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Although I’m not sure who first said this, I’ve heard the phrase, “You become what you read” in many different situations. One of the joys of teaching is that we do have some time in the summer to read what we want. Sometimes that has nothing to do with school, but I know many of you read at least a couple of titles related to something in your classroom each summer because you continue to strive to be better. Below are books that have left an impression with me linked to blog entries with my thought toward them. Many cover second language acquisition or classroom management as those are the 2 practices I find myself consistently adjusting.
Classroom Management
- Better Than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management by Dominque Smith, Douglas Fi
sher and Nancy Frey.
- All reviews of the book in one place.
- Chap
ter 1 Review: A focus on relationships to build social skills alongside academic skills.
- Chapter 2 Review
- Chapter 3 Review – Procedures, Response and Values.
- Chapter 4 Review – Informal Practices to focus the group on relationships.
- Chapter 5 Review – Formal Practices to create peacemaking.
- Chapter 6 Review – Creating a welcoming environment to front load restorative practices.
sher and Nancy Frey.
Grading Practices
Optimize Your School by Lee Jenkins Review
Lee Jenkins’ Optimize Your School: It′s All About the Strategy offers practical strategies to operationalize continuous improvement at the classroom level. Transform a classroom simply by showing students their progress throughout learning.
A repair Kit for Grading by Ken O’Connor Review
Ken O’Connor’s A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades offers a simple guide for ways update grading systems to focus on learning for students. In this review, discover the 3 fixes that I found to be the easiest to implement into my grading system before I recently completely moved toward a standards referenced system.
Chapter 1 – Begins with a definition of an assessment-capable visible learner.
Chapter 2 – How do we foster a learning environment that leads students to a place of vulnerability in recognition of learning?
Chapter 3 – Attention, motivation, approach to challenge and self regulation are critical for learners to become assessment-capable visible learners.
Chapter 4 – Tools for educators to guide students to reflect on the learning process.
Reading
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- Chapter 1 – SSR Roots and Rationale – Discussion of research in place about extensive reading.
- Chapter
- 2 – The 8 factors for SSR Success – 8 common factors found in successful reading programs by Pilgreen’s review of research.
- Chapter 3 – Pilot Study – Pilgreen’s description of a study she implement quickly in he ESL classroom. A great example to use for the basis of a new classroom reading program.
- Chapter 4: Design and Description of the Formal Study – Pilgreen’s formal study supports her thoughts about the 8 factors of success for a reading program.
- Chapter 5: Recommendations for Realistic SSR Implementation – Research meets the road to an effective reading program.
- Chapter 6: Problems, Perspectives and Places to go – Challenges, advice and access to possible reading materials.
Economics
A World of Three Zeros by Muhammad Yunus.
We know that poverty affects many students in the classroom. Does our economic system keep those students in poverty? Can we change it? Are social businesses the answer as Yunus describes in his book?
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