Happy New Year! Matt Renwick whose blog, Reading By Example serves as a resource for teachers and principals alike, writes that he used to close the door to his office when engaging in professional reading. He's since rethought this notion, instead inviting others to see that he is a public learner. He wants others to see that he reads to grow his practice. I'd like to share my own to-read list with you in hopes that you'll do the same!
Engaging Children by Ellin Keene was 6 years in the making. It's filled with Ellin's stories of her own engagement and the wonder that comes with it. In this text, she reimagines how we can ignite the wonder of learning for students in Grades K-8 to move beyond just passively participating in the classroom to levels of engagement and even empowerment, where they take what they've learned beyond the classroom's walls.
Debbie Miller's new What's the Best That Could Happen? is structured in the form of 5 essential questions that explore what we could do if we thought about truly student-driven instruction in our classrooms. She concludes that we'd ultimately find greater enjoyment and buy-in from our students and ourselves! She has examples from real classrooms, told with her own storyteller voice.
In Kids First From Day One, Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz pick up where A Mindset for Learning leaves off. This book is set in four parts, and helps teachers align their values with their practices. Verbalizing what you believe in will help you enact it in a much stronger way. The beliefs outlined in this book all lead you to a truly student-driven classroom (one step beyond student-centered), where kids really help determine the direction you'll take in your teaching and learning.
Developing Numerical Fluency helps you imagine how a whole school can embrace mathematical thinking. The authors of this book redefine what fluency is...the ability to choose flexibly among strategies to solve problems. They also talk about the importance of making mistakes in solving problems, as this is what gives kids the ability to take risks in their learning, while also providing a window for teachers to gain insight into kids' process. A must read!
I can't wait for Pam Koutrakos' Word Study That Sticks to arrive. Word study is not about spelling lists, or programs, or memorization. It's an integration of many technical skills into the larger picture of reading and writing. In this book, Pam will unlock teaching moves that don't reflect any one particular program, but best practices that will make kids think in terms of patterns that they'll apply into what they read and write. I can't wait!
Finally, Beyond Literary Analysis explores the idea of boosting engagement in secondary writers by teaching them to write analyses about things they love. Rumor has it that kids like video games, sports, and music among many other things. The authors teach students to analyze things they love before moving them into writing analysis of texts they love, eventually leading them to writing about tough texts when they're ready. It's high school! It's choice and engagement! I can't wait to finish it!
This is a partial list of the books I'm diving into. Splurge. Give yourself the gift of learning by buying a new professional text today.
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Then share it here! (More coming soon!)
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