Valerie Coskrey's Classroom Tools and Ideas

My Favorite Books Fiction Go and Non-Fiction Go	Buy Books in my Book Stores Buy my Favorite Books Science Fiction Book Store E-book Store and special author pages. Follow the cart.	Visit my office at Global E-School Description of my classes at GES
Home ....Stores .. /Essays //.Science Fiction for Youth .//Site Links /// Contact Us .//Visit my blog, Valerie's Soapbox. ....About // Sample of Design Template Sets // Criteria for rating books

My Favorite Books

Fiction Go and Non-Fiction Go

Buy Books in my Book Stores

and special author pages. Follow the cart.

Visit my office at Global E-School

Description of my classes at GES

Home ....Stores .. /Essays //.Science Fiction for Youth .//Site Links /// Contact Us .//Visit my blog, Valerie's Soapbox. ....About

// Sample of Design Template Sets // Criteria for rating books

These are books that have affected the way I see the world, have given me hours of pleasure, made me wish that the story hadn't yet ended, or inspired me in some way--Val

Non-Fiction Books and Comments
Look for the Cart that links to my bookstore for buying a book. Get even more books from the same author when you click the cart or here, where books suitable for youth are listed.
	Non-fiction Title	Arthur	My Comments
	Galeleo Heretic	Pietro Redondi ISBN 0-0691-08355-X	Posits a different reason for his persecution. The world is made of material matter. This idea really scared the Church.
	"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"	Richard Feynman ISBN 0-553-25649-1 pbk	Entertaining and informative. High school students will appreciate his unique sense of humor. Remember, this is the man that held up the O-ring to Congress after the Challenger disaster.
	The Making of the Atomic Bomb	Richard Rhodes ISBN 0-684-81378-5 pbk	The history of social movements in Europe prior to the Holocaust, communcations between the scientists of many countries, motives behind the actions of the important men of the time, and, of course, facts about the atomic research and bomb development.

	Hens Teeth and Horses Toes and other books in this excellent series.	Steven J. Gould ISBN 0-393-30200-8 pbk	Yes, early raptor/birds did have teeth. Wonderful essays on the interesting tidbits and examples of evolution. Students grades 6-12 will enjoy this one as much as adults do. This book is older, but still relevant, as is all of this series.
	Conjectures and Refutations: the Growth of Scientific Knowledge	Karl Popper SBN 06-131376-9 pbk	This book makes complete sense to me and has shaped my philosophy of science. I would say defined instead of shaped, except that the works of Lakotos, Kuhn, Sarkar, Burke, Asimov, Heinlein, Rand, Spong, and others have also greatly affected my thinking.
	The Structure of Scientific Revolutions	ThomasKuhn ISBN: 0226458083 pbk	Personally, I believe both Popper and Lakatos would agree with him, but others question my opinion. My science philosophy professor, Sarkar, agrees that when research is getting nowhere, changes in world view should be made. How different is a world view from a paradigm?
	A Theory of Method	Husain Sarkar ISBN 0-520-04730-3	Thanks to this book, I developed a sense of the need for different philosophical underpinnings for learning theory, sociology and political science, psychology, life sciences and physical sciences. There is no one way to know; and truth depends on the variation of living things, the laws of physics, statistical thermodynamics of matter, the beliefs and mores of a society, the fluidity of the brain's development of thought, and the chaos of interactions. Each discipline knows its own truth in its own way. This is why "survival of the fittest" does not apply to society, just to speciation. It is why man's perception of truth is extremely important in learning theory, sociology, and psychology; but non-falsified tests of reality are more important in understanding nature, matter and energy, and psychiatry. These are my opinions, not necessisarily Sarkar's.
	Microcosmos	Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan ISBN 0-671-44169-8	This book excited me greatly, especially since I had written a college paper once positing the virus as one driving force behind gene evolution--before I ever heard of this book. No, that is not her primary topic, but this book on the development and evolution early cells seemed to validate my thoughts and expanded them greatly. No, I am not a published scientist., but you are welcome to read my essay. (If this link does't work, it is because the essay must be entered. I'll have to type it in soon. Hope I can find a copy!!)
Visit my Stores for books, videos, electronics, gifts, and more.	The Day the Universe Changed	James Burke ISBN: 0316117064	Wow!! The television series (PBS) that spawned this book is excellent. How does one man make so many connections between dry historical fact. This man makes history meaningful and exciting. I use excerpts to introduce concepts in my lessons and to foster discussion. Students grades 6-12 should follow the reading, even if they do not recognize the richness of the story that unfolds behind the text.
	Why Christianity Must Change or Die	John S. Spong ISBN 0-06-067536-5	Asks some deep questions, but presents no definitive answers about how to blend modern science's materialism with religion's spiritualism. Bottom line, we must be true to our beliefs about science and our faith, so we must find a way to resolve the contradictions.

