Book Review - The Lockdown Artist by Jay Wamsted

One of the best things I can say about a novel is that I lost sleep over it - not because of the content, but because when it was bed time, I wanted to read one more chapter. This is absolutely the kind of experience I had with The Lockdown Artist by Jay Wamsted.

I have followed Jay on Twitter (currently X) for quite some time and know him to be a fun and engaging school teacher. When I saw that he had written a novel, I wanted to support him, and I knew that the book would be fun.  What I didn't know was what a gripping story it would be - think 1984 in a high school for a general framework, but it is more than that. There are shades of Frankenstein and Hunger Games (and sadly some hints of Project 2025 - although that might have been my addition as I was reading it just after the deaths in Minneapolis).

What I most appreciate about Jay's writing is how much he respects his young adult audience - something actually quite rare in YA literature. So many YA authors feel like they have to over-explain to avoid confusion, but what that really does is avoid excitement. Young readers like to have things revealed after they have thought about them for a while, hence the success of the Harry Potter franchise, where some payoffs came two to three books later.

In The Lockdown Artist, you arrive along with a new student, Liam, in the middle of the school year.  Rather than spoon feed you an explanation of the school, Jay knows that the reader is capable of figuring things out as the story unfolds and doesn't bore them with a ton of exposition at the beginning. You find out parts of the mystery as the characters do, so there are surprises around every corner (almost literally). There were moments where I sat up straighter and said, "No.  Oh, what are they going to do now?" out loud while I was reading.

Characters can be tricky in YA lit as well because they are often written by adults who either write their teen characters as adults in young bodies or write them as clichéd tropes of pop culture references. Jay's teaching experience means he knows adolescents, and he writes these teenagers as complex, three dimensional characters (salty language and all) rather than stereotypes. I appreciate that, and I think young adult readers will too.

The book didn't end quite the way I envisioned or perhaps even hoped, but it does end in an interesting and thought provoking way. I highly recommend this book to high school, college, and adult readers who enjoy a little dystopian fiction in their lives.

Educational Book Recommendations to Start the New Year

If you are a teacher, there are a lot of books available to you for professional development, but it's hard to know which ones are worth your time.  Some of the most popular ones should not be, and there are some gems that you might not ever hear about.  I read a lot of these, and I will soon be reading even more, so I thought we might wrap up this year and start the new semester with a few recommendations.  This is by no means a complete list of great education books, but you don't have time to read about my complete list.  I'll do another recommendation post in May, so you can read something great over the summer.

Learning Begins by Andrew Watson
If you want a very practical book about working memory and attention, this is the book for you.  Andrew Watson is an incredibly nice guy, and that comes across in his writing.  He was a high school English teacher before going into consulting work, so he understands the challenge of balancing curriculum requirements with student needs and understands this particular part of how the brain works better than anyone I know.  (Bonus recommendations:  Andrew has two other books:  Learning Grows is about growth mindset and stereotype threat.  The Goldilocks Map is a book I have not yet read, but I plan to read it this summer because it is about how to evaluate which research is valuable for implementation in your classroom.)

The Architecture of Learning by Kevin Washburn
This was my introduction to the world of brain science (except for some seminars on Brain-Based-Learning, which seems to have disappeared).  I saw Kevin at an ACSI conference and found him both credible and fascinating.  I bought this book and became Facebook friends with him.  He's another super nice guy, and this book will change how you view lesson planning.  It's not something you can do with every lesson; even he says you wouldn't have time for that.  What it is great for is to have a structured approach to those topics you always struggle to get across, the one that every class seems to have difficulty with.  I learned a lot from this book, and it primed me for my future love of cognitive science.

How We Learn by Stanislas Dehane
I picked this one up because my Learning and the Brain friend, John Almarode tweeted that he could not put it down.  At first, I wasn't sure how I would feel about it because there is a lot of stuff in the first quarter of the book about Artificial Intelligence and how it compares or contrasts with human intelligence.  That's not bad, but it wasn't what I was looking for.  Once you get past that part, however, this is a fabulous book on how our brains work.  There were parts that stopped me cold, and I had to post the quote right away.  If you want to understand your brain and how this collection of cells between your ears acquires and assimilates information, then 75% of this book is for you!  

A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley
Of all the books on this list, this is the best one for learners.  Barbara Oakley has a great story of believing that she wasn't good at math. Don't let the title confuse you, though.  This book isn't actually about learning math; it's just about learning.  She figured out how to learn so well that she is now a professor of Engineering and teaches a MOOC on Coursera called Learning How to Learn. (Another bonus recommendation:  If you think the title of this one would put a student off, she also has a book geared toward teenage students that is also called Learning How to Learn.)

Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
Teachers, if you are going to read only one book about education, make it this book.  While I have found great value in every book on this list and many others, this one floored me.  There are valuable books that are hard to read, and there are easy-to-read books that aren't that valuable.  This one is the best of both worlds.  For years, I had seen it on lists of must-read books for teachers, but I let the title put me off.  I think I believed it would be about personalized learning, but when a trusted friend told me "Run. Don't walk" to read this book, I ordered it.   I read it over a three-day weekend, and I found myself stopping every few minutes to post notes from it.  It explains cognitive science and its impact on student learning better than any book I have read. 

Libraries Still Matter

My students began a project last week.  I've written about it before because it has changed so much over the years.  It's an 8th-grade project in which they research an element.  While this has changed from a model and a paper to a podcast to a website to a speech, one thing has not changed.  Students have to research their assigned element.

This brings us to an important place, the library.  I know you have probably heard that the internet has killed the library.  Well, The Buggles were wrong in 1979 about video killing the radio star, and people are wrong about libraries.  Like any great organization, the library has adapted in methods, but it is far from dead.  The role of the librarian is, as it has always been, to help connect you with the information and tools you need.

When I take my students to the library, the first thing that happens is that our librarian shows the kids some tools they may not realize are available to them.  He helps them narrow down potential source material because, let's face it, trying to get information from a Google search is a little like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant.  He also goes through a discussion with them about the credibility of sources.  In the age of the internet, what could possibly be more important than teaching kids how to evaluate the validity of a source?

Then, he shows them the books we have on the assigned topic.  Whether that is books about elements for this speech or books about space exploration for the NASA paper, they are always surprised by how good the information is in these sources.  Some of them even want to copy pages from the book.  At that point, they learn an entirely new skill - making copies on a copy machine.  I had to giggle this year at how amazed they were by the copier.  One of them even said, "Ooooh, look at that light going back and forth."  (Note to self:  I may want to include a video on how copiers work when we get to static electricity.)

Students don't just go to the library to research.  It is also where they get help with 3D printing, come for club meetings, and check out books to read for their own enjoyment (one of my favorite things about GRACE is the high percentage of our students who do read for pleasure). 

Any time you walk by our library, you will find groups of students in a tutoring session, reading a book, playing a game, taking a test, chatting with our librarian, or filming a video.  It is not the quiet mausoleum of books you may remember; if it were, the modern age would have killed it.  It is, instead, a lively and interesting place where people gain information and share thoughts.  Libraries still matter, and I believe that they always will.