education books name

100 Best Education Books of All Time

We've researched and ranked the best education books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more

The New Psychology of Success

Carol S. Dweck | 5.00

Tony Robbins [Tony Robbins recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Bill Gates One of the reasons I loved Mindset is because it’s solutions-oriented. In the book’s final chapter, Dweck describes the workshop she and her colleagues have developed to shift students from a fixed to a growth mindset. These workshops demonstrate that ‘just learning about the growth mindset can cause a big shift in the way people think about themselves and their lives. (Source)

Dustin Moskovitz [Dustin Moskovitz recommended this book on Twitter.] (Source)

See more recommendations for this book...

Tara Westover | 4.99

Bill Gates Tara never went to school or visited a doctor until she left home at 17. I never thought I’d relate to a story about growing up in a Mormon survivalist household, but she’s such a good writer that she got me to reflect on my own life while reading about her extreme childhood. Melinda and I loved this memoir of a young woman whose thirst for learning was so strong that she ended up getting a Ph.D.... (Source)

Barack Obama As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018... (Source)

Alexander Stubb If you read or listen to only one book this summer, this is it. Bloody brilliant! Every word, every sentence. Rarely do I go through a book with such a rollecoaster of emotion, from love to hate. Thank you for sharing ⁦@tarawestover⁩ #Educated https://t.co/GqLaqlcWMp (Source)

The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell | 4.63

Bill Gates [On Bill Gates's reading list in 2011.] (Source)

James Altucher Gladwell is not the first person to come up with the 10,000 hour rule. Nor is he the first person to document what it takes to become the best in the world at something. But his stories are so great as he explains these deep concepts. How did the Beatles become the best? Why are professional hockey players born in January, February and March? And so on. (Source)

Cat Williams-Treloar The books that I've talked the most about with friends and colleagues over the years are the Malcolm Gladwell series of novels. Glorious stories that mix science, behaviours and insight. You can't go wrong with the "The Tipping Point", "Outliers", "Blink" or "David & Goliath". (Source)

How Children Succeed

Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

Paul Tough | 4.60

Chelsea Frank I was reading a book, “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character” by Paul Tough on a recommendation by my sister, a Middle School teacher. At that time I considered myself a great mother with natural intuition and did not go to the book as a means of “self-help” but of leisurely pleasure. However, I was perplexed when I discovered that even the most intelligent,... (Source)

Make It Stick

The Science of Successful Learning

Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel | 4.57

Barbara Oakley If you’re trying to keep up your reading about learning, one of the best books about learning is Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel. This insightful book was co-authored by some of the most influential researchers around. The book jacket says it best: “Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be... (Source)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

erbac | 4.56

Alexis Isabel @dontkauf i’ve read it! great book, def worth a re-read (Source)

How to Read a Book

The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren | 4.55

Sergey Brin had “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer J. Adler as one of his most recommended books. (Source)

Ben Chestnut I also love How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. I’m teaching its tips to my children while they’re young, so they can consume books much faster and have more fun reading. (Source)

Kevin Systrom [The author's] thesis is that the most important part of reading a book is to actually read the table of contents and familiarize yourself with the major structure of the book. (Source)

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Kahneman | 4.53

Barack Obama A few months ago, Mr. Obama read “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, about how people make decisions — quick, instinctive thinking versus slower, contemplative deliberation. For Mr. Obama, a deliberator in an instinctive business, this may be as instructive as any political science text. (Source)

Bill Gates [On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012.] (Source)

Marc Andreessen Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate. Will stand as a cautionary tale? (Source)

Savage Inequalities

Children in America's Schools

Jonathan Kozol | 4.53

The Book Whisperer

Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

Donalyn Miller, Jeff Anderson | 4.52

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The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain | 4.51

Simon Sinek eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'theceolibrary_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_5',164,'0','1'])); Leaders needn’t be the loudest. Leadership is not about theater. It’s not about dominance. It is about putting the lives of others before any other priority. In Quiet, Cain affirms to a good many of us who are introverts by nature that we needn’t try to be extroverts if we want to lead.... (Source)

Jason Fried A good book I’d recommend is “Quiet” by Susan Cain. (Source)

James Altucher Probably half the world is introverts. Maybe more. It’s not an easy life to live. I sometimes have that feeling in a room full of people, “uh-oh. I just shut down. I can’t talk anymore and there’s a lock on my mouth and this crowd threw away the key.” Do you ever get that feeling? Please? I hope you do. Let’s try to lock eyes at the party. “Quiet” shows the reader how to unlock the secret powers... (Source)

Dumbing Us Down

The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

John Taylor Gatto | 4.51

The Smartest Kids in the World

And How They Got That Way

Amanda Ripley | 4.49

Angela Duckworth | 4.48

Benjamin Spall [Question: What five books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path?] [...] Grit by Angela Duckworth (Source)

Bogdan Lucaciu Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance - it was frustrating to read: “Where was this book 20 years ago!?” (Source)

Stephen Lew When asked what books he would recommend to youngsters interested in his professional path, Stephen mentioned Grit. (Source)

Teaching to Transgress

Education as the Practice of Freedom

bell hooks | 4.48

Brene Brown This book sat next to my bed the entire first year I taught at the University of Houston. Hooks' idea of "education as the practice of freedom" shaped who I am today. Whenever difficult conversations about race, class, or gender begin to surface, I remember what she taught me: If your students are comfortable, you're not doing your job. (Source)

Les Back It’s really a wonderful account of the possibility that education has to shape and transform lives. (Source)

The Well-Trained Mind

A Guide to Classical Education at Home

Susan Wise Bauer, Jessie Wise | 4.45

Why Don't Students Like School?

