Summer Reading Is Here

It’s summertime again, and while most students are off enjoying all the things that make this season so nostalgic and inspiring, we teachers continue to enrich ourselves in preparation for the fall semester.

While the term “summer reading” is a reminder of our typical 3-month-long homework assignment in grade school, we like to employ it here as a reminder to all of our continuing education professionals that the learning never stops with The Teacher’s Academy. We offer professional development courses for teachers from Pittsburgh, all the way back to our home in Montgomery County for the purpose of continued education and the improvement of your teaching abilities.

Our Summer Reading Recommendations

While not used during the development of any courses here at The Teacher’s Academy, we encourage our fellow pedagogues to read these three publications to supplement your learning experience with a couple of our favorite classes in the creative space:

1. From Striving to Thriving – How to Grow Confident, Capable Readers
   Authors Stephanie Harvey and Annie Ward demonstrate how to “table the labels” while using detailed formative assessments to craft personalized, targeted instruction to enable readers to find books they will love.
2. The New Art and Science of Teaching
   An expanded-upon volume of the original Art and Science of Teaching, author Robert J. Marzano offers a competency-based educational framework that places focus on student learning outcomes, with research-based instructional strategies educators can use to help students grasp the skills and information transferred through their instruction.
3. The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything
   Ken Robinson, Ph. D. identifies a crisis in business and education: whether it is a child who is bored in class or a disillusioned or misused employee, too many people do not realize what they are capable of achieving. Through compelling storytelling, he motivates us to seek out inspiration and to inspire more.
   
   

Teacher’s Academy Courses

We want to highlight three courses that complement our summer reading recommendations while maintaining a focus on improved student engagement, reading ability, and the unconventional teaching methods that inspire both teachers and students through creative storytelling:

Story Maker Reading Strategy (3 Hours)

The story maker activity is a teaching strategy used to build and retain reading comprehension skills and vocabulary. By helping to stimulate interest, enhance vocabulary comprehension and inspire curiosity in literature before a student starts reading it, the Story Maker Reading Strategy course can equip teachers with an excellent tool to spark a child’s imagination and encourage their engagement with the learning process. View the course page.

Inspiring Ideas for the 21st Century Classroom (18 Hours)

The purpose of this course is to discover the radically different teaching methods used to inspire students all over the world. See how teachers across our own country are throwing out conventional methods to foster curiosity. View the architecture of educational buildings of the future and imagine the small changes you will be inspired to make in your own classroom.  Let us help you calm the pace of the job, expand your view of teaching, reflect on your own practices and earn 18 hours of professional development. Relax and enjoy the ride! View the course page.

Integrating the Arts in the Classroom (18 Hours)

This course is geared toward all teachers who are looking for fun new ways to spice up their lesson plans, engage different types of learners and find new joy in teaching through the arts. Teachers will practice thinking like an artist, experience an art-integrated activity and design their own custom lesson to use in class. View the course page.

At The Teacher’s Academy, we know the value of unconventional teaching methods as the educational landscape continues to shift and evolve in favor of more progressive and engaging learning styles. We provide professional development for teachers from Montgomery County and all over Pennsylvania who wish to earn credit hours and further their teaching abilities.

To learn more about The Teacher’s Academy, and to explore our course offerings, please fill out our contact form or call us at 800-713-1841.