Category: Book Reviews

Professional books reviewed by educators

Book cover titled Intentional Moves: How Skillful Team Leaders Impact Learning by Elisa B. MacDonald, featuring multicolored curved ribbons forming arcs above a white background.

Moves to Help Team Leaders Impact Learning

In “Intentional Moves” Elisa B. MacDonald lays out ready-to-use strategies for team leaders, insightfully describing to readers how her 10 moves will play out within different team dynamics. After four years as a team leader, reviewer Katie Dunkin still keeps the book handy.

Book cover for Real World Math by Martha Washington Tyler; collage of people and activities with the subtitle 'An Answer to the Question What Will We Ever Use This For?'

Authentic Scenarios to Engage Math Students

With authentic scenarios, well-sequenced tasks, and teacher supports, Real World Math is a classroom-ready resource. Whether your goal is to deepen engagement, build understanding, or spark curiosity, the book brings math to life in a way students and teachers will appreciate.

Cover of the book 'Goal Setting in the Writing Classroom' by Valerie Bolling, featuring a night sky, moon, and a ladder

Building Student Agency in Writing Classrooms

Rather than treating writing as a sequence of isolated assignments, in “Goal Setting in the Writing Classroom” Valerie Bolling shares a structure for a continuous, student-driven process shaped by clear goals, routines, and informed choices, writes reviewer Melinda Stewart.

Helping Students Build & Use Prior Knowledge

Using personal anecdotes, educational research, and practical strategies, Kelly Gallagher offers both a call to action and a guide for educators invested in students’ literacy development as he explores the connection between background knowledge and reading comprehension.

Creating a Classroom of Young Problem Solvers

Mona Iehl provides a practical framework to ignite math learning for elementary students, says fifth grade teacher Kathie Palmieri. Iehl’s book offers a structured, daily routine that makes word problems less scary and builds confidence, connections, and wonder in each session.