Teacher Resources

Teacher resources—books on curriculum and instruction, methodologies, or true story accounts—help develop your craft as an educator. All of these can inspire you to do and be your best as an educator.

Considerations

• Use teacher resources to do any and all of the following:
  • Keep you current on changes in the field of education
  • Assist you in becoming a lifelong learner
  • Give you innovative and interesting ideas
  • Help you deliver engaging curriculum
  • Assist you in managing your classroom
  • Inspire you
  • Motivate you
  • Help you set reasonable goals and expectations for all of your students
• Purchase resources from any of several sources.
  • Online at websites such as half.com, Amazon.com, and barnesandnoble .com
  • At local teacher supply stores
  • At major bookstores
  • At university bookstores
• Search out used textbooks to save money.
• Check out resources from a local library. Many of the recommended resources are available at public libraries.
• Borrow resources from other teachers or from your administrator.

15 Top Resources for Teachers

Cohen, Brad and Lisa Wysocky. Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had. 2008. (isbn 9780312571399)

Front of the Class is about Tourette syndrome, but it’s also a touching account of the difficulties and triumphs in one young man’s life that can be applied to students who have a learning disorder, chronic disease, or any situation that makes them different from their peers.

Delpit, Lisa and Herbert Kohl. Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. 2006. (isbn 9781595580740)

Children of color and poor children—“other people’s children”—are often victimized by school administrators and others who see “damaged and dangerous caricatures” instead of able youngsters who are capable of learning in a mainstream setting. Delpit discusses her views on teaching African American children, based on professional research and her own experience of school as an alien environment.

Esquith, Rafe. Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56. 2007. (isbn 9780143112860)

In his Los Angeles public school classroom, Rafe Esquith helps impoverished immigrant children become happy, self-confident people. This account of his work provides teachers and parents with the techniques, exercises, and innovations that have made its author popular.

Freedom Writers, Zlata Filipovic, and Erin Gruwell. The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. 1999. (isbn 9780385494229)

As a young English teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, Gruwell and her at-risk students undertake a life-changing, eye-opening journey against intolerance and misunderstanding. With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting account of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination change the lives of a teacher and her students.

Gruwell, Erin. The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher’s Guide. 2007. (isbn 9780767926966)

Designed for educators by the teacher who created The Freedom Writers, this standards-based teacher’s guide includes innovative teaching techniques that engage, empower, and enlighten.

Johnson, LouAnne. Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains. 2005. (isbn 9780787974718)

Teaching Outside the Box offers tangible strategies that can help teachers create engaging classroom environments where students want to learn and teachers enjoy teaching—using “outside the box” approaches.

Jones, Fredric H., Patrick Jones, Jo Lynn, and Fred Jones. Fred Jones Tools for Teaching: Discipline, Instruction, Motivation. 2007. (isbn 9780965026321)

Fred Jones offers tools for developing discipline, instruction, and motivation in your students with the goal of reducing the stress of teaching. He includes tips to help you reduce disruptions, disrespectful talk, overuse of hand raising, and wasted time.

McBride, James. The Color of Water. 1996. (isbn 9781594481925)

Kids who come from diverse backgrounds have a noticeable desire to identify who they are and where they come from. The Color of Water introduces a man whose mother was white and whose father was black. The two stories he tells, his mother’s and his own, describe a biracial family that succeeded and achieved the American dream—socially and academically—despite the obstacles placed in its way by society.

Mooney, Jonathan. The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal. 2007. (isbn 9780805088045)

Children with physical, mental, and learning disabilities often ride a “short bus” to school, which signals that they are different. Mooney was one of those short-bus children because he was dyslexic. After he graduated from Brown University, he co-wrote a book on learning disabilities and began speaking publicly on the subject. Then he set out on a journey: He bought an old short bus, and he traveled from Los Angeles to Maine to Washington and back to Los Angeles, stopping to visit with people he met along the way who were also “not normal.”

Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time. 2007. (isbn 9780143038252)

Greg Mortenson’s promise to build the first school in the impoverished Pakistani village of Korphe grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. His inspiring story will make you ask, “What else can I do?”

Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. 2006. (isbn 9781594481710)

Pink discusses a future that belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers, and creative and empathic “right-brain” thinkers.

Springer, Steve, Brandy Alexander, and Kimberly Persiani-Becker. The Organized Teacher: A Hands-On Guide to Setting Up and Running a Terrific Classroom. 2005. (isbn 9780071457071)

The Organized Teacher provides advice on everything from desk arrangement to unit planning, sample room setups to behavior-management strategies, and practical advice on creating student portfolios, checklists, and scoring rubrics.

Springer, Steve, Brandy Alexander, and Kimberly Persiani-Becker. The Creative Teacher: An Encyclopedia of Ideas to Energize Your Curriculum. 2006. (isbn 9780071472807)

The Creative Teacher offers inventive tools to enhance standards-based curricula and helpful strategies for creating new and engaging lesson plans. It is filled with ideas for everything from bulletin boards to math activities.

Springer, Steve, Brandy Alexander, and Kimberly Persiani-Becker. The Festive Teacher: Multicultural Activities for Your Curriculum. 2008. (isbn 9780071492638)

Take holidays to the next level by incorporating their historical and cultural significance into your lesson plans. The Festive Teacher includes activities and story starters that are directly connected to holidays and standard curricula.

Thompson, J. First Year Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies, Tools & Activities for Meeting the Challenges of Each School Day. 2007. (isbn 9780787994556)

First Year Teacher’s Survival Guide gives teachers a variety of strategies, activities, and tools for creating a positive learning environment. Included are useful tips for being a team player and connecting with students while handling behavior problems and working within diverse classrooms.