My Inspiration: Books | leadandlearnwithtech

My Inspiration

Books

As a child reading was never something that I would choose to do. In fact, I loathed reading and could not understand the need for books beyond those that were required for school. This probably speaks volumes about the way reading was presented to me as a student and truth be known, I suspect that I have somewhat of an undiagnosed reading disability. Flash forward to my early twenties when I discovered crime novels. I began devouring them, and for the first time in my life I discovered what it means to "get lost in a book." Reading was not a chore and I began to choose to read over doing other pastimes.

So how does this connect to this page of professional books? I like to think that crime novels served as my "personal reading portal." The enjoyment I experienced while reading books that I love, led to the idea that reading can be a positive experience when a person is motivated. In fact, to this day my two favorite types of books are crime/true crime novels and books about education innovation (my two passions). This has made a profound impact on how I believe we should approach reading for students. Book choice is invaluable when it comes to instilling a positive attitude toward reading. Thankfully, many schools are realizing this and providing students with quality book choices to allow them to find their own "personal reading portal."

Mike Ribble provides a framework for asking what we should be doing with respect to technology so we can help students become productive and responsible users of digital technologies.	Learning First, Technology Second introduces the Triple E Framework that offers teachers the professional learning they need to move from arbitrary uses of technology in their classrooms to thoughtful ways of adding value to student learning.	Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices.
Filled with fresh and surprising ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories, Disrupting Class will make you rethink your understanding of intelligence, reevaluate your current school program, and reinvigorate your commitment to learning. The future is now. Class is in session.	Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic.	In The End of Average, Rose, a rising star in the new field of the science of the individual shows that no one is average. Weaving science, history, and his personal experiences as a high school dropout, Rose offers a powerful alternative to understanding individuals through averages: the three principles of individuality.
Students must master a completely different set of skills to succeed in a culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets. The authors present an effective framework for integrating comprehensive literacy or fluency into the traditional curriculum.	Go Blended! helps school leaders and teachers take their first steps toward blended learning, putting them in a better position to continuously adapt as the world changes.	Learning opportunities and teaching methods must evolve to match the ever-changing needs of today's learners. When we tell learners to complete an assignment, we get compliance. When we empower learners to explore and learn how to make an impact on the world, we inspire problem solvers and innovators.
Craig Mertler introduces practicing educators to the process of conducting classroom-based action research.	Bethany Petty shares specific how-tos for using a wide variety of apps and tools. She also explains the why behind using technology, and shows you how to use it to meet your students’ needs and make learning memorable.	The Formula for Quality Instruction, shares with teachers and school leaders the five practices that every teacher can, and should, use to dramatically improve instructional rigor and relevance, and student performance.
Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez employ decades of teaching experience and hundreds of discussions with education thought leaders, to show you how to find and hone the quick fixes that every school and classroom need.	This book provides an actionable framework for leaders looking to implement a long-term professional learning plan that extends professional development beyond a handful of days each year to create a "coaching culture" that supports teachers as they move toward blended learning.	Leaders of Their Own Learning shows educators how to ignite the capacity of students to take responsibility for their own learning, meet new, ambitious standards, and reach higher levels of achievement.
As leaders wrestle with this reality, one vital question frequently comes to mind: How can we adapt and help ourselves succeed in the digital age? Digital Fluency was written to help you answer this question by working through the hopes, questions and fears behind it, and moving toward strategic use of digital tools.	Jarod Bormann lets us in on the process to redefine the letters educators traditionally dread (P.D.) into a true description of the best version of our educator selves—PROFESSIONALLY DRIVEN. It is time to rethink adult learning and implement a model that helps create energized educators and leads to empowered student learners.	This book looks at emerging approaches and tools, and incorporates professional educators’ stories of how and why they have implemented each trend, including information on challenges faced and overcome, how to get started and other resources to explore. It also inspires educators to try new approaches with the understanding that they will devise new ways to synthesize, interpret and implement ideas to fit their context, learners and resources.
21 educators share a snapshot of what they learned, what they did, and how they grew in 2018. Topics include purpose, instructional strategies, equity, cultural competence, education technology, and much more!	This playbook draws from researcher and practitioner advice to offer 12 video-based strategies that readers can implement in their own context for facilitating professional development.	This book offers a new innovative process designed to prepare children to be productive members of their community. Students are empowered to take charge of their educational lives where thinking is valued above obedience, and their parents are respected as full partners in the process.
10 of education’s most inspiring thought-leaders come together to share their top suggestions you need right now to innovate in your school or classroom. If we want to make a real difference, it’s not enough to do the things we do better; we must also do new and better things!	Ken Blanchard helps you understand and experience the art of influence by revealing the greatest life and leadership lessons he's learned in his rich career as an educator and business leader.	Educator Elisabeth Bostwick shares stories and practical strategies to help you challenge conventional thinking and create the conditions that empower meaningful learning. 1. Luminous Culture 2. Empowered Learning 3. Authenticity in Learning 4. Potential Soars Are you ready to L.E.A.P.?
Explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks.	In this step-by-step guide, teacher and education blogger Catlin Tucker outlines the process for integrating online discussion with face-to-face instruction in a way that empowers teachers to focus their energies where they’re most needed.	Authors Eric C. Sheninger and Thomas C. Murray outline eight keys each a piece of a puzzle for transforming the K–12 education system of teaching and learning to intentionally design tomorrow's schools so today's learners are prepared for success . . . and stand ready to create new industries, find new cures, and solve world problems.
In a world that is ever changing, our job is not to prepare students for something; instead, our role is to help students prepare themselves for anything.	This easy-to-follow guide clearly explains green screen technology and shows, step-by-step, how to dream up and create professional-grade video effects.	Sixteen classroom-tested customizable lesson-frames for any subject or grade to break up clichéd lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K-12 students in a supportive, creative environment.
In Future Driven, David Geurin describes how to conquer the status quo, create authentic learning, and help your students thrive in an unpredictable world.	Harvard education expert Tony Wagner explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators.	Students must master a completely different set of skills to succeed in a culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets. The authors present an effective framework for integrating comprehensive literacy or fluency into the traditional curriculum.
Go Blended! is a practical implementation guide for educators interested in getting blended learning off the ground.	Offers discussion on the pros and cons of homework, why teachers assign it, and what life could look like without it.	Joy Kirr identifies how to make gradual shifts—in your thinking, teaching, and approach to classroom design—that will have a massive impact in your classroom. You’ll learn how to… Shift learning to make it authentic and student-led.
This book answers every question you have about leveraging the power of Google tools for your classroom, school and district.	This book shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.	Learn how to harness students’ natural curiosity to develop self-directed learners. Discover how technology allows students to take ownership of their learning, create and share learning tools, and participate in work that is meaningful to them and others.
This book focuses on the next wave of technologies and how they can further enhance U.S. social and political innovation.	Offers a new framework to elevate instructional practices with technology and maximize student learning. The T3 Framework helps teachers categorize students’ learning as translational, transformational, or transcendent, sorting through the low-impact applications to reach high-impact usage of technologies.	Practical strategies and insights that have helped some of today’s most innovative minds advance the work of Digital Convergence—the fundamental movement to transform teaching and learning for the modern age.
A simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing on your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the “whirlwind” of urgent activity required to keep things running day-to-day.	A thought-provoking book that combines the remarkable insights of behavioral scientists and business leaders with the astonishing stories of high-powered influencers from all walks of life.	Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion.
Learn about four, key behaviors of excellence that successful leaders and educators from across the nation have in common.	A step-by-step framework upon which to build a more student-centered system, along with essential advice that provides the expertise necessary to build the next generation of K-12 learning environments.	Learn how to incorporate teaching practices that are: Different from what students see daily. Innovative, drawing on new ideas or modifying others' ideas. Tech-laden with the use of digital sites, tools and devices. Creative, tapping into students' original ideas as well as your own. Hands-on, encouraging students to make and try things on their own.
Inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator.	Practical suggestions for unleashing your students’ and teachers’ talent. You’ll also read encouraging accounts of leaders and learners who are innovating “inside the box.”	Encourages teachers to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students.
This book offers insight and engaging stories to help you shift the focus at school and at home from digital citizenship to digital leadership.	This book identifies ways to make PD meaningful, efficient, and, above all, personally relevant. It is a practical guide that reveals why some PD is so awful and what you can do to change the model for the betterment of you and your colleagues.	Learn how to shift out of survival mode and how to thrive through... * Teaching expectations to get everyone on the same page * Hooking your students to increase engagement and community * Rejecting isolation to create a powerful support system * Imagining ways your work can be better on the path to success * Valuing vulnerability to empower students to take risks * Everyday conversations—the foundation for meaningful relationships.
Be part of the fundamental change in professional development we call CHOICE (Constant progress, Honoring professionals, Ongoing learning, Individualized focus, Collaborative learning, Energizing experiences).	A roadmap filled with both sound and practical advice on leading a technology team that supports high quality teaching and learning by providing students and staff with the tools, resources, and supports needed to better prepare students for their tomorrow.	Using real-world examples and relevant stories, the author shares how educators can empower learners to design their instruction, curate their curriculum, and build feedback loops to assess their development.
Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online.	A practical reference guide for all K-12 educators looking to transform their teaching into blended learning environments. This book strikes a perfect balance between pedagogy and how-to tips, while also providing several lesson plans to get you going.

