Korean Job Discussion Forums

[VirginIslander]

Teacher Man

The End of Education

[Sody]

Teacher Man looks like an interesting read, I'll try and check it out.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Someone else on the forum mentioned this one already:

The First Days of School - great book, I re-read it once every other semester.

Reluctant Disciplinarian - ah I remember the first two years of teaching are hell! This book was funny

Tools for Teaching: Discipline, Instruction, Motivation - a good book, not the best, but it helped me.

How to Win Friends and Influence other People - ya I know it's not teaching related but this classic has helped me become a natural teacher in the classroom. The main idea is that everyone wants to feel important, even the "bad," students.

Sody

[Lizara]

Learning Teaching, by Jim Scrivener... although it was a bit expensive and hard to find as I guess it's recommended reading for all CELTA courses.

[ddeubel]

The Language Instinct - Steven Pinker.

Takes Chomsky and makes his universal grammar intelligent. Not necessarily a "teaching" book but for a language teacher, very inspiring and will give you the proper "paradigm" from which to begin to piece together a classroom.

I've also always recommended The Reflective Teacher. I've been teaching so long, totally forgot who wrote it. LOL>

DD

[Woland]

[ddeubel]

Woland,

Yep! Introduced to me years ago by Jack Jones, a prof. at my teacher's college. Wow! Jack shoulda charged an admission fee. One of the best teachers I've ever met, been a student of.....

Here is a nice link to discussions on books about teaching, education, thought.... http://classroom20.ning.com/group/booksthatmatter Part of a site I actively belong too, for my professional development and the inspiration for my own ning. Lots of great tips for books there and lots of lively thought.

DD

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Conscious Classroom Management: Unlocking the Secrets of Great Teaching is very useful, more so in terms of teaching young learners, but has something for everyone.

Of course, not everything will be applicable to teaching in Korea, which seems to be a good 30-40 years behind in classroom management techniques.

The First Days Of School: How To Be An Effective Teacher is also good, and while a *bit* heavy on theory, has some great practical advice.

[ilovebdt]

My Posse Don't Do Homework by Louanne Johnson
It's actually gives some useful ideas on how to motivate students.

ilovebdt

[Woland]

Now that I'm in my office, here's my favorite passage from the van Lier book:

Curriculum innovation, such as that implied in the A(wareness)A(utonomy)A(uthenticity) orientation, can only come about through a fundamental change in the way educators and students interact with one another. As I have proposed in several places in this book, starting by a close examination of of interaction itself, and transforming it according to sound pedagogical principles, would necessarily (though not instantaneously) bring about a transformation of the institution itself. Reform thus occurs from the bottom up, one pedagogical action at a time... The power of the status quo can only be broken by the power, minute in isolation but invincible in a purposeful project, of transformed interaction between the educator and the educated (p. 158).

Some other books that are really worth reading are:

Bill Johnston's Values in English Language Teaching, an exploration of the moral dimensions and dilemmas of our work. His work with Cary Buzelli, The Moral Dimensions of Teaching, looks at teaching more generally.

Similarly focused on the importance of teacher-student relations is Max van Manen's The Tact of Teaching: The Meaning of Pedagogical Thoughtfulness. I found this book through the van Lier one.

[ddeubel]

Woland,

I do believe in that slow change "from below". I'll look into van Lier.

Sounds like you probably agree with Freire, someone I grew up reading and adored -- about how the educational process is one of "dialogue" between student and teacher.

I love his letters to Christina and I encourage people to look beyond all the political implications of his "Pedagogy of the oppressed". I've always carried with me his notion that students are subjects, not objects....

Taylor also wrote a book on Freire which lays out well his beliefs and is a great sound / mind board for teachers.

Taylor, P. (1993) The Texts of Paulo Freire, Buckingham: Open University Press.

DD

[LexusNexus]

Relfective Teaching in the Second Language Classroom
by Jack C. Richard and Lockhart

The Language Instinct
by Pinker

A lot of things from Penny Ur.

Nunan

Krashen