teaching inspiration

These following books have, in some way or another, changed my understanding of teaching.

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
Sam Wineburg

This book completely revolutionized what teaching history means for me. The best way to express how is to give you this quote:

"What is history good for? Why even teach it in schools? My claim in a nutshell is that history holds the potential, only partly realized, of humanizing us in ways offered by few other areas in the school curriculum...coming to know others, whether they live on the other side of the tracks or the other side of the millennium, requires the education of our sensibilities. This is what history  when taught well, gives us practice in doing" Excerpts from chapter one.

Throughout the first chapter and the rest of the book he explains the importance of teaching your students how to think historically, rather than giving them historical facts. Such knowledge will take them much further because they will no longer be reliant on a teacher but able to explore the past on their own.

The Year of Miss Agnes
Kirkpatrick Hill

This charming little story is about a teacher who heads out into Alaska and teaches in a one room school house. It offers a unique perspective as it is told by the children who attend the struggling school which is unable to hold a teacher for more than a year. Miss Agnes' perseverance and high expectations sets her apart from all of the other teachers who have come before. This book made see see the accessibility of teaching even in difficult places.

Up the Down Staircase
Bel Kaufman

Another wonderful story about a teacher's tough situation, this book is a classic. A first year teacher enters into the bureaucracy of a public school. She finds herself in way over her head. The reader watches the year pass by through snippets of notes between teachers that wind up in the trash, through emails posted from the school board, and other writings from students and the teacher herself. As time goes by, the teacher learns to understand, love, and advocate for her students. This book opened my eyes to the amount of time teachers spend not teaching, and yet also encouraged me in the value of those things.