The Conscious Teacher is about all kinds of strategies and techniques educators might employ to become more effective teachers. In an accessible, conversational style, Deborah Nichols Poulos presents unique approaches to teaching that will inspire new and veteran teachers alike. She begins with her personal story of not being able to read all through elementary school. Her early failures convinced her she was dumb. At first, she struggled, but when she still failed, she adopted an avoidance strategy that served her well until junior high. An experience in the seventh grade flipped a switch and started her on a journey to becoming an outstanding student and, later, to applying the lessons she learned as a child to her own teaching

What makes The Conscious Teacher unique are the inspirational lessons that are unlike what most teachers get in their teacher-education courses or student teaching. Ms. Nichols Poulos points out, for example, that from the very first day, it is important that students learn they will be treated with dignity and respect no matter what. And especially helpful are the steps Ms. Nichols Poulos employs to set up a behavior management plan that works. She explains the strategic steps she takes before school starts—how essential it is to get to know each student before they walk into class on that first day. She also illustrates how setting up classroom routines helps students know what to expect and how to make the best use of every minute. And she emphasizes the importance of the parent-student-teacher team and includes many examples of how to communicate with—and involve—parents, even those who may be difficult. Foundational to her program are reading and writing. Among other things, she lays out the steps for students—even as early as fourth grade—to write five paragraph essays and their own student-authored books, and to research and write reports that include bibliographies. When she differentiated curriculum to support all students’ needs, she found their learning accelerated.

All teachers will appreciate her ideas about how to teach the basics of math, as well as advanced math concepts. And her ideas for teaching the arts are inspirational, as she describes in detail how her fourth graders performed Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also shows how to integrate social studies with literature and writing. Her experiences taught her that young students are much more capable than many people realize.
The Conscious Teacher is an indispensable guide for all new teachers. Many of the ideas Ms. Nichols Poulos provides will also be an eye-opener for parents and experienced teachers as well. The Conscious Teacher is simply a must have for anyone truly interested in giving young children a positive and solid foundation for their later schooling.

Melbourne, Australia, 1988. Peter Piper is a talented young engineer, an average man leading a busy but ordinary life until the day his world turns upside down. He and his girlfriend Angela are kidnapped, police are gunned down and a venerated and prominent public figure is assassinated. Amidst the catastrophe, and against the odds, Peter escapes, trying desperately to save Angela, aided by the one police officer he can trust . The more they dig, the more they realise this is no ordinary kidnapping, but merely the iceberg’s tip. There is an international conspiracy of unfathomable proportions. Are the protagonists allies or enemies: ASIO, CIA, the defence forces and the mafia. Who can be trusted? Democracies are fragile; will Australia’s fall? Spanning oceans and crossing countries, this is a high-octane, adrenalin-pumping thriller about power-broking and deception, murder and detection, violence and seduction – and the personal growth of a man.

A vivid, true-life tale of service, survival and sacrifice

This gripping memoir vividly recounts Al Moreno's rise as a gifted and fearless Los Angeles police officer, surviving gangs and homicidal situations in brutal urban war zones as he strove to achieve his personal and professional dreams. Packed with unforgettable scenes of both beauty and despair, it culminates in his vocal stand against corruption within the L.A.P.D., and the political retribution that ensued--a dirty internal investigation that unleashed the murderous vendetta of a violent ex-con from the Aryan Brotherhood.

"Due to censorship restrictions, a veteran of Britain’s MI6 intelligence service tells a fictionalized version of his covert action experiences" Publishers Weekly

In my days there were five classified UK Eyes Only security clearance levels. The higher you went up the secrecy ladder, the less people knew about you... I held the highest security clearance level a British intelligence officer could reach. This book, the third in the NOC Trilogy covers my last five years in the field being in charge of the 'uncammo' (not in uniform) unit of the special forces, 2003-2007, which encompassed the Iraqi War and being in the field in Afghanistan, Somalia and The Yemen, among others.

For obvious reasons I must remain anonymous. I am a British citizen and a 20-year veteran of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).  I did three tours of duty, first serving in 1971-1983. I was recalled into active duty in 1992-1993 and 2003-2007, and volunteered for one more operation in 2008 after retirement.  Since that time I have been granted political asylum in France, where I now reside.

The first two books are:  “NOC - Non-Official Cover: British Secret Operations and  NOC Twice: More UK Non-Official Cover Operations.

A new breakthrough book.

