Blogs on New-Teacher Support

On the eve of this year's EduCon gathering, a winter storm dumped a foot of snow on Philadelphia. That didn't deter the 600 educators who trekked in from all corners of the country, and beyond, to take part in two days of heady conversations at the Science Leadership Academy.

During the past couple years, teacher preparation programs have been taking a lot of heat. Everyone from the Secretary of Education to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) is concerned about the performance of colleges of education, calling for teacher education to be "turned upside down" in this country.

It's the holiday season, which means, once the eating and entertaining is over, many of us will have some free time on our hands. If you want to spend some of that time snuggling up with a great book, here are some books that I have read (or re-read) in the past year or so that have influenced my teaching. Not all of them are technology-related, but they have applications for technology integration.

The books are not listed in any particular order of importance.

At the end of my street sits an aging elementary school. Brick and boxy, it's no architectural marvel. But it's the reason we moved to this neighborhood many years back. And even though my own kids have long since outgrown grade school, I can't help but do a quick scan of the playground whenever I round the corner. I don't recognize many faces anymore, but the scene still brings up a wellspring of fond memories. I can close my eyes and remember my kids' Halloween parades, violin concerts, and an authors tea where a class of second-graders were the featured writers.