New Releases by Beth Warren

Come travel through the mind of Beth Warren a.k.a. Black Widow to get to know all the faces that describe her. Behind the Shield is not just a journey of survival, but one of healing as well. Each poem illustrates a time in her life when she had to overcome adversity in order to really grow. Her hope is that this book finds you at the right time and will promote healing and transformation.

In 1947, author Beth Warren, entered the convent because she believed God called her to a special life of service for His people. She had a passionate love for nuns who combined their religious lives with outgoing compassion for others. Warren wanted to be just like them. She dreamed that answering her Call to religious life would help make the world a better place. During the sixties, Pope John XXIII asked nuns to look outside their convent walls to see where they were most needed. Warren was drawn to working with disadvantaged people, but she was told she was a teacher, not a social worker. She realized that to serve God’s deprived people and live among them, she would need to leave her religious Community. In Another Nun’s Story, Warren chronicles her joys and difficulties during her religious life from the 1940s to the 1980s. She discusses how being a rebel nun led her to break her vows and left her with unraveled feelings and some guilt. But she came to understand she was saying goodbye to an impossible dream so she could pursue one that was possible for her.

In 1947, author Beth Warren, entered the convent because she believed God called her to a special life of service for His people. She had a passionate love for nuns who combined their religious lives with outgoing compassion for others. Warren wanted to be just like them. She dreamed that answering her Call to religious life would help make the world a better place. During the sixties, Pope John XXIII asked nuns to look outside their convent walls to see where they were most needed. Warren was drawn to working with disadvantaged people, but she was told she was a teacher, not a social worker. She realized that to serve God's deprived people and live among them, she would need to leave her religious Community. In Another Nun's Story, Warren chronicles her joys and difficulties during her religious life from the 1940s to the 1980s. She discusses how being a rebel nun led her to break her vows and left her with unraveled feelings and some guilt. But she came to understand she was saying goodbye to an impossible dream so she could pursue one that was possible for her.

Nationally recognized registered dietitian-nutritionist Beth Warren has been sharing her kosher expertise and practical nutrition approach to healthy living for years. Secrets of a Kosher Girl integrates the ancient principles of a kosher diet and lifestyle with proven weight-loss strategies emphasizing whole foods, or "clean eating." This easy-to-follow 21-day diet and exercise plan results in an average loss of 6 to 11 pounds and improvements in mood, muscle mass, and energy, along with cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Beth lost weight on her proven program and shows how you can too. First, you’ll discover how to prepare your mind, body, and pantry to follow the diet successfully, and how it’s important to have the strong discipline and intuitive eating techniques inherent in a kosher diet to condition your mind. Next, Beth explains how physical activity is not only important to health and weight loss, but how this concept has been around since biblical times. Last, Beth provides everything you need to start the program: 21 days of meal plans, recipes, and daily fitness goals, with motivational biblical quotes to inspire you along the way. Lose weight the kosher way!

When navigating the world of health and wellness, we desperately seek nutrition advice from newspapers, magazines, our “know-it-all” neighbor, our grandmothers’ old wives’ tales, the muscular guy at the gym, or “expert” health-care professionals. With good intentions to become healthier, we find ourselves confused by the conflicting messages that arise from mantras to “eat this, not that.” These complicated trends leave us at a loss of what to eat to become or stay healthy and derail our nutritious path. During the journey toward better health, the simple enjoyment of real food gets lost to the “cutting and pasting” of fad diets, such as the HCG diet and buzzwords like “superfood.” In Living a Real Life with Real Food, registered dietician and certified nutritionist Beth Warren writes with a kosher perspective and relies on science and her clients’ experiences to show that the best way to lose weight, build strength, and help fight obesity-related diseases is to eat the natural, organic, whole foods that people have been eating for centuries—before fad diets and America’s food system got in the way. The advice, recipes, and meal plans presented in this book will help the average reader attain a healthier and more energetic lifestyle regardless of how familiar they are with kosher, organic, and whole foods before they begin reading.

Most research on linguistic features of test items negatively impacting English language learners' (ELLs') performance has focused on lexical and syntactic features, rather than discourse features that operate at the level of the whole item. This mixed-methods study identified two discourse features in 162 multiple-choice items on a standardized science assessment. After analyzing the frequency of features, we correlated the presence of these features with values of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) favoring non-ELLs over ELLs. Next, we analyzed 52 interviews with ELLs to examine the interactions between students and items with and without these features. Our results indicate that these two discourse features negatively impacted ELLs' item performance and item comprehension, indicating they should be avoided when developing test items.

The research summary, "A Complete Education," presents the Obama administration's proposal for ensuring that all students have a comprehensive education. The key areas include: strengthening instruction in literacy and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); increasing access to instruction in a broader range of subject matter; and providing new opportunities for accelerated learning, particularly for low-income students in high-need schools. The report emphasizes literacy and STEM education, and its recommendations are based on several well-regarded and thoughtful reports from private foundations, professional associations, and national science groups. At the same time, however, the report's literature review is overly selective and superficial, neglecting significant research. The administration's research summary would have benefited from broader definitions of literacy directly relevant to its aims and from findings from innovative and successful instructional designs in literacy and STEM for low-income students of color. Other significant weaknesses in the report include: (a) the subordination of liberal arts education to literacy and STEM, even though the report asserts the importance of broad-based education; (b) the reliance on competitive grants without explaining either the research rationale or how the non-funded groups would be served; (c) the emphasis on state-level reforms without research support for this strategy; and (d) the use of test score results as the unquestioned measure of learning and achievement.

Mastering the principles outlined in the book will give any teacher a broad base of knowledge from which to draw. But the book also urges you to think deeply about the roles of diversity. It offers valuable information for reflecting on, experimenting with, and adapting your instructional practices.

"Episodes from Three Science Classrooms" features three extended vignettes that show how scientific activity and discussion unfold in a fourth-, a combined third/fourth-, and a sixth-grade classroom. This video is accompanied by a User's Guide featuring a synopsis of the video, tips on using the tape, questions for discussion, suggested readings, transcripts, and personal statements by the teachers. Additional copies are available separately. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.