Best Books

Great Reads for Kids

Great Reads for Educators

This is one of those books I feel all kids should read. Maybe He Just Likes You takes a great look at consent and harassment in a junior high school setting. This book will empower and educate young people on how to interact with others in a safe and appropriate way. It will surely lead to important and powerful conversations with kids.

Every so often you read a book that nearly leaves you breathless when you are done. Long Way Down was one of those books for me.  Everything about this book is highly engaging. The content, the format, and the storyline gripped me and sucked me in. I book talked it to my 8th graders when we first got it and I instantly had to purchase additional copies for the library and they are never on the shelf as they are always checked out. Personally, I've read it three times.

I will be the first to admit that I am skeptical of most education books published in recent years. Many of them focus too much on gimmicks and tricks and not sound educational pedagogy. However, this book really hit home for me in terms of its balance of research and real-life anecdotes.  George did a fantastic job of presenting ideas and content in a conversational manner than make the content accessible to all educators. This is a great read for anyone wanting to look at doing school not only differently, but better.

This is not a new book but one that has impacted a great deal of my belief system around student motivation. Pink wrote his book for the corporate world and those looking to motivate their employees. However, there are so many applications to how we motivate students. It really challenges much of what we assume will motivate students and will surely push teachers to evaluate incentives such as grades, stickers charts, and the time-honored candy motivators.