The Modern Program with Classical Roots

Testimonials

Dr. Robert Johnson, Ph.D. in History, Teaching American History Program Coordinator, California History Social Science Project, University of Irvine, California
"You do a wonderful job of breaking down analytical thinking and critical writing into manageable and systematic teaching units. This is a great model for teaching content-based literacy. Your method for taking students through the various stages of writing (pre-writing, paragraph practice, document analysis, outlining, and assessment) goes a long way towards moving students to the type of critical literacy that is not only rewarded at the university-level but needed if we are to build an informed and engaged citizenry."

Terri Verhaegen, Teacher and Title One Project Coordinator, Santa Ana, CA.
"The three books in the Take A Stand! series are a much-needed component to today’s middle school history program. Utilizing both the California History/Social Studies and the English/Language Arts standards as a basis, this series pulls together useful activities and models to allow any teacher to incorporate advanced level skills into their classroom, no matter the writing ability of their students. Providing real-world examples and writing frames allows students to be successful researchers and historians while supporting the various levels of students encountered in California’s classrooms. Students who have difficulty constructing simple sentences can learn to develop the expertise necessary to not only succeed in middle school, but also go on to be successful in high school and post-secondary education. Raising the expectation each year, with one paragraph leading to three paragraphs leading to a five-paragraph essay, provides continuity in a program while still giving students the structure that this age group craves. Take A Stand! provides meaningful, effective lessons for every humanities classroom. This series, written by a classroom teacher, is user-friendly and practical every step of the way. Every History and Language Arts classroom teacher could use a copy."

Alex Calderon, Paraprofessional, Santa Ana, CA.
"Working with RSP students, the book, Take A Stand! has helped them improve their writing skills and has taught them to organize their ideas when writing. The prewriting activities help students to have a better understanding of what is required of the writing assignment. As a Paraprofessional, I highly recommend Take A Stand! to all eighth grade Social Studies Teachers."

Crystal, 8th Grader
"Take a Stand! has been helping me in Social Studies, Language Arts and Science paragraphs and essays. I believe this book will help me with high school papers. If last year in 7th grade I had had this book I probably would have done a lot better with projects and essays."

George, 8th Grader
"Take A Stand! has helped me write better essays. The book has all the instructions. It tells you how much evidence you need. And the terms helped me find out more information before writing the essay. You can also choose from an Advanced Essay and a Basic Essay. That makes it easier because if you don’t have much information you can choose the Basic Essay and still get an O.K. grade. My grade when higher when I wrote the second and third essay assignments."

Maria, 8th Grader
"The Take A Stand! book helped me become a better writer. I used to just stick in facts and a lot of opinions in my essays. This book helped me understand Social Studies with its Prewriting Activities. Some people don’t even read about their topic of the essay. Take A Stand makes sure that students do the research."

Cesar, 6th Grader
"I think Take A Stand! is extremely helpful!!! It helped me a lot!!! I learned how to outline, research and most importantly, it helped me to write theessays and I did manage to get passing grades (C,A,A). Tell the person who painted the beautiful painting that it was very pretty!!"