Blue Lobster Pet

Scripting the Moves

An inside look at a "no-excuses" charter school that reveals this educational model’s strengths and weaknesses, and how its approach shapes students Silent, single-file lines. Detention for putting a head on a desk. Rules for how to dress, how to applaud, how to complete homework. Walk into some of the most acclaimed urban schools today and you will find similar recipes of behavior, designed to support student achievement. But what do these “scripts” accomplish? Immersing readers inside a “no-excuses” charter school, Scripting the Moves offers a telling window into an expanding model of urban education reform. Through interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents, and analysis of documents and data, Joanne Golann reveals that such schools actually dictate too rigid a level of social control for both teachers and their predominantly low-income Black and Latino students. Despite good intentions, scripts constrain the development of important interactional skills and reproduce some of the very inequities they mean to disrupt. Golann presents a fascinating, sometimes painful, account of how no-excuses schools use scripts to regulate students and teachers. She shows why scripts were adopted, what purposes they serve, and where they fall short. What emerges is a complicated story of the benefits of scripts, but also their limitations, in cultivating the tools students need to navigate college and other complex social institutions—tools such as flexibility, initiative, and ease with adults. Contrasting scripts with tools, Golann raises essential questions about what constitutes cultural capital—and how this capital might be effectively taught. Illuminating and accessible, Scripting the Moves delves into the troubling realities behind current education reform and reenvisions what it takes to prepare students for long-term success.

Pet Business

Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdad

Whatever you call them—crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads—these small crustaceans are a vital piece of the larger ecosystem, and though they're found nationwide, the American Southeast and Appalachia are among the most biodiverse places for these animals. Biologist and crayfish expert Zackary Graham takes readers on an informative journey, following crayfish from the coalfields of Central Appalachia to the spring-fed water of Northern California, and in roadside ditches everywhere in between. He discusses crayfish habitats—the muddier the better—anatomy, and coloration, which runs the gamut from dull grays to vivid blues, reds, and even bright white. Most important, Graham shows how necessary crayfish are to our ecosystem and rallies a call for protection as nearly 200 of the 400 unique species of crayfish in the United States are threatened by development, pollution, and other human-made factors. A love letter to a common crustacean, this book shows nature lovers that crayfish are diverse, important, and in need of our help.