A while back, I shared books written by English teachers for English teacher that I love. Those books are PD books that will change the way you think about your classroom. And, if you haven’t read that post, you should. Today I am sharing 7 nonfiction texts that I think are the best English teacher books not written by English teachers.
These seven books will change the way you think about literature, writing, thinking and school in general.
7 of the Best English Teacher Books (not by English teachers)
Fun Improvisation for Violin: The Philosophy and Method of Creative Ability Development –Alice Kanack: (Summy-Birchard, 1996)
My son takes Suzuki violin at a wonderful place called the Kanack School of Musical Artistry (Rochester, NY). It is the most open and welcoming environment. They believe that ANYone can learn to play the violin (or cello or piano). Alice Kanack is known worldwide (at least in the music instruction world) for her Creative Ability Development theory. This is essentially the idea that you must “fool around” with your instrument to to learn about craft and structure. Although this book is about learning the violin, I hope you will see how the skills translate into any form of creativity, writing especially.
The Read Aloud Family–Sarah Mackenzie (Zondervan, 2018)
I stumbled upon this book totally by accident. Mackenzie is a homeschooling mom and host of The Read Aloud Revival Podcast. In her book, she writes about the power of listening to books to increase children’s ability to read and understand stories. This book is intended for parents and their children, however, there are so many ideas that I have brought into my classroom. One of my favorites is her questions for any text. Makenzie is a Reader Response Champion probably without even knowing it.
The Infinite Game–Simon Senek (Portfolio Penguin, 2020)
GAME CHANGER. This is a book about business, but it totally translates into the world of education. Senek describes “the Infinite Game” as one where the goal is constantly changing (sound like a school year). This is as opposed to a Finite Game, one with set rules and a winner (like a soccer game or a card game). Although this is a book about business and gives the history of a number of really influential business people (both with Infinite Mindsets and Finite Mindsets), there is a clear correlation to the world of education. Ask yourself, are you a playing a finite game where the test determines winners and losers? Or are you playing the infinite game where the goal is never achieved and is constantly changing?
The Art of X-Ray Reading–Roy Peter Clark (Little, Brown Spark, 2016)
Clark’s book takes 25 iconic works of literature, analyzes how the author uses craft and then gives a few writing tasks. In some ways, this book reminds me of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (Thomas C. Foster), but with the added element that it is not only teaching you how to be a better reader, it is also asking you to try these techniques in your own writing. Roy C. Clark blogs about writing at the Poynter.org, you can check out more of his writing here.
The Power of Myth–Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (Anchor, 1991)
Joseph Campbell is the father of “The Hero’s Journey.” While many of Campbell’s other texts are very weighty reading, this book is the transcript of a series of interview that he did with Bill Moyers on PBS which makes it much more accessible. My copy is littered with sticky notes to mark passages that correspond to texts that we use in school.
Reading Like a Writer–Francine Prose (Harper Collins, 2006)
This book that was laying on one of those tables when you first walk into a book store right next to a copy of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, so I picked it up. And I am so glad I did Prose starts with the idea of reading closely first at the word level, then at the sentence level and more. I translated a number of her concepts into lessons. You might even recognize a few of them in my Flash Fiction Unit.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing–Gary Provost (Berkley, 2019)
As the title suggests, Provost shares 100 ideas about how to improve your writing. The beautiful thing about this book for English teachers is that this is a book of short exercises that you can practice yourself or adapt to the classroom. My favorite is the idea of just copying something when you have writer’s block. This exercise forces you to do close reading. This is why dialectic journals work so well.
The Best Books for English Teachers
These texts are in no particular order. They are pretty much in the order in which I thought of them. I did leave How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster off the list because I feel like now that it has been out for close to 20 years that it is well known. And it’s already used in many AP® classes, but if it is not one that you know, you should definitely add it to your TBR. Let me know what you think of this list of what I think are the 7 best English teacher books and if there is anything you think I should add to my own TBR.
Best English Teacher Books: Related Links
6 Books by English Teachers for English Teachers
7 Podcasts for English Teachers
What Is Good Writing: A College Professor Weighs In (A Better Way to Teach)
The Poynter Institute (Roy C. Clark blogs here.)
The Read Aloud Revival (Sarah McKenzie)
