Category Archives: Books

Here s a list of books written for teachers that are worth reading. Enjoy!

Leonard Covello and the Making of Benjamin Franklin High School

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9781592135219_p0_v1_s260x420[1]Here’s a great book for anyone who is interested in progressive education or pluralism in education: Leonard Covello and the making of Benjamin Franklin High School: Education as if Citizenship Mattered. Leonard Covello came to the United States in 1896 as a nine-year-old Italian immigrant. Despite immense cultural and economic pressures at home, Leonard wanted to get an education. As an adult, he analyzed these cultural and economic pressures, which were common in Italian immigrant households at that time. He realized that Italian parents viewed the school as a wedge between their children and the family; he recognized the pressure even the youngest Italian children faced to go out and get a job rather than succeed in school. His answer? Involve the parents in the school, and involve the students in the community. The result was New York’s Benjamin Franklin High School, a truly innovative marriage of school and home. Lots of lessons in this story are relevant even in today’s times, especially for school personnel who are clamoring for more involvement from parents in the school system.
You can find this eye-opening book on amazon.com at the Leonard Covello link. You can also read the abbreviated version of Leonard Covello’s life story in Chalkboard Champions.

Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul

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9781558749788_p0_v1_s260x420[1][1]This one is without a doubt a no-brainer: Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul: Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Educators. Ever since it was first introduced, the Chicken Soup series, no matter what the topic, has been an uplifting choice. Anytime you’re feeling down-and-out, and you need a quick professional pick-me-up, this volume will do it for you. I find this is a good book to keep on my desk at school, and when the students are doing their sustained silent reading (SSR), I can read an entry or two at the same time. When they see you leisure reading, hopefully they are inspired to read even more. What’s good about using a book like this for SSR is that the entries are short, so time doesn’t get away from you, and if you get interrupted, you can easily pick up where you left off. Try it! You can acquire this book at amazon at the following link: Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul.

Sandra Adickes and Legacy of a Freedom School

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9781403972132[1]Sandra Adickes was an energetic and idealistic thirty-year-old New York City schoolteacher in 1964, the year she ventured south into Mississippi to teach in a Freedom School. The goal of the summer program was to empower the black community to register to vote and to help bridge some of the gap of educational neglect that had long been a tradition in that Jim Crow state. Both blacks and whites realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans hope to improve their lot.
The enterprise was not without danger. On the first day of Freedom Summer, three workers involved in the program disappeared while investigating the firebombing of the church facility designated for their voter recruitment activities. Six weeks later, as Sandra Adickes conducted her classes in Hattiesburg, the badly beaten and bullet-ridden bodies of the three missing men were discovered buried in an earthen dam in nearby Neshoba County.
At summer’s end, Sandra’s fearless students decided to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library in what became, in effect, a graduation trip with an emphasis on civic reform. Sandra was arrested in the effort. Read her riveting story, and what became of her courageous students, in her book Legacy of a Freedom School. You can also find a chapter about this remarkable teacher in Chalkboard Champions.

Spring Break and Professional Renewal: Find Inspiration in The Quotable Teacher

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516wdNfPKbL._SX225_[1][1]Easter time, and its accompanying Spring Break (yippee!), is a time of renewal and new growth, not only spiritually and personally, but professionally as well. Whenever I am looking for professional inspiration, I turn to a handy little book called The Quotable Teacher edited by Randy Howe. This little volume is divided into ten chapters devoted to various teaching topics of interest to educators. For example, “Those Who Teach,” “The Philosophy Behind Good Teaching,” “The Need to Think Outside the Box,” and “Those We Teach.” I keep a copy on my desk at school for those moments when I need a little lift. If you wish to acquire this thought-provoking little volume, you can find The Quotable Teacher on amazon.com.

The Freedom Writers Diary, Both Book and Movie

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cover[1]Just about everyone has heard of the best-selling book The Freedom Writers Diary, written by teacher Erin Gruwell and her high school class of inner-city at-risk students. This collection of student experiences, which will tug at any teacher’s heart strings, was also depicted in a movie starring Hollywood celeb Hilary Swank. This book really zeroes in on some of the challenges our kids face when they are not in school, and how much a caring and dedicated teacher can help them overcome those challenges. The movie delves a little more into the personal life of the teacher, and aside from the suggestion that you have to work three jobs and give up your marriage to be a good teacher, it’s pretty inspiring. What I think is amazing is that my high school students love this book just as much as my fellow teachers do! The Freedom Writers Diary is easy to find on amazon and at just about any brick-and-mortar bookstore.