Summer Reading to Energize Your Teaching

It takes most teachers a good chunk of the summer to recharge their batteries enough to even want to think about school in the fall. For me, the P20 conference in mid-July is my turning point each year. After sitting in on keynotes and breakout sessions by impassioned speakers, my head is filled with strategies to try in the classroom.

After that turning point, I'm ready to pick up a few good books on teaching. Here are some picks that will give you that needed boost of energy heading into back-to-school time.

Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess

A couple of years ago, I attended Burgess's keynotes at the P20 conference in Twin Falls. This passionate educator uses the acronym PIRATE to inspire teachers to teach with creativity every day for student engagement and achievement. As the book's Amazon page claims, you'll learn how to:

•  Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher
•  Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet 
•  Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom
•  Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students 

As a writer, I'm always looking for ways to increase the suspense in my prose. Turns out, suspense is vital for student engagement, too. Burgess walks you through it in a not-scary way, even (and especially) if you think you're "not creative."

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning by Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D., and Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S.

I'm currently reading this 2019 book, and I'm taking careful notes on the research-based "power tools" and how to use them in my teaching. It's so refreshing to learn that cognitive science shows that many teaching strategies we're already using are dead-on, but there are ways to leverage the science of learning to increase student understanding far beyond our expectations. I highly recommend this book for all teachers in all disciplines and grade levels. You can view excerpts from the book here!

Unlocking English Learners' Potential by Diane Staehr Fenner and Sydney Snyder

This one's on my to-be-read list. Even though my small district has a low population of English learners, we need practical tools to support each student as he or she learns. This fall I'll be presenting a professional development refresher on strategies for teaching ELs to my school staff. While I could just use last year's slideshow as a springboard, I want to dig deeper and have plenty of information and research at the ready. Not to mention energizing my presentation! If any of you have read this book, tell us what you think.


Please share in the comments any great teacher books you have found energizing!


For more summer reads, check out these posts:

Who Is My Neighbor? Better Information Means Better Compassion
Words To Live By, A New Book By Dalene Parker and Linda Gilden
Conference Time and A Few Good Books
Balance and Boundaries

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