6 Books By English Teachers for English Teachers

I recently took Jonathan Fields Sparketype quiz and learned that my primary Sparketype is the Maven.  Mavens love learning for the sake of learning.  They love taking a deep dive into topics that interest them.  So it is no wonder I love reading books by English teachers for English teachers.  They light me up and tap into my Shadow Sparketype which is the Sage, in other words, the teacher.

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.

So today I am going to share with you a list of my favorite books by English teachers for English teachers.  

Some the Best Books for English Teachers

Grab this list in a printable PDF form so that you can take it with you to the bookstore. (I mean, that is if people even still go to bookstores.) Or give it to your school librarian to add to their collection of professional texts.

The English Teacher’s Companion

Jim Burke (Heinemann, 2012)

What I love about Jim Burke is just how practical his advice is. He rewrote this book (4th edition) in 2012 to coincide with the release of the Common Core Standards. His teaching ideas are timeless and are relevant to no matter what kind of high school English you are teaching. I teach AP Literature, and English 11 which includes English Language Learners and Special Ed/struggling students. All of the ideas I brought into my classroom have worked.

Readacide 

Kelly Gallagher (Stenhouse, 2009)

This book was transformational. I read this during Spring break in 2019. When I was done, I went back to school and approached by department about setting aside 10 minutes everyday for independent reading. Gallagher shares why allowing students time to read and pick their own books is so important to building readers. 

For more on how I use choice reading in the classroom, be sure to check out this post.

Grab a this freebie to help you integrate choice reading.

180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents 

Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle (Heinemann, 2018)

One of the great things that Gallagher and Kittle talk about is doing laps around a subject. They work with the idea that you build speed (or in this case context) as you continue to wrap around a topic. This works for writing as well as reading, and is the foundation of my Life Lessons from TED writing unit coming Summer 2022.

50 Essential Lessons 

Jim Burke (First Hand, 2006)

This is a book of lesson plans broken down by category. He incorporates executive functioning skills, SEL, fiction, non-fiction and writing lessons. My favorite lesson in this book is the Ophelia Artwork Lesson which I have adapted for Macbeth.

The Quick Write Handbook 

Linda Reif (Heinemann, 2018)

Linda Rief is the queen of the mentor text. This book is full of copy and go mentor texts along with writing prompts and student models. The texts in this book are geared for middle and early high school, but I love it as a model for how to prepare your own mentor text.

For more on using mentor sentences, be sure to check out this post from Missy at A Better Way to Teach.

Flash Feedback: Responding to Student Writing Better and Faster

Matthew Johnson (Corwin Literacy, 2020)

This is a book of practical advice for doing more with less.  Johnson helps you to pare down the grading process through conferencing, rubrics and quick notes. This has been really helpful in a year where we have done a lot more writing due to the hybrid model of instruction. I love his idea that if you want to assess for a skill like sentence pacing you should let the students write about a topic of their choice so that you can be sure that they are focused on the skill and not the topic. It really does make it so much easier to assess that way.

Professional Books for the Win

No matter where you are in your English teacher journey, taking some time to read what other professionals are doing can be really uplifting. It can help to keep you relevant while honing your craft from year to year. So be sure to check out some of these great titles by English teachers for English teachers.

And, if you are looking for some quick wins in your classroom, check out my posts on teaching poetry analysis and using collaborative annotations.