BACK TO SCHOOL READS: Educators

It's that time of year: Back to School. Since I'm back working at a public school, I've been brushing up on my education reading. Our school started last week and I've been getting to know all my students-I do lots of one on one work with kids across several grades-and there is so much great information out there about how kids learn. Here are three recommendations for educators to read as we head back into this school year:

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

This book focuses on the character of children and how building them up and providing them with outlets to build on things like grit and curiosity can make a huge difference in their success.

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

This book is a must read for any reading teacher and it's in my arsenal of how-to-do-things literature. Miller's ideas are not complex, but are what are needed in education (and library education! I used these theories extensively as a librarian) and developing readers.

My third recommendation is a little different. It's a memoir instead of your standard education read:

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle is a good reminder that we don't always know what our students struggles are. There is only so much we can know about a child's home life, and this beautiful, sorrowful memoir provides a snap shot of that. 

What books do you find help you as an educator?