A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom

Daniel T. Willingham | 4.44

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

Diane Ravitch | 4.44

Other People's Children

Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

Lisa Delpit | 4.43

Kelly Wickham Hurst @MJAntinarelli @KaitPopielarz It’s amazing. It’s THE book that changed everything for me early on in my career. It was such a swift kick to the head. (Source)

Michelle Rhee Other People’s Children is one of the books that all educators should read because it really gives a different perspective on teaching children who may not be of the same race or socioeconomic background. I think it’s always important for teachers to understand the cultural norms and expectations that prevail in the school environment where they work. Teachers need to be cognisant, not... (Source)

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink | 4.42

Tobi Lütke [Tobi Lütke recommended this book in an interview in "The Globe and Mail."] (Source)

David Heinemeier Hansson Takes some of those same ideas about motivations and rewards and extrapolates them in a little bit. (Source)

Mike Benkovich I'd recommend a sprinkling of business books followed by a heap of productivity and behavioural psychology books. The business books will help you with principals and the psychological books help with everything else in your life. Building your own business can really f!@# you up psychologically. (Source)

The First Days of School

How to Be An Effective Teacher [with CD]

Harry K. Wong, Rosemary T. Wong | 4.42

I Am Malala

The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb | 4.41

Adrienne Kisner Malala’s story of triumph is a battle cry for girls (and boys) everywhere. Education can set you free. (Source)

Three Cups of Tea

One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin | 4.40

Jennifer Steil Greg Mortenson has changed literally thousands and thousands of lives. (Source)

Nicholas Kristof I think Greg does a very good job of providing a more nuanced portrait of the Islamic world and what is possible in it. (Source)

Gretchen Peters I went to a refugee camp after 9/11 where people were living in tents and boiling grass to make tea and at least one family offered to let me sleep in their tent. (Source)

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

James W. Loewen | 4.40

Creative Schools

The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education

Sir Ken Robinson PhD and Lou Aronica | 4.37

Ng Rong Xin Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education by Sir Ken Robinson - a book for educator or edu-preneur or anyone who wants to make a change in the education realm. (Source)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Stephen R. Covey | 4.37

Dustin Moskovitz [I] was surprised at how familiar the topics felt. (Source)

Dave Ramsey [Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website.] (Source)

Kishore Biyani Immensely helpful and influential during my early years, it explained some of the basic mindsets required to succeed in any profession. (Source)

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too

Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education

Christopher Emdin | 4.31

Teach Like a Champion

49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College

Doug Lemov | 4.31

Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire

The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56

Rafe Esquith | 4.28

The Shame of the Nation

The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America

Jonathan Kozol | 4.28

The One World Schoolhouse

Education Reimagined

Salman Kha | 4.28

How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It

Mr. Kelly Gallagher | 4.28

How Children Fail

John Holt | 4.27

Carol Dweck This was a revolutionary book. In it John Holt talks about why students turn off their minds, why even students from privileged backgrounds and schools become intellectually numb. Why do they fail? (Source)

Jacqueline Leighton One of the things that John Holt talks about is how children can learn to game the system, because they begin to realise what it will take to do well in school. (Source)

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

And Other Conversations About Race

Beverly Daniel Tatum | 4.26

Denise Morris Kipnis I was serving on the board of a prestigious and exclusive school when I first read this. As part of the school’s commitment to inclusion, every group, including the board, went through diversity training. Our consultant, Glenn Singleton of Pacific Education Group, never let us forget why we were there: that improving outcomes for all our students was a business imperative. As a result of this... (Source)

The Read-Aloud Handbook

Jim Trelease | 4.26

Bethany S. Mandel Also: Read Aloud Revival (all parents should check it out), this is another great book for all parents: https://t.co/632afZ2yFC, and we like Beautiful Feet Books curriculum too (lots of literature based options on world cultures, history, character etc) (Source)

The Four Agreements

A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills | 4.23

Jack Dorsey Question: What are the books that had a major influence on you? Or simply the ones you like the most. : Tao te Ching, score takes care of itself, between the world and me, the four agreements, the old man and the sea...I love reading! (Source)

Charlamagne Tha God These are the books I recommend people to listen to on @applebooks. (Source)

Karlie Kloss I just think it’s got a lot of great principles and ideas. (Source)

Excellent Sheep

The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

William Deresiewicz | 4.23

Bryan Callen There’s a guy who I just had on my podcast, Mark Deresiewicz, who wrote a book called Excellent Sheep. He was a Yale professor, and took a look at the essentially what was wrong with higher education, at these elite institutions, primarily places like Amherst and Yale and Harvard. And one of the things he said is that we’re breeding excellent sheep. You’ve got 31 flavors of vanilla. These kids... (Source)

The Element

How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Ken Robinson, Lou Aronica | 4.23

Ng Rong Xin I read this book the year I graduated from college and was in my first job. It was a game-changer because it was after I read the book that I decided to take a plunge to start Explorer Junior, my start-up. (Source)

The Teacher Wars

A History of America's Most Embattled Profession

Dana Goldstein | 4.22

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Neil Postman, Andrew Postman | 4.21

Austin Kleon Earlier this year Postman’s son Andrew wrote an op-ed with the title, “My dad predicted Trump in 1985 — it’s not Orwell, he warned, it’s Brave New World.” Postman wrote: “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.” (Source)

Steve Lance Neil Postman took the work of Marshall McLuhan – who was putting out early theories on media – and built on them. However, Postman was far more observant and empirical about the trends occurring in the media landscape. The trends which he identifies in Amusing Ourselves to Death, written in the 1980s, have since all come true. For example, he predicted that if you make news entertaining, then... (Source)

Kara Nortman @andrewchen Also a great book on the topic - Amusing Ourselves to Death https://t.co/yWLBxKumLQ (Source)

The Coddling of the American Mind

How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt | 4.21

Mark Manson The kids aren’t alright. No, really—I know every generation says that, but this time it’s true. Kids who grew up with smartphones (and have begun to enter the university system) are emotionally stunted, overly fragile, and exhibiting mental health issues at alarming rates. I expected this book to be another, “Let’s all shit on social media together,” party, but it’s not. Social media, of course,... (Source)

Max Levchin Highlights the need to continue to have such discussions about sensitive topics instead of ignoring them for the sake of comfort. (Source)

Glenn Beck Just finished The Coddling of the American mind by @glukianoff Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Insightful. Straight forward and very helpful. A book that not only correctly identifies what ails us but also gives practical steps to cure. MUST READ (Source)

How Children Learn

John Holt | 4.21

Experience and Education

John Dewey | 4.20

Lost at School

Why Our Kids with Behavioral Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them

