Ever since I was a child, the summer was my favorite time of year. One reason was because it allowed me uninterrupted blocks of time to read. Even today, I keep a list of books I plan to read over the summer. Since Memorial Day is around the corner, I thought I would share some of the books I have on my summer reading list that relate to research and education.
What’s Math Got To Do With It? How Parents and Teachers Can Help Children Learn To Love Their Least Favorite Subject by Jo Boaler
I had the opportunity to hear Jo Boaler speak about her research at a conference this year. A professor of math education at Stanford University, she researches mathematics teaching and learning. I’m interested to read about how her research informs the solutions she proposes for improving math education.
How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
In my last blog post, I talked about the research on grit. This book explores the importance of character traits like grit and how to promote them in children. While it’s not specific to mathematics, I’m interested to learn more about why some students succeed and think about how I might apply this to teaching and learning mathematics.
This is the only book on the list that I already read but I think it’s worth a reread. Liping Ma researched the differences between teachers in China and the US and she reports on what she observed. When I first read the book, I was amazed by how the Chinese teachers understood elementary mathematics in a profound and deep way. I want to go back and take a deeper look at how these teachers thought about teaching specific concepts.
I’m excited to read these books (hopefully while sitting on the beach somewhere) and I’ll be sure to report back on what I learn after I read them.
What’s on your summer reading list?