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure reveals the visionary discoveries of a French scientist whose suppressed research led to improvements in the prevention and treatment of cancer...naturally and without toxicity.

This book is a "story within a story" as through its pages, Sylvie Beljanski, the daughter of Mirko Beljanski, PhD, outlines a personal journey of discovery of her father's new, and promising, paradigm for the treatment of cancer. This tale unfolds against the backdrop of the French establishment, determined to obliterate the findings of the world's first green molecular biologist, one who spent over40 years studying the environmental impact on DNA replication and transcription. 

Lady of the Play is written in parallel historical and contemporary stories, with focus on the life of Elizabeth Trentham, the other Shakespeare.

The contemporary story begins with the finding of an original page from A Midsummer Night’s Dream hidden in the cover of an ancient Book of Common Prayer owned by an elderly woman, Sudie McFadden. She contacts a history teacher, Cynthia Parsons, to help her prove her ancestor, the original owner of the prayer book, was the true playwright. Cynthia, with the help of a librarian friend, and an attorney, conduct extensive research to prove Elizabeth Trentham was the true playwright and poet.

There is a smooth transition from the modern chapters to the historical. The historical chapters tell of the secret life of Elizabeth Trentham, her innate genius, and how she obtained the necessary qualifications to be Shakespeare. The story begins with her childhood, then the ten years she spent as a maid of honor in Queen Elizabeth I court, her collaboration with Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, and their subsequent marriage. Also, why they hired an actor, Wm Shaksper, as their broker and later allowed him to take credit for the plays. Edward dies in 1604 and Elizabeth continues with the deception until her death in 1612, the same year William Shaksper retires. In her will, she leave money for her “dumb” man to assure his silence. Included is her relationship with John Overall, one of the King James Bible translators. Clues of Ely and Edward’s collaboration are left behind in Psalms 46 and the deVere crest of the female lion. Cynthia faces intrigue, danger, and romance along the way as others try to steal historical documents, thereby thwarting her efforts to reveal the truth. Even though Lady of the Play depicts the fictional life of Elizabeth Trentham, events are based on the actual historical timeline and events.

Lady of the Play will appeal to the general population whether a fan of Shakespeare or not.

“A Promise Broken” by Kim Anderson is a 410-page period piece set in England that follows Alice as she returns to her noble origins, faced with the prospect of an arranged marriage and a culture she knows nothing about. After being raised as a commoner with her sister, Alice discovers the true nature of her birth when her mother becomes ill. The sisters are sent to Lord Hastings, a wealthy duke and the father they left as infants. Discovering the truth about her father, the reasons she was taken away from him, and the marriage he has arranged for her, Alice’s world is thrown into turmoil. In unfamiliar surroundings, Alice must find her way among new people, new demands, and resist the controlling forces all around her. When she least expects it, a blossoming love provides a glimmer of hope.

She’s beautiful and brilliant. But the world is not ready for her to shine… Western Pennsylvania, 1905. Olive Westchester dreams of being valued. Misunderstood, resented, and ignored by her large family after her mother's death, her only ally is an older brother who loves her unconditionally. And the hard-headed girl’s visions of making her mark are threatened by a close-minded society resentful of her superior intellect. Stunned after a jealous teacher expels her from the eighth grade, Olive's anger swells when her dismissive father does nothing to get her readmitted… instead pushing her to learn to be a wealthy man’s wife. But as tragedy strikes, she turns to a local laborer enamored with her beauty and makes a decision that may change her destiny forever. Can the bold young woman shatter the chains holding her back from realizing her ambitions? Becoming Olive W. is the emotionally intense first book in The Women of Campbell County: women’s fiction series. If you like determined characters, complex relationships, and realistic historical settings, then you’ll adore S. Lee Fisher’s dark coming-of-age tale.

After both her parents died, Linda Murphy Marshall, a multi-linguist and professional translator, returns to her midwestern childhood home, Ivy Lodge, to sort through a lifetime of belongings with her siblings. Room by room, she sifts through the objects in her parents’ house and uses her skills and perspective as a longtime professional translator to make sense of the events of her past—to “translate” her memories and her life. In the process, she sees things with new eyes. All of her parents’ things, everything having to do with their cherished hobbies, are housed in a home that, although it looks impressive from the outside, is anything but impressive inside; in short, she now realizes that much of it —even the house’s fancy name—was show. By the time Murphy Marshall is done with Ivy Lodge, she has not only made new discoveries about her past, she has also come to a new understanding of who she is and how she fits into her world.