Teacher's Summer Reading List

There are thousands of education books out there that you could read this summer - and many that you have to read for your courses. But these are a few our staff has greatly enjoyed and highly recommends before you start the new year.

On Being a Teacher
Jonathan Kozol Oneworld Publications; Revised edition (November 1, 1994) (isbn#1851680659)
This book offers a passionate exploration of the potential that lies in being a teacher and the role teachers play in helping to shape a just society.

Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to reach and teach all learners, Grades 3-12
Diane Heacox, Ed.D. Free Spirit Publishing; 2002 (isbn#978-1-57542-105-6)
This is a wonderful resource for teachers who want an easy-to-understand guidebook for differentiating instruction. The text avoids jargon and gets down to the practical, if time consuming, steps one must take to tailor instruction so every child in the classroom reaches his or her full potential.

Impro
Keith Johnstone Theatre Arts Books; 1987 (isbn#9780878301171)
This book formed much of the initial inspiration behind Center for Inspired Teaching. It explores the links between improvisational theater, teaching, and life, and offers some deep philosophy about the roles of the student and teacher in the learning process.

Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom
Lisa Delpit New Press; 2006 (isbn#9781595580740)
Delpit's book offers and important look into the role our culture plays in understanding (and misunderstanding) students, and the things teachers can do to build better cultural understanding within the classroom.

Experience and Education
John Dewey Free Press; 1997 (isbn#9780684838281)
This in-depth analysis of both "traditional" and "progressive" education emphasizes the vital role experience should play in all school instruction.

Teaching with Fire: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach
Sam M. Intrator & Megan Scribner, editors Jossey-Bass; 2003 (isbn#0-7879-6970-2)
This little book juxtaposes poems by well-known poets with the reflections of teachers who found inspiration in the words.

Do you have books to add to the list? Send us your comments and we'll post your suggestions!

Butterflies in Your Stomach

Summer is here, complete with sunny skies, people-filled parks, afternoon thunderstorms, fireflies, watermelon… and, oh yeah, education classes.

For those of you who will go into the classroom for the first time this fall, your moments of summertime relaxation are undoubtedly punctuated by moments when the butterflies in your stomach remind you of the adventure ahead.

For those of you who will begin your second year as teachers this fall, you’re probably loading up on the sleep you lost but still feeling a little nervous about how the year ahead might be different from the year gone by.

And the classes you’re taking are probably making the butterflies flutter a little bit more. You may be thinking “I have to know all about child development and teaching Biology?” “I have to learn how to set up authentic assessments and set up my classroom?” “I have to come up with questions for my students that scale Bloom’s Taxonomy in addition to finding answers to my own questions about being a teacher?”

It can all be a little overwhelming but the Inspired AQUE blog and Center for Inspired Teaching are here to help. We can make this resource as useful as you want it to be. This week we’d love to hear:

• your questions
• your musings
• your concerns
• your curiosities

We’ll take what you offer to inform the blogs we write in the weeks ahead.

Send us your comments! We’ll post them and respond as quickly as possible. Together we can make this an open and rich dialogue.

Among the many things you feel when you become a teacher – from butterflies to bliss to the blues – we will do our best to always be a resource that keeps you from feeling alone.