The Transparent Teacher--Win It!

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I received a wonderful book from the one of the largest publishers in the United     States, Jossey-Bass, to review. The book is  called The Transparent Teacher       by Dr. Trent Kaufman and Emily Graham.  The book is all about taking charge of     instruction in your own classroom and having others collect data about how you      teach.  It encourages the 'lone wolf teacher' to be brave and bring other teachers   into the classroom instead of relying  on administrators' advice. In this type of       scenario, the administrator is no longer making decisions about tenure                     independently or assigning grade level placement for the next year depending on    just those one or two snapshots of the classroom during random visitation or that   wonderful 'dog and pony show' that we have all put together before to impress our bosses. Once the data is collected, your team meets to discus  the teaching         methods and strategies used to teach the lesson that was observed. The book is set up to teach you how to direct your own observations and then choose the professional development that is best for you, rather than depend on the one size fits all approach to professional development that most school systems offer.





I found one of the quotes by one of the authors, Dr. Kaufman, interesting. He said,  "When professional learning opportunities exist outside of the teacher's own           classroom, the teacher encounters the challenge of transferring learning from a        training session to the classroom."  I hadn't really thought about that being a         challenge...but  it is...how often have we all been in training that we never used      because we were overwhelmed in the   classroom.  I think these 2 authors have a   great idea.  If this is something you would like to learn more about, just enter to     win!

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Best Book Ever: Reading Without Limits

This had been the most enjoyable and useful book that I have seen in quite a while.  It takes information from all of the other reading gurus out there, mixes it with some new ideas (like mild texts, medium texts, and spicy texts for friendly-kid reading) and makes you REALLY want to read it!!!

What surprised me most was that 25% of Americans didn't read a book last year.  And we wonder why our educational system if falling behind that of other countries!  Do you have those kids in your classroom that only read when you make them?  Well, I have tried several of the techniques in this book and now I have kids who CHOOSE to read because they can read about Avatar or Ninjago (I am still not sure what those are, but the parents are buying them, so I am letting them read them and do reading responses with them!).  

The thoughts and strategies behind Maddie Witter's 'program' were used in the #1 school in Manhattan...which happened to be in Harlem.  How can you beat that?  All of the chapters are great, but sense it 'tis the season, Chapter 12 has been my lifeline for the past few weeks.  This chapter centers on standardized test prep and how to do it the right way.  I plan to go page by page and get my kidlins ready for a SCARY test.  Not so much scary for them, but scary for me because I have so much riding on these scores.  So, enough of that before I give myself a migraine over the worry....I have to have faith!  

Go ahead and enter and I will send you two brand new copies!!   You saw that there are two pictures of the book up their right?  You wouldn't want me to share mine...it is written in, highlighted, and dog-eared!  So...I figured it was SO good that you would not want to read this alone....you would want to read it and discuss it with a friend!  Boo Yah!!  Don't you love brand new books?

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The Ten-Minute Inservice--Wouldn't That Be Awesome?

Is your administrator long winded?  Maybe you might want to slip this on his or her desk?  Or maybe you are the administrator's secret pal and you can 'anonymously' donate the book?  hehe  It's worth a try!!!

The book has 40 different 'lessons' that are broken up into different areas:  classroom management, teaching practices, school climate, learning from others, and "What makes a great teacher?".  This book is seriously a good read and helpful even if you aren't an administrator.  Sometimes it just makes sense to know what they are looking for....especially around evaluation times!  As an added bonus, pdf files can be downloaded for free!  Or....if you or your administrator is a techie, there are Power Point slides that can be used also!!!


Now...with all that said, who wants to win this book?  I am going to give this great book away!


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