The way I read professional books it takes me longer to read/digest them. I can easily finish other books over the course of a week or two, but I savor my professional books. It takes me a few months to really read, practice and then reflect. What I am currently savoring is Kristen Hawley Turner and Troy Hicks Argument in the Real World and .Diana Neebe and Jen Roberts book, Power Up, as we have moved to 1:1 at all the high schools in my district this year.
What I love about these books are the teacher voices and student voices that are present throughout the pages. I also love that both authors have a live site (ARW and PU) to to take your thinking beyond the pages. Also the authors are accessible via Twitter. Some of my teachers in training have tweeted questions out to Troy Hicks and he has responded. Jen Roberts is available in the Twitterverse as well sending out resources too. It keeps my learning live.
My learning with these books didn't occur in a vacuum or in isolation of solely between pages. There was a reading lineage or journey that I took to get there. I represented it in my Piktochart above. My instructional practices built on what I had learned before. Another step in my learning about teaching is to avoid getting overwhelmed by the presented perfected practice in these books. This is part of the reason I savor the work, so I can try and process one new strategy at a time. I can implement their ideas in a way that makes sense for my students as well as reflect on my mistakes or successes. This is an invaluable process in my teaching practice to grow my teacher self.
How do you work to grow yourself professionally? What are you reading or trying now?
My post tomorrow is about my addiction to professional books. But I do think these books are so important to my development!
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