Essential Summer Reading !For !Teachers

By Marilyn Gardner Lawyer

To Kill a Mockingbird!(Harper Lee)

• A classic that stays excellent no matter when you read it!

• Told through the perspective of a child looking at the injustices of the adult world, whose father is fighting for the underrepresented in the world

Van Gogh: The Life !(Gregory W Smith & !Steven Naifeh)

• Takes a look at the troubled life of the great Van Gogh!

• Understanding what Van Gogh faces helps us empathize with others who suffer, especially students

Steve Jobs !(Walter Isaacson)

• A thorough survey of all that Steve Jobs accomplished, written with passion and excitement!

• Helps you understand how transformative creativity can be when it disrupts the status quo!

• Lets you understand innovation both in and outside of the classroom

Leaves of Grass!(Walt Whitman)• A classic book of

poetry by Walt Whitman, that remains relevant more than 150 years after being published!

• You learn to focus less on the tedium of work for students and more about how they can appreciate what they’re learning

The Giving Tree!(Shel Silverstein)

• A children’s book that stirs your emotions!• Perfectly captures the tender relationship between

the giver and all they sacrifice for somebody that’s too young or naive to appreciate it

The Last Lecture!(Randy Pausch & !Jeffrey Zaslow)

• Based off a lecture about the transition between childhood and adulthood!

• Discusses maintaining the preciousness of your dreams, using humor and humility to teach us how to live

Thanks for listening!