Summer is a great time to do some self-directed professional development — you know, the kind you WANT to do (and finally have time for!) Below, you will find some of the books I’m reading this summer, as well as an “oldy but goody” I will recommend again and again and again!
*Psst… I get a little pocket-change if you buy through my links, but it won’t cost you extra! Thanks for the support (and maybe in a few months, enough pennies to buy a coffee)! <3
Books I’m Reading (and Re-Reading) This Summer
Mathematics Tasks for the Thinking Classroom, Grades K-5 by Peter Liljedahl, Maegan Giroux*
So if you’re not also a math teacher, this book here is going to be a bit less relevant for you, BUT hang tight with me here for a moment — what I would recommend you check out is the original book in this series: Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning* by Peter Liljedahl. Again, you might be thinking, but I don’t teach math! But I promise you, there are so many good gems for teaching, PERIOD, in here — it doesn’t matter that you don’t teach math!
There are so many applications for science classes from the Building Thinking Classrooms approaches. Offhand, you could absolutely:
- incorporate non-curricular tasks and vertical whiteboards into your science classes to promote cultures of thinking
- create navigation tools to help students better understand the “end goals” for your unit storylines
- integrate the evaluate what you value approach and co-construct and use rubrics for collaborative work, persistence and productive struggle, and anything else you want your students to demonstrate
For real, there are so many great nuggets in Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics that he probably should just take the word “mathematics” out of the title! And now that I’m thinking and writing about the original text, I’m starting to feel like I should go back and reread the red book here in addition to the green book.
(For those of you familiar with the red book already, the green book builds on everything you already learned and provides so many practical strategies for putting it into action! If there were moments in Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics that you thought, “well that’s great, but HOW do I actually make this work!?” — the green book is here to give you some answers!)
What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life by Dr. Sharon Saline (Author), Dr. Laura Markham (Foreword)*
We are currently navigating raising two boys diagnosed with ADHD, and sometimes, it’s a lot. What I have found really helpful is just better understanding what’s going on —
- when my kid freaks out and screams that we are yelling at him in response to the comment that he forgot to put his shoes away (rejection sensitive dysphoria),
- when he walks upstairs to get his glasses and comes down with a squishy and NO glasses (poor working memory),
- when he decides the time that he absolutely must tell us everything he did at camp that day is the exact moment we ask him to pick up the dirty clothes he scattered around the house and throughout his bedroom (challenges with initiating tasks),
- when he walks by his brother and smacks his stomach for absolutely no reason at all (impulsivity),
- when he complains about the smell of goldfish crackers or how the sound of fireworks on the 4th are suddenly unbearable — despite watching them for a solid hour unperturbed (sensory overload)
All of these behaviors are frustrating, but as I have understood these behaviors as things they really can’t fully control, areas they really do need support, I have found I can be significantly more patient. Side Note: Sometimes, I feel this is unfair of me — because why should they require a diagnosis in order for me to simply be patient? But anyway, I just know that the more I understand, the better I am able to respond to their behaviors in regulated ways.
And the thing is, I’ve found this helpful not just as a parent but as a teacher. When those behaviors arise in my classroom —
- when my student flings water across the room and can’t give me a reason why,
- when her folder is a disaster and she can’t keep track of a single piece of paper for more than 15 minutes,
- when I ask a question and my student earnestly responds, “I’m sorry, I zoned out and I don’t know what we’re doing.”
Understanding these behaviors as not willful disobedience or disrespect but rather, as areas where my students need support and patience and tools as their executive functioning skills develop — it’s making me a better teacher. Because yes, sometimes I have the time and bandwidth and resources to provide the support they need, but even when I don’t, I at least can respond with empathy and care instead of frustration, rejection, and punishment.
Helping Students Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering Practices
by Christina V. Schwarz PhD, Cynthia M. Passmore, Brian J. Reiser*
A science book, finally!
So I’ve had this book since 2020, but I’ve only read it in bits and pieces. The text is broken into sections for each practice, so I zeroed in on the practices I was utilizing at various times — and I’ll admit, there are some chunks of the book that I ignored completely.
This summer, I plan to take the time to really dig through this front to back. There are some practices — like asking questions, developing models, and constructing explanations — that I feel really confident with! But using mathematics and computational thinking has long been a mystery to me — until I started teaching math the last few years! As I have gotten comfortable with my math curriculum, I’ve noticed so much overlap and so many areas where I can honestly move my math units into my science classroom (particularly my measurement and data standards!) — but I also know, this is an area of growth for me, and I want to dig back into these practices and better understand how I can integrate math into my science lessons.
Figuring Out Fluency in Mathematics Teaching and Learning, Grades K-8: Moving Beyond Basic Facts and Memorization by Jennifer M. Bay-Williams, John J. SanGiovanni*
Another math book! *insert shrug* This one seems to be the “hot topic” this summer, and since I read all the other ones (Mathematical Mindsets, Math-Ish, Building Thinking Classrooms, Productive Struggle, and so on) last summer, I figured I’d hop on the band wagon and check it out!
Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn by Barbara Oakley PhD, Beth Rogowsky EdD, Terrence J. Sejnowski*
So this one is interesting!
First, I feel I have to say: I have some qualms with some of the recommendations — particularly those related to their ideas about inquiry learning. I don’t disagree with the brain science presented (I’m not a brain scientist, after all, and I trust scientists), but I absolutely don’t believe “direct instruction” has to come before any sort of inquiry. I think there’s some nuance the authors are missing — that we can engage students in short bouts of exploration and puzzlement and “productive struggle” and that these techniques are NOT simply throwing them in the deep-end where they cannot be successful. So I just don’t LOVE their interpretation or perspective on inquiry…
BUT I am learning a lot about how the brain works, the value of integrating direct instruction (again I’ll argue, after creating some puzzlement and exploration opportunities) and what good direct instruction can look like, and why repeated practice (and perhaps the idea of spiraling) is really important.
I’m still plugging my way through this one, so I’m sure there will be some more good nuggets to share at some point. While I sometimes want to argue back with the author just a teeny bit, I am definitely still finding value in the book!
A Book I Will Always Recommend, Again and Again
Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta L. Hammond*
If I had to choose a book that most profoundly influenced me as a teacher, THIS IS IT. Understanding how our brain works and how that impacts readiness for learning — especially for marginalized students (as well as those who have experienced trauma) — was a game-changer for me.
This book helped me understand the connection between “classroom management” and real learning, and there were also so many connections to how and why the “storyline” approach to science instruction is so valuable to students. This book helped me understand the idea of “anchor phenomena” in a new way, allowing me to more effectively identify and create experiences that truly hooked my students in. And again, what I learned about the brain likewise clarified for me why exploration-based approaches work for our students, as well as what I can do to help them in moments of struggle and in the sense-making afterward.
I haven’t read this one in a while, so I do hope it still holds up. I just know I experienced so many light bulb moments while reading this book in the late spring of 2020, and I will recommend it again and again and again. In fact, here are a few posts inspired by what I learned:
- Brain Science Explains: Why Focus On Classroom Community First
- Strategies To Build Trust And Classroom Community
*Psst… I get a little pocket-change if you buy through my links, but it won’t cost you extra! Thanks for the support (and maybe in a few months, enough pennies to buy a coffee)! <3
