Math Teacher Summer Reading List: Past, Present, & Future

One month ago today I gave birth to my son, so even though the 2022-2023 school year is not officially over, for me, it kind of, sort of is. The end of the school year is always a busy time, with field trips, Regents exams & graduation, so it's weird not being there, although I am grateful for the leave that I do have being a teacher in NYC (although it's sad that the US still has no federal laws providing a right to paid family or medical leave). I will go back for the last day of school so that I can get put back on payroll for the summer, but for all intents and purposes, my 16th year teaching is done, so I have been thinking a lot about this past school year... what went well & what I hope to do better for next year.

To kick things off I'll start with three books that I read last summer that really resonated with my and made me change up some things this year:

1. Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead)
2. Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools & Classrooms
3. Necessary Conditions: Teaching Secondary Math with Academic Safety, Quality Tasks, and Effective Facilitation

My biggest change this year centered around my grading practices. After reading Grading for Equity, I was really inspired the change up my grading policy so that my grades were more accurate, bias-resistant, and motivational. Some of the changes included optional homework, quiz retakes, standards-based grading, no late penalties, & no extra credit. Students & parents were mostly open to the changes, and my grading policy did evolve throughout the year, but there is definitely still room to grow. I hope I can reread Grading for Equity this summer and participate in Math for America's PLT in the fall so that I can continue to work towards more equitable grading practices in my classroom.

I also hope to reread Building Thinking Classrooms, which I read two summers ago, and inspired me try out using more thinking tasks with students in visually random groups (VRGs) on vertical, non-permanent surfaces (VNPs) and Mathematics for Human Flourishing, which always reminds me about the humanity that comes from doing mathematics.

Some new books that I hope to read for the first time this summer include:

1. Classroom-Ready Rich Algebra Tasks, Grades 6-12: Engaging Students in Doing Math
2. Brining Project-Based Learning to Life in Mathematics, K-12
3. Rough Draft Math: Revising to Learn
4. Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had
5. Productive Math Struggle: A 6-point Action Plan for Fostering Perseverance 

If you can't tell, I am a big reader in general, as it really is a form of self-care for me. Hopefully I can continue to use this space to reflect on each of these books and how I can use them in my math classes next year.