The main ideas of the book:
- Teaching is a famously challenging and often exhausting profession, but there is much teachers can do to both improve their day-to-day experience and to increase their effectiveness with students.
- In every area of teaching, from classroom culture to designing assessments, there are tried-and-true methods teachers can adopt to make their professional lives both easier and more impactful.
Why I chose this book:
I wish I could say a personal thank you to the veteran educators who hung on through the pandemic and give my gratitude to every new teacher and sub who has stepped up to serve kids and meet the challenges in today’s schools. In place of my personal thanks, what I can offer is this month’s resource: a summary of The Joyful Teacher by Berit Gordon.
Berit Gordon has spent 25 years in the classroom and also served as a teacher of teachers. She knows how busy you are, so she wrote just the type of practical and accessible book all teachers need. It’s a K-12 teacher’s field manual for what to do. There are photo examples and step-by-step instructions for over 100 actionable, research-backed, and student-centered strategies teachers can implement to increase both their joy and effectiveness.
A new teacher could read the book cover to cover. A teacher with decades of experience could use it to look up ideas in any area they need. Each section starts with a self-check to assess what will help you most. Of course, I couldn’t pack 100+ strategies into my summary, but I do pass along 30 of her high-impact, ready-to-go strategies across ten categories of teacher effectiveness. School leaders, please share this gift with teachers when they arrive to start the year and watch them (and their students) thrive!
