I'm just curious what good teaching books people have read lately... I'm currently reading... Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, by Rafe Esquith. I can't put it down!! My next book is going to be.. The Caring Teacher's Guide to Discipline, by Marilyn E. Gootman. Has anyone read this one??? I'm a new teacher so I'm trying to absorb as much information as I can before I get my own classroom.. Other books I've recently read are... Tools for Teaching, by Fred Jones...What Great Teachers Do Differently, by Todd Whitaker and 101 "Answers" for New Teachers and Their Mentors. I'm always on the hunt for a good read.. So, what's on your reading list???
I read Harry Wong's First Days of School every summer before starting back into the classroom to refresh my memory. I finished Funk and Fay's Teaching with Love&Logic a month ago. Renee Lowden's You Have to Go to School-You're the Teacher is another great one to read!
I'm reading, And With a Light Touch..... it's fairly old I think. I found it on paperbackwap and I like it... it deals with literacy in the primary grades.
Okay, I have been ill, so I have an entire stack of them! If you haven't had it for a college course, you should read Guided Comprehension: A Teaching Model for Grades 3 through 8, by McLaughlin & Allen, at least if you are teaching one of those grades, lol. It was a textbook in one of my literacy classes, but I think the ideas and methods contained in it are really well-researched AND practical (something some methods are not). Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All, by Debbie Diller. This one is especially good for elementary. Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers, by Strickland, Ganske, and Monroe is geared toward grades 3 - 6 and contains some valuable tips and methods. Reading Instruction that Works by Pressley is another good book for literacy ideas. I love Harry Wong's book! I think they should hand it out with EVERY Teaching Certificate! Finally, The Essential 55, by Ron Clark is a fascinating read (at least to me), and I find myself using some of his methods, too!
In the car on the drive to Springfield yesterday, I read Content Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide by Daniel, Zemelmen and Steineke. It's a great read for the secondary set. Even though I teach LA and writing is part of my gig, I learned some great new techniques and ideas. Next on the docket is Less is More.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City by Elijah Anderson These both helped this suburb boy understand his low economic class kids. With a 33/33/33 racial mix, I've realized how much culture is economic instead of ethnic. Teaching is an Art: An A-Z Handbook for Successful Teaching in Middle Schools and High Schools The amount of ideas I get by flipping through this encyclopedia of topics is staggering.
Teaching With Love & Logic Teaching Outside the Box I have Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire in a stack waiting to be read.
Although I have not gotten through it yet, Paolo Friere's Pedagogy of the Oppressed has been very engaging so far--viewing systems of oppression and having people find their own voice. It's theory based on Friere's work in Brazil more so than strategies for use in American classrooms--but the framework can be practically applied.
I really like the Responsive Classroom books (ex: Classroom Spaces That Work, The First Six Weeks of School, etc) and Harry Wong's book.
We just read Reviving the Essay for PD and I loved it. I am reading The Shame of a Nation now and its good so far.
Not really teaching books per se, but two I recomend if you haven't read them are Reviving Ophelia and Raising Cain. They are each about the development of self image in girls and boys respectively. I picked up Cain on a lark and am so glad I did. It helped me look at the boys in my room differently. Also found this book and swear by it for spelling instruction. Month-by-Month Phonics and Vocabulary. http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Pr...keyword=phonics+and+vocabulary&page=3&oid=741
Reviving the Essay by Gretchen Bernabei is filled with great strategies for teaching writing. We're doing a campus book study on Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works right now. We're only on chapter 2, but so far, it's pretty useful!
If you want a light-hearted, hilarious read about what it's like to be a teacher, read 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunnyby Phillip Done. I'm currently reading Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson. It's a great book on bringing grammar lessons into the classroom.
If you can get ahold of it (I had to order online), I highly recommend the New Management Handbook by Rick Morris for a quick read and some great practical management ideas. Also, the tried and true Teaching Children to Care by Ruth Charney.
I have been reading The Art and Science of Teaching by Marzano, and Classroom Instruction that Works also by Marzano. I have recenlty finished Tools for Teaching, The Essential 55, and in a stack waiting to be read is Letters to a Young Teacher and Great Expectations School. All of them very good.
