Naomi Meredith  00:00

A question I often get asked is what STEM professional development books should I be reading as a teacher? For this episode, I've curated a list of professional development books that you should have on your STEM teacher bookshelf. I'll be sharing a variety of books that will help support your growth in STEM as an elementary teacher and provide you with a lot of value and inspiration. So stick around for a great curation of books for 2023.

Naomi Meredith  01:01

If you follow me on Instagram @NaomiMeredith_, you can probably tell that I am an avid reader. This is a hobby that I have always enjoyed ever since I was a kid. I've always enjoyed long walks in the aisles of the library and the bookstore. And still do. I know that it's hard to read during the school year, but I definitely encourage you to make that a habit in your life, whether it's for fun, professional development, or a little bit of both. Because there's so much value to it, of course, all of the learning, but it really is relaxing as well. In fact, I have a transition activity for myself that I've set up for when I come home to really make it a point to add reading every single day, especially if you've been teaching all day. It's just super high energy, and it's so loud. I realized for myself that I needed to create a moment where I could just relax and decompress for a moment and not do anything else. So what I do when I get home after I walk little Fredrick, my dog, outside and give him some dinner, then I make myself a cup of coffee. Depending on the day, it might have caffeine, or it might be decaf. Then I will just sit and read with a nice candle and my little sitting room. I know that this isn't possible for everybody. But think about how you can just make it a habit. This is, again, something I really try to do every single day. And I always feel so much better. Then I feel very energized after the 20-30 minutes that I sit down and read. Then I can get on with the rest of the night. Whether it's creating podcasts like this one, cooking dinner, or just continuing to relax for the rest of the night. Another recommendation is to check out audiobooks if they're available for the book you want to read. That's another great way to listen to books on the go. Especially if you're already here listening to the audio, this podcast, you already like audio things. And so audiobooks are another great option as well. All of these books that I am going to be mentioning, you actually don't have to be alone in reading them. All of these books for 2023 are going to be inside my newest membership, the STEM teacher bookshelf, and it's only $9 a month. So pretty, pretty cheap. And not only do you get a private community of teachers who are just like you, who are excited about STEM and innovation in their classrooms or at home, but you will also get a curated guide written by me to help guide your thinking and prompt some discussion. It's to keep track of all of your ideas, bookmarks that are related to the book, some classroom items that relate to the book, shareable quotes that you can put on social media, a monthly live video call in the group and also opportunities to even save on your membership, such as some fun giveaways for the next month's book. And even when you're sharing on social media in certain ways, you actually have the opportunity to win the books as well. So if you are the first 50 teachers to sign up, I have a special exclusive present for you as an OG. So that will open up on April 1, 2023. And if you're listening before then definitely get on the waitlist because you might get access to join earlier than that. So get on the waitlist at Naomimeredith.com/bookclubwaitlist. And if you're listening after April 1, 2023, you can just jump in on this membership. It's open all year. So you can jump in at Naomimeredith.com/stemteacherbookshelf, and of course, it will all be linked in the show notes. Now on to this awesome book list that I have made for you that you definitely want to put on your STEM teacher bookshelf. 

Naomi Meredith  04:50

The first book is A Young Innovators Guide to STEM, written by Gitanjali Rao. Now all of these books that I'm going to be mentioning have super long titles, so I'm just going to be reading the first part, not the whole entire thing. So just keep that in mind. The first time I heard about Gitanjali was actually at the InnEdCO conference in 2021, and she was one of the keynote speakers. At the time, she was actually still in high school, which was pretty amazing for me to witness. I've never been a keynote speaker at the time of this recording, and so seeing a high school student who was not only a keynote speaker but who was absolutely amazing and inspiring and so good at it, I knew I had to get my hands on her book. And it is definitely worth it. It is such an inspiring book to spark creativity in your kids or in your students and breaks down how she sees the innovation process, which is very similar to the Engineering Design Process, or really any process that you've used in your classroom. And if you don't have a process of how you have students attack projects, this is a great segue into that. It's very positive and very encouraging. And it's really cool to see her perspective on this topic since she's not officially a teacher, I guess, with teaching credentials, but she does visit schools and work with younger students all the time. So it's really cool to see that and how it's portrayed in her book. I actually listened to the audio version first of this book, which I highly recommend. And so for this time of year, it's just very invigorating, it's very encouraging, and actually just puts you in a good mood when you're listening or reading it. So highly recommend it. I might even say I highly recommend all of these books because I did a lot of research about the books I wanted on this list anyway. So when I say highly recommend, I really do mean that about all of them on this list for 2023. 

