Building A Stronger Pedagogy: 4 Books that Shine

Are you looking to learn new teaching skills that will increasingly excite and engage your students?  Do you want to learn about the field of Education more deeply?  These book just may do the trick.

Authored by leading educators and theorists, these texts provide a wide variety of approaches for those wishing to learn more about classroom dynamics, student development, teaching techniques, and even successful educational initiatives launched internationally.

 

The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future

by Linda Darling-Hammond

This eye-opening “wake-up call” concerns America’s academic future by vividly illustrating what the USA must do to build a system of high achieving and equitable schools that ensures every student the right to an education.  Through exemplary research, Darling-Hammond describes students’ academic performance gap between high- and low-income districts, the remarkable successes of nations that invest heavily in education (Finland, South Korea, and Singapore), and the exponential benefits that result from high quality pedagogy training.

 

 

 

What Great Teachers Do Differently: 14 Things That Matter Most    

by Todd Whittaker

A remarkable and highly enjoyable book that outlines unique practices for creating a successful and dynamic classroom.  Whittaker focuses on what beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and interactions help contribute to becoming a great educator and a rich learning environment.

 

 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed   

by Paulo Freire

Written in 1968 by one of the world’s leading educational theorists, Freire’s classic manifesto is considered one of the foundational texts of critical pedagogy.  Based on his experience helping underprivileged Brazilians to read and write, Feire explores the relationship between the “colonizer” and the “colonized.”  He explores traditional pedagogy versus a new progressive form that treats the learner as a co-creator of knowledge.  The author’s proposed new  pedagogy of establishing new relationship between teacher, student, and society has influenced countless academic institutions with great success.

 

 

 

The Tao of Teaching: The Ageless Wisdom of Taoism and the Art of Teaching   

by Greta Nagel

Vastly different than the previous texts, and written in the same style as the Tao Te Ching, Nagel provides readers with step-by-step examples for how to approach teaching, the classroom, student development, and learning largely through a “student-centered” educational method.