Fitction Books and Comments
Fiction Title	Author	...........Comments
See the comments about the code P and Advanced at the bottom of the table.
The Source	James Michener ISBN: 0449211479	I read this while in high school, right after reading Exodus by Leon Uris. Both made a big impression on me.	Featured items on this site... Go to design previews Find Teacher Templates, Documents, Databases, and Presentations.written using Microsoft^® Office^® with instruction booklets; some Free--Go now. also find Informative Links to Teacher Websites--Go now. Student Research Internet Links--Go now. Virus information from TrendMicro--Go now. Booklists-- Go now for general list. Go now for SciFi. Computer Tips and other ideas Go now. My blog Go now. My shop at Ca fePress.
The Bear and the Dragon	Tom Clancy ISBN: 039914563X	I reccommend the entire Jack Ryan series to everyone. P They do get a bit violent, though. This book is about war. Executive Orders is almost as good as Sum of All Fears.
Little House on the Prairie	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Like most of us, I read this in junior high.
A Tale of Two Cities	Charles Dickens	Another high school read that affects me for years afterwards.
Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austin	I have read this several times. Heyer and a few other historical novelists are almost as good. I love the genre of regency romances, but this book is so much more.
I cannot resist these authors of science fiction. Anything by them is sure to please. In these instances, I did not even mention my favorite by the author. Because I also recommend boooks for students, the fiction has been rated as appropriate for children. Read the rating criteria.
Deed of Paksinarion	Elizabeth Moon	Book 3 (get here) rates as P. Get more by Moon.
Harris Serrano	Elizabeth Moon	P The sequel Once a Hero is even better; 4 books later, the story is still being told. Check here for books in the series that you could have kids read.
The Prince of Mercenaries	Jerry Pournelle	Depicts the thinking of a military officer and the importance of sociology.
Little Fuzzy	H. Beam Piper	Starts slow, becomes great. Defines the rights of sentient aliens in aman's future culture. I reccommend all of his writings.
Galapagos	Kurt Vonnegut	P excellent depiction of science concepts dealing with evolution
Partners in Necessity	Sharon Miller and Steven Lee	P because the enemies are vile and one main character is a special agent. Great alien interaction. Yes, there are 4 more books to read about these characters and their siblings. Books in the series that I would just hand to kids no questions asked are sold here.
Dune	Frank Herbert	And every other novel Herbert wrote. Of them all, Dune is the most mind-expanding.
Dragon's Egg	Ron Foward	As in-depth as Burke's Day the Universe changed in terms of explaining a history of a culture. This time the culture is alien. This book taught me to appreciate cultural sociology. I do not know if I would have appreciated Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions without my mental iimages of the Cheela to provide a conceptual framework.
The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula LeGuin	My first experience with aliens. Another mind-expanding experience.
A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.	I really appreciated science and education after reading this one.
Brightness Reef	David Brin	Book 4 of the Uplift Saga, a group of adolescent sentients, including one human, share an adventure that saves the day for their shared home world.
Mission Gravity	Hal Clement	A real classic in science fiction. Aliens save a human's life. In the next book of the series, the aliens realize how to learn human technology. This may sound trite, but Clement makes it inspirational.
Caves of Steel	Isaac Asimov	I love all of his books, but this is my favorite.
Between Planets	Robert Heinlein	Heinlein encouraged pragmatism and patriotism. His A Cat who Walks through Walls and later works are P's, His Friday might be, but well worth the read for older teens.
Ratings// Advanced: 12+ reading level // P: Parents might want to screen first due to mild obscenities, extreme violence of war, or sadistic criminal behaviour that challenges the hero; or more than just the implication of sexual behavior but still without descriptions of sex. I list books that teachers can mention to students with the above precautions. After all, good books must be real.			Visit my Stores for books, videos, electronics, gifts, and more.

Valerie has classes open for student registration at Global eSchool

On-line Classes designed for GED prep, adult ed, homeschoolers, or just enrichment for regular students. Other classes include Italian, Writing a Website, and other topics of interest to continuing education, some free, others starting at $10.00.

You may now Register for these classes taught by Valerie Coskrey.

Short, designed to be learned at the student's own pace with regular teacher communication and assistance wheneverneeded, these classes are perfect for GED prep, homeschoolers, and students looking for extra assistance.

Science 101a-f modular 3 week classes that cover

Metric System ...................................................................a

Standard Scientific Notation & Significant Figures............. b Intro/ c Using

Graphing ......................................................................... d Intro /eAdvanced

Vectors and other science diagrams ...................................f

Visit Global e-School

See our Product Catalog for more information; or go straight to our Shopping Cart.

Sample Slides from the PowerPoint Template Sets based on the photography of Valerie Coskrey. Slides may be used for making memos, worksheets, test decorations, bulletin boards, and more by saving a single slide as a JPEG image.

Trees in a Texan Yard	Trees of Texas in Winter	Various Trees from the Template Designs Collection

Slides from presentation template designs are sold here. Or see our entire catalog here.

Visit our store Template Artistry

Students of the purchaser may use them in class projects.

< Previous

Each template design set contains a PowerPoint presentation that explains how to access the designs and uses examples of each design in the set. The sets range from 3-7 distinct designs in the slide-title masters..

Next >

Get links to sites that offer freebies that teachers will find useful.

// Home // All Stores // All Essays // Product Catalog // Shopping Cart // Privacy // Contact //

Site Map and Pages Sorted by Subject Matter with a list of All Valerie's Sites