My Inspiration

Books

Mike Ribble provides a framework for asking what we should be doing with respect to technology so we can help students become productive and responsible users of digital technologies.

Learning First, Technology Second introduces the Triple E Framework that offers teachers the professional learning they need to move from arbitrary uses of technology in their classrooms to thoughtful ways of adding value to student learning.

Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation. No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices.

Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic.

Students must master a completely different set of skills to succeed in a culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets. The authors present an effective framework for integrating comprehensive literacy or fluency into the traditional curriculum.

Go Blended! helps school leaders and teachers take their first steps toward blended learning, putting them in a better position to continuously adapt as the world changes.

Craig Mertler introduces practicing educators to the process of conducting classroom-based action research.

Bethany Petty shares specific how-tos for using a wide variety of apps and tools. She also explains the why behind using technology, and shows you how to use it to meet your students’ needs and make learning memorable.

The Formula for Quality Instruction, shares with teachers and school leaders the five practices that every teacher can, and should, use to dramatically improve instructional rigor and relevance, and student performance.

Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez employ decades of teaching experience and hundreds of discussions with education thought leaders, to show you how to find and hone the quick fixes that every school and classroom need.

This book provides an actionable framework for leaders looking to implement a long-term professional learning plan that extends professional development beyond a handful of days each year to create a "coaching culture" that supports teachers as they move toward blended learning.

Leaders of Their Own Learning shows educators how to ignite the capacity of students to take responsibility for their own learning, meet new, ambitious standards, and reach higher levels of achievement.

21 educators share a snapshot of what they learned, what they did, and how they grew in 2018. Topics include purpose, instructional strategies, equity, cultural competence, education technology, and much more!

This playbook draws from researcher and practitioner advice to offer 12 video-based strategies that readers can implement in their own context for facilitating professional development.

This book offers a new innovative process designed to prepare children to be productive members of their community. Students are empowered to take charge of their educational lives where thinking is valued above obedience, and their parents are respected as full partners in the process.

10 of education’s most inspiring thought-leaders come together to share their top suggestions you need right now to innovate in your school or classroom. If we want to make a real difference, it’s not enough to do the things we do better; we must also do new and better things!