Ross W. Greene Ph.D. | 4.20

Weapons of Mass Instruction

A Schoolteacher's Journey Through The Dark World of Compulsory Schooling

John Taylor Gatto | 4.20

Seth Godin I end up recommending this book to parents again and again. It will transform the way you think of schooling. (Source)

Reign of Error

The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools

Diane Ravitch | 4.20

The Well-Educated Mind

A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had

Susan Wise Bauer | 4.19

The Power of Habit

Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg | 4.19

Naval Ravikant I also recently finished The Power of Habit, or close to finish as I get. That one was interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are. [...] I think learning how to break habits is a very important meta-skill that can serve you better in life than almost anything else. Although you can read tons of books... (Source)

Blake Irving You know, there's a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Simple read book about just how to build positive habits that can be I think I what I'd call you know whether in your personal life or whether in your business life to help you build you know, have a loop that can build your success and that's one I mean there are so many great books out there. (Source)

Santiago Basulto Another book with great impact was “The power of habit”. But to be honest, I read only a couple of pages. It’s a good book, with many interesting stories. But to be honest, the idea it tries to communicate is simple and after a couple of pages you’ve pretty much understood all of it. Happens the same thing with those types of books (Getting things done, crossing the chasm, etc.) (Source)

Educating Esmé

Diary of a Teacher's First Year

Esme Raji Codell, Jim Trelease | 4.19

The Daily Five

Gail Boushey, Joan Moser | 4.19

The Courage to Teach

Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life

Parker J. Palmer | 4.18

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish | 4.18

Jeff Atwood "The best marriage advice book I’ve read is a paperback called How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. As you might deduce from the title, it wasn’t meant as a marriage advice book." https://t.co/cy7JeKVsjV (Source)

Miguel De Icaza @codinghorror Yes - that is an awesome book too (Source)

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

Thomas C. Foster | 4.17

In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may...

In this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, How to Read Literature Like a Professor is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun.

The Whole-Brain Child

12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson | 4.16

Genevieve Von Lob Siegel uses what neuroscience tells us about how a child’s brain develops to provide practical tips for parents. (Source)

Graham Duncan [Graham Duncan recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Freakonomics

A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Stephen J. Levitt, Steven D.; Dubner | 4.16

Malcolm Gladwell I don’t need to say much here. This book invented an entire genre. Economics was never supposed to be this entertaining. (Source)

Daymond John I love newer books like [this book]. (Source)

James Altucher [James Altucher recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Brain Rules

12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School

John Medina | 4.16

James Altucher Discusses how to keep your brain healthy. (Source)

Dmitry Dragilev There’s a book called Brain Rules, also a great book, by John Medina, sort of like how your brain works. (Source)

Democracy and Education

John Dewey | 4.16

Last Child in the Woods

Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

Richard Louv | 4.16

Genevieve Von Lob Louv coined the term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ because he was so concerned about the alienation of young people from nature. (Source)

Free to Learn

Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

Peter Gray | 4.16

Punished by Rewards

The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes

Alfie Kohn | 4.16

David Heinemeier Hansson Outlines all the scientific research on why incentive systems don't work. (Source)

The Essential 55

An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child

Ron Clark | 4.15

For the Children's Sake

Foundations of Education for Home and School

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay | 4.15

Bethany S. Mandel More: AmblesideOnline has lots of info and an amazing curriculum, Exploring Nature with Children is a great preschool curriculum and this book is a great place to start too: https://t.co/jETfCMdEnS (Source)

Teaching with Poverty in Mind

What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do about It

Eric Jensen | 4.15

Understanding by Design

Grant Wiggins, Jay McTighe | 4.15

Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around...

Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum.

Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design , Expanded 2nd Edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

Michelle Rhee Understanding by Design is an incredibly influential book. Its premise is that you have to start curriculum design with an end in mind. You figure out what your goal is first and plan backwards from there, building your curriculum around what you want to achieve. It sounds very simple but for a long time people weren’t doing that. They were covering units or textbooks without clear priorities or... (Source)

How We Learn

The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens

Benedict Carey | 4.15

Vladimir Oane He does a brilliant job proving that our thinking about learning is rooted more in superstition than in science. And boy this book is filled with science. It is extremely evident that the author is a science nerd because this book is 95% filled with studies and experiments on lots and lots of topics related to the learning: memorization, forgetting, associations, perceptions etc. This could make... (Source)

Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Zaretta L. (Lynn) Hammond | 4.14

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell | 4.13

Mike Shinoda I know most of the guys in the band read [this book]. (Source)

Marillyn Hewson CEO Marilyn Hewson recommends this book because it helped her to trust her instincts in business. (Source)

A Mind for Numbers

How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)

Barbara Oakley PhD | 4.13

Mike Rowe A good teacher will leave you educated. But a great teacher will leave you curious. Well, Barbara Oakley is a great teacher. Not only does she have a mind for numbers, she has a way with words, and she makes every one of them count (Source)

Teach Like a Pirate

Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator

Dave Burgess | 4.13

Reading in the Wild

Donalyn Miller | 4.13

The Elements of Style

William Jr. Strunk | 4.13

Tobi Lütke [My] most frequently gifted book is [this book] because I like good writing. (Source)

Bill Nye This is my guide. I accept that I’ll never write anything as good as the introductory essay by [the author]. It’s brilliant. (Source)

Jennifer Rock If you are interested in writing and communication, start with reading and understanding the technical aspects of the craft: The Elements of Style. On Writing Well. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. (Source)

The Underground History of American Education

An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling

John Taylor Gatto, Richard Grove, et al. | 4.12

NurtureShock

New Thinking About Children

Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman | 4.12

A Thomas Jefferson Education

Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century

Oliver Van DeMille | 4.11

Teaching with Love and Logic

Taking Control of the Classroom

Jim Fay, David Funk | 4.11

Teaching from Rest

A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace

Sarah Mackenzie and Dr. Christopher Perrin | 4.10

Whatever It Takes

Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America

Paul Tough | 4.10

Julia Enthoven As for non-fiction, Half the Sky (about crimes against women, especially in the developing world) and Whatever it Takes (about the Harlem Children’s Zone and the work of Geoffrey Canada) both changed my world-view enormously, and I thought they were both super compelling. (Source)

