Summer is both a time of relaxation and preparation for teachers. As educators, we are always looking for ways to improve our instruction. We put together a summer reading list for teachers that are perfect for poolside reading.
Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur.
This guide:
Provides the what, why, and how of each practice
Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking
Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started
The current emphasis on the body of research known as the “Science of Reading” has renewed the reading wars and raised challenging questions for balanced literacy teachers about the best way to teach reading. Instead of fueling the debate, Dr. Jan Burkins and Kari Yates have immersed themselves in the research and produced Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom.
This concise and practical guide integrates effective reading strategies from each perspective. Every chapter of Shifting the Balance focuses on one of the six simple and scientifically sound shifts reading teachers can make to strengthen their approach to early reading instruction in these areas:
Reading Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
High-Frequency Words
Cueing Systems
Text Selection
Practical Instruction for Primary Grades: Whether your students are just learning to read or building more advanced reading comprehensive skills, Shifting the Balance is designed to help teachers meet the instructional needs of K-2 students.
Say goodbye to worrying about low engagement and ineffective learning: This guide has everything you need to level up your classroom management.
Do you ever feel like you’re not quite the teacher you dreamed you could be? Maybe you’ve experienced minimal engagement from your students during class, or you’ve been overwhelmed by low assessment scores. Perhaps you’ve experienced the awful sinking feeling of being unable to resolve a class conflict.
Being a teacher, especially for the first time, can be a challenge. There’s nothing easy about managing a group of young children who are all learning how to navigate their emotions and learn new things each day. Some educators, despite years of having worked in schools, still find difficulty in successfully managing their classes.
In fact, the University of Phoenix has found that a total of 77 percent of teachers have reported feeling stressed, and 75 percent have reported feeling anxious. There are some that might just resort to thinking that “kids will always be kids”, and opt to leave their classroom as it is for the sake of a quiet life.
But what if you learned that it’s possible to manage your classroom, ensure consistent learning, and create a positive environment?
In Classroom Management for Elementary Teachers, here’s a fraction of what you will discover:
The preparations you can make from Day 1 – to the practices you can implement until the end of the year – to make learning fun
What personality traits can help a teacher create a positive classroom environment (and how you can find yours)
How you can link learning material to real life lessons, and give students the motivation to keep learning
Why communication matters inside a classroom setting (and how you can inspire your students to be more responsible about it)
How you can introduce and enforce class policies – while getting your students to respect, understand, and participate in them
A fool-proof guide to recognizing and managing difficult behavior
What empathy and conflict resolution skills can do to improve relationships between you and your students – and how to use them
And much more
Avoid low engagement, ineffective learning, and low-quality relationships inside your classroom by preparing for the differing needs of your students.
Worried about experimenting with something as sensitive as classroom management?
Don’t fret – this guide has everything you need to safely and successfully experiment with the different techniques that can create a positive classroom environment for you and your students.
An empowering guide for parents and teachers seeking a positive, practical alternative to the confusion and struggles of middle school.
“A must-read for anyone who has a tween or works with tweens.” — Madeline Levine, New York Times bestselling author of The Price of Privilege and Ready or Not
How can parents stay close with their children through middle school? How do we help middle schoolers discover who they are, enjoy friendships, and manage their growing emotions? What kinds of learning experiences will keep them curious and motivated?
These and more questions are answered in this highly engaging and informed guide to the middle school years. Chris Balme draws on his experience as a middle school founder, principal, and teacher, together with the latest adolescent neuroscience. He shows what is going on in the brains of middle schoolers, and how that affects everything from their friendships to the way they relate to parents or show up in a classroom.
Parents will gain insight into how to transform their parenting to help middle schoolers find greater independence, connect well with peers, and have the deepest learning possible in and out of school. Educators will learn about the developmental keys to making middle school a place of belonging, with deep social and emotional learning and academics that draw out students’ full motivation and potential.
In this one-stop resource for middle and high school teachers, Kristina J. Doubet and Jessica A. Hockett explore how to use differentiated instruction to help students be more successful learners — regardless of background, native language, learning style, motivation, or school savvy. They explain how to
* Create a healthy classroom community in which students’ unique qualities and needs are as important as the ones they have in common.
* Translate curriculum into manageable and meaningful learning goals that are fit to be differentiated.
* Use pre-assessment and formative assessment to uncover students’ learning needs and tailor tasks accordingly.
* Present students with avenues to take in, process, and produce knowledge that appeal to their varied interests and learning profiles.
* Navigate roadblocks to implementing differentiation.
Each chapter provides a plethora of practical tools, templates, and strategies for a variety of subject areas developed by and for real teachers. Whether you’re new to differentiated instruction or looking to expand your repertoire of DI strategies, Differentiation in Middle and High School will show you classroom-tested ways to better engage students and help them succeed every day.
Conclusion
Teaching is an art that we are constantly studying. Summer is a great time to dig into that artform in preparation for the next school year. We hope this summer reading list for teachers helps you as you relax and enjoy your time away from the classroom.
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