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Staff Recommended Read/Podcast List

The staff of State Support Team 4 would like to use this space to share with you our favorite books and podcasts. Each month you will be introduced to a new staff recommended book or podcast. We hope that you find something new to consider and possibly impact your personal professional development. 
  
Happy Reading!

December Recommended Read

RTI for Reading at the Secondary Level

By: Deborah K. Reed, Jade Wexler, and Sharon Vaughn 

Book reviewed by: Crystal Bryski

Book Synopsis:

Grounded in the best current knowledge, this book shows how to implement response to intervention (RTI) in middle and high school contexts. Detailed guidelines are presented for teaching reading comprehension, vocabulary, and other aspects of literacy across the content areas, and for providing effective interventions for students who require additional support. The authors describe RTI procedures that are specifically tailored to the needs of struggling adolescent learners and that take into account the challenges and logistics of secondary-level implementation. The volume features 26 reproducible tools for planning, assessment, progress monitoring, and multi-tiered instruction; the large-size format facilitates photocopying.


Why I Recommend This Book: 

This book guides building and district leadership to reevaluate their RTI framework and reflect on what intentional, purposeful, and meaningful teaching, learning, and intervention at the secondary level looks and sounds like. This book also provides practical resources that can be used immediately to help strengthen building and district instructional practices.  

November Recommended Read

Reimagining Special Education: Using Inclusion as a Framework to Build Equity and Support All Students

By: Jenna Mancini Rufo and Julie Causton

Book Reviewed By: Tricia McCollum

Book Synopsis:

As schools reopen their doors and students return to the classroom, what will the new normal of special education look like? The pandemic exposed educational inequities and areas of urgent need - and now schools have a unique opportunity to press pause and reimagine their practices. This book helps K-12 school leaders and educators closely examine what worked during distance learning, let go of practices that keep some students struggling, and plan new routines and environments that meet the needs of every learner.

Why I Recommend This Book:

Reimagining Special Education challenges us to take a closer look at how we are providing meaningful inclusion to our students with special needs. Chapters 5 and 6 focus on revitalizing co-teaching and realigning service delivery methods. I enjoyed reading about the roles of an inclusion facilitator and envisioning how a consultative model of special education can shift the focus from changing the child to changing the environment. This is a great book for building teams to help build excitement around meaningful inclusive practices!

October Recommended Read

Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners 
Through UDL and the Innovator's Mindset
By: George Couros with Katie Novak

 

Book Reviewed By: Steve Ramos

Book Synopsis:

Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator’s Mindset, is a collaborative effort by educational gurus George Couros and Katie Novak.  The end result is that it applies the Principles of Universal Design for Learning (Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression) to the eight characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset: Empathy, Problem Finders-Solvers, Risk-Takers, Networked, Observant, Creators, Resilient, & Reflective.  The end result is a formula for teaching students (and self) skills to create an innovative mindset, environment, and framework to best utilize resources to overcome barriers and constraints to be successful learners (and teachers)!

 

Why I Recommend This Book: 

What an engaging and amazing book by two incredible educators!  This book was perfect for me, in that it not only aligned with my ideas of educating students (focus on deep learning and not on the test scores) but also provided a framework with concrete examples on how to: develop a growth mindset; the importance of not just solving problems, but finding problems that are personal and acting on them; how to exhibit and teach resilience; and the importance of reflection (reflection connects performance to potential).  If you are an educator who wants (or already has) moved beyond the traditional 4 walls and 30 desks in a classroom, this book is for you!

September Recommended Read

Districts That Succeed: Breaking the Correlation Between 
Race, Poverty, and Achievement
by: Karin Chenoweth

Book reviewed by: Teresa Brown

Book Synopsis:

What do successful districts look like? How do the leaders in them think about improvement and school leadership? What do they do differently? Districts that succeed, profiles five districts that have successfully broken the correlation between race, poverty, and achievement. The author explores the common elements that have led to success, including leadership, processes, and systems in districts that serve children of color and children from low-income backgrounds. 


Why I Recommend This Book:

Districts that succeed is a very timely and important book. Many districts are examining data that reveal disproportionality for children of color and children from low-income backgrounds. A student’s background cannot be an excuse for low achievement.  The book does an excellent job of identifying a diverse set of districts who are all approaching their work through different frames but who are all also executing key practices that allow them to make progress over time.