Helen Hume’s survival guide for grades 7-12 art teachers, coordinators, content teachers and homeschoolers proves to be a rich resource for lessons, project ideas, and art history touching on all the arts. Retired principal Mary Langer Thompson recommends it.
Margaret Mary Policastro provides solid background on best practices for home literacy, says reading specialist Judy Harris. But Harris finds the book short on good advice for families that lack the resources and services more typical of upscale neighborhoods.
Russ Olwell’s book Mentoring is a Verb is a useful resource for educators involved in mentor/mentee roles, says Nicolette Lesniak, who mentors at-risk students. She finds the WOOP framework and other strategies recommended by Olwell easy to implement and adapt.
Screenwise by Devorah Heitner is a book for both educators and parents that adopts “a gloriously positive attitude” about adults’ ability to learn and model wise use of the digital tools that engage people of all ages today. Teacher-author Heather Wolpert-Gawron finds lots of wisdom and lots to use.
In his guide to writing memoir with adolescents, Jake Wizner shares what he has learned as a writer teaching writers: how to balance honesty and discretion in student writing and how to reach writers of all levels. Fellow 8th grade teacher Brian Kelley loves it.
Looking for ideas to engage students in meaningful work? Interested in expanding technology use to involve them in helping the world? Dena Hause recommends Bill Ferriter’s well researched, idea packed PBL book as a partial antidote to our obsession with testing.
While Mindsets for Parents seems geared towards parents, anyone who works with or interacts regularly with children will find this book helpful, says math coach Lori Hochstetler. Opportunities for reflection plus concrete examples fill the book.
With short chapters, graphic organizers, rubrics and acronyms, the strategies in Barbara Blackburn’s updated Classroom Instruction for A to Z are right at the fingertips of busy teachers, ready for trial runs or implementation, says educator Laura Von Staden.
New teacher Caleb Pahl recommends Audrey Watters’ book about student ownership of domains and online content to district policy makers who make decisions in this arena – and teachers with a specific interest in how “big data” is used by education corporations.
Warren Combs’ book on using constructed responses in everyday instruction “effortlessly demonstrates the power of using short, frequent writing to learn activities that focus on standards across the curriculum,” says literacy coach Laurell Parris. Great for PLCs.