What Great Teachers Do Differently

17 Things That Matter Most

Todd Whitaker | 4.10

Out of Our Minds

Learning to Be Creative

Ken Robinson | 4.09

Deschooling Society

Ivan Illich | 4.09

Teacher Man (Frank McCourt, #3)

Frank McCourt | 4.09

A Whole New Mind

Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age

Daniel H. Pink | 4.09

Park Howell This is one of the books I recommend to people looking for a career in advertising. (Source)

Teaching as a Subversive Activity

Neil Postman, Charles Weingartner | 4.06

Moonwalking with Einstein

The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Joshua Foer | 4.06

Bill Gates Of the five books I finished over vacation, the one that impressed me the most – and that is probably of broadest interest – is Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by science writer Joshua Foer. This is an absolutely phenomenal book that looks at memory and techniques for dramatically improving memory. Foer actually mastered these techniques, which led him to... (Source)

Chelsea Handler It has changed my life and made me embarrass myself much less when meeting someone twice. (Source)

Deborah Blum This book focuses not so much on the scientists but more on the consequence and meaning of memory for the rest of us. Within the framework of a memory championship, Foer looks at this almost obsessive interest in learning, how to remember everything. He asks the really interesting philosophical question, which is, are we defined by what we remember? (Source)

The Abolition of Man

C. S. Lewi | 4.05

Letters to a Young Teacher

Jonathan Kozol | 4.05

A Framework for Understanding Poverty

Ruby K. Payne | 4.05

The Global Achievement Gap

Why Our Kids Don't Have the Skills They Need for College, Careers, and Citizenship—and What We Can Do About It

Tony Wagner | 4.05

Creating Innovators

The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World

Tony Wagner | 4.04

David and Goliath

Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell | 4.04

Catalina Penciu Business-wise, my goal for this year is to improve my collection and my mindset, but my favorite so far has been David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. (Source)

Robert Katai Buy Malcolm Gladwell’s book “David and Goliath” and read the interesting stories about how the Davids of that moments have defeated the Goliaths. (Source)

The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Monique W. Morris | 4.04

I Read It, but I Don't Get It

Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers

Cris Tovani | 4.04

The End of Education

Redefining the Value of School

Neil Postman | 4.04

Making Thinking Visible

How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners

Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, Karin Morrison | 4.03

Choice Words

How Our Language Affects Children's Learning

Peter H. Johnston | 4.03

The Reading Strategies Book

Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers

Jennifer Serravallo | 4.03

"Multiplication Is for White People"

Raising Expectations for Other People's Children

Lisa Delpit | 4.02

Work Hard. Be Nice.

How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America

Jay Mathews | 4.01

Bill Gates Gives a great sense of how hard it was to get KIPP going and how intense the focus on good teaching is. (Source)

The CAFE Book

Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction

Gail Boushey, Joan Moser | 4.00

The Total Money Makeover

A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness (Classic Edition)

Dave Ramsey | 4.00

Eric 'Dids' Recently listened to the Audiobook "Total Money Makeover" and am amazed how much it has made a difference, arguably more so outside of finance. The motto posed in the book, "Live like nobody else so eventually you can live like nobody else." Is an amazing motto to have in life. (Source)

Vincent Pugliese Linchpin by Seth Godin, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad had immediate effects on my life. (Source)

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I have often argued that I would not let any teacher into a school unless – as a minimum – they had read, carefully and well, the three great books on education: Plato’s Republic, Rousseau’s Émile and Dewey’s Democracy and Education. There would be no instrumental purpose in this, but the struggle to understand these books and the thinking involved in understanding them would change teachers and ultimately teaching.

These are the three great books because each is sociologically whole. They each present a description and arguments for an education for a particular and better society. You do not have to agree with these authors. Plato’s tripartite education for a just society ruled over by philosopher kings; Rousseau’s education through nature to establish the social contract and Dewey’s relevant, problem-solving democratic education for a democratic society can all be criticised. That is not the point. The point is to understand these great works. They constitute the intellectual background to any informed discussion of education.

What of more modern works? I used to recommend the “blistering indictment” of the flight from traditional liberal education that is Melanie Phillips’s All Must Have Prizes, to be read alongside Tom Bentley’s Learning Beyond the Classroom: Education for a Changing World, which is a defence of a wider view of learning for the “learning age”. These two books defined the debate in the 1990s between traditional education by authoritative teachers and its rejection in favour of a new learning in partnership with students.

Much time and money is spent on teacher training and continuing professional development and much of it is wasted. A cheaper and better way of giving student teachers and in-service teachers an understanding of education would be to get them to read the 50 great works on education.

The books I have identified, with the help of members of the Institute of Ideas’ Education Forum, teachers and colleagues at several universities, constitute an attempt at an education “canon”.

What are “out” of my list are textbooks and guides to classroom practice. What are also “out” are novels and plays. But there are some great literary works that should be read by every teacher: Charles Dicken’s Hard Times – for Gradgrind’s now much-needed celebration of facts; D. H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow – for Ursula Brangwen’s struggle against her early child-centred idealism in the reality of St Philips School; and Alan Bennett’s The History Boys – for Hector’s role as the subversive teacher committed to knowledge.

I hope I have produced a list of books, displayed here in alphabetical order, that are held to be important by today’s teachers. I make no apology for including the book I wrote with Kathryn Ecclestone, The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education because it is an influential critical work that has produced considerable controversy. If you disagree with this, or any other of my choices, please add your alternative “canonical” books on education.

Michael W. Apple – Official Knowledge: Democratic Education in a Conservative Age (1993)

Hannah Arendt – Between Past and Future (1961), for the essay “The Crisis in Education” (1958)

Matthew Arnold – Culture and Anarchy (1867-9)

Robin Barrow – Giving Teaching Back to the Teachers (1984)

Tom Bentley – Learning Beyond The Classroom: Education for a Changing World (1998)

Allan Bloom – The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (1987)

Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron – Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (1977)

Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis – Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life (1976)

Jerome Bruner – The Process of Education (1960)

John Dewey – Democracy and Education (1916)

Margaret Donaldson – Children’s Minds (1978)

JWB Douglas – The Home and the School (1964)

Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes – The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education (2008)

Harold Entwistle – Antonio Gramsci: Conservative Schooling for Radical Politics (1979).

