIDO website www.fido.gov.au/yourmoneystarter. See also article on financial literacy in Curriculum Leadership, 17 October 2008.

Demanding as it may be, a difficult class does not have to dominate and permeate all waking moments. In this book, Bill Rogers highlights many practical strategies to overcome the 'hard class' syndrome. These include: identifying what makes a class 'hard', developing a class behaviour plan, inviting colleague support, following up on disruptive students, changing patterns of bad behaviour, and assisting relief teachers. The book also highlights the normality of the pressures and stress felt by teachers dealing with these classes. Adapted from publisher's description.

Finders and Keepers is based on a longitudinal study of 50 teachers during their first years in the classroom. It highlights the cases of 10 participants, whose stories vividly illustrate the joys and disappointments of new teachers in today's schools. The book documents why they entered teaching, what they encountered in their schools, and how they decided whether to stay or move on to other schools or other lines of work. The book uncovers the importance of the school site and the crucial role that principals and experienced teachers play in the effective hiring and induction of the next generation of teachers. Adapted from publisher's description.

Teaching Young Adolescents is designed for pre-service and in-service teachers and includes methods, guidelines and resources for effectively teaching middle grades students. It includes a diverse mix of the best models in education and provides guidelines to help teachers decide which approach is most suitable in a particular situation. Exercises for active learning, case studies and Internet references are embedded throughout the book. Adapted from publisher's description.

Reading Resistance confronts longstanding exclusionary practices in US public schooling. The authors trace the interconnected histories of race and disability in the public imagination through their analysis of editorial pages and other public discourses, including political cartoons and eugenics posters. By uncovering how the concept of disability was used to resegregate students of colour after the historic Brown decision, the authors argue that special education has played a role in undermining school desegregation. Adapted from publisher's description; also available via DA Direct.

What is the best strategy for beginning a discussion with an irate parent? How can a teacher enforce anti-tardy rules when the school offers little or no support? Why is cursive handwriting useful in today's computerised world? How should teachers notify parents of suspected drug use? These modern public school problems, among many others, are discussed at length in this book. Written by a teacher with three decades of experience, this book urges teachers to remember that personal moral standards have to be developed and reinforced on a regular basis. Adapted from publisher's description.