Hey!
This is Pam, Amy was gracious enough to let me hijack the Media Monday post to talk about a subject that is near and dear to all of our hearts- reading! I hope you enjoy the post and share with your staff!
This week I want to share with you my summer reading list. After three and half years in graduate school completing two degree programs back to back, I realized that I had not read anything that was not prescribed to me on a syllabus in quite some time.
While pondering the fact that I let something that once was a passion turn into a chore, it occurred to me that many of our students may feel the same way. I decided to try to read again for fun and enlightenment; thinking "would those feelings of wonder and excitement return?" I suggested to my team that we begin an independent book study at our weekly meetings, sharing out something insightful from our previous week of reading. There is no specific structure or required titles, just reading and sharing our thoughts.
The change has been dramatic. In the past month, our team creativity has returned. We have a shared wealth of new ideas and strategies to try. Our relationships are stronger.
A simple task has returned joy and passion in a demanding time of year. Not only are their personal gains, but it is critical for our students and staff to see us as learners. Learning new concepts and modeling a growth mindset. You are inspiring tomorrow's learners with today's actions.
I started my reading with Who Owns the Learning? by Alan November. This is a short book with lots of insight about how to redesign your thinking and lesson design to focus on student problem solving and critical thinking. I think this book would be wonderful for an MTAC or SIT book study as it is concise and powerful to reflect on who owns the learning at your school.
My next book, that I just started reading today, is Personalized PD by Jason Bretzmann, Kenny Bosch, Dr. Brad Gustafson, Brad Currie, Kristin Daniels, Laura Conley, and Ben Wilkoff. So far I like the format of the book in short chapters written by different experts in their field. I look forward to developing more flipped and personalized professional learning opportunities for our staff next year.
Here is my summer booklist:
What is on your summer booklist?
How do you model being a learner for your staff and students?
I look forward to reading your thoughts!