Master educators keep writing books for teachers because there are few jobs more courageous than becoming a teacher. And teachers have to come up with inspiring lesson plans, schedules, and homework.
Good teachers are lifelong learners, always looking to develop new skills and understandings. This year should be the time for more professional reading; reading is the most efficient professional development.
Where Do Teachers Find Books?
Fortunately, hundreds of books written by real teachers share real stories, tips, tricks, and motivation that will transition from college campus to a primary or secondary school teacher.
However, finding cheap books for classrooms can be a challenge. Sure, the school provides the standard texts, but if you want to buy a book, you must consider your budget! Other than used books, the best way to get the cheapest books is using Amazon Audible. Yes, Audible is the best and largest audible library. Moreover, you can try 30 days for free!
What are the Must-read Books for Teachers?
Here, I listed 20+ inspirational books for teachers recommended by master educators. This list has a little something for everyone, such as classroom management strategies, race issues, being a teacher during the digital age, and more. I believe every teacher should spend some time reviewing these carefully-selected books to stay up to date.
A famous computer scientist demonstrates the value of educating children on the fundamentals of computers in this ground-breaking book, emphasizing how it can help them succeed in the rapidly changing tech industry.
Computers have completely transformed the way we teach kids, and we can thank Mindstorms for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert argues for the benefits of training kids with computers by citing the creation of LOGO, the first kid-friendly programming language. Children are more than capable of learning how to use computers, according to Papert, who also claims that teaching computational skills in the classroom, such as debugging, can transform how we learn everything else. He also demonstrates how technologically advanced schools may enhance socializing and interactivity among pupils.
In an effort to provide parents and other stakeholders an understanding of the reality of the classroom, this book takes readers on a tour of a day in the life of a public elementary school. The tour identifies ten concerning aspects of today’s schools and discusses solutions. Dillon underlines the necessity for future schools to be exciting environments with a high purpose and small enough classrooms to waste as little time as possible. They should be overseen by rotating teacher administrators rather than career managers, free from oppressive bureaucracy levels. The book argues that rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all, rigorously evaluated college prep curriculum on everyone, schools should be staffed by knowledgeable and involved teaching professionals committed to assisting pupils in living healthy adult living in a democracy. According to Dillon, schools should be institutions with classrooms dedicated to teaching a clear curriculum and restricted ability ranges, all with the full support and buy-in of the kids’ families. Let’s explore the elementary schools of today.
“Misinformation. Loss of employment, an overabundance of information monetary disparity, digital dependency, the erosion of truth itself, civility, and democracy.
The norms, beliefs, and traits that shape behavior in Silicon Valley, the world’s high-tech epicenter, as well as the industry it represents, are examined in this open access book. It has become clear how little we know about the companies driving these developments in an age where the scope and influence of a single industry have the power to determine the course of our planet. The Psychology of Silicon Valley is an insightful look at the most powerful industry in the world and how Big Tech’s identity, culture, myths, and goals are affecting society.
The book makes the case that Silicon Valley’s terrible morals and lack of emotional intelligence will have long-lasting effects on everything from social equality to the nature of work in the future to our collective mental health. Katy Cook skillfully guides us through Silicon Valley’s psychological terrain, including its leadership, ethical, and cultural issues, and articulately argues why we can no longer afford to disregard the psychology and principles that underlie our technology.”
From infancy to the beginnings of puberty, this Very Short Introduction provides a current, trustworthy, and intelligible summary of modern child psychology. Usha Goswami explores the bonding and attachment process from infancy on, showing how secure attachments encourage the development of self-awareness. Goswami examines how infants and toddlers understand the natural, biological, and social environments and how they acquire sophisticated skills like morality and language. He also looks at cognitive reasoning and language acquisition.
Goswami emphasizes the value of sibling relationships and early friendships for psychological growth by illustrating how a child’s learning is influenced by their environment, including those at home, school, peers, and society. By explaining the foundational theories in child psychology, Goswami demonstrates why children develop the way they do and how society could better enhance their development throughout the adolescent years.
“How to Write Like Tolstoy is a thought-provoking journey inside the minds of the world’s most accomplished storytellers, from Shakespeare to Stephen King, for anyone who has ever identified with a hero or heroine, been seduced by a strong opening sentence, or been powerfully moved by a story’s ending.
In an effort to take readers on a journey into the concerns, strategies, tricks, foibles, and, occasionally, obsessions of our most brilliant writers, I have made an effort to describe the art of writing in as much of the authors’ own words as possible.
— from the Foreword
Every celebrated piece of literature is the result of a wealth of thoughtful choices. The best writers laboriously—and perhaps obsessively—work on every aspect of their works, from dialogue and point of view to narrative and character development.
