Teacher Resources....to Empower
Teach Like a Pirate
Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator
I heard about this one through a colleague in my Doctoral cohort. The title alone attracted my attention and sent me to the Amazon website to purchase it! Teach Like a PIRATE offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help teachers to increase their own creativity and boos
t student engagement. Students are changing rapidly, as is our technological world. What once engaged students years ago, does no longer...
As a coach, I was drawn to David's words and found myself using his insight during my work with teachers. He is absolutely right, as are so many of the reviews: once you teach like a pirate, there is no going back!
Educators will be better able to:
Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator
I heard about this one through a colleague in my Doctoral cohort. The title alone attracted my attention and sent me to the Amazon website to purchase it! Teach Like a PIRATE offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help teachers to increase their own creativity and boos
t student engagement. Students are changing rapidly, as is our technological world. What once engaged students years ago, does no longer...
As a coach, I was drawn to David's words and found myself using his insight during my work with teachers. He is absolutely right, as are so many of the reviews: once you teach like a pirate, there is no going back!
Educators will be better able to:
- ignite (or reignite if your light is dulling) your passion as a teacher
- develop engaging lessons that grab the attention of students
- establish strong rapport with students in your classroom
- create meaningful experiences for your students
Leverage Leadership
A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools
Don't let the title fool you into thinking, this book isn't for me... I am not a principal or school leader. Wrong. If you are an educator, you are a leader and you have the amazing power to make a difference every day! Leverage Leadership shows educational leaders of all kinds how they can create high expectations for their school by following a core set of seven principles. These principles, or "levers" provide an opportunity for replicatable growth (not all improvement and leadership books provide that!). I feel the book is applicable to all education levels and is for everyone who wants to be a transformational leader. Bambrick-Santoyo provides a clear and concrete action plan for how school leaders can provide instructional leadership that will make a significant impact on teacher practice and student learning. Leaders often contemplate change and how to bring about positive, grassroots change. Leverage Leadership does just that - engages the question, what do I do and how do I do it?
This book has been inspirational to me as a coach, by providing new ways for me to engage in coaching conversations with teachers. As I frame my conversations, I am now better equipped to ask probing questions, and provide examples of action steps based on the seven principles. Overall a great book that has the power to change thinking!
A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools
Don't let the title fool you into thinking, this book isn't for me... I am not a principal or school leader. Wrong. If you are an educator, you are a leader and you have the amazing power to make a difference every day! Leverage Leadership shows educational leaders of all kinds how they can create high expectations for their school by following a core set of seven principles. These principles, or "levers" provide an opportunity for replicatable growth (not all improvement and leadership books provide that!). I feel the book is applicable to all education levels and is for everyone who wants to be a transformational leader. Bambrick-Santoyo provides a clear and concrete action plan for how school leaders can provide instructional leadership that will make a significant impact on teacher practice and student learning. Leaders often contemplate change and how to bring about positive, grassroots change. Leverage Leadership does just that - engages the question, what do I do and how do I do it?
This book has been inspirational to me as a coach, by providing new ways for me to engage in coaching conversations with teachers. As I frame my conversations, I am now better equipped to ask probing questions, and provide examples of action steps based on the seven principles. Overall a great book that has the power to change thinking!
On My Night Stand...My Next Picks
Literacy Across All Contents: Recommendations
Kelly Gallagher
Kelly Gallagher's resources are often my "go-to" books. I am inspired by Gallagher because he is authentic, he possesses a sense of humor, and he provides excellent classroom advice and examples while explaining his underlying philosophy, supported by research. As a classroom teacher, his two writing books Teaching Adolescent Writers and Write Like This transformed the way I taught writing. Because of his many student models and explanations, I didn't have to spend hours creating models (and yes, I did write with my kids and model my own writing and thinking all the time, there are just times when studying models or having them on hand are beneficial).
Readacide aggressively poses tough questions to educators and administrators concerning what they are doing to contribute to the death of reading among teenagers. Gallagher doesn't dwell on the problems but rather gives valuable insight into the action steps necessary to reverse the downward spiral of reading and increase interest and authenticity in our classrooms. A must read for educators!
This plug would not be complete without mentioning Gallagher's other two resources: Reading Reasons and Deeper Reading. More focused toward secondary reading and English teachers (although many ideas are applicable to all content areas), these valuable resources are for teachers whose students need new tools to uncover the riches and complexity of texts.
Readacide aggressively poses tough questions to educators and administrators concerning what they are doing to contribute to the death of reading among teenagers. Gallagher doesn't dwell on the problems but rather gives valuable insight into the action steps necessary to reverse the downward spiral of reading and increase interest and authenticity in our classrooms. A must read for educators!
This plug would not be complete without mentioning Gallagher's other two resources: Reading Reasons and Deeper Reading. More focused toward secondary reading and English teachers (although many ideas are applicable to all content areas), these valuable resources are for teachers whose students need new tools to uncover the riches and complexity of texts.
Fisher and Frey
Here are a few of my favorite Fisher and Frey books with brief descriptions:
Teaching Visual Literacy:
Word Wise & Content Rich: This resource makes teaching vocabulary at the secondary level manageable. Fisher and Frey have designed a framework for teaching vocabulary that is not only sound but also understandable. I created vocabulary PD for our secondary staff around their model for one of our inservice days, and I had many teachers asking for more!
Improving Adolescent Literacy: This resource is theoretically sound and provides excellent, authentic examples of teaching literacy across content areas. I often find myself reaching for this book to locate various ideas as I work with a variety of teachers.
Rigorous Reading: To be completely honest, I have not read this book in its entirety; however, the pieces that I have used with teachers and read on my own have been beneficial. Whether you prefer to call it close reading, analytical reading, or reading deeply, the point is to give students access points to complex texts. Rigorous Reading provides educators with the knowledge to model and guide students through their reading.
Word Wise & Content Rich: This resource makes teaching vocabulary at the secondary level manageable. Fisher and Frey have designed a framework for teaching vocabulary that is not only sound but also understandable. I created vocabulary PD for our secondary staff around their model for one of our inservice days, and I had many teachers asking for more!
Improving Adolescent Literacy: This resource is theoretically sound and provides excellent, authentic examples of teaching literacy across content areas. I often find myself reaching for this book to locate various ideas as I work with a variety of teachers.
Rigorous Reading: To be completely honest, I have not read this book in its entirety; however, the pieces that I have used with teachers and read on my own have been beneficial. Whether you prefer to call it close reading, analytical reading, or reading deeply, the point is to give students access points to complex texts. Rigorous Reading provides educators with the knowledge to model and guide students through their reading.
Cris Tovani
I love me a little Tovani!!
I Read It, But I Don't Get It and Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? are both practical books that provide a wealth of ideas for classroom teachers as well as for reading teachers and specialists. I feel that there are few inspiring and yet practical books about teaching reading in the secondary classroom - these are it!
Nancy Atwell & Donalyn Miller & Steven Layne
No bookshelf would be complete without these fantastic resources. In the midst of all the debates about standards, the ideas contained within these pages are a gold mine. They remind us that sometimes it is as simple as helping a student find a gripping book in order to ignite that love of reading. I have had the pleasure of hearing each of these authors speak; they are brilliant, inspirational people who have devoted their lives to the research and teaching of reading.