John Merrow weaves a narrative that explores the history of America’s failed school reform efforts and offers a vision for ridding public education of our addiction to more of the same in favor of long-term, meaningful and sustainable change, writes teacher Rita Platt.
Drawing on her national survey of 1500 students, Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s “Just Ask Us” brings their voices to the challenges of engagement. Adding teacher interviews and research, she offers a strategy-filled resource that belongs in every teacher’s hands, says David Bever.
In Enticing Hard-To-Reach Writers, Ruth Ayres offers wide ranging ideas and resources to help all students become writers because “when writers believe their words matter, nothing can stop them.” We begin, reviewer Mary Langer Thompson notes, by getting our hearts right.
Messaging Matters provides practical notions and step-by-step models to strengthen communication and build a positive culture with your students, parents, and community. And you can implement them almost immediately, writes school counselor Wendy Adams.
Mindfulness, teacher self-care, and increased job satisfaction for teachers are currently hot topics. Teacher librarian Rita Platt finds Lisa J. Lucas’ helpful book, Practicing Presence, a welcome addition to the conversation about Social Emotional Learning for educators.
Book Reviews / Passion Based Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/15/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
In “The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching and Learning” Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold provide an inspiring and practical resource for educators who embrace or want to explore the student-centered focus of passion-based learning, says Jacie Maslyk.
Photos, zipper baggie quilts, stick puppets, story time capsules and more – all add to the learning in Simmons and Guinn’s collection of hands-on activities for kids in K-5. Educator Elizabeth OBrien says activities can be easily adapted from one subject area to another.
David Palank’s Class Hacker is so enthusiastically and conversationally presented and informative that it needs to get into the hands of teachers in order to change instruction, writes former principal and writer Mary Langer Thompson.
Laila Sanguras helps educators better understand the nature of grit and think about how to build a culture of grit for all students, including the gifted. Reviewer Linda Bollendorf says the author, a former middle grades teacher, writes with humor and practicality.
Book Reviews / Professional Development
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/07/2018 · Last modified 11/16/2019
Hall and Simeral use an entertaining yet professional voice to share their decade-long research aimed at implementing a process of teacher self-reflection and collaboration across entire schools that positively impacts instruction and results in higher student learning.
