Valentine Publishes Second Book to Rave Reviews
While MKA may know Stephen Valentine as the Assistant Head of the Upper School, he is also a published author and award-winning documentary film-maker, whose second book Everything But Teaching: Planning, Paperwork, and Processing has recently been published to glowing pre-press reviews.
Everything But Teaching: Planning, Paperwork, and Processing covers the day-to-day work of the teacher, providing indispensable tips for time management; grading practices; productive meetings with students, parents, or colleagues; effective recordkeeping, streamlined procedures, and much more. Pulling from the insights of business experts, philosophers, educators, his father’s homespun stories, and his own keen observations about school life, Valentine provides a radical new plan for school improvement that has touched a nerve with professionals in the field.
Patrick F. Bassett, President of NAIS, raves, “I wish I had had Stephen Valentine’s wisdom, or at least his book, forty years ago when I first started teaching. With moving anecdotes, pragmatic examples, and incisive observations, this is the teacher’s version of the Boy Scout Handbook, the guide you need to march through the forest of teaching purposefully, without getting lost or sidetracked.” While bestselling author and consultant Edward Hallowell comments: “Once in a while, you read a book that absolutely nails it. Stephen Valentine knows teaching through and through. He is filled with a passion for his field. Here he packs into a short space a huge message. I urge anyone who cares about schools, students, learning, or teaching to read this gem of a book.”
In addition to his role as Assistant Head, Valentine has recently published educational articles in Independent School and Independent Teacher magazines, and his poetry has been previously published in Hotel Amerika, Broken Bridge Review, and the anthology Red White and Blues: Poets on the Promise of America (2004, University of Iowa Press). His first documentary film, Somebody Loves Me: The Life and Music of Prentis Richardson, won Best Documentary at the Nolita Film Festival in New York City and a Director’s Choice award at the Park City Film Music Festival, and his educational honors include: a summer Klingenstein Fellowship and a finalist award in Tech Learning magazine’s “Ed Tech Leader of the Year” contest. As Assistant Head at the MKA Upper School, Valentine has been instrumental in the development of an innovative faculty development program, as well as overseeing curriculum, supervising a team of Department chairs and advising students while he teaches a variety of English courses. Everything But Teaching: Planning, Paperwork, and Processing is available on amazon.com and you can find out more about the author at www.sjvalentine.typepad.com