Top 5 Books on Instruction for Elementary Teacher Interview Prep

Question from an EDU Edge friend (Beth @bmariefoster) via Twitter … “What books do you recommend for student teachers / new teachers on instruction?

Beth – Thanks for contacting The EDU Edge.  We are thrilled that you are asking these type of questions because reading professional literature is crucial to becoming a great teacher and highly correlated to your success during your interview for full-time teaching positions, which The EDU Edge specializes in.  We are a little biased but we think that the next book you should read is The Insider’s Guide to the Teacher’s Interview by Bill Kresse and Mike Vallely.  This is the essential interview handbook for any teaching candidate. OK … now after that shameless plug … let’s answer your question.

Below are The EDU Edge recommended Top 5 Books on Instruction for young people (like yourself) doing their student teaching or in their first year or so as an Elementary Education teacher.

• ©2002  Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller – A wonderful and insightful book that takes the proficient reader research and brings it to life in the elementary classroom.
• ©2011  The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades PreK-8, Second Edition by Fountas and Pinnell – This is not so much a teaching instruction manual, but rather a detailed description of connecting assessment to instruction using research based classroom practice at all reading levels Pre-K to 8th grade.
• ©2004  The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Parts (And They’re All Hard Parts) by Katie Wood Ray – Most teachers find it very informative and helpful in setting up a writing workshop in their classroom.  This is typically not taught in pre-service education courses or at least not in any detail.
• ©2008  Better Answers – Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart by Ardith Davis Cole – An easy-to-implement, step-by-step protocol for helping students focus upon acquiring the basic literacy skills to meet state standards in the English language arts of writing.
• ©1997  Kagan Cooperative Learning by Spencer Kagan – This is a must have resource for the new teacher.  Use of sound cooperative learning structures not only is good instruction but it IS classroom management.

Good luck to you Beth!  And, good luck to all of you following The EDU Edge.  Please come back and let us know if you enjoyed these books and if our advice benefited you and your goal of becoming a full time teacher that makes a difference in your students’ lives.  We want to know because we want to grow and learn with you along the way.

Yours in a Partnership in Learning,

The EDU Edge

(Please feel free to contact us with additional questions … we’re on Blogger, Twitter, Facebook and you can email us at info@theEDUedge.com.  Tell us what interview obstacles you’re dealing with and trying to overcome.  We’ll do our best to respond and we welcome dialogue from others going through the same process.)