One of the easiest ways to make your classroom more fun is with music! I let students wear headphones during independent work, but it's great to give students some music to listen to when they are working in groups or by themselves. Music is also a great way to build in transitions. For instance, students usually have music playing when they come into the classroom. When it's time for me to get started I stop the music and the classroom instantly calms down.
Here's six of my favorite Spotify playlists for the classroom! P.S. I generally pick playlists that have a minimal of explicit songs however I teach high school and a little swearing doesn't really bother me.
What are your favorite Spotify playlists to play in the classroom? Share below or connect with me on IG!
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I often get asked about where my teaching inspiration came from and how I make my classroom my own. Here are my top ten favorite teacher reads and why they are so important to me. Click on the pictures to find the book on Amazon! #1: The First Days of SchoolI'm not going to lie, when I was handed this book I thought it was straight out of the 80s. But after reading it in one day and now rereading it before every school year, it is a life changing book for pre-service teachers all the way to seasoned veterans. Harry Wong takes you through the first week of school and how it is so crucial to the success of your classroom for the rest of the year. #2: Teach Like a PirateI was lucky enough to attend a session by Dave Burgess and I was blown away. When I started teaching I hated hooks and other "gimmicks" to get students interested. Students should just be interested in school! Right???? Well let's be real, that's not how it actually happens. Dave Bugress' approach to learning is fantastic and contagious. His book is the perfect way to spice up everything in your classroom and make everything a little bit more exciting. Oh yeah, sign up for his emails too. You will not be disappointed! #3: Embedding Formative AssessmentWell this looks like an exciting book! Formative assessment? I bet we've all heard that about 300 times and still only think of exit tickets. Well formative assessment is WAY more than that and so crucial to the success of your classroom. This book is a great tool to dive into how we assess students in the moment and change our instruction. This book is great for any teacher who wants to get past quizzes and tests and focus on day to day interactions with students. #4: MindsetStudents (and adults) are often stuck in the mindset that if I'm not good at something, I can never improve. Carol Dweck's book will change the way you and your students think about learning. Growth mindset is a hot word in education right now and I see lots of cool bulletin boards up about it. However, it's hard to teach and even harder to embrace yourself. This book will not only help you transform your classroom, but your own life. #5: Never Work Harder Than Your StudentsI often talk to colleagues about not having enough time in the classroom. Usually that conversion ends with "Well, why don't you just have your students do that?". Yeah, sometimes we make life harder for ourselves because we forget about the 30 kiddos in the class who need a job to do. This is the most recent book I've read and I love how it focuses on students and teachers working together to create an automatous classroom that makes life easier for everyone. #6: For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Ya'll TooShout out to this list (10 Books I Wish My White Teacher Had Read) which got me into this book. I taught in Detroit for two years where my classroom was 99% black and now I teach in a very diverse school in the suburbs of Detroit. The messages in this book will stick with you forever. Christopher Edmin draws on his own experiences in school to give teachers advice on how to make students of color more included. Don't think you should read it because you don't teach in the hood? You're wrong. You owe it to your kids to read it! #7: Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?When I read this book, it changed my perspective on how I treat every student. I honestly think it should be mandatory reading for any teacher who works in a racially diverse high school. Beverly Tatum answers hard questions about race and discusses how we need to have straight forward talks about race if we expect communication between races to improve. This book is stark reminder that what we do as teachers deeply affects our students' lives. #8: The Teacher WarsReady for a serious history lesson? The Teacher Wars is an in depth dive into how teaching in America began, evolved and is what it is now. Not only does it discuss teaching, but segregation and how schools played a pivotal role over the last 200 years. This book opened up my eyes to the realities of teaching and how we got to where we are now. This book is great for anyone interested in education in America, especially those who want to change how our current public education system is ran. #9: NGSS for All StudentsHere's an amazing book for all of my science teachers out there! Yes it is pricey but 100% worth it. NSTA Press puts out amazing books every year with up to date NGSS and science teaching practices. This book goes through how NGSS can be applied to different groups such as special education students, at risk students and gifted students. Transitioning into NGSS is hard, but this book makes it seem a little more doable! #10: Teacher MiseryI won this book on Instagram a couple years ago because the author liked my profile picture of my dog and I. First, stop and go follow Teacher Misery on Instagram. Okay, now onto this book. We deal with crazy things... administration that has no idea what classroom like is like, students drawing weird doodles on their papers and some serious Apache helicopter parents. I feel blessed that Jane Morris wrote this book because we can all laugh together at the crazy things we deal with every day. Any other books you would add to this list? A few honorable mentions here, here and here. Enjoy!
Edit: I forget one my favorites, The Natty Professor by Tim Gunn. An amazing man who has been a teacher and mentor for thirty years. |