Monday, July 31, 2017

Summer Reading

Guest blogger Angela Westmoreland of PFMS talks about what she's doing with her summer. It might be a vacation, but for true lifelong learners, professional growth never stops!

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Teachers are busy.  I know I am!  So sometimes, other than reading my curriculum or curriculum-related materials, I forget to read actual books, especially books that will encourage or inspire me in my profession.  We expect and hope that our students are consistently reading; why should we be any different?

I made it a part of my goal this summer to read books that would help me in my profession, but were not about Social Studies or history.  I amassed quite a Kindle collection in my pursuit!  I haven’t finished all of them yet, but most of these books are easy to pick right back up again (if you can manage to put them down!).

You may be wondering how I determined which books to read.  That’s easy--Twitter!  Twitter is teeming with ideas and inspiration for teachers.  If you’re not on Twitter, you should get on it immediately!  You can follow the authors of many of these books and more, and they will interact with you!  It’s amazing!

The two books in my collection that really influenced me the most this summer were Innovator’s Mindset and Shift This!.  If you’re looking for something to remind you of why our profession is the best and what you can do with what you have, right where you are, then these two books are for you.  I learned so much about how to be a leader from my current vantage point, and how to make shifts in my classroom to enhance my students’ experiences.

I highly recommend any of the books in my Kindle library, as well as following all of the authors on Twitter.  I have had several Twitter conversations with Joy Kirr, the author of Shift This!, and she is wonderfully personable and supportive.  Though they are world-famous, these authors still appreciate your tweets and positive comments about their work!

Which book will you read first?  Share about your choice on Twitter!  Be sure to include our new Social Studies hashtag, #InnovateSs. You can find me there, too, as @AngelalMLWestmo. I’m looking forward to seeing what you choose!

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