This post is written by Mary Chase, Ph.D., an expert in curriculum design, literacy education, and technology integration.
The skies are blue, the temperatures are edging up and summer is poised on the horizon: it’s that great time of year when we take down our bulletin boards and break out our (metaphoric) surfboards. There’s nothing better than those first days of vacation when our minds drain of the agendas and administrivia of the classroom, and it’s okay to pick up a book with a plot instead of a matrix of standards.
That feeling doesn’t last forever, though. After about three weeks, I get bitten by the teaching bug again. I remember the faces of all those students who never quite engaged, who might have excelled but didn’t, and I start wondering what I can do in the coming fall to address their needs. That’s when I do a different kind of summer reading—titles from the annals of pedagogy. My favorite kind of education book is passionate, based on experience in the trenches and reflective of what the writers believe about learning, not the “how to” books of which there are so many. Here are a few of my favorites:
I Read It but I Don’t Get It by Chris Tovani
I Read It, but I Don't Get It is a hands-on, appealing description of how teachers can help adolescents develop a toolbox of reading comprehension strategies.
Cris Tovani is a masterful teacher whose writing energizes, entertains and absorbs the reader. His account includes examples of working with students at all levels of achievement—“from those who have mastered the art of fake reading; to college-bound juniors and seniors who struggle with the different demands of content-area textbooks and novels.”
The Mosaic of Thought: The Power of Comprehension Strategy Instruction by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann
Although Mosaic of Thought draws on many explicit strategies, users of the Ideaphora concept mapping tool will probably be particularly interested in the section on learning schemata and drawing on prior knowledge to support reading comprehension.
In the Middle, Third Edition: A Lifetime of Learning About Writing, Reading, and Adolescents by Nancie Atwell
In the Middle was the first education book I loved. It puts the humanity in teaching while demonstrating the effect of thoughtful reading and thinking on students and their amazing teacher. Atwell’s practice is at once both practical and mystical, demonstrating how close reading and thinking can transform students and classrooms.
Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action, K-5 by Debbie Miller
Teaching is one of the few careers that not only allows us to be human, but also requires that we see the value in every student we encounter. Teaching with Intention demonstrates the importance of placing our core convictions at the center of practice.
Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives by Peter Johnston
This groundbreaking book demonstrates how the language teachers use affects the lives of their students. For example, Johnston tells us, “Introducing a spelling test to a student by saying, 'Let's see how many words you know,' is different from saying, 'Let's see how many words you know already.' It is only one word, but the already suggests that any words the child knows are ahead of expectation and, most important, that there is nothing permanent about what is known and not known.” Reading this book, I learned that, in a classroom, everything counts.
These are just a few of the educational books that keep me thinking over the summer and prepare me for another year full of possibility. I know you have your favorites as well. Please share them with us via info@ideaphora.com
