Summer Reading for Teachers

Summer is a great time of year to catch up on reading books that teachers may not have had time for during the school year or have cast aside for Netflix "binge sessions" of your favorite shows. Reading a book by the pool, on the beach, or lakeside (wherever you go to unplug during the summer months) can be refreshing and informative. While I read most of my news and professional development information on Twitter and encourage others to utilize social media to read purposeful and entertaining articles when time allows, there is no substitute for diving into a book (e-book or traditional book) to fully engage your mind in a fictional story or non-fiction topic of interest and discovery.

This summer, I have read a few history/current event books that have been quite riveting and informative. One of those books is “ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror,” by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan. After getting numerous questions about ISIS/ISIL from my students this past school year and answering them to the best of my ability by keeping up with news on Twitter and various news and scholarly outlets, I felt obligated to gain more specifics and background information about this terrorist group. While parts of the book are graphic in detailing the horrible acts committed by terrorist groups and violent dictators and regimes throughout the region, it is a comprehensive look at the past, present, and future of ISIS that has allowed me to better understand the threat they pose to security and stability around the world. The book tracks the story of ISIS back to the 9/11 attacks and details the roles played by Iraq, Iran, and Syria in the creation of ISIS as we know it today, in a fact-based and political talking points-free manner. Additional history books I am reading at the moment or have ready to go on my shelf (I tend to bounce between books) are "Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard and "The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789" by Joseph Ellis.

In addition, I have read (and continue to make notes in) "50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom" by Alice Keeler and Libbi Miller in an effort to further explore this new and exciting online classroom Learning Management System (LMS). While I have been a user of the Moodle LMS since 2009 and Google Apps for Education (GAfE) for the past few years, my district just recently granted permission for teachers to pilot Google Classroom. At just one year old, Google Classroom has already taken the nation by storm. While I am not planning to abandon my use of Moodle this year for my courses, it is hard to argue against Google Classroom's ease of use for those educators new to using an LMS to extend learning outside their classrooms. Google Classroom also seamlessly connects to nearly all GAfE (Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc.), making it easy for students to submit assignments, work collaboratively with their peers, provide student feedback in real time, and even allows teachers to watch students do their homework. These are just a few of the many "things" Keeler and Miller detail in this great book. While I may not make a full conversion to Google Classroom this school year, I do plan on using it for specific assignments my students will be completing this year and to explore the "virtual office hours" feature Keeler and Miller discuss in the book. I encourage other educators that work in schools providing teachers the flexibility and technical support with regards to choosing an LMS to explore Google Classroom for themselves. Start by checking out Alice Keeler (@AliceKeeler) and Libbi Miller (@MillerLibbi) on Twitter and also by following Alice Keeler's blog at www.alicekeeler.com. You can also order their book from Keeler's blog or from major book stores like Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.

Personal and professional growth occur when we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. That being said, I do not believe in change for the sake of change, or drinking the "Kool Aid" or flavor of the month. Reading for leisure and growth within our subject areas and on the field of education in general, allows educators to stay mentally sharp by fully engaging their minds separate from the many distractions of everyday life. Hopefully, we can use our summers to "unplug" and destress from our jobs while keeping our brains stimulated.

Thoughts? Book suggestions on different topics? Please post responses and thoughts here or message me on Twitter @MrPeluzzo.

Here is a link to a spot I recorded for the East Brunswick Public Library's "Read This Book" Program just about 1 year ago recommending a few other books you might enjoy reading with the rest of your time this summer.