Paulo Freire – Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968/1970)

Frank Furedi – Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating (2009)

Helene Guldberg – Reclaiming Childhood (2009)

ED Hirsch Jnr. – The Schools We Need And Why We Don’t Have Them (1999)

Paul H Hirst – Knowledge and the Curriculum (1974) For the essay which appears as Chapter 3 ‘Liberal Education and the Nature of Knowledge’ (1965)

John Holt – How Children Fail (1964)

Eric Hoyle – The Role of the Teacher (1969)

James Davison Hunter – The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age without Good or Evil (2000)

Ivan Illich – Deschooling Society (1971)

Nell Keddie (Ed.) – Tinker, Taylor: The Myth of Cultural Deprivation (1973)

John Locke – Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1692)

John Stuart Mill – Autobiography (1873)

Sybil Marshall – An Experiment in Education (1963)

Alexander Sutherland Neil – Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (1960)

John Henry Newman – The Idea of a University (1873)

Michael Oakeshott – The Voice of Liberal Learning (1989) In particular for the essay “Education: The Engagement and Its Frustration” (1972)

Anthony O’ Hear – Education, Society and Human Nature: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1981)

Richard Stanley Peters – Ethics and Education (1966)

Melanie Phillips – All Must Have Prizes (1996)

Plato – The Republic (366BC?)

Plato – Protagoras (390BC?) and Meno (387BC?)

Neil Postman – The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (1995)

Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner – Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969)

Herbert Read – Education Through Art (1943)

Carl Rogers – Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become (1969)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Émile or “on education” (1762)

Bertrand Russell – On Education (1926)

Israel Scheffler – The Language of Education (1960)

Brian Simon – Does Education Matter? (1985) Particularly for the paper “Why No Pedagogy in England?” (1981)

JW Tibble (Ed.) – The Study of Education (1966)

Lev Vygotsky – Thought and Language (1934/1962)

Alfred North Whitehead – The Aims of Education and other essays (1929)

Paul E. Willis – Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs (1977)

Alison Wolf – Does Education Matter? Myths about Education and Economic Growth (2002)

Michael FD Young (Ed) – Knowledge and Control: New Directions for the Sociology of Education (1971)

Michael FD Young – Bringing Knowledge Back In: From Social Constructivism to Social Realism in the Sociology of Education (2007)

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Best Books on Education

Expand your understanding of learning with these key books on education, compiled from notable educational articles and rankings, and sequenced by how often they were spotlighted..

31 Of The Most Influential Books About Education [Updated]

Note that there are no books about education on the list from 1990 – present.  Too early to make the call, in my humble opinion.

A Collection Of The Most Influential Books About Education Ever Printed

by Grant Wiggins

This post was originally written by Grant in 2012

With the holidays soon upon us, I thought it appropriate to provide a list of what are arguably the most historically influential books in education, as we ponder gifts for colleagues, friends and loved ones who are educators.

This list came from a crowd-source appeal via Twitter and an email to colleagues and friends. Each book on the list received at least 5 votes from the 50 or so folks who responded; good enough for me. Yes, I know – it’s subjective. Yes, I know – it’s almost all men. Yes, I know – you are appalled at the inclusion of x and the failure to include y. Yes, it probably reflects educators ‘of a certain age.’

In case you are interested, my choices were: Plato, Rousseau, Dewey, Polya, and Tyler. It’s truly shocking to me how few math teachers have read Polya, IMHO; it’s sad how few people read Dewey anymore (admittedly not easy reading) since his vision framed the mission for most modern educators. And Tyler is my guru – the author of ‘backward design’ thinking, 70 years ago. I would not have included Lortie, Callahan, or Silberman even though I like all 3 books, because they are more of about history/sociology than a theoretical or practical guide. I wanted Alvin Toffler for  Future Shock  – no one else selected him, alas.

I can honestly say I had read all of them except one: I was initially unfamiliar with the Rosenblatt, a surprisingly modern view of teaching English from many decades ago, and have now read it – good stuff.

Note that there are no books on the list from 1990 – present.  Too early to make the call, in my humble opinion. The books that follow are thus ‘classics’, deserving of your time and thought. All of them, even the ones with which you might have issues, provide great food for thought. So,  bon appetit !

This post first appeared on Grant’s personal blog 

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Updated from original February 21, 2020 post

There are more educational books available for professional learning than ever before. It’s easy to find book recommendations by reaching out on Twitter, checking on Goodreads or looking at curated lists of education books from members of your PLN. It is also helpful to follow the #bookcampPD and #PD4uandMe , hashtags and join in their Twitter chats. If you head to the BookCampPD website, Meredith Johnson has curated a list of book recommendations and organizes monthly book studies through a Twitter chat.

Here are some books (in alphabetical order) that I recommend for educators. Some of these I have come across over the years on my own and some of them have made their way to my pile of books after joining in Twitter chats. 

