Wordspinner

This anthology contains the accumulated works of the members of the Akron Manuscript Club. The subject matter spans many areas from high fantasy to intimate thoughts. The concepts of the authors are revealed in the form of short stories, poems, and prose. The writers hope the works held within these pages provide both enjoyment as well as thought provoking concepts to the reader.

Word Aware 3 is a comprehensive, practical and engaging resource that focuses on teaching vocabulary and word learning skills to children aged 6 to 11 years who have vocabulary learning needs. For many children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or those whose home language isn’t English (ELL or EAL learners), the vocabulary of the classroom can be a barrier to learning. This book outlines how to best support these children who require extra help, offering concrete, easy-to-implement activities and resources for use in small groups, to maximise the impact on learning and open up access to the curriculum. Word Aware 3: Takes a highly practical, evidence-based and curriculum-focused approach to vocabulary learning that supports a broad range of learners Includes photocopiable and downloadable planning, intervention and evaluation resources Provides staff training resources and an overview video presented by the authors This book can be used as an adjunct to Word Aware 1, or as an intervention on its own. Although it is most suited to children aged 6 to 11 years, it may be adapted for older students with significant learning needs. It is an essential resource for teaching assistants and learning support assistants and will also save time for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) and speech and language therapists (SaLTs) who are keen to establish effective vocabulary interventions.

Challenges all forms of fundamentalism and unexamined belief systems from a philosophical and sceptical viewpoint. Is unquestioning belief making a global comeback? The growth of religious fundamentalism seems to suggest so. For the sceptically minded, this is a deeply worrying trend, not just confined to religion. Political, economic, and scientific theories can demand the same unquestioning obedience from the general public. Stuart Sim outlines the history of scepticism in both the Western and Islamic cultural traditions, and from the Enlightenment to postmodernism. Setting out what a sceptical politics might be like, Empires of Belief argues that we need less belief and more doubt: an engaged scepticism to replace the pervasive dogmatism that threatens our democracies.

There have been many voices in disciplines as various as philosophy, history, psychology, hermeneutics, literary theory, and theology that have claimed that narrative is fundamental to all that is human. Here is a book that, in an engaging and amusing way, presents a coherent thesis to that effect, connecting the Joke and the Story (with all that comedy and tragedy imply) not only with our sensing and perceiving of the world, but with our faith in each other, and what the character of that faith should be.