Naomi Meredith  05:44

The next book is called A Limitless Mind by Jo BoAler. And okay, I will say not all of the authors I have seen or met in real life, but I have seen and met Jo Boaler. It was back when I was a third-grade teacher. There was an opportunity at my school where we got to apply and get a scholarship, I would say, to go see Jo Boaler at Stanford and attend one of her math workshops. I was really thinking about how you can creatively solve math problems. In hindsight, this is probably a breadcrumb as to my getting into K through five STEM because I love this kind of stuff. But it was really cool. And I have a picture of us somewhere, if I find it, I'll post it in the show notes, but I actually have a picture standing with her and other teammates who got to go, and with her book, Mathematical Mindsets. I also recommend this book as well. It discusses mindset when it comes to math problems and, again, that creative thinking, so definitely go ahead and read that one. It's not on this book list. But I have it on a previous book list. And it's a great selection. As any teacher who teaches anything that involves math, or just a growth mindset, in general, I definitely recommend this book as well. But this book, The Limitless Mind, really talks about the potential we have as humans when it comes to learning and a growth mindset. And there are a lot of case studies and stories to support this. And also research that isn't talked about very often in our education space. So it definitely is a must-read. Again, I listened to the audio version of this first. And so that was really cool to hear her explain these topics. But also, the book is really easy to read and just has a different spin and just, again, really good information when it comes to mindset and then how we can apply that to not only math problems but any type of STEM subject. 

Naomi Meredith  08:46

The next book is Invent to Learn, and it's the second edition. So if you have the first edition, get the upgraded one. And this is written by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary S Stager. This is a must-read for any STEM teacher, and it is very supportive of this word that we hear about the maker movement and just having kids be able to create and make things to demonstrate their learning and find creative solutions to problems. This book is really great. As I said, for anybody interested in STEM, if you haven't been teaching STEM per se, or just STEM topics in your classroom for a while, this still is a good mastery because it builds that foundation for things you probably used to do and don't do anymore. But were really good and also even give you ideas for how you could push your students in different ways, especially if you've been doing this for a while. You might notice that your students need more of a challenge with certain topics. So this is just a good refresher to really spark your interest and brainstorm some new ideas. Of course, if you are new to teaching STEM, definitely get on this book. It is a bit longer, which is why this will be read during the summertime because then you can really soak in the information and write down all of those ideas that you really want to do with your students or try out. Or maybe you want to write a grant about these topics, which I do have some episodes coming up about grant writing specifically. So this is a really great book for anybody interested in elementary STEM. And again, perfect for the summertime so you can dive in deeper. 

Naomi Meredith  10:29

The next book that I recommend is Makerspaces in School, and this is written by Lacy Brejcha, and I'm so sorry if I pronounced that wrong. I love the structure of this book. And it's a great pairing with the one I talked about, Invent to Learn, because Invent to Learn has all these great ideas, it does have some systems and processes, but the Makerspaces in School really thinks about your whole year and how to set up this Makerspace. Or just hands-on creative space in your building, or even in your classroom, and how it will all connect together and give you some lesson plan ideas of how to set up those systems and routines in your classroom. If you are a listener of this podcast, or if you're in any of my programs, or any of my lessons, or even if you have my FREE year-long plan, naomimeredith.com/yearlongplan, this is like the perfect book if you like all of those things. This is a must-read because it really connects with my philosophy and how and why I do certain things. And I actually just read this book for the first time. So I didn't read this when I first got started. But it feels like I could have written it because there are a lot of things that really aligned with my philosophy when it comes to STEM in the elementary space. So again, this is a really great connection, and we have it for this summertime. So then you have all these cool ideas and then really think through the year and be systematic about what you're doing. And not just randomly doing projects just because they sound cool, but having a purposeful reason as to why you are doing that. 