• A Passion for Kindness by Tamara Letter. A book focused on bringing more kindness into the world. Tamara shares personal experiences and highlights the ideas of other educators and offers kindness cultivators and reflective questions to guide educators along the way to more kindness. 
• Balance Like a  Pirate by Jessican Cabeen, Jessica Johnson and Sarah Johnson. In this book, the authors share the importance of finding balance in our lives as educators and share their personal strategies for doing so. Finding balance is a challenge and this book can definitely help.
• Breaking Bold by Weston and Molly Kieschnick is a great read and follow up to Weston’s first book, Breaking Bold. Breaking Bold is full of strategies and motivations, personal anecdotes, and humorous references to help educators get started. Weston and  Molly share their experiences and weave in so many practical examples and lead educators on a  reflective journey.
• Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain by Zaretta Hammond is an interesting read about brain science and focuses on how educators can boost engagement and “rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students.” Hammond explores how culture can impact learning and how the brain processes data. There are strategies provided that will help educators to provide more personalized and relevant learning experiences for all students and empower them to become independent learners. 
• Culturize by Jimmy Casas is a book that will inspire educators to focus on “every student every day whatever it takes” in order to bring about amazing changes for student learning. In Culturize, Casas shares the four core principles for school success: Be a champion for students, expect excellence, carry the banner for the school, and be a merchant of hope. 
• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown is a book for every educator to learn how to be comfortable with vulnerability. Inspiring to read, this book offers stories which will lead you to reflect on your personal and professional life and it does so in a way that inspires, supports, pushes and even entertains.
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink explores the puzzle of motivation. Through his research, Pink uncovers the key elements of autonomy, mastery and purpose and how they connect with motivation. 
• Evolving Education by Dr. Katie Martin explores how to bring about change to schools, to promote more authentic learning experiences for students, and what we can do to place students in the lead more. 
• Evolving Learner by Lainie Rowell, Dr. Kristy Andre, and Dr. Lauren Steinmann shares strategies for accomplishing successful professional learning through a framework where students and teachers are active agents of learning.  The book examines ideas and strategies that Empower Educators to learn from kids, fears, and the world in a cycle of continuous Improvement. 
• For White Folks Who Teach In The Hood: Reality Pedagogy And Urban Education by Christopher Emdin explores “reality pedagogy” and how to implement culturally responsive practices in our classrooms. Emdin shares his personal experiences with teaching in urban schools and the effects of inequality on students of color.
• It’s OK to Say They: Tips for Educators by Christy Whittlesey is full of resources for educators to support transgender and nonbinary students. The book includes first person narratives and offers strategies for educators and even a dictionary of relevant terms.
• The Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros is focused on empowering educators to bring about change in their classrooms by taking some risks, experiencing failures, and providing students with more opportunities to lead and create.
• Kids These Days : A Game Plan for (Re)Connecting with Those We Teach, Lead, & Love by Dr. Jody Carrington is a book that shares Dr. Carrington’s research and personal experiences working with students and families. The book emphasizes the importance of connections and building relationships so we can best serve our students.  
• LAUNCH by A.J. Juliani and John Spencer, is about empowering students through design thinking. The authors take you through the steps of the LAUNCH cycle, which is very helpful for educators interested in trying design thinking or genius hour projects. Full of visuals, templates, lesson plans and a LAUNCH notebook.
• Learning Transformed by Eric Sheninger Thomas C. Murray identifies 8 keys to transform schools and learning to best prepare our students for the future. Read more about Learning Transformed in the Smart Review . 
• Lost at School by Ross W. Greene will help educators to better understand and work with students and challenging behaviors in the classroom. Through Greene’s Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) Model and from the narrative and stories shared in the book, the importance of building relationships resonates throughout.
• Personal and Authentic by Tom Murray provides personal stories from Tom as well as more than 50 educator vignettes shared in “Make it Stick” and “In Practice” sections. Murray shares his “Personal & Authentic Framework” to empower educators to create more authentic learning experiences in our classrooms.
• Power of Place by Tom Vander Ark, Emily Liebtag, and Nate McClennen presents a thorough resource full of everything that educators (regardless of role and experience), as well as community members, need to get started with Place Based Education (PBE). An overview of PBE is provided, which includes an explanation of the six design principles and the context of place-based learning. The book offers many examples, clear explanations, and student and educator stories.
• Start with Why by Simon Sinek profiles innovative companies that start by asking the question why and how that leads to success. For anyone looking to become more of a leader, it will push your thinking and is applicable to any area, especially education. 
• Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday focuses on the importance of taking moments away for ourselves. Holiday shares stories of many historical figures and how they incorporated stillness into their busy lives and why it matters. 
• Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess is a book full of personal experiences, inspirational quotes, reflection questions, and ideas for how to create more engaging lessons, promote student curiosity and build rapport in our classrooms. Teach Like a Pirate was the first book about education that I had read in years and the one that pushed me to start taking some risks in my own classroom. 
• Teaching AI by Michelle Zimmerman is for any educator looking to better understand artificial intelligence, how it will impact the future, and what it means for education. The book includes scenarios, tools, activities, reflection questions and ideas to get started. 
• Things I Wish […] Knew by Rachelle Dené Poth includes 50 educators with different experiences and backgrounds in education who share something they wish they or others knew. Each vignette shares an eye-opening experience, a valuable lesson learned, advice for overcoming challenges, or simply offers some inspiration or words of wisdom.
• UDL and Blended Learning by Dr. Katie Novak and Dr. Catlin Tucker explores Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how to create the best learning experiences for all students.  Through blended learning methods, educators will learn how to leverage the right tools to create authentic, meaningful and personalized learning pathways for students. The strategies and frameworks are focused on fostering classroom community, increased accessibility and promoting equity in learning. 
• What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith shares what Ted learned after spending 2016 visiting schools in all 50 states. Dintersmith took what he observed, his own research, the authentic stories from educators he met during his travels and has shared what he believes to be the changes needed for education in this book. Listen to the Ted Dintersmith Podcast Interview .

There are many books out there and I could definitely add more to the list but wanted to create a resource for educators to explore a variety of topics from different perspectives. If I could add one more to this list, I would add my first published book, In Other Words: Quotes that Push Our Thinking which gave me a space to share stories from educators and students as well as my own story. Quotes are used as a focus to push thinking about the importance of growing ourselves as educators, knowing our why, as well as learning from and embracing failures and taking risks. 

Rachelle Dené Poth

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Our Favorite Books for Educators in 2021

Over the past year, the challenges that teachers, students, and our communities have faced reinforce the value of social and emotional learning, mindfulness, character development, self-compassion, and social justice—and our favorite education books of 2021 explore each of these themes.

If you are looking for practical guides to help you teach mindfulness or infuse social-emotional learning (SEL) into your curriculum, you’ll find two great books below by Linda Yaron Weston and Lorea Martinez. Or if you want to focus on your own well-being, Lisa Baylis’s book Self-Compassion for Educators provides you with self-care tools and practices.

And, if you want to think more deeply about the role of moral and character development in your work, we’ve highlighted three books this year. What are the enduring intellectual virtues that ground us and help us to navigate a topsy-turvy world? How can we educate for human goodness, which is so badly needed right now? Finally, how do the fields of moral development and social justice education complement one another? Read on to learn more.

Mindfulness for Young Adults: Tools to Thrive in School and Life , by Linda Yaron Weston

For educators across the globe, the current mental health crisis is pressing and palpable, and Linda Yaron Weston’s book Mindfulness for Young Adults offers a range of supports for anyone working with secondary or college-level youth in schools and community organizations.

