Tech Basics & Beyond
Doug Johnson’s The Classroom Teacher’s Technology Survival Guide can help classroom teachers gain knowledge and perspective but some content may be heavy going for novices, says reviewer Rhonda Leduc.
Category: Book Reviews
Humanity’s Apprentices
Reading Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives, Peter H. Johnston’s wonderful book about teaching children, reviewer Kimberley Moran “felt something in my brain crack wide open.”
Raising Real-World Writers
In Write Like This: Teaching Real-World Writing Through Modeling & Mentor Texts teacher-author Kelly Gallagher shows us how to teach the real-world writing skills our students urgently need, says literacy coach Francesca LoGiudice.
Inside the Flipped Classroom
Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams is a definite keeper, says reviewer Marsha Ratzel. It’s short, to-the-point, and written expressly to help teachers study a new idea.
Good but Incomplete Advice
Frank Buck’s Organization Made Easy! / Tools for Today’s Teachers has many good ideas, but reviewer Fran Lo wishes there was more about paper-grading and some secondary examples.
Exciting Students about Math
Neurologist & middle grades teacher Judy Willis hits a home run with Learning to Love Math: Teaching Strategies That Change Student Attitudes and Get Results, her book on helping students learn to love math, says teacher Cossondra George.
RTI: More theory than practice
Reviewer Lori Trisler finds RTI Strategies that Work in the 3-6 Classroom useful for learning the “why” behind RTI, but not for finding new strategies to use in teaching.
Learn with Storyboards
Storyboarding can help kids organize their written and visual work, says reviewer Laura Reasoner Jones. Get Graphic! Using Storyboards to Write and Draw Picture Books, Graphic Novels, or Comic Strips by Mark Thurman and Emily Hearn offers step-by-step help.
How to Stop Wasting Minds
Reviewer Renee Moore agrees with Ron Wolk’s assertion that America’s public education problem is not about “performance” but poor system design in Wasting Minds: Why Our Education System Is Failing and What We Can Do About It.
RTI: Instruction First
In this review of “Enhancing RTI: How to Ensure Success with Effective Classroom Instruction & Intervention” special ed teacher Elizabeth Stein says authors Fisher and Frey combine their expertise to share knowledge and practical ideas. They remind teachers that the thrust of RTI is about “high quality core instruction at the whole class level before students struggle.”
