Professional Development Book Recommendations

Teachers approach summer in a variety of ways.  Some don't even think about school, taking the time to completely unplug.  Others teach summer school and plan for next year.  My approach is in the middle.  I do a lot of reading and make resources that I wouldn't have time to make during the year, but it amounts to an hour or two per day, balancing personal goals and rest time with growing as a teacher.  

If you are a person who doesn't want to think about school, bookmark this post for another time.  If you are looking for some resources to develop professionally, these are a few recommendations.  Feel free to add your own to the list in the comments.

1.  Learning Begins by Andrew Watson - I wish I had read this book earlier in my career (but I couldn't have because he hadn't written it yet).  In this book, Andrew explains the impact of working memory on teaching practice.  When students reach the limit of how many items they can hold in their brain at once, we have hit the wall in our lesson.  Andrew loves science and research, but he is also intensely practical in his advice.

2.  Architecture of Learning by Kevin Washburn - If you have taught for a few years, you know what lessons are sticking points in your classroom.  Kevin's structure for planning lessons is especially useful for those units.  

3.  Powerful Teaching by Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain - While this book would have benefitted from an editor to remove excessive exclamation points, don't let it distract you from the good techniques offered in this book.  Retrieval practice takes advantage of how the brain works to make learning stick, and this book offers a lot of options for how to do it. (I also recommend their website, www.retrievalpractice.org.

4.  Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Doug is strong in his convictions, but he believes in a diversity of practices.  This book has had 3 different editions because it is filled with techniques and videos of real teachers implementing them in their real classes.  

5.  A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley - Don't let the title fool you.  This book is valuable for all teachers, not just math teachers.  She also has a book called Learning How to Learn, based on her highly popular MOOC of the same name.  

While these are all books, there are some great podcasts (Tips for Teachers with Craig Barton, for one) and videos (Go to youtube and put in the name John Almarode).  Perhaps, I'll use another post to expound on some fo them.