5 Books for English Teachers

I recently saw a comedian on Instagram talking about the difference between a nerd, a geek and a dweeb. He used a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences. And it turns out I am full on in the nerd category. It’s true: one of the things that brings me joy is professional books for English teachers.

And it turns out that I am not the only one. This is why I have been able to bring together 5 other English teacher. These teachers, too, are sharing their favorite PD books for English teachers. Each of these teachers brings a wealth of classroom knowledge and collectively, we bring over 70 years of experience.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at not cost to you. Your purchases help to keep McLaughlin Teaches English up and running.

5 high school English teachers share their favorite professional development books

Why Read Books for English Teachers

One of the great things about being a high school English teacher is that we love to read. But we also love to teach. Reading about how other people approach their craft is a great way to put the two of these together.

So we put these two ideas together. Now you can follow along as 5 teachers talk about their favorite professional books for English Teachers.

5 Favorite Books for English Teachers

Poetry Pauses by Brett Volgelsinger

Lesa from SmithTeaches9to12 is on a mission to help teachers feel more comfortable and confident including poetry in their ELA lessons. She writes often about the topic on her website. Posts include integrating poetry into your novel study or pairing classic and contemporary poems while studying Shakespeare. So when she heard that Brett Vogelsinger, whom she follows on Twitter, was releasing a new book for English teachers called Poetry Pauses she was delighted. It’s always great to get ideas from someone else who is like-minded about including more poetry and in ways beyond a poetry unit.

The book includes what he calls poetry pauses. This is when you take time from a few minutes to a full class lesson in order “to learn in the presence of poetry.” Overall, it is best summarized by its subtitle: Teaching with poems to elevate student writing in all genres.

The book has a wide variety of lesson ideas including how to use poetry to practice sharpening a claim in argumentative writing. And it includes how to improve grammar, including lessons on prepositions, dialogue rules, rare punctuation rules, and more! The book makes it easy to implement the lessons into your ELA classroom. It include suggested poems, clear ways to deliver the lesson, and activities for students to complete.

If you’re looking to tackle the challenge that is poetry find a copy of Vogelsinger’s book to help you on that road to success!

Five books English teachers will love for how they will influence their practice.

Choice & Voice by Stephanie Fleck and Jolene Heinemann

There’s nothing more exciting than getting to read the work of a teacher friend that you love, admire, and adore, and that’s exactly what Amanda Cardenas got to do. Amanda is the author of Mud and Ink Teaching and the co-host of the Brave New Teaching Podcast, and through the magic of social media, Amanda came across one of her favorite books for English Teachers: Choice and Voice. After following Jolene and Stephanie online for a while, Amanda grabbed their book, read it, found it to be incredibly powerful, and then reached out to Jolene personally. The result was a full day of a visit to Jolene’s school and an interview all about the system outlined in their book: Collaborative Reader’s Workshop.

Collaborative Reader’s Workshop is a system that makes independent reading manageable, motivational, and communal. Through Collaborative Reader’s Workshop, students build a true community through reading. They connect with students and adults across their school as they pursue their passion for books. This PD book gives teachers actionable steps for developing and implementing their own Collaborative Reading Workshops in their classrooms. Check out the Brave New Teaching interview with one of the authors. Then tune in to the follow up episode with ideas and strategies that Amanda and Marie outline from their own perspective.

Critical Encounters in Secondary English by Deborah Appleman

Critical literary theory encourages students to think more broadly, to explore different interpretations and to challenge the existing power structures of society. Julia Cafaro of Around the World with Mrs. C can remember first being exposed to the idea of literary theory in college. It deepened everything she already (thought) she thought critically on! When she became a high school English teacher, she wanted this for her students as well. She attended the National Writing Project summer institute, where she check out one of her favorite books for English Teachers: Deborah Appleman’s Critical Encounters in Secondary English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents.

This book explores how literary theory can be applied to high school classrooms. It empowers students to think beyond their own comfortable world and to foster a knowledge of others. Through classroom vignettes Appleman shows how the application of reader response, Marxist and feminist criticism, and deconstruction theory encourages student growth and understanding. It gives actionable tips and examples of how to do this in a way that is approachable for high school students to understand.

In Julia’s Classroom

After reading this book and furthering her understanding through discussions with the AP teachers, Julia decided to try out literary theory with her tenth grade students. They used fairy tales and Disney movies! These are already approachable and often our students already “know” these stories. However, she discovered she was now challenging them to look even deeper. Her students were instantly hooked thinking about Rapunzel from the Marxist lens and The Princess and the Frog from the cultural lens.
She took this a step further and combined it with a real-world PBL project. Students work together to create a new Disney movie that meaningfully represents a culture that Disney has not yet represented. This project takes on a whole new meaning after they have spent weeks critically analyzing existing movies and their possible underlying messages.

For more on using literary theory with your students be sure to check out 9 Literary Theory books English Teachers will Love.

Five high school English teachers talk about how their favorite professional development books changed their classrooms.

No More Fake Reading by Berit Gordon

Do you want your students to be excited about their books and beg for more reading time? Becca Rice from The Teacher ReWrite had that same vision for her classroom. But she was not sure how to change her curriculum. That’s when she discovered Berit Gordon’s book No More Fake Reading. In her research-backed book, Gordon provides a plan to merge classical texts and student-choice reading, so your classroom can be transformed. The author provides easy-to-follow instructions for how to implement her model. She includes student examples and resources to help you as the teacher visualize what your classroom can become.

After reading this book, Becca knew she had to change the way that she brought reading into her classroom. First, she abandoned all accountability for independent reading and allowed students to choose a text that appealed to them. There were no quizzes, no reading logs, and no required conversations. She updated her curriculum to a more modern novel The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare. Becca even created Reader Notes task cards that students could use to easily think about their reading without tedious comprehension checks. Now, Becca sees her students coming to class wanting to read.

Reading with Presence by Marilyn Pryle

Jeanmarie from McLaughlin Teaches English has a renewed love of the Reader Response critical lens. Inspired by asking her students the question: “What did you like or dislike about the text?” and their deep responses, she decided to pursue this style of response more fully. Jeanmarie had just introduced her students to the discussion deck when she heard Marilyn Pryle talking about Reading with Presence on the Heinemann Podcast.

In her new book, Pryle writes about using reader response journals with her students and the results. And in part two, she gives lots of prompt suggestions with student models. Although Jeanmarie already has a bank of prompts through the Literature Discussion Deck, she likes how Pryle structures the responses and how she discusses the importance of metacognition in the process.

Through Pryle’s process of reader response, students choose their own prompts to apply to independent, book club or full class readings. Then they write just 5 sentences pulling evidence from their texts. But the most important part is naming the prompt to which they are responding. Why? Because naming it shows they understand the reading process they are using.

This is a quick read that will allow you to see all the possibilities of using reader response.

For more on using a literature discussion deck, check out Discussion Questions for Book Clubs.

The best books for English teachers: five high school English teachers talk about how they were influenced by professional development books.

Favorite PD Books for English Teachers

I hope you have enjoyed getting a little peek into the reading of other English teachers. Each of us has shared books that have helped to transform our classroom practice. I have certainly added to my TBR. Thank you for the contributions from the other these amazing English teachers who were generous enough to share their time and talent with us.