4 Book Recommendations for Teachers
By Dr. Patricia Salahuddin
Having taught Language Arts for decades, I have read a lot of books. But when it comes to book recommendations for educators, I have four that I highly recommend. Check out one of these titles this summer to bring your A-game to school come September (or August, depending on when you start!).
1. Discipline with Dignity 
by Richard L. Curwin, Allen M. Mendler and Brian D. Mendler
Discipline with Dignity offers educators the tools to achieve respect, relationships and responsibility among their most challenging students. In the 4th edition, the material is just as relevant and meaningful as it was many years ago when read it as a beginning teacher (now retired). It gave me a different perspective about discipline and made me aware that what I do and say has an impact on the emotions and feelings of my students. I recommend this book to beginning teachers as well as veteran teachers.
2. Cultivating Curiosity in K-12 Classrooms:
How to Promote and Sustain Deep Learning
by Wendy L. Ostroff
I could not stop talking about this book when I was reading it. It opened my mind to a world of wonder and exploration. Cultivating Curiosity offers hands on techniques that will foster authentic learning through curiosity. It will help teachers to cultivate in their students the drive to want to know and understand in a deep and meaningful way. This book is so easy to tie in with the exploration of Allah’s creation.
3. The Motivated Brain: Improving Student Attention, Engagement, and Perseverance
by Gayle Gregory and Martha Kaufeldt
One of the teacher evaluation standards is the teacher must demonstrate a “Knowledge of the Learner.” This book helps the educator to get to know the student by studying how the brain functions. The two authors Gregory and Kaufeldt, takes recent neuro-scientific findings and have developed a field-tested approach to teaching that improves students learning. In this book teachers will learn to “harness the power of their students’ intrinsic motivation to make learning fun, engaging and meaningful.”
4. The Formative Five: Fostering Grit, Empathy and other Success Skills Every Student Needs
by Thomas R. Hoerr
As Muslim educators, we are interested in helping our students develop good character. In this book, the educator learns how to help students develop character traits that are important to successful human development in the 21st century: Empathy, Self- Control or Discipline, Integrity, Embracing Diversity, and Grit. Thomas R. Hoerr has written an engaging book that will change the mindset of the students as well as create a positive classroom environment.
These are my book recommendations– write to us if you have others! info@theisla.org
