What Are You Reading This Summer? (The Council Chronicle, April 20, 2006)  

Like many teachers, Karen Macbeth says she “goes into summer with a reading list in one hand and a lawn chair in the other.” She notes, “The summer goes by so fast that I can’t waste any time.”

We’ve asked educators to share their “wish list” of summer reading titles—maybe you’ll find some ideas to spark your own summer reading.

Here’s hoping you find time to read everything you’d like to read!

Books for Professional Development

Ganna Maymind, a first-grade teacher at Asher Holmes Elementary School in Morganville, New Jersey, is reading:

Writing in Math Class by Marilyn Burns
I’ve skimmed it so far and would like to read this book more in depth. It offers practical ideas and tips on how to incorporate writing into math. This is something I am very interested in since I believe writing in math can improve students’ critical thinking skills.

Discovering and Exploring Habits of Mind, edited by Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick
It’s interesting to think about certain dispositions of a great thinker and how we can bring this into the curriculum. I hope to learn what the habits of mind are and how to incorporate them into my teaching.

Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard
I think Georgia Heard is such an inspirational person and would love to read this resource she wrote about teaching poetry and incorporating it into the daily life of the classroom.

Donna L. Miller, a teacher at Chinook High School in Chinook, Montana, consultant at state and regional workshops, and co-director of the Montana Writing Project, is reading:

Writing on Demand by Anne Ruggles Gere, Leila Christenbury, and Kelly Sassi
I plan to read [this book] to further inform my work with students who must write in timed settings.

Brenda Coulter Robinette, who teaches English 10 and creative writing at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennessee, is reading:

Speaking Volumes by Barry Gilmore
To gather more methods for spurring and managing classroom discussions.

Public Education against America by Marlin Maddoux
To be able to defend myself against it. (I will borrow the book, not buy it.)

Nancy Elliott, a teacher of English 9, English 12, and Advanced Placement language and composition at Ubly High School in Ubly, Michigan, is reading:

Socratic Circles by Matt Copeland
Socratic circles are a technique I have been trying to incorporate since a humanities workshop at Phillips Exeter Academy. I have also heard Matt Copeland speak.

Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Because I need a refresher.

Karen Macbeth, an academic program specialist who teaches freshman composition for international students and graduate-level courses for teachers at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, is reading:

The Transition to College Writing by Keith Hjortshoj
I’ve read bits and pieces of this book all year, and it seems really important. This summer I’d like to read the whole book (only 211 pages) slowly and carefully.

Second Language Writing Research: Perspectives on the Process of Knowledge Construction and Landmark Essays on ESL Writing, edited by Paul Kei Matsuda and Tony Silva
I’ve just discovered the arrival of Matsuda and Silva’s 2006 book on research perspectives. For some time I have wanted to read the Landmark essays book. I finally got around to ordering it when I ordered the 2006 book. Like the many other books by these two authors, these will be vital to keeping abreast with what’s going on in the field. I trust these two authors to have chosen well for their collections. These books are important to me because I am currently working on research projects of my own.

Sourcework: Academic Writing from Sources by Nancy Dollahite and Julie Haun
I am thinking of adopting this book in the fall for one of the sections of composition in my charge.

Eli Goldblatt, university writing director and associate professor of English at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is reading:

Who Can Afford Critical Consciousness? by David Seitz
A book about critical pedagogy that might be useful for secondary education English students I teach.

About Writing by Samuel Delany 
Essays on writing by the distinguished and prolific writer of gender-bending science fiction.

Dialogue with Bakhtin on Second and Foreign Language Learning, edited by Joan Kelly Hall, Gergana Vitanova, Ludmila Marchenkova
As second-language writing connects more and more with composition/rhetoric, we need books like this to cement the relationship in theory as well as practice.

Many back issues of College English and College Composition and Communication!

Lisa B. Cleaveland, a first grade teacher at Jonathan Valley Elementary in Waynesville, North Carolina, is reading:

Study Driven: A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop by Katie Wood Ray (due out by the end of June)
This is Katie’s new book, and I read anything and everything of hers!

