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"High school was like a penance imposed for some unknown sin. Everything I ever learned that was important was learned outside of school. So I never thought to associate schools with learning." (Amy, UMass Boston student) Today's diverse and financially burdened students enter higher education eager to succeed at institutions originally designed for culturally homogenous and predominantly white middle-class populations. They are expected to learn from faculty trained primarily as researchers. Unsurprisingly, student dropout and faculty burnout rates are high, leading some conservatives to demand that higher education purge itself of "unqualified" students and teachers. But, as Achieving Against the Odds demonstrates, new and better solutions emerge once we assume that both faculty and students still possess a mutual potential for learning when they meet in the college classroom. This collection -- drawing on the experiences of faculty at the University of Massachusetts-Boston -- documents a complex and challenging process of pedagogical transformation. The contributors come from a wide range of disciplines -- American studies, anthropology, Asian American studies, English, ESL, history, language, political science, psychology, sociology, and theology. Like their students, they bring a variety of backgrounds into the classroom -- as people of color, women, gays, working class people, and "foreigners" of one sort or another. Together they have engaged in an exciting struggle to devise pedagogies which respond to the needs and life experiences of their students and to draw each of them into a dialogue with the content and methodology of their disciplines. Courageously airing their own mistakes and weaknesses alongside their breakthroughs, they illuminate for the reader a process of teaching transformation by which discipline-trained scholars discover how to promote the learning of diverse students. As one reads their essays, one is struck by how much these faculty have benefited from the insights they have gleaned from colleagues as well as students. Through argument and examples, personal revelation and references as well as students. Through argument and examples, personal revelation and references to authority, they draw the reader into their community. This is a book to inspire and enlighten everyone interested in making higher education more truly democratic, inclusive and intellectually challenging for today's students.
"How to succeed against all odds is an inspirational, motivational and empowerment book - aimed @ people who lack motivation and/or don't knew how to find themselves."
Renowned educator Arthur Levine and coauthor Jana Nidiffer explore how some people overcome the most desperate circumstances to achieve the seemingly unreachable goal of a college degree. Drawing on their own study of 24 students, the authors detail the factors--relationships, resources, and activities-- that made a difference and allowed these students to go as far as they did.
“The difference between FEELING yourself in action, here and now, and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure.”- Neville Goddard In 1948 the modern mystic Neville Goddard presented a series of lessons in Los Angeles that many have come to regard as the teacher's clearest, most penetrating explanation of his methods of mental creativity. In them, Neville explains why your mental images and feelings determine your future. He provides his most direct, exquisitely clear method on how to explore the divine nature of your mind and use it to create the life you want. Preserving his words exactly as those original students heard them, the five lessons are: 1. Consciousness Is the Only Reality 2. Assumptions Harden into Fact 3. Thinking Fourth-Dimensionally 4. No One to Change but Self 5. Remain Faithful to Your Idea Neville’s writings and lectures are as fresh and relevant today as when he first wrote and spoke them. He walked the talk and has left us with ample material to ponder and the practical suggestions and techniques in this book can profoundly change your life. Neville concludes his lectures with his oft stated premise: “Assume you are what you want to be. Walk in that assumption and it will harden into fact.”
REVIEWS "Life is full of trials, tribulations and difficult challenges, but we all have choices. One of which is the ability to overcome and find a solution. Mark's book will help you put things into perspective and reality. It will give you true information you need to get your life to the next level and beyond. Truly inspirational!" - Mark "Billy" Billingham MBE, QCB Star of Channel 4 SAS Who Dares Wins and A list Bodyguard "If you want to achieve, read The Underdog!" - Rob Evans Wales Rugby International "Mark is not only a top bloke, he has enthusiasm and commitment and is dedicated to everything he does. He keeps going through adversity and never gives in. This book gives you the secret to Mark's successes and is a must read." - Jamie Baulch 400m Triple World Champion
Statisticians tell us that impoverished backgrounds are decent predictors of impoverished futures. This book seeks out the stories behind the exceptions. While the authors reveal consistencies between pathmakers' approaches and those of their middle-class counterparts, it also exposes striking differences between men and women, blacks and whites.
It had been years since I had seen any of the children with whom I had grown up. When I left the children's home, I promised myself that I would have nothing to do with them, I was sure that my only chance of living a good life would be to put the past behind me, even though that meant saying goodbye to some of the people I loved the most - as well as the ones I hated...it turned out that six of us had died, several by slow suicide in the form of heroin abuse, and at least two by faster means. When two police officers arrived out of the blue at Paul Connolly's door, he learned the shocking news that, out of the eight children with whom he shared a dormitory in care, only two were still alive. The revelation unearthed painful memories of a childhood that, until this point, Paul had tried desperately to put behind him. Abandoned at two weeks old, Paul came of age in the infamous St Leonards's Children's Home in East London. The children there were routinely abused, often over the course of many years. All were underfed and unloved and told that they would amount to nothing. Angry and frustrated, Paul channelled his rage into boxing - but when an accident shattered his ambition to turn professional, he found his true calling and became a successful trainer, even working as a consultant on the pilot of a top model's fitness video. Paul has finally found peace and fulfilment beyond anyhing he could have imagined all those years ago. He has found happiness with his wife and children and now helps to heal broken bodies, build confidence and transform lives - but he will never forget his past and the unnecessary victims of broken society...
When Kiki's father goes missing during his volunteer work as a doctor in a war zone, she does what she thinks she must to improve the odds of his coming home.
Beating the Odds tells the story of how teachers, students, and leaders in three schools transcend obstacles to beat the odds of failure and achieve impressive success. The schools' a suburban vocational/technical school, an urban school for immigrant, new-English-language learners, and an urban second-chance school for students who have failed elsewhere, all operate as communities of commitment. With accessible language, multiple examples, and rich anecdotes, Ancess describes how these schools are organized, how they use adult-student relationships to leverage high levels of student performance, how they enact teaching and learning for making meaning, and how they confront the obstacles they encounter. Ancess also discusses the systemic conditions for sustaining and scaling up schools such as these three. The high schools described in this volume - Urban Academy, International High School, and Hodgson Vocational-Technical, have come to represent models of successful reform despite their challenging student populations. In addition to telling their story, this book provides samples of school documents that illustrate the day-to-day operation of the schools and can be adapted by practitioners to fit their own circumstances.
A specialist in biobehavioral medicine presents a holistic program for enhancing immunity and improving your chances of recovery from serious illness. This guide offers practical, science-based techniques that have been proven to help cancer and chronic disease survivors. You Can Beat the Odds reveals surprising risk factors—greater than smoking, diet, or cholesterol—that can make the difference between robust health and life-threatening illness. Even your genetic inheritance isn’t as fixed as you might have imagined.’ Brenda Stockdale’s mind-body approach addresses the underpinnings of illness, health, and healing. Each technique in her program is designed to improve the way your body responds to viruses, illnesses, and even daily stress. This volume includes exercises to help you personalize your program and integrate insights quickly into your everyday life.