Teaching Channel

At the end of the school year, I always find myself in such a weird space. I’m exhausted, need a breather, and know I should take some time to get off the runaway train that is teaching.

However, that need to disconnect, decompress, and check out of education thinking for a bit is quickly followed with the excitement of finally having time to catch up on all the great educational reads I can’t seem to get through during the school year. As I start to make my list — and question whether I’m a workaholic unable to disconnect from teaching — I find so many teachers and coaches on Twitter asking for book recommendations. Whether it be recommendations for the following school year’s professional learning or simply for personal learning, I’m relieved to see I’m not alone!

This school year, while facilitating Learning Labs, I truly found my go-to books for teaching, learning, and coaching. And while I could tweet out my summer reading prospects and recommendations, I fear that those 140 characters will quickly move through a Twitter feed and be hard to find later. Instead, I thought it would be helpful for me and others who are interested to keep that list housed in a permanent, yet editable, space.

Since I started my Tch Math Resources Pinterest Board earlier this year, I’ve referred back to it numerous times to avoid digging through my emails, Twitter feed, and messages. So it seems like a perfect place to add recommendations for my go-to math books or links to books I’m interested in checking out this summer. Over the course of this week, I’ll be adding these books to my board with the hashtag #mathsummerreads. Here’s what to look for:

Monday: My go-to math books that I’ve read cover to cover
Tuesday: Math books I use often
Wednesday: Coaching books I want to read this summer
Thursday: Math books I want to read, or finish reading, this summer
Friday: Children’s literature I want to use in planning for next year, and some other fun math reads

I hope you’ll help me along the way by offering some of your recommendations in the comments below, which I can then add to the Pinterest board, making it a collaborative place for us to house our favorite math teaching and learning books.

Happy Summer Reading!

Kristin Gray is a National Board Certified fifth grade math teacher at Richard A. Shields Elementary School in the Cape Henlopen School District in Lewes, Delaware and a Teaching Channel Laureate. During her 19 years in education, she has taught 5th–8th grade math, and spent two years as a K-5 Math Specialist. She feels fortunate to be involved with Illustrative Mathematics and Teaching Channel on projects developing math tasks, facilitating professional development, and blogging about these experiences. She is always excited to share her love of teaching at conferences such as NCTM, NCSM, ISTE, as well as on her blog. Follow Kristen on Twitter: @MathMinds.