When a Division Head asked for summer reading suggestions, ISM’s Lower School Heads/Division Heads e-list lit up with offerings for Division Heads and faculty members. Consider some of these books for your summer reading.
Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College
By Doug Lemov and Norman Atkins
Practical techniques that improve student learning.
Teach Like a Champion Field Guide: A Practical Resource to Make the 49 Techniques Your Own
By Doug Lemov
This follow-up book further explores techniques from the previous book, including learning the techniques, preparing to use them, and actual practice.
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
By Paul Tough
Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control.
Bringing Innovation to Schools: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World
By Susie Boss
Filled with practical, easy-to-follow ways to change teacher and school practice.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
By Susan Cain
Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so.
Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: Methods and Madness Inside Room 56
By Rafe Esquith
The techniques, exercises, and innovations that have made the author an educational icon, from personal codes of behavior to tips on tackling literature and algebra.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
By Carol Dweck
Dweck explains why it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success—but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset.
The Power of Our Words: Teacher Language That Helps Children Learn
By Paula Denton
Practical tips, real-life anecdotes, and concrete examples, including specific suggestions about language to adopt and language to avoid.
Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings
By Kenneth Ginsburg
Offers coping strategies for facing the combined elements of academic performance, high achievement standards, media messages, peer pressure, and family tension.
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, School
By John Medina
In each chapter, Medina describes a brain rule—what scientists know for sure about how our brains work—and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives.
Additional ISM resources of interest
ISM’s e-List for Division Heads
