With the school year winding down, I know that many of you are starting to look ahead to summer learning opportunities to revitalize your practice. We’re looking forward to having many of you join us in workshops at LREC. Your commitment to continuing to develop as a teacher is commendable. Even though your future students won’t know directly, they will surely benefit from your extra effort.

Along with any PD programs you’re signed up for, be sure to take time for some professional reading, too. Here I’ll offer some of my favorites. Each is a short but engaging read. If you’re looking for something else that you think we’d have an idea about, drop us a note. We’ll see if we can find any suggestions for you.

David Sobel, Place-based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities (2nd edition). Probably the most popular description of place-based education, filled with anecdotes of great practice.

John Dewey, Experience and Education. A short classic focusing on ways to engage students in meaningful learning experiences.

Susan Engel, The End of the Rainbow: How Educating for Happiness (Not Money) Would Transform Our Schools. The title says it all, from a developmental psychologist.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Developing Essential Understanding of Mathematical Reasoning. A good science curriculum has a lot of data and evidence-based reasoning. Get some tips here.

Paul Lockhart, A Mathematician’s Lament: How School Cheats Us Out of Our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form. If you’re feeling like your math curriculum is a slog thorough arithmetic procedures, refresh your perspective with this one.