Becoming a Literacy Leader by Jennifer Allen
Supporting learning and change

This unique chronicle is rooted in the belief that teachers already know what they need when it comes to professional development in literacy, and that the best literacy leaders are those who listen to and respect the educators in their midst. Practical and straightforward, the book covers all the bases — from organizing a literacy room to creating model programs to leading teacher study groups to finding and budgeting money for professional development programs in literacy.
This insider's view helps to define what leadership looks like, and shows how to create an environment that fosters professional development. An optimistic and realistic portrait of life in schools among teachers committed to doing their jobs well.

P.L.A.N. for Better Learning by Kevin Bird and Kirk Savage
his hands-on guide is designed to assist teachers as they structure their learning practice. The framework of four basic and proven steps — Preparation, Learning Sequence, Authentic Application, and New Thinking — can be used at any level, for any subject, and for learning applications from lessons to unit plans. The P.L.A.N. approach aims to improve flow in teaching — to help teachers truly implement purposeful planning, personalization, and engagement. Combining the best research on how we learn with practical lesson exemplars, the P.L.A.N. process encourages and supports goal setting, student engagement, and transformational learning.

On Twitter: #PLANlearning

Relationships Make the Difference by Pat Trottier
Connect with your students and help them build social, emotional, and academic skills

As educators, it is important to take the time to get to know our students. Discovering what students are capable of and how they feel about things is the first step toward nurturing learning. Helping them develop their social-emotional skills sets the scene for academic growth and achievement. This book provides the scaffolding that teachers need to establish strong relationships with their students and create caring classroom communitities that include relationships with parents, school administration and staff, and support specialists.

Stop the Stress in Schools by Joey Mandel
Mental health strategies teachers can use to build a kinder gentler classroom

This timely book explores the stresses exerted on today's students, and shows teachers how to reduce the atmosphere of tension and pressure in their classrooms. It emphasizes the power teachers have in building a positive environment, through kindness and stress reduction.

Committed to fostering a healthier classroom, Stop the Stress in Schools provides explicit ways to build healthy relationships and handle problems so that negative interactions, such as bullying, are reduced. It features calming strategies that include slowing the pace; increasing positive engagement and interaction, considering the perspective of the student; and celebrating process rather than product. Instead of targeting the symptoms of stress, this book focuses on the social-emotional traits that help children experience stress and navigate through it constructively. A comprehensive approach to reducing stress for teachers and students, the book includes practical examples of student work

Substitute Teaching? Amanda Yuill
deas for every grade from K-8

Get students on your side and make classroom management easier with this easy-to-read, humorous survival guide. Whether in the classroom for a single day or a longer term, this handy resource is full of quick, relationship-building activities that make the difference between a day of spitballs and a day where students give you handmade bracelets. A valuable time-saver, the book includes specific lessons for all grades, in all subject areas. The ideal companion for the teacher just getting started, an experienced teacher filling in, or a full-time classroom teacher looking for new ways to connect with students, this timely book offers the tips and tools you need to not only survive, but succeed!

Teaching with Humor, Compassion and Conviction by Heather Hollis NEW!
Helping our students become literate, considerate, passionate human beings

How can teachers make their literacy classrooms a place of joy? Fun, caring, and passion are the keys to a shame-free, healthy classroom that nurtures students in mind, body, and spirit. Full of simple strategies and activities for building community, this practical book is committed to promoting strong literacy skills. It illustrates concrete ways to build mindful classrooms where students are free to speak with compassion, write with conviction, and read with joy