Ken Blanchard helps you understand and experience the art of influence by revealing the greatest life and leadership lessons he's learned in his rich career as an educator and business leader.

Educator Elisabeth Bostwick shares stories and practical strategies to help you challenge conventional thinking and create the conditions that empower meaningful learning. 1. Luminous Culture 2. Empowered Learning 3. Authenticity in Learning 4. Potential Soars Are you ready to L.E.A.P.?

Explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks.

In this step-by-step guide, teacher and education blogger Catlin Tucker outlines the process for integrating online discussion with face-to-face instruction in a way that empowers teachers to focus their energies where they’re most needed.

In a world that is ever changing, our job is not to prepare students for something; instead, our role is to help students prepare themselves for anything.

This easy-to-follow guide clearly explains green screen technology and shows, step-by-step, how to dream up and create professional-grade video effects.

Sixteen classroom-tested customizable lesson-frames for any subject or grade to break up clichéd lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K-12 students in a supportive, creative environment.

In Future Driven, David Geurin describes how to conquer the status quo, create authentic learning, and help your students thrive in an unpredictable world.

Harvard education expert Tony Wagner explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators.

Students must master a completely different set of skills to succeed in a culture of technology-driven automation, abundance, and access to global labor markets. The authors present an effective framework for integrating comprehensive literacy or fluency into the traditional curriculum.

Go Blended! is a practical implementation guide for educators interested in getting blended learning off the ground.

Offers discussion on the pros and cons of homework, why teachers assign it, and what life could look like without it.

Joy Kirr identifies how to make gradual shifts—in your thinking, teaching, and approach to classroom design—that will have a massive impact in your classroom. You’ll learn how to… Shift learning to make it authentic and student-led.

This book answers every question you have about leveraging the power of Google tools for your classroom, school and district.

This book shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

Learn how to harness students’ natural curiosity to develop self-directed learners. Discover how technology allows students to take ownership of their learning, create and share learning tools, and participate in work that is meaningful to them and others.

This book focuses on the next wave of technologies and how they can further enhance U.S. social and political innovation.

Practical strategies and insights that have helped some of today’s most innovative minds advance the work of Digital Convergence—the fundamental movement to transform teaching and learning for the modern age.

A simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing on your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the “whirlwind” of urgent activity required to keep things running day-to-day.

A thought-provoking book that combines the remarkable insights of behavioral scientists and business leaders with the astonishing stories of high-powered influencers from all walks of life.

Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion.

Learn about four, key behaviors of excellence that successful leaders and educators from across the nation have in common.

A step-by-step framework upon which to build a more student-centered system, along with essential advice that provides the expertise necessary to build the next generation of K-12 learning environments.

Inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator.

Practical suggestions for unleashing your students’ and teachers’ talent. You’ll also read encouraging accounts of leaders and learners who are innovating “inside the box.”

Encourages teachers to think big and make learning fun and meaningful for students.

This book offers insight and engaging stories to help you shift the focus at school and at home from digital citizenship to digital leadership.

This book identifies ways to make PD meaningful, efficient, and, above all, personally relevant. It is a practical guide that reveals why some PD is so awful and what you can do to change the model for the betterment of you and your colleagues.

Be part of the fundamental change in professional development we call CHOICE (Constant progress, Honoring professionals, Ongoing learning, Individualized focus, Collaborative learning, Energizing experiences).

A roadmap filled with both sound and practical advice on leading a technology team that supports high quality teaching and learning by providing students and staff with the tools, resources, and supports needed to better prepare students for their tomorrow.

Using real-world examples and relevant stories, the author shares how educators can empower learners to design their instruction, curate their curriculum, and build feedback loops to assess their development.

Blended Learning in Action demonstrates the advantages a blended model has over traditional instruction when technology is used to engage students both inside the classroom and online.

A practical reference guide for all K-12 educators looking to transform their teaching into blended learning environments. This book strikes a perfect balance between pedagogy and how-to tips, while also providing several lesson plans to get you going.