What prompted Nabokov to choose Lolita as her name? Why did Fitzgerald choose to write The Great Gatsby in first person? How did Kerouac, who was adamantly opposed to revision, decide to eventually rework On the Road? Richard Cohen, a seasoned editor and educator draws from his extensive library from a lifetime of reading as well as his understanding of what makes excellent prose soar. Your book’s opening paragraph should fix most of the difficulties, according to Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Virginia Woolf’s concept of style (“It is all rhythm. The nature of fiction has been discussed by Vladimir Nabokov (“All great books are wonderful fairy tales”); once you understand that, you can never use the wrong words.
To identify the components that contributed to our best authors’ prose being remembered, Cohen studied their published works and unpublished writing. The result is a distinctive investigation into the process and art of writing that enhances our enjoyment of the greatest works of classic and contemporary fiction. He illustrates the difficulties that even the best writers faced and demonstrates how they overcame them by invoking the fantastic, the well-known, and the irreverent.”
Define depression. Bipolar disorder: what is it? How are they identified and dealt with? Can and should a young child be given an antidepressant diagnosis and treatment for depression?
This Very Short Introduction covers depression, manic depression, and bipolar disorder. It begins with a brief history of these ideas before concentrating on the current descriptions and understanding of these conditions. Jan Scott and Mary Jane Tacchi discuss the creation and introduction of antidepressants and mood stabilizers as they examine the advent of contemporary remedies for those who suffer from depression. They look at the different disorders’ symptoms, warning indicators, and the link between medical illnesses and depression.
They examine the significance of bipolar illness and depression in society and the connection between creativity and mood disorders. Scott and Tacchi wrap off by talking about depression treatments and the future.
“Many people believe that mathematics is the iciest manifestation of rational thought. However, there are few topics that elicit more love and hate than mathematics. The tale of arithmetic is nothing if not human; in many cases, it is all too human, despite the widespread idealization of math as existing above the chaos of human life. The book Loving and Hating Mathematics explores the unseen social, emotional, and human variables that influence mathematics and impact both students’ and mathematicians’ lives. Loving and Hating Mathematics captures the profound pleasures and frustrations of a mathematical existence in a colorful, approachable style and with the help of compelling stories and anecdotes.
These tales dispel a number of clichés, such as the assumption that mathematics is a solitary activity and a “young man’s game,” the notion that mathematicians are emotionally distinct from other people, and even the notion that it helps to be a little bit crazy to be a brilliant mathematician. Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner recount the lives of mathematicians from their earliest days to their later years. They discuss teaching and mentoring, friendships and rivalries, relationships and marriages, and the experiences of women and underrepresented groups in a field that has historically been hostile to both. Stories of persons for whom mathematics has provided enormous comfort through times of crisis, war, and even jail are also included here, as are those rare individuals who have been driven to insanity and even murder by a mathematical passion.
This book is for everyone who wants to comprehend why one of humankind’s most logical pursuits is also one of its most emotional.”
“Ted Dintersmith, a specialist in innovation, traveled around the country in an unusual way during the 2016–17 academic year. He visited all fifty states to raise awareness about the urgent need to reimagine education to prepare students for the career and citizenship demands of an increasingly-innovative world.
However, as he traversed the nation, Dintersmith encountered creative educators who were doing exceptional things in everyday situations and building cutting-edge classrooms where students could learn deeply and joyfully. These students’ teachers engage and excite them every day, and in turn, they support the growth of children’s deep knowledge, purpose, agency, and fundamental skill sets and mindsets. These educators’ observations provide a picture of what a school could be and a guide for helping schools get there.”
“In Understanding Institutions, the best ideas from social scientists and philosophers who have written on the subject are combined to form a new, comprehensive theory of social institutions. The aspects of three popular theories of institutions—as equilibriums of strategic games, regulative rules, and constitutive norms—are combined in Francesco Guala’s theory.
Guala proposes a much-needed merger of equilibrium- and rules-based systems while explaining important institutions like money, private property, and marriage. The theory is given in a straightforward, understandable manner that is accessible to a large audience of academics working in many subjects, despite the fact that he incorporates principles from game theory. Guala addresses long-standing difficulties in the social sciences, including reflexivity, realism, Verstehen, and fallibilism, by outlining and addressing many implications of the unified theory. He also questions whether it is possible to distinguish between social and natural research using the criteria of causal and ontological dependence and analyzes the idea of “looping effects” and “interactive sorts” defended by Ian Hacking. Guala demonstrates how these esoteric philosophical questions have significant practical and political ramifications by focusing on current discussions regarding the meaning of marriage.
Understanding Institutions gives fresh perspectives on what institutions are, how they function, and what they might do for us by moving beyond particular situations to general models and principles.”
The Case against Education by Bryan Caplan argues that the primary purpose of education is not for students to gain vital skills but rather to show off qualities potential employers desire, such as intelligence and conformity. The book dives into why students search for easy A’s and why, despite more access to education than ever, the average worker does not have substantially better job options.
The book proposes that this ‘runaway credential inflation’ is due mostly to employers rewarding workers for costly schooling that they don’t typically use. The solution? According to Caplan, cutting education spending is the best way forward – even if it proves unpopular in some quarters.
