Top Professional Development Books for Teachers

In this sequel to Cultivating Genius, Gholdy Muhammad adds a fifth pursuit-joy-to her groundbreaking framework. Dr. Muhammad shows how joy, which is rooted in the cultural and historical realities of Black students, can enhance our efforts to cultivate identity, skills, intellect, and criticality for ALL students, giving them a powerful purpose to learn and contribute to the world.

Dr. Gholdy Muhammad presents a four-layered equity framework—one that is grounded in history and restores excellence in literacy education.

Dr. Julia B. Lindsey’s evidence-based routines help young readers decode words efficiently so they can spend more energy on comprehending-and enjoying-what they read!

Teachers know that encouraging children to talk and listen improves their ability to communicate. But until now, they haven't had a way to accelerate the development of children's language skills that's aligned with the science of reading. This book gives time-strapped teachers a power tool: the "Strive-for-Five" conversation framework. These responsive conversations start with what children say and continue as the teacher listens and responds-with a goal of five conversation turns to stretch their talking and thinking.

At a time when students’ attention is being pulled in many directions, writing expert Penny Kittle shows us the power of helping them to focus in and communicate clearly. She does that through the study of "micro mentor texts," excerpts from acclaimed books, and the decisions authors make to craft those texts so they deeply engage readers. Her book includes dozens of short texts and mini-lessons based on them-as well as many practice opportunities for students and demonstration videos for you. 

In this revised edition, Allyn and Morrell address how the 7 Strengths framework is needed more than ever in a post-pandemic world. They show how building on children's strengths while immersing them in a literature-rich classroom community can transform them into "super readers"-avid readers who grow together as they read and share their ideas with a sense of belonging, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope.

Phonics instruction shouldn't end when students can decode short words. From an early age, they also need to be able to decode "big words"-words with multiple syllables (sound units) and morphemes (meaning units)-to read proficiently. Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer shares a K-5 scope and sequence to guide practice, and offers abundant research-backed strategies that teachers can put into action immediately.

In this timely book, the Libens explore what kids truly need to comprehend texts. Focusing on vocabulary, knowledge building, and language structures, they offer ideas to put into action now.

Teachers have questions, and nobody knows that better than Melissa Loftus and Lori Sappington, hosts of the popular "Melissa & Lori Love Literacy" podcast. They have assembled the questions teachers ask them most about how children learn to read-and provided solid, evidence-based answers inspired by interviews with their expert guests.

Espinosa and Ascenzi-Moreno demonstrate how our emergent bilingual students who speak two or more languages in their daily lives- thrive when they are able to use “translanguaging” to tap the power of their entire linguistic and sociocultural repertoires. Additionally, the authors present rich and thoughtful literacy practices that propel emergent bilinguals into reading and writing success.

Dr. Julia López-Robertson makes a case for infusing our classrooms with literature by a range of Latinx authors and illustrators- voices that reflect our students' experiences and provide a window into the cultures of people from Spanish-speaking countries and communities. She shows how to identify quality literature by checking for bias, stereotypes, and cultural and linguistic authenticity. From there, she explores how to put the literature to work in whole-class lessons, read-alouds, small group discussions, and writing projects to nurture engaged readers.

In this timely, trailblazing book, three teacher educators show how to create environments that nurture young Black children's brilliance. Their "revolutionary love" approach helps early childhood educators take practical steps to counteract the negative impacts of systemic racism on children's academic, social, and emotional development.

A teacher-educator and pediatrician team up to offer practical techniques that help students deal with the many life challenges they face. The authors show how to build resilience-promoting skills through quality children's literature, routines, and activities to create a classroom where all children thrive. 

Everyone wins! In this highly readable roundup of the latest research, a Harvard-based team makes a compelling case for investing in evidence-based family-engagement practices-and suggests powerful ways to put those practices into action at your school or district.

Literacy champions Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp provide teachers with the advice they need to transform the classroom library into a true instructional partner. 

Bestselling author Donalyn Miller and 5th grade teacher Colby Sharp showcase the power of children’s access to books, providing teachers and administrators with the tools and information they need to increase children’s meaningful engagement with books and to launch or sustain book access initiatives in their communities.

The MindUp Curriculum features 15 lessons that use the latest information about the brain to dramatically improve behavior and learning for all students.

Disrupting Thinking by Robert E. Probst and Kylene Beers discusses the ongoing problem of a lack of engagement with reading. Hands-on strategies make it applicable right away for the classroom teacher, and turn-and-talk discussion points make it a guidebook for school-wide conversations. 

This research-based curriculum features 15 lessons that use the latest information about the brain to dramatically improve behavior and learning for all students.

Build classroom community and honor the identities of everyone in your class with thoughtfully chosen multicultural mentors texts, such as Alma and How She Got Her Name, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao, In My Mosque, and more. Companion mini-lessons offer reading strategies, discussion questions, and carry-over coaching prompts designed to hone students' comprehension skills, including character analysis, determining themes, and exploring perspectives.

Use thoughtfully chosen multicultural mentors texts, such as We are the Water Protectors, Dreamers, and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, to build classroom community and honor the identities of everyone in your class. Companion mini-lessons offer reading strategies, discussion questions, and carry-over coaching prompts designed to hone students' comprehension skills, including character analysis, determining themes, and exploring perspectives.

Rime Magic is a word-recognition resource that's changing the lives of readers across the country. The rime is the key part of a word that makes it easy to see the structure (for example, the /ip/ in slippery or the /at/ in splattered).