Read 2 Earn

This post is for busy teachers who want to earn extra credits to boost their pay scale.  Corwin Publishers, which has my Feng Shui for the Classroom and Helping Kids Help, has partnered with California Lutheran University, an NCATE-accredited institution, to offer teachers one unit of graduate course credit for reading any Corwin book and completing a series of three course assignments.

What great news!  Just for reading my books and completing associated assignments, you can earn one credit for each book.  It's not as easy as it sounds because each book costs $199 for this arrangement, and you must complete the assignments within three months of enrollment.  Still not a bad deal!

This is what you can expect for assignments when you enroll:
Synopsis (2‐3 pages)
Give a detailed description of the book, including the author’s thesis and intended purpose. Comment upon the structure of the book and if that structure helps or hinders the authors intentions. Share your perception concerning what the book does and does not do and evaluate its effectiveness in meeting its stated goals. How does this book support your professional learning goals and/or professional background?
Reflection (3‐5 pages)
Identify the author’s overarching themes and opine on the extent that the book adds new insights or knowledge to the professional development topic under study. What “take aways” can you glean from this book to impact your own professional practice? Which of the ideas of the author are open to challenge, underdeveloped, or too simplistic in your opinion?
Theory to Practice (3‐5 pages)
In what ways are the ideas of the author already embedded in professional practice? What ideas need systemic support before they can be implemented? Address the ways in which the ideas of the author are in competition with other and different ideas in terms of the impact on professional practice. What obstacles currently exist which could prevent the ideas of the author from taking root? How could such obstacles be addressed? What groups of professional educators would benefit from reading this book and why?

This arrangement gives busy educators who need graduate credit to take the next step in their careers the opportunity to earn credit at their own pace through independent study. Simply select a Corwin book (my books would be a great place to start!), register for credit at www.corwin.com/read2earn, read the book, and complete three writing assignments within three months.

If I were still in teaching and needed to boost my credits to the next payscale, I'd jump at this chance to earn the credits.  Corwin Press has some amazingly interesting books, in addition to my own :-)  Looks like summer reading to me!

Happy Teaching!