learn well

Books for 2009

Building Background Knowledge by Marzano–still reading this, so far contains a lot of useful information for helping ELL. Recommended through an ELL conference I attended earlier this year.

Books to read 2008

• Building Mental Muscle by David Gamon, PhD and Allen D. Bragdon –This book was somewhat useful, but some of it seemed like a random collection of thinking games; it was not as useful as I had hoped.
• Why Didn’t I Learn This in College? by Paula Rutherford — Provided by my district in their new teacher training, this book is full of useful techniques for making learning more “active” and “interactive”.
• Quantum Teaching by DePorter, Reardon and Singer-Nourie– an exellent read, with many useful tips! I am now reading an older book upon which some of these theories were founded, Schools without Failure, by William Glasser, which I highly recommend (be aware it was written in the seventies, with a slightly different mindset).  www.quantumlearningnetwork.com is the official website for Quantum Teaching . . .
• Fires in the Bathroom by Kathleen Cushman — still have to get this book
• The First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong. This is a “classic” book recommended to me by many teachers.  I read parts of it over several times before school last year, and am about to review it in preparation for this new school year!.