Gearing Up Next Year

Since it's almost the end of the year, I have been trying to get myself thinking about how I should prepare for next year. So many things have been floating through my mind that a list is going to made soon before I forget half of my ideas or ambitions. 

One of things that I really want to do is do a better job reaching my students. There has been a huge culture shift at my school that seems to have happened overnight. One thing my school did as a whole is read Ruby Payne's Understanding Poverty to help us understand our children's culture a little better; however, I was not in that particular book study (I lead a different one). So I decided that I would get some books for me to read over the summer to help me make some plans while I have a break from graduate classes. Here are the books that I ordered (maybe you all can tell how well you liked them and how they helped you):

 

                   Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What   Schools Can Do about It

                                                            Eric Jensen

A Mind Shaped by Poverty: Ten Things Educators Should Know

     Regenia Rawlinson

Why Culture Counts: Teaching Children of Poverty

Donna Walker Tileston, Sandra K Darling