Secret Ways : Character Building

I'll never forget my first year of teaching.  I had planned to teach elementary and was given the opportunity to work with six graders.  To say I was unprepared would be an understatement.  There were no supports in place for teachers, but thankfully my husband taught eighth grade and the teachers in our small school were always happy to help.  It's still quite easy to remember how hard that year was for me.  I can remember telling myself that certainly by year three I'd have this teaching thing down to a science.  Of course, that didn't prove to be true as even over twenty years later I find I'm always working to change.

The first years were hard.  Thankfully there were professional books.  It wasn't long after I started teaching that Nancie Atwell wrote, In the Middle:  Writing, Reading and Learning with Adolescents now in its third edition.   To this day, I consider this book to be one of the professional books that helped shape my work as an educator and honestly may have kept me teaching.

Authors of professional books about education continued to improve my work when I moved grade levels, noticed parts of my teaching that I needed to grow, or joined groups of educators hoping to study teaching in greater depth.  Authors like Gay Su Pinnell, Irene Fountas, Debbie Miller, Franki Sibberson, Katie Wood Ray, Ralph Fletcher, Shelley Harwayne, and Troy Hicks all played a part in important shifts in my teaching.

Professional Books for New Teachers
I've been doing a lot of our work with our newest teachers.  I've found their conversations engaging as they work to take what they know and solve new questions they're finding as they work alongside children each day.  In addition to working with new teachers, my son is doing his student teacher this year.  All of these conversations have me thinking about professional books I'd recommend to new teachers.  Here are a few titles I recommend as teachers begin:

Guided Reading:  Responsive Teaching Across the Grades by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell

About the Authors:Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray with Lisa Cleveland

Reading with Meaning:Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades by Debbie Miller

Still Learning to Read:Teaching Students in Grades 3-6 by Franki Sibberson and Karen Szymusiak

The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo

Amplify:  Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-8 Classroom by Katie Muhtaris and Kristin Ziemke

Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action K-5 by Debbie Miller

There have been so many books written that it was hard to narrow to these titles.  These seem to be the books that help when thinking about the foundations of our work.  If you have favorite recommendations for new teachers, I hope you'll share them in the comments.

Today's post is part of the #digilit Sunday conversation hosted by Margaret Simon.  This week's topic is "refresh" --- and, Margaret, I finally managed a post.  :o)  (See below for links.) 

#cyberPD
As the school year begins to wind down, I'm beginning to feel the excitement of having a little extra time for summer learning.  One of my favorite ways to refresh in the summer is to join professional conversations around literacy --- and, of course, one of my favorites is #cyberPD.  This year will be the 6th annual #cyberPD conversation.  Each year, Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and I collaboratively host a virtual professional reading conversation across blogs.  The community has grown over the years and is now nearly 200 members strong.

Each year one professional book is chosen to be read by the #cyberPD community.  During the month of July, the book is discussed across three weeks.  Each week participants read and discuss a different section of the selected book.  Past titles have included (revisit conversations here):

• 2011 Conferring:  The Cornerstone of Reader's Workshop by Patrick Allen
• 2012 Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• 2013 Who Owns the Learning by Alan November 
• 2014 Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller
• 2015 Digital Reading:  What's Essential by Franki Sibberson and Bill Bass
• 2016 To Be Determined