To start, Yaron Weston cautions us that “mindfulness is not a silver bullet designed to save anyone. It is a field that offers tools to navigate experiences with awareness, acceptance, agency, curiosity, openness, and kindness.” She then thoughtfully addresses a range of youth challenges, backgrounds, and experiences with a holistic, integrated approach to wellness that builds on traditional mindfulness-based programs.

Her workbook can be used as a course text or as an instructional supplement if you are already modeling well-being practices in your classroom, organization, or home. Drawing on her background in yoga, English language arts, physical education, and equity work, USC professor Yaron Weston maps out the benefits of mindfulness by referencing a range of health and psychology research, and philosophers and inspiring thinkers like William James, Maya Angelou, and Fred Rogers, while elevating students’ voices and experiences.

In five modules, she focuses on the principles of mindfulness, the body (including unique breath strategies, as well as goal-setting strategies for healthy living), the heart (fostering joy, navigating difficult emotions, and exploring compassion and self-compassion), the mind (working with thoughts and anxiety to increase resilience), and how to integrate mindfulness into one’s daily life.

If you are familiar with mindfulness curricula, you will be particularly impressed with this book’s developmentally appropriate focus on youth identity and social consciousness. For example, in the “Mind” module, students use reflection activities to explore who they are and what it means to live as an engaged citizen of the world—with an attentiveness to family, culture, gender, and sexuality.

Some mindfulness programs can be faulted for presenting mindfulness techniques in a decontextualized, artificial way as sort of an “add-on” life skill or disposition. However, Mindfulness for Young Adults integrates mindfulness—as a way of being—into the lives of teens and college students to help them navigate the challenges they face right now.

Self-Compassion for Educators , by Lisa Baylis

If you’re looking for a psychological boost as you begin 2022, Lisa Baylis’s Self-Compassion for Educators features stories, reflection activities, and personal practices for any adult who supports student learning. This practical guide focuses on helping school staff learn to embody mindfulness and self-compassion, but it also features Baylis’s AWE (Awaken Wellbeing for Educators) method, including her “Seven C’s of Resilience” (courage, curiosity, clearing our way, community, care, culture, and compassion).

Having struggled with burnout herself, the author shares personal stories of her teaching experiences and her wellness journey, including her own children’s reactions to their mom’s mindfulness practices at home. Well-being isn’t necessarily about “balance,” she says, but responsiveness to the rhythms of life. This rings true—and can release us from the desire to have it all figured out. If we can be aware, adaptable, AND kind to ourselves in the process, the challenges we face as educators may not feel nearly as daunting. Baylis believes you can sustain well-being as you learn “(1) to know when you’re under stress or suffering ( mindfulness ) and (2) to respond with care and kindness ( self-compassion ).”

Apart from offering a range of mindfulness and self-compassions practices in her book, Baylis also directs you to a tool that assesses your quality of life and a wellness wheel to help you evaluate seven dimensions of well-being—including the spiritual, social, and intellectual—as well as reflection activities to help you identify your values, write a mission statement, and prioritize time for play in your life, like hiking, dancing, cooking, or just watching cartoons.

If we are well, our students are more likely to be well—and Baylis created this handy resource with the goal of placing “educator well-being at the forefront of school culture.”


 Teaching With the Heart in Mind: A Complete Educator’s Guide to Social Emotional Learning , by Lorea Martinez

Knowing that standalone SEL programs aren’t always sensitive to the specific needs of students and schools, districts across the country need resources to help them thoughtfully integrate key SEL skills into more culturally responsive curricula. In Teaching With the Heart in Mind , Lorea Martinez provides concrete tips and strategies for building trust, increasing educators’ cultural competence, and creating safe, emotionally connected spaces for learning.

“Justice is not an afterthought or an add-on to our curriculum but a way of being and relating to ourselves and others in the classroom,” says Martinez. Her book serves as a roadmap for educators, featuring the “why” of SEL—including the four research-based conditions for learning—and the specific SEL skills teachers and students need to thrive in classrooms.

Then, in clear, accessible language, she guides her readers through the “what” and “how” of her “HEART in mind” model, mapping out five key skills (in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive realms) with a focus on concrete classroom applications and grade-level “indicators of mastery.”

To support teacher planning, she approaches each SEL skill with multiple implementation examples, including direct instruction (e.g., teaching students how to label and relate to their emotions), integration with teaching practices (e.g., project-based and cooperative learning), and integration with academic content (e.g., character analyses in language arts). In addition, she includes a whole chapter featuring tips for integrating this model into virtual classrooms.

Martinez reminds us that “we cannot separate SEL from effective teaching”—and the tools she provides will be empowering for teachers at all levels. If you are looking for a step-by-step guide to help you and your colleagues build on students’ cultural assets as you incorporate social and emotional skills into academic content and pedagogy, this is it.

Deep in Thought: A Practical Guide for Teaching Intellectual Virtues , by Jason Baehr

“What’s the point of what I’m doing? Am I really making a difference? What can I reasonably hope to accomplish as a teacher?”

Deep in Thought responds to these nagging questions in a re-examination of the key aims of education through the lens of intellectual virtues —“the personal qualities and character strengths of good thinkers and learners.” Drawing on extensive psychological research, his work in the field of virtue epistemology , and his experience working with teachers and cofounding the Intellectual Virtues Academy , Jason Baehr presents nine key intellectual virtues and the “principles, practices, and postures” for teaching them.

Here, you’ll learn more about intellectual virtues like curiosity, humility, courage, autonomy, and open-mindedness while exploring why and how they are fundamental to learning and deep understanding. You’ll explore the “postures” (or attitudes) that help you to develop each virtue, and you’ll learn about concrete instructional approaches for teaching each virtue, including targeted language for the classroom (definitions and slogans), and self-reflection and assessment tools, as well as questioning and perspective-taking practices you can incorporate into daily lessons.

Baehr also highlights the “ thinking routines ” that tap a range of virtues. For example, routines called “Step Inside” or “Circle of Viewpoints” may help your students to practice open-mindedness, while protocols like “See-Think-Wonder” stimulate deeper curiosity in the classroom.

