3 Of The Best Political Autobiographies_32862

You can read about politics and the movers and shakers who shape our history, or you can listen to them tell you what they did and why they did it. A good autobiography is a like a good conversation--entertaining and revealing. Check out these top political autobiographies and others at online book sellers like BookCloseouts.com and Borders.com.

1. George W. Bush

Take a candid look at the events that led America抯 43rd president to his 揇ecision Points.?Learn how he felt in the first moments of the 9/11 attacks and what helped him decide to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the successes and failures that followed. Other chapters deal with more personal matters, like relationships with his wife,replica ugg boots, his daughters and his father, the first President Bush.

2. Barack Obama

In 揇reams from My Father,?the nation抯 44th president explores his early struggles to find and define himself. He also relates the events,Replica Ugg Boots, people and decisions that would take him to the White House and to Africa to meet his father抯 Kenyan relatives.

3. Dwight Eisenhower

Sit down for a friendly conversation with the president who led the nation through the dark days of World War II. 揂t Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends?was published two years before Eisenhower抯 death in 1969. In it,fake uggs boots, he tells of his upbringing in rural Kansas and mischievous times at West Point, as well as his Army service and the allies' founding of NATO after the war's end.

3 Innovative Programs In Orlando Schools_36441

Any school district, whether it serves the tiniest of rural communities, or the students of a huge city, must effectively communicate with its parents. Individual schools stay in touch with families most commonly through newsletters, web pages, and sometimes via e-mail. Teachers in Orlando Schools conduct parent-teacher conferences a minimum of once a year, make phone calls as needed, and send home comments about their students' progress on report cards and mid-term reports.

Orlando Schools do all of this, and even more. The district has implemented a mass telephone service so that it can communicate any pertinent information to Orlando Schools parents almost immediately. Ronald Blocker, Orlando Schools Superintendent, describes the program: "Since March 2006, the school district's Connect-ED system has dialed more than 3.8 million phone numbers with community outreach and emergency notifications. The system supports multi-language communications that are specific to school communities. Notification of school closures, hurricane makeup days, updates on incidents at Orlando Schools, test dates and reminders of important meetings are just some of the topics that have been covered. Many of you (parents and community members) have already raved about our use of Connect-ED. It is an effective tool that allows district officials and Orlando Schools' principals to prepare messages that are dispatched within minutes to people who need to hear them."

A second service available in Orlando Schools is an anti-bullying program. The program aims to prevent students from being bullied or bullying others. In academic classes at Arbor Ridge High School,Replica Ugg Boots, for example, students are given bullying lessons that may include reading assignments or questionnaires on their personal experiences with bullies. 46% of Orlando Schools students have said they had been bullied. Students are learning how to prevent situations where they or others may be bullied. A key lesson is that bullies escalate their actions the more they get away with it.

A third, and very exciting program just launched this summer (2007) is The Big Red Bus. Orlando Schools students who reside in Seminole County can now take advantage of a summer reading program that is truly ingenious. All students in Orlando Schools can board the bus and check out as many as three books a week. They can return them to the bus the following week, or they can keep them! The bus' seats have been removed and replaced with wooden shelves to hold the 4,replica ugg boots,000 brand-spanking new books that officials have purchased. Orlando Schools will be using $40,000 in donations from CFE (Central Florida Educators) Credit Union, and the Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools. Anna Marie Cote, director of instruction in Orlando Schools says the program will especially benefit students who may not be able to get out to the library on a regular basis to get books. "We are trying to get it into places where it might be a bit harder for kids to get out and get books," she says. When Orlando Schools students have finished reading books picked up from the Bus, they can log them on the Let's Read website and have a chance to win prizes. The site also offers reading list and access to online books,fake uggs, including some that the computer will read aloud.