rofessional Development Books Worth Reading {Crash Course - The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me}

I have heard so many teachers talking about the book Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me by Kim Bearden, that I knew I wanted to find time to read it this Summer. Kim Bearden is a teacher and the co-founder of the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. 

In this book she shares her classroom experiences, good and bad, that have helped her become the teacher she is today. As a teacher, I connected with this book in so many ways and can envision some of my own students in her stories. You'll laugh and cry throughout the book, but come away with a renewed energy to get back in the classroom and make it your best year ever. It's a great reminder for why we went into education in the first place. Kim encourages you to find ways to connect with your students on a personal level, believe in yourself and your students, and make learning fun! 

This book is a very fast read because it's broken into many small chapters. I like how at the end of the chapter, there is a "notes" section to review important concepts and a "homework" section to have you reflect and connect it to your own life. 

She describes some of the learning environment and atmosphere at the Ron Clark Academy which is unlike any other school I've ever heard of. Many bloggers have shared their experiences of visiting RCA and I think it would be an amazing experience to go! 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:"Positive and Negative thinking are both contagious.  Be careful what you spread.""The chemistry I create with my students is the primary element that affects my ability to guide them, mold them, and help them find success."
"When we set high expectations for others, we show that we believe in them."

Professional Development Books Worth Reading~Maja from KookyKinders

Every summer I try to read some professional development books. The school year is usually too busy for any extra reading. This summer I am focusing on two books, Teach Like a Champion and Making Good Teaching Great. I will be starting my 7th year in kindergarten in the fall, I want to improve some of my techniques and become a better teacher for my students.

Teach Like a Champion gives you techniques and ideas that will put your students on the path to college. Many of the students in my school do not have parents that attended college. I want them to understand from an early age how important it is.

Making Good Teaching Great is co-written by Todd Whitaker, I was lucky to have his wife as a professor at ISU. Mr. Whitaker is also a professor and a motivational speaker. A few years ago he was able to come to our school and do a very small group motivational speech. It really got the school year started on a positive note. The book helps you learn everyday strategies for teaching with impact.

What are some of your favorite professional development books?

Professional Development Books Worth Reading { with Mrs. D's Corner }

In liu of everyone else sharing books about how to get your Guided Reading groups to work correctly and how to do this and that, I wanted to share a book with you that I believe every teacher should own. It's a book that in inspiring and helps you get back to that place of "this is why I teach!" when you've had a rough day... or week... or year!

If you've not heard of Taylor Mali yet, I'm hoping that you've seen the video below. It's been around for awhile and it's what prompted me to purchase one of his books.

If after watching that video, you don't feel revitalized as a teacher, then you definitely need to read this book:

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A-­‐ feel like a slap in the face. How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best." - Taylor Mali, "What Teachers Make"

I pre-ordered this book in 2012. At the time, I was working in a very tough, inner city, very urban charter school. I loved the staff that I worked with, but I was constantly going home each night asking myself what in the world I was doing. Why was I a teacher?! Why did I think I could do this?! What else can I possibly be good at so I don't feel incompetent at the end of every day? I remember saying to myself, "I can't seem to get through to these kids! I'm not cut out for this!" It was a true struggle, and even writing about it now brings tears to my eyes.

So I bought this book after the video prompted me to research more about Taylor Mali. The video gave me that reassurance that I needed to remind myself that this is the path that was chosen for me and teaching is what I am supposed to do. I figured the book had to be equally as good.

The book was and still is amazing. It is my absolutely favorite teaching book. I've recommended it to many friends and colleagues, and I've read it myself over a dozen times. For me, this book was my saving grace. It kept me going on days that never seemed to end, and it has filled my heart with love for teaching countless times over.

There's a statistic that floats around saying that most teachers quit at or before year 5. I believe it and I've been there. Not to get all political, but we all know and feel as though we aren't appreciated like we should be, nor are we compensated for all of the extra hours we put in. So to give back and to help reignite the love of teaching flame inside of you, I am giving away 1 copy of Taylor Mali's book What Teachers Make.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What is your favorite teaching book? 

Professional Development Books Worth Reading { with Aloha to Second }

One of my most favorite things about summer break is having more time to read!  I love to read, whether it is for enjoyment or for educational purposes.  I am loving all of these summer book studies that teachers are hosting on their blogs - it always gets me motivated for a new school year!

This book I am sharing with you is one that I really enjoyed reading.  I started at a new school this past year, and one of the things that was different was Reading Workshop as opposed to using a reading series.  This was very different for me and difficult for me to wrap my head around.  So, my dear friend sent me this book in the mail to help me better understand how workshop works.  Even if you are using a reading series or a basal reader, this book has several tips and tricks to help you be a more effective reading teacher.  

The book is titled, The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson.  I love the way the book is laid out and I really enjoy the idea for assessment.  I find assessment to be one of the more difficult concepts to implement because sometimes I feel like that is all we are doing.  This book gives several suggestions and ideas to help you find a more manageable way to assess students. 

I also found when using Reading Workshop with my students that their comprehension skills were lacking.  This was a huge red flag!  What is the point of reading if you don't understand it?  So, I worked really hard to help build students' comprehension skills.  This book gave some great suggestions of what to do.  Here is a sneak page from the book to help you see how useful it is!

