Holly Teaches

This is my stack of summer reading.  A mix of professional teaching books and YA books others have recommended to me.  Regarding the professional books, some I read last school year, but want to take a closer, not-so-rushed approach, and some are new.

Reflecting right at the end of the year is the perfect time to tweak and make changes for the upcoming year.  What worked well and what didn’t work so well are still fresh in my mind.  This is the second year I have used writing workshop and so far, I have really enjoyed it.  The book Hacking the Writing Workshop and Writing Workshop in Middle School are new to me this summer.  I am sure I will find lots of new gems that I can try with my 8th graders this next year.  Workshopping the Cannon I bought after attending last year’s NCTE conference (and if you have never gone, I encourage you to do so–amazing!).  It’s the foundation I used for using our core text The Secret Life of Bees to center around social justice.  (You can see the books I chose for that unit here.)  I am really looking forward to rereading this text and taking more time–I bought it in November and used some ideas from it in January.

I am on the leadership team at my school and our principle asked us to read Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  Should be a good one.

Lastly, I have read all of Nancie Atwell’s books but this one.  I want to try to include more reading into the culture of our school.  Change is hard, but I am hopeful to get more teachers outside of my discipline to give it a try.  Reading Ladders is proving to be a great read, but I am only about 1/3 of the way through.  I implemented reading workshop into my curriculum about 5 years ago, and am always looking for new ways to continue to support my students as readers.

Circe, The Scribe of Siena, and News of the World have been on my What-To-Read-Next List for some time, so I am hoping to take a break from all the professional reading to enjoy these (and book talk them for my students in the fall).

What books are you reading this year?  Feel free to share in the comment section below.  Happy teaching!