Although the featured tools primarily serve secondary classrooms, they are adaptable to younger and older students. Perhaps most importantly, however, Baehr leads you through an exploration of your beliefs and values in his book—how you model them and how you can think more systematically and practically about the virtues that inform a meaningful and purposeful life of learning. As Baehr reminds us, “Good teaching has as much to do with who we are as teachers as it does the instructional methods or practices we employ in the classroom.”

Moral Education for Social Justice , by Larry Nucci and Robyn Ilten-Gee

How can the fields of moral development and social justice education inform each other? One school of thought tends to be associated with more individualized, values-based judgments and actions and the other tends to focus on the social conditions that constrain individuals and groups. One may more readily use the language of “fairness,” while the other uses the language of “justice.”

In Moral Education for Social Justice , scholars Larry Nucci and Robyn Ilten-Gee explore how moral reasoning, critical pedagogy, and community activism come together, helping educators to see how these approaches complement each other and inform the ways we view teaching and learning.

To begin, the authors draw on research to define morality, distinguishing it from social or religious conventions and personal choices. In other words, deciding whether to steal something (moral) differs from choosing to wear a religious garment (conventional) or determining who you want to be your best friend (personal).

With a fundamental understanding of moral development, the authors explore how educators can create a moral classroom climate (in the thoughtful creation of school rules and the application of restorative justice practice). And the final section of the book focuses very practically on how to integrate moral development and social justice learning into your curriculum and instructional approaches. In this section, you’ll find strategies for leading productive student discussions and sample lesson plans, as well as action projects that are designed to respond to moral and ethical challenges (with a special focus on critical digital media literacy).

The authors propose that moral development lessons go hand in hand with students’ experiences as they work collaboratively, identifying “moral harm” or injustice, and responding with action plans that support positive social change.

PRIMED for Character Education: Six Design Principles for School Improvement , by Marvin Berkowitz

In his latest book, PRIMED for Character Education , developmental psychologist Marvin Berkowitz argues that “we can build a better world by understanding, committing to, and acting upon what is most effective in nurturing the flourishing of human goodness, especially in kids.” After the last two years, how can anyone argue with that?

But Berkowitz doesn’t stop at just naming what we’re educating for. In PRIMED , he offers a practical blueprint of how to make this vision a reality, starting with making character “THE most important goal of schooling.” This may be a leap for many schools that look to character education, SEL, mindfulness, and other prosocial initiatives to increase academic achievement, but he argues that “we must value nurturing goodness simply because goodness matters.”

For educators and school leaders who are tired of working in a demoralizing educational system that diminishes the human spirit in children and the adults who work with them, then PRIMED will come as a breath of fresh air. Reading it is like listening to Berkowitz speak (which I’ve done several times): matter of fact, insightful, confident—and bluntly honest. He doesn’t hold back when telling the reader that we, the adults, have to start with ourselves. He also doesn’t offer a list of character traits, avoiding the cultural and religious biases for which character education programs are often criticized.

Instead, his PRIMED framework (i.e., Prioritization, Relationships, Intrinsic motivation, Modeling, Empowerment, and Developmental pedagogy) helps educators see character as a way of being , not just doing . He also offers many inspiring stories, tools, and reflection exercises to help us get started with ourselves and our students (see here , here , and here for examples). The pandemic has given us an opportunity to rethink how we do education. Perhaps it’s time to try, as Berkowitz suggests, putting human goodness at the center.

About the Authors

Amy L. Eva, Ph.D. , is the associate education director at the Greater Good Science Center. As an educational psychologist and teacher educator with over 25 years in classrooms, she currently writes, presents, and leads online courses focused on student and educator well-being, mindfulness, and courage. Her new book, Surviving Teacher Burnout: A Weekly Guide To Build Resilience, Deal with Emotional Exhaustion, and Stay Inspired in the Classroom, features 52 simple, low-lift strategies for enhancing educators’ social and emotional well-being.

Vicki Zakrzewski

Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D. , is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center.

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7 Must-Read Books on Education

By maria popova.

ISAAC ASIMOV: THE ROVING MIND

Once we have computer outlets in every home, each of them hooked up to enormous libraries where anyone can ask any question and be given answers, be given reference materials, be something you’re interested in knowing, from an early age, however silly it might seem to someone else… that’s what YOU are interested in, and you can ask, and you can find out, and you can do it in your own home, at your own speed, in your own direction, in your own time… Then, everyone would enjoy learning. Nowadays, what people call learning is forced on you, and everyone is forced to learn the same thing on the same day at the same speed in class, and everyone is different.” ~ Isaac Asimov

SIR KEN ROBINSON: THE ELEMENT

We have a system of education that is modeled on the interest of industrialism and in the image of it. School are still pretty much organized on factory lines — ringing bells, separate facilities, specialized into separate subjects. We still educate children by batches. Why do we do that?”

For an excellent complement to The Element , we highly recommend Robinson’s prior book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative — re-released last month, it offers a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the disconnect between the kinds of “intelligence” measured and encouraged in schools and the kinds of creativity most essential to our society moving forward.

A NEW CULTURE OF LEARNING

We’re stuck in a mode where we’re using old systems of understanding learning to try to understand these new forms, and part of the disjoint means that we’re missing some really important and valuable data.” ~ Douglas Thomas

Our full review here .

CLARK KERR: THE USES OF THE UNIVERSITY

What the railroads did for the second half of the last century and the automobile for the first half of this century may be done for the second half of this century by the knowledge industry: And that is, to serve as the focal point for national growth.” ~ Clark Kerr

ANYA KAMENETZ: DIYU

The promise of free or marginal-cost open-source content, techno-hybridization, unbundling of educational functions, and learner-centered educational experiences and paths is too powerful to ignore. These changes are inevitable. They are happening now. […] However, these changes will not automatically become pervasive.” ~ Anya Kamenetz

KARL WEBER: WAITING FOR SUPERMAN

In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty.”

HOWARD GARDNER: FIVE MINDS FOR THE FUTURE

The synthesizing mind takes information from disparate sources, understands and evaluates that information objectively, and puts it together in ways that make sense to the synthesizer and also to other persons. Valuable in the past, the capacity to synthesize becomes ever more crucial as information continues to mount at dizzying rates.” ~ Howard Gardner

— Published April 11, 2011 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/04/11/7-must-read-books-on-education/ —

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