Clearly babies come into the world remarkably receptive to its wonders. Their alertness to sights, sounds, and even abstract concepts makes them inquisitive explorersâ€"and learnersâ€"every waking minute. Well before formal schooling begins, children's early experiences lay the foundations for their later social behavior, emotional regulation, and literacy. Yet, for a variety of reasons, far too little attention is given to the quality of these crucial years. Outmoded theories, outdated facts, and undersized budgets all play a part in the uneven quality of early childhood programs throughout our country. What will it take to provide better early education and care for our children between the ages of two and five? Eager to Learn explores this crucial question, synthesizing the newest research findings on how young children learn and the impact of early learning. Key discoveries in how young children learn are reviewed in language accessible to parents as well as educators: findings about the interplay of biology and environment, variations in learning among individuals and children from different social and economic groups, and the importance of health, safety, nutrition and interpersonal warmth to early learning. Perhaps most significant, the book documents how very early in life learning really begins. Valuable conclusions and recommendations are presented in the areas of the teacher-child relationship, the organization and content of curriculum, meeting the needs of those children most at risk of school failure, teacher preparation, assessment of teaching and learning, and more. The book discusses: Evidence for competing theories, models, and approaches in the field and a hard look at some day-to-day practices and activities generally used in preschool. The role of the teacher, the importance of peer interactions, and other relationships in the child's life. Learning needs of minority children, children with disabilities, and other special groups. Approaches to assessing young children's learning for the purposes of policy decisions, diagnosis of educational difficulties, and instructional planning. Preparation and continuing development of teachers. Eager to Learn presents a comprehensive, coherent picture of early childhood learning, along with a clear path toward improving this important stage of life for all children.

Our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America's lakes and rivers. Goldfarb shares the powerful story about one of the world's most influential species. He explains how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. -- adapted from jacket

If you are interviewing with a company, you are likely qualified for the job. Through the mere action of conducting the interview, the employer essentially implies this. So why is it difficult to secure the job you love? Because there are three reasons you actually get the jobnone of which are your qualifications and, unfortunately, you can only control one of them. iNTERVIEW INTERVENTION creates awareness of these undetected reasons that pose difficulty for the job-seeker and permeate to the interviewer, handicapping the employers ability to secure the best talent. It teaches interview participants to use effective interpersonal communication techniques aimed at overcoming these obstacles. It guides job-seekers through the entire interview process to ensure they get hired. It teaches interviewers to extract the most relevant information to make sound hiring decisions. iNTERVIEW INTERVENTION will become your indispensable guide to: ? Create self-awareness to ensure you understand the job you want beforenot afterthe fact. ? Conduct research to surface critical employer information. ? Share compelling stories that include the six key qualities that make them believable and memorable. ? Respond successfully to the fourteen most effective interview questions. ? Sell yourself and gather intelligence through effective question asking. ? Close the interview to ensure the interviewer wants to hire you.

The loving, inclusive life and preaching of Francis of Assisi make him a recognizable and beloved saint across many faith traditions. In the ten-year-anniversary edition of Eager to Love, globally recognized spiritual teacher Richard Rohr, OFM, provides for spiritual seekers a pathway to the inclusivity, freedom, and beauty found in the Christian mystical tradition. As an integrative thinker, Rohr expertly weaves psychological insights and literary and artistic references with Franciscan theology, showing that the rich theological contributions of St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Bonaventure, and John Duns Scotus are guiding lights for sincere spiritual seekers.

Captain Richard E. Evans was an American B-17 "Flying Fortress" pilot. He flew 55 combat missions and during that time was also chosen to fly British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery to wherever the General needed to be throughout North Africa and Italy. Evans and "Monty" travelled together during a particularly dangerous phase of the war. The Allied forces were just beginning to turn back the brutal Axis armies that had invaded North Africa and were closing in on Egypt in an effort to gain control of the strategically vital Suez Canal. Over the deserts of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, a rocky but honest and respectful friendship formed between the young American pilot, Captain Evans, and his British commander, Field Marshall Montgomery.This is also a tale of a young boy from Knoxville, Tennessee, who spread his wings, quite literally, to fly throughout the world in the service of the US Army Air Corps during World War II. It is the story of a close family told lovingly by one of its five sons, four of whom would live to serve in and survive the Second World War. It is also a glimpse of Middle American lives through small windows of time, reflecting the nineteen twenties, thirties, and forties. This is a first-hand account of a young man coming of age just as the Second World War erupted.

It's the end of the 21st century where technocrats rule and robots take care of humans’ every need. Your house watches you, knows your secrets, and talks to you. And your closest friend can be—a machine? Gavin Bell and his teenage sister Fleur come from a middle-class family. Their much-loved, old-fashioned robot, Grumps, is running down and can’t be repaired, so a scientist friend loans them EGR3, an experimental new robot to help Grumps. EGR3, known as Eager, learns from his experiences, as a child would. He feels emotions—wonder, excitement, and loss. When the ultra high-tech, eerily human BDC4 robots begin to behave suspiciously, Eager and the Bells are drawn into a great adventure that is sometimes dark and often humorous. As Eager’s extraordinary abilities are tested to the limit, he will try to find the answer to this question: What does it mean to be alive?

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.