Educator Mike Schmoker paints a disturbing picture using “brutal facts” to explain why so many students are not learning at high levels. Cathy Gassenheimer says that reading Results Now 2.0 is disturbing but notes Schmoker includes a way out of “the current education quagmire.”
Eric Saunders provides well-researched neuroscience tips on spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval that can quickly advance student learning, says NBCT Megan Balduf. Use “Stick the Learning” to craft brain-savvy curricular experiences and scaffold their implementation.
Emily Mofield offers a practical, realistic and highly readable set of 25 different approaches to teaching in her Vertical Differentiation for Gifted, Advanced and High-Potential Students, a book that almost any classroom teacher would find highly useful, writes Leslie Wise.
Alison Dover and Fernando Rodrigues-Valls highlight the gaps in current education policy and practice that affect newcomer and plurilingual students and then offer ways to equitably meet those students’ needs. TESOL educator Kimberlee Elder is grateful for their book.
The authors of C.R.A.F.T. Conversations for Teacher Growth offer sustainable practices school leaders can implement immediately to build positive relationships with teachers and help them cultivate expertise. The reflective questions are particularly helpful, writes Tanya Roy.
Students Taking Action Together goes deep into five techniques to cultivate civic engagement and a healthy democracy. The strategies – Norms, Yes-No-Maybe, Respectful Debate, Audience Communication, and PLAN – work across content areas, writes Katie Durkin. Highly recommended.
Literacy coach Pam Hamilton finds lots to like in Kylene Beers’ latest version of When Kids Can’t Read – What Teachers Can Do. The second edition keeps some of her favorite features from the original and adds many new kid-tested ideas to help teachers reach all their students.
Sean Ruday and Katie Caprino show that by centering students in assessment, literacy instruction can be tailored to meet their needs and asssure their learning is more authentic and relevant. Theresa Wood says the book is a blueprint to “put the verb back into ‘teacher’.”
In Shifting the Balance (3-5), Cunningham, Burkins and Yates address common misunderstandings that weaken reading instruction in the intermediate grades. Fifth grade teacher Kathie Palmieri found herself impressed by and deeply immersed in the recommended shifts.
Using their own experiences with classroom libraries and ideas from other professionals, Colby Sharp and Donalyn Miller provide insight, wisdom, and actionable practices for teachers in The Commonsense Guide to Your Classroom Library. Katie Durkin highly recommends it.
