Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 12/15/2016 · Last modified 11/25/2019
I, Me, You, We: Individuality Versus Conformity offers teachers intellectually challenging ELA and arts lessons for gifted middle schoolers. Educator Amy Cummings saw less emphasis on self understanding than expected but found almost unlimited ideas for her classroom.
Ross W. Greene’s Lost & Found: Helping Behaviorally Challenging Students (and, While You’re At It, All the Others) can assist educators as they work with kids to build lagging skills and collaborate on unsolved problems, says reviewer Nicolette Lesniak.
Barbara Boroson’s second edition is a valuable source of information and advice, written in everyday language. Although the book is intended for educators, teacher Linda Biondi also recommends it to parents who want to learn more about ASD and to advocate for their children.
Gifted and talented students need to be challenged every day. Former GATE coordinator Mary Langer Thompson urges parents and educators to share Inman and Kirchner’s thorough book with school personnel to benefit these youngsters, who won’t thrive without support.
Dana Johansen and Sonja Paul nudge writing workshop to a new level with flipped mini-lessons, allowing more time for teachers to conference with students. Teacher leader Sandy Wisneski says to keep the step-by-step, easy-to-read and resource laden book close by.
Building on her 1999 best seller, Georgia Heard shares 20 stories and templates in her new book “Heart Maps.” Each map is supported by tips, genre ideas, student samples and mentor texts. Long-time devotee Linda Biondi celebrates Heard’s latest accomplishment.
Sibberson and Szymusiak are back with a fresh look at reading instruction in the early middle grades. Literacy coach Pam Hamilton says “Still Learning to Read” will help teachers fine-tune classroom libraries, organize groups, and support still-developing readers.
Jerry Burkhart’s explorations into ratios, proportions and similarity are deep, rich, and open-ended, says veteran math educator Mickie Gibbs. Thanks to increasing levels of productive struggle offered for each topic, the book can benefit all of her students.
In a newly revised edition of Performance Tasks and Rubrics for Upper Elementary Mathematics, Charlotte Danielson and Joshua Dragoon show that developing performance tasks and using scoring rubrics are integrally linked. Math lead teacher Barb Rock says it’s an ideal PD tool for schools and systems.
Douglas Reeves advocates 7 interdependent elements of leadership – purpose, trust, focus, leverage, feedback, change, and sustainability – to change schools for the better. Coach Rita Platt will revisit the elements throughout the year to spark more reflection.