Learning under the Influence of Language and Literature by Reba Wadsworth and Lester Laminack
Lester was one of my professors in college. I have heard him talk on this subject, and it is so inspiring.

Growing Readers: Units of Study in the Primary Classroom by Kathy Collins
I have this, but have only looked through it. I need my summer to really read it!

Korina Jocson, AERA/IES Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University School of Education in Stanford, California, is reading:   

The Curious Writer by Bruce Ballenger
For ideas on teaching inquiry-based approaches to writing.

Adolescent Literacy Research and Practice, edited by Tamara Jetton and Janice Dole
For current perspectives on adolescent literacy.

Bridging the Literacy Achievement Gap Grades 4–12, edited by Dorothy Strickland and Donna Alvermann
Also for current perspectives on adolescent literacy.

Books for Exploring Other Interests

Ganna Maymind is reading:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This is a recommendation from a friend. Coelho is a Brazilian author and may offer a view of the world from a different culture.

The March: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow
This summer I figured I’d try historical fiction. This book about Sherman’s march is getting excellent reviews. It would be interesting to learn the emotional as well as the historical side of this event.

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
I am currently reading I Know This Much Is True by this author and really like his writing style and development of characters.

Donna L. Miller is reading:

Something by Sherman Alexie because I enjoy his sardonic wit.  I consider Ten Little Indians a good read and suspect The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven will be equally entertaining.
 
Finally, I will read Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginning since so many National Writing Project folks reference it and allude to its power as a personal writing text.
 
Brenda Coulter Robinette is reading:
 
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
To see for myself what everyone’s talking about.

The Smiles of Rome: A Literary Companion for Readers and Travelers, edited by Susan Cahill
To enhance my fourth visit to the Eternal City.

Nancy Elliott is reading:
 
Zorro by Isabel Allende
I have been trying to find time to finish it this spring; I truly enjoy her work.

The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
I also enjoy his work. This title provides an overview of the direction the economy and globalization seem to be going.

Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak was recently recommended to me, and I really enjoyed it. It is one book I can easily recommend to my high school students.

The compilation of The New Yorker
So I can read some of E. B. White’s columns. I recently attended a session that used several of his essays as examples for teaching voice—plus they were just delightful reading.

180 More and The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems by Billy Collins
These are also begging to be read.

And just for relaxation and escape, I will read some mysteries, such as the new Patricia Cornwell [At Risk] which should be out soon, and more of Carl Hiaasen’s works for both young and not-so-young adults. These make great reading when traveling.

Karen Macbeth is reading:
 
Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno
I like to get a glimpse of what my daughter and her friends are reading. This book was a real favorite of theirs. I always ask for their recommendations, and they are quite articulate in their reviews.

Drop City by T. C. Boyle
I will relish reading this as I do everything by Boyle. He is hands down my favorite author in the world. His sense of humor is very sophisticated and dark. He hits the bull’s eye on social issues every time. Though entertaining, his books also carry important assessments, warnings, and chastising for those who share his political leanings, which I certainly do.

Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 by Annie Proulx
Proulx is very high on the list of writers I admire. I love to read anything by her. Her depth of knowledge of arcane topics and her inimitable writing style seem to hang around in my head long after I read her books. I must have read The Shipping News 20 years ago, but I still remember various sentences from it. I think I have read all of her books except this one. I recently read the first volume of her Wyoming Stories, (Close Range) and am looking forward to this second volume.

I will also read anything I come across by Louise Erdrich and Barbara Kingsolver. 

Eli Goldblatt is reading:

Immanent Visitor by Jaime Saenz, translated by Kent Johnson and Forrest Gander
Selected bilingual edition of poems by the great Bolivian poet.

Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan
No need for comment.

Korina Jocson is reading:
 
Last summer, I consumed mostly novels, including Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things and Gabriel Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera.

This year, I would like to spend time on auto-/biographies, including Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and Bob Dylan’s The Chronicles. Also, I would to read Jean Toomer’s multi-genred Cane along with some new selections of young adult literature. 

I like to mix things up, have a book in my purse when I’m on the go or traveling, and another by my night stand. 

Don’t miss NCTE’s teaching resource collection on “summer reading and learning” at http://www.ncte.org/collections/summerread.