I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts about books worth reading.  I hope you can find time to check out this fun book.  Like I said, it is good for classrooms that use Reading Workshop and classrooms that don't.  It is a great reference!

Happy Reading! :]

Professional Books Worth Reading with Mrs. Grooms' Room

Hey everyone!!  

It's Shana Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room.  

Today is our first day of summer vacation!! 
(BIG WOOHOO!) 

I am so excited to be on vacation. Have you ever needed summer vacation in your bones?  Usually, I do summer school during the summer but not this year. 

(a little yippee!)

However, I will be hitting some of the professional development courses that our school district offers. Which isn't sooo bad during the summer!! 

(secret yes!)

Probably one of my all-time favorite professional development workshops that I have taken and one of my favorite professional books is Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites by Marcia Tate!! Let me tell you...when I came out of that workshop, I came out a refreshed teacher and a teacher full of purpose!! 

This is my copy.  The is the first edition so the second edition looks a little different.  Marcia also signed my book...soo cool!!!!!! I wish I had my picture made with her but I didn't.  Darn.  

There are so many things that I learned from this course....here are a few: 

 This is why we launch lessons, question before, during, and after stories, and check for assessment at the end of a lesson. 

My favorite is number five!  Be purposeful!! If you have a purpose, you will learn.  When we did our project-based learning unit on plants, learning seemed so easy.  We had to know how to take care of our plants and what they needed to grow to grow them.  Learning came naturally.

I love going on field trips and I love having students perform the actual task at hand.  You do, you definitely remember.  I myself am the same way.  

Tell me and I'll forget.  Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.  -Chinese Proverb

Fellow teachers!!!  THIS IS WHY WE DO THESE THINGS!!  We just don't do them because we have to...we are organizing thoughts, making memories, creating comprehension, and we are growing dendrites!!  

Does your classroom look like this?  I have room for improvement for sure. We will be working on number four and number eight. We will be role playing in our stories and in our lessons, and we will also use puppets in our stories we read. (I love puppets!)  

Starting today!!! I mean August!!!!    :)

How do you grow dendrites in your classroom?

You can check out Marsha Tate's website here! 

Professional Books Worth Reading {Enchanted Kinder Garden}

With all these summer book studies happening, I think this month's first topic is perfect. I've joined Amanda from The Primary Gal and Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard for their summer book study. We're reading Learn Like a Pirate and Teaching with Intention. Those books are AMAZING so far. If you want to join in on a book study, it's not too late. We've only done one chapter for each of the books.

Every summer, I try to read at least one professional book. I read tons of for fun in my spare time, but try to dedicate my summer reading to improving my classroom. With that in mind, here's a few of my favorites that I've read in the past.

I read this book in college. It has so many wonderful ideas for new teachers. I love the way that everything is laid out in the book. It would be a wonderful book study for a group of new teachers. This is one of those books that I did not get into because I was being made to read it. After I began teaching, I went back to look through it. Most of it relates to upper grades on strategies to help with reading, but it is seriously a great read.

Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller is a phenomenal book. This is another one that I read in college and have still kept around. I LOVED rereading this book and I'm thinking about reading it again closer to school starting back. I love that this is geared towards primary grades. There are so many books out that forget that kindergarten teachers do exist. Most of the ideas, routines, and strategies are geared towards older grades and it makes it hard for us to use them. I loved that Debbie relates to use and gives meaningful ideas that can easily be put into place.

Obviously, I had to include The Daily 5. I read the first book about four years ago. I read the Second Edition last year. I've been using a form of The Daily 5 for about three years. It has changed the way that my classroom environment works. I love it. The 2 Sisters literally have come up with a system that can be molded to create the perfect system of any of group of students. My first read was a lot more meaningful than when I read the second edition, but there are a few changes to what is introduced and how it is introduced.

There are tons of teachers that have made this work for them and not followed their system to an exact T. The reason that I have tweaked it a tad is because of the time constraints. Some days, I don't have time in the day to get to 5 rotations. I've worked it out to make sure they do go to every single thing at least three times by the end of the week. I have it displayed on my Smartboard and it worked flawlessly. They don't ask me where to go. I don't get interrupted during my small group time and it can easily be changed where they are going each time even though it doesn't get changed often.

What is another great book that I've missed? Let me know! I need something else to read after I finish these book studies.

My Favorite Professional Books!

Awe summer!   When teachers can read books!!!   I LOVE to read!   I don't do it as much as I would like but I am a total teaching dork...so when I can read I love to read teaching books!!   So I am super excited to share some of my favorites!

This book is great because it has ideas and tips from actual classroom visits.  I love it because my theory is this:  If can read a book (or attend a PD session) and get ONE usable classroom idea that I can implement tomorrow, then it was worth it.  This book has tons of those simple and easy ideas!!!  

I read this two summers ago and it was so incredibly inspiring and motivating.  It was also one of those books that I read and was like, OH WOW!  I can do this!  This book was also big on changing my mind set and attitude on things .   Attitude is everything!

Another fave is this guided math book!   It has some great, usable ideas for math centers and workstations!

And finally...the book I'm currently reading and doing a book study on!!!  This is such an easy read and so many ideas and tips and tricks!  You can join in our study on my Kindergarten Smorgasboard Facebook page!   AND I get to interview Debbie Miller, the author, at the end of the summer!!!!