Ftce Elementary Education Competencies and Skills [Paperback]

Marilyn Ranier (Author), James McGan (Author), Karen Sanchez (Author), Xamonline (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2003

This study guide targets teacher competencies and skills for Elementary. You read four years worth of material between the covers of one study guide. Regardless if your test is multiple choice or essay format you will have ample material to reflect upon to do well on these formats.

The majority of XAM study guides have 125 question multiple choice sample tests. The questions are medium to hard in difficulty but reasonable for a trained teacher candidate to answer. Since the questions do highly resemble the real test we are frequently asked if they are former tests. They are not. If any question from our book appears on the test it would be a coincidence.

XAM Publishing, Inc. has e-mail support at [e-mail]. XAM staff welcomes your updates and values your input. Each year a new version of the study guide is released so you may have the best in educational research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: XAMOnline.com (July 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581970668
• ISBN-13: 978-1581970661
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great review for new teachers, May 26, 2001

By 

zogran (stuart, Fl United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ftce Elementary Education Competencies and Skills (Paperback)

This study giude reviews all of the 6 compentcies and associated skills in an in-depth outline form which is easy to read. At the end of the book there are 90 exam questions pertaining to each of the compancies coverd. I found this book essential to a teacher preparing for the Florida Teachers Certification Exam in elementary education.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money, February 25, 2006

By 

Just Passed - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ftce Elementary Education Competencies and Skills (Paperback)

I purchased this book to study for the K-6 SAE after I recieved the study guide from the University of South Florida. I wanted a book that had all the information I would need to study the many compentencies listed in the USF study guide. I thought this book would do that. To some degree it did, but I found myself looking alot of compentencies up on answers.com because they were not provided in this book. The Social Science section is great! Tons of information there but the science section is very lacking and the lang. arts section left out several key compentencies that are on the test. For the price of the book I would recommend downloading the compentencies and doing your own research. I hope my opinions can be of some help.
Also, I read the other reviews and didn't believe that a study guide worth so much money would really be littered with typos, but it is true. I couldn't believe it.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An O.K. study aid., December 4, 2004

By 

H. Houck (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ftce Elementary Education Competencies and Skills (Paperback)

First, let me tell you where I am coming from in this review. I was a music major, not an education major. I am switching career areas after attaining a BA in music. I have taken no education classes, but am good with children and have a high interest and willingness to learn. I have already taken and passed the General Knowledge (GK) portion of the FTCE and will be taking the K-6 shortly. Now that you know my situation, here's my opinion:

+1 STAR: Tons of information... from the formation of mountains to linear algebra to physical fitness, it's all here. No lack of content.
-1 STAR: Quite possibly TOO much content. It's a bit intimidating and - if you're not sure what will be on the subject area exam and you didn't take teaching classes and you don't remember a lot of what you were taught in middle and high school - you'll find yourself trying to cram a ton of information in.
+1 STAR: Well organized and easy to follow... for the most part.
+1 STAR: Explains essential terms non-teaching majors haven't heard before. (Despite the book's warning that it assumes you've had teaching classes, you can still understand it.)
+1 STAR: It's just been tough to find an FTCE K-6 study guide... it deserves a star for just being available.
-1 STAR: The thing that bothered me the MOST - so much I should actually take 2 stars off - there are a lot of glaring errors any editor over the age of eight should have been able to catch. Misspellings, grammatical errors and incorrect punctuations are sprinkled throughout the entire book. The editing is, by far, the worst part of the book, in my opinion. It makes it difficult to take the book seriously.
+1 STAR: Just because it's still not bad enough for 2 stars.

Overall, I'm happy I found this book. But it DOES raise doubts for me - a study aid for potential teachers that contains such a careless editing job kind of bothers me. (It also doesn't help that I feel I may be trying to remember too much - some things that were already covered in the General Knowledge Exam that I might not even need to know for this one. Again, I could be wrong.)

In short, if you have an idea of what you need to know, or just need brushing up (and can overlook spelling/editing errors), this book is fine. If you have no idea of what to expect on the exam, I'm not suggesting you DON'T get this book - just be prepared for a lot of information being thrown at you. Make sure you reserve plenty of time to study up and don't try to cram. And have a highlighter ready - taking notes takes way too much time. (And just remember - when it comes to writing, do as they say, not as they do. :)