Book Recommendations

    So many books, so little time! There is a plethora of books I could recommend, which would be insightful for an educator; here are a few:

Both of Ron Clark’s books, The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules For Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child and The Excellent 11: Qualities Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children, are essential reading for any educator.

Joseph Campbell’s two books, The Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Masks of God, draw the compelling conclusion that all of humanity is united by its most fundamental ideas and shares the same spiritual origin. Campbell’s books are endlessly intellectually rewarding.

Another stellar read for educators is Rafe Esquith’s book Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, as is Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man, both of which illustrate how an educator brilliantly achieves excellence in a challenging urban environment.

Finally, as teachers are faced with numerous decisions to be made on a daily basis, I would highly recommend the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell offers a unique insight into the neuroscience of decision making, and how some people are gifted with the ability to make successful choices with very little deliberating or superfluous information.