As an English teacher and self-proclaimed bibliophile, I am constantly on the prowl for new books to consume that will challenge and inspire me, and this past month – riddled with endless snow days – provided me with the opportunity to dig into some really excellent ones that have been shaping the way I “do” education in the classroom.
Book #1: Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallow
I picked up this book on a whim when I decided I wanted to give my Honors English 9 students another speaking assignment. They had just completed their fifth presentation of the year in January and they had grown significantly, but there were still some common presentation skills I felt that we could improve on, like making more eye contact and relying less on notecards when they give a speech.
I chose this book because my 9 Honors students love TED Talks. Earlier this year, we watched the videos “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” by Tim Urban and “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie. Each talk couldn’t be more different in content and style, but they had both resonated with my students and because of this I had been tossing around the idea of having my students create a TED-style talk and present it to their peers.
Talk Like TED was very insightful and helpful in planning my upcoming unit. Not only did it hone in on using ethos, pathos, and logos to engage an audience, but it gave practical tips for helping students brainstorm, practice, and fix presentation issues. It’s also just a fascinating read. I would recommend it for everyone.
Book #2: The Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson
I feel like I’m partially cheating by including this book here because it’s actually one of my textbooks for an online class I’m taking through UVA, but this book is such an insightful piece of writing about what it means to truly meet the needs of all learners.
Tomlinson is up front that “teachers need not differentiate all elements in all possible ways in each unit,” but that purposeful differentiation is an essential part of teaching and meeting the needs of all learners (19). She talks about the various ways teachers can help both struggling and gifted students to succeed, while at the same time not “pigeonholing” them as one type of student or another. She discusses the value of growth vs. fixed mindsets in the classroom and some of the unforeseen consequences of sorting students by ability levels. It’s a challenging, but important book.
Book #3: The Writing Revolution by Judith C. Hochman
If you’re like me and you teach a wide range of learners with an even larger spread of abilities than this book is for you! I picked up this book when looking for some strategies for reaching some of my 9th graders who struggle with writing, but I found some strategies that are helpful for all students, including those in my English 9, 9 Honors, and AP Literature courses.
Hochman argues that in order for students to be proficient in writing essays, they must first be skilled in writing effective paragraphs, and that before they can write effective paragraphs, they must be able to write effective, complex, and varied sentences.
She starts by digging into syntax and then moves from paragraphs into the entirety of the paper. What I liked about this book is that it provided specific, differentiated activities and ideas for teaching each concept effectively to all children, wherever they might be in their writing development. If you’re a grammar nerd like me, it’s a really interesting read — I read the entirety of this book during a five hour drive across the state; if you’re not really into grammar, it does a great job breaking down each of the concepts and teaching ways to integrate writing and grammar into the curriculum without it feeling like a chore.
Lattes and Lit 