Inspirational Books For Teachers Pdf
Yahaira Petrov
Reading is something I have enjoyed since the time I was young and would sneak a flashlight under the covers to read after bedtime. Although I read a lot of research articles these days, there are several books I read over the last few months that I really enjoyed! As music teachers, we should also be lifelong learners, and books are perfect for that! I encourage you to check out some of these books for music educators.
A second edition of Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education: From Understanding to Application was released by Constance McKoy and Vicki Lund in 2023. The book provides readers both with an understanding of what culturally responsive teaching is, and what it can look like in music classes.
You likely already know the key to making a reading-commitment: finding something you genuinely want to read. But, hunting through a book retailer can be overwhelming. And, how do you know if the books are any good? Well, I can tell you what I do when I am hunting for new books to add fuel to my teaching fire.
I look at the reviews, much like I look at the review of a restaurant. I take advantage of the previews provided and read a few pages. And, perhaps most importantly, I seek out the advice of my teacher-friends. What are they reading? What are they loving?
I read this book during my own credential program, and I have my pre-service teachers read this book as well. It is a favorite of theirs, which means they all actually read it. In the book, Fried invites teachers to develop a stance, what they believe about students, learning, and teaching, and then advises teachers on how to live and teach by this stance. Fried cuts to the heart of teaching, in all its idealism, and he presents realistic strategies to bring a bit of that idealism into the classroom.
As Watson explains, this is a lie. It is a lie. Period. If we want to stay in the teaching field long-term, we must learn how to expend our energy and time wisely. This book helps you figure out what you can do to become more sustainable as a teacher.
With that said, any book by Bren Brown is a winner. This book, though, speaks to my heart because I read it during one of the toughest years of teaching, and it spoke to me. Brown talks about the hard parts of life and how to recover, how to, as the title says, rise strong. Please, do yourself a favor and read it, and then make everyone in your life read it too.
I read this book when designing the curriculum for a course I was writing, Social Justice. While not the greatest title for a course, it was just that:a course about social justice. A course where we read from social justice advocates, authors, poets, and essayists. This book became a cornerstone of the course.
Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, author, university lecturer and popular consultant who has worked for many years in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, America and Europe. She is widely respected for her work in the field of inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum in which she has taught, researched and published for well over 20 years.
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"The bridge will only take you halfway there, to those mysterious lands you long to see. Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fair, and moonlit woods where unicorns run free. So come and walk awhile with me and share the twisting trails and wondrous worlds I've known. But this bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you have to take alone."
To PROVOKE inquiry - stories that confront our thinking, that introduce us to ideas we had never considered, books that are so delightfully complex or ambiguous that we just want to keep asking and delving deeper.
For many years, the "Stella" books have been my go-to for activating wonderings. Marie-Louise Gay's books beautifully illustrate the child as inquirer - and theoriser about the way the world works. This one, in particular, is a beautiful example of the different ways we can think and wonder about the world. Check out Gay's newer book "Any Questions" as another essential text for your inquiry classroom. This book explores the relationship between questions and the way writers work.
Another beautiful text to share with children and to inspire conversations about the mysteries of the world. The 'big ideas' are explored as a mother and daughter walk together - wondering about life-cycles, gravity, the phases of the moon, the universe itself.
This book is a recent discovery for me and I adore it! Yamada tells the story of a young child with an idea - one he is initially reluctant to embrace but then, as his confidence in it grows, the idea is fed and nurtured until it takes him to place he had never imagined. This is a wonderful 'mentor text' for Itime or genius hour - and for encouraging children to believe in their ideas.
'If' is one of those books that helps 'loosen the lid or grease the wheel of inquiry in the classroom. It is a book about possibility and creative thinking. The art work and surreal propositions instantly provoke questions: What if frogs ate rainbows? (what might they say? what might they look like?). Whenever I use this book, children immediately want to create their own and pose new possibilities, new inquiries.
I have used this book a lot this year.- with all ages. It is the perfect metaphor for an inquiry journey. The book begins with a magified section of a much bigger picture. The fact that there is no text to accompany the images instantly encourages children to predict and share their thinking. Each page provides new information and new perspectives meaning the reader is continually re-thinking their idea of what the 'big picture' really is. I love using this to build students' metacognitive understanding of the way our thinking chances through the act of inquiry.
No classroom library should be without Peter Reynolds' books! In 'Going Places" Peter and his brother have created a story about what it means to take a risk and think differently. This is a story about taking time, reflecting, challenging compliance and collaborating. A wonderful way to help children think about the way they approach learning tasks and the power of having an inquiry mindset. Also a great one to read to a team that has become too fixated on 'cookie cutter' assessment tasks!
Published in 1984, Chris Van Allsburg's classic book remains a powerful way to provoke thinking and to illustrate the nature of investigative thinking. Each of his stunning black and white drawings is a provocation in itself. the accompanying minimal text is just enough to get students considering possibilities and asking questions: "What happened here? Who might this be? Why do that? ..."
Having an inquiry mindset is all about developing a disposition of 'awe and wonder' and a sense of possibility. Sarah Thompson's books help do just that. The words and art works work beautifully in tandem to celebrate the power of imagination. "Imagine a place where your ship holds all you once knew and the horizon offers all you will ever need" ...
This is a current favourite of mine - heart wrenchingly sad though it is! The story itself is really about grief. It's about the challenges of dealing with the pain of loss and our desire to distance ourselves from feeling that pain. So at one level, the book belongs in an inquiry into how we relate to ourselves and others. But it is also a book about curiosity - and that being an inquirer...delighting in finding new things...is our life force. When we gently use this book with children, we invite them to share ways in which their wonders about the world can be nurtured and sustained. It is also a book that reminds us as teachers - to keep curiosity alive in the hearts and minds of our students and ourselves.
To say this selection is the tip of the iceberg would be a massive understatement. I have only shared a small slice of my own collection- let alone the ocean of extraordinary literature available to us. In this post, I have concentrated on those texts that provoke wonder, questioning and an inquiry disposition but literature itself needs to be considered as a source of 'information' within any inquiry. What inquiry into family life would be complete without exploring the quirky, nuanced depictions of family in the Australian author Bob Graham's award winning books? How could we explore the journeys of immigration and cultural without using Allan Sey's stories? Any inquiry into our interaction with the animals and the natural environment can be greatly enhanced by an exploration of the work of Michael Morpurgo or Jeannie Baker. Colin Thompson's work so often helps students think more deeply about some of the most fundamental concepts of equity, identity and justice.
Whether you are using literature to inspire wonder, provoke curiosity or deepen conceptual understanding, the act of sharing literature is always an opportunity to adopt an inquiry stance as a teacher. Inviting questions, thinking aloud, making connections, noticing the way our thinking changes as we read...these techniques are part of the repertoire of an inquiry pedagogy and help make the most of what can be a profound, shared experience.
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