Naomi Meredith  12:01

The next book is a lifelong Kindergarten, and this is written by Mitchel Resnick, who is one of the co-founders of the coding platform Scratch. I listened to the audiobook of this in 2020, when I'm pretty sure this is when we went back to school, and part of my role as a K through five STEM teacher full time is I'm also our full-time technology support person. So there's no other person in my building. That is my job. And during that time was when we had classes going in and out of remote. There wasn't a great system setup in our district yet when it came to checking out devices to students and that whole process. So I was unloading carts and rebuilding them and then unloading them and rebuilding them all the time. So I listened to this audiobook during that time, and I really love it. Because you all know that I love kindergarten, they are I think they are the most creative age. And they are the funniest, so cute. Yes, they are a handful, but there is this thing about kindergarteners where they have this curiosity and want to learn about the world around them. And oftentimes in schools, we aren't keeping that curiosity in students. And then long term, it has some detrimental effects. And then, really, we get kids who aren't interested in STEM when they grow up or even in those older years. And you have heard about me talking about this on the episode about why our fifth graders might be bored in your class. And so this is a great connection to that. And really, really great insight, especially as somebody who's not a specific teacher but also works with students and does a lot of work in education. The perspective of this book is really good and also great for this time of year in August since we are really trying to promote that growth mindset and promote that critical thinking and creativity and get that base at the beginning of the year. So the timing of this book is awesome. 

Naomi Meredith  13:59

The next book is a shorter one, and it is called Play Like a Pirate and is written by Quinn Rollins. This isn't written by David Burgess or Dave Burgess, who writes Teach Like a Pirate, which I also did see him speak in person at the InnEdCO conference in the summer of 2022. But he does have a publishing company, and so a lot of the books that he has in his publishing company look really, really awesome. So I'm excited to check more of them out. A lot of these actually are from that company, a lot of innovation, and just like that type of teaching and just making the change in education that we want to see. And so this is a shorter book, and it's really good, especially if you are a classroom teacher who's implementing innovative topics and STEM in your classroom. Or also, if you are a co-teacher, a lot of us are going more into that role where you are supporting STEM in the classrooms, but maybe the kids don't rotate with you at a certain time. And so this book has those really great ideas and all of those cross-curricular connections and how to take your learning to have more of a hands-on and creative approach. So maybe you're not always just taking all that content out, maybe you just need to reformat it in a way that works better for your students where they are more engaged. So the same content, but just shifting the way that it's being taught. So this is a short book, but a really good one for making those cross-curricular connections. 

Naomi Meredith  15:25

The next one is Master the Media by Julie Smith, and the timing of when we'll read this book in October is perfect because Digital Citizenship Week is in October. Now as educators, not just as STEM teachers, but as educators, we need to be teaching our students media literacy and digital citizenship as we have students interact with technology in all sorts of ways. There are a lot of ways in which media literacy and digital citizenship will pop up, and we need our students to be proficient in them. You often hear where they say, oh, kids are so good at technology, they're digital natives, kind of. I kind of disagree with that a little bit. Yes, students can learn quickly how to use technology, but I will say there is a huge difference when it comes to using technology for academic purposes and then using it as a passive tool, like playing video games and looking at social media. I will say I will get a lot of frustration from students when they actually have to think through all of the steps, even when it comes to logging into a platform and spelling their own names correctly. So it isn't really automatic, they learn pretty quickly. But it is a lot of critical thinking when it comes to how you get into a platform. What do you do when a problem arises? What could you try? If that doesn't work? What could you try next? So again, goes through that media literacy, that computational thinking which we'll talk about in the next book, but this has some really great points in there that we really need to be thinking about, as all educators really in general, it's not just your role as a STEM teacher. But it just really great points in this book, again, a short one, but very, very timely, especially when it relates to digital citizenship week. 

Naomi Meredith  17:15

For November, the book for the month, again, is a short but sweet book called Code Breaker written by Brian Aspinall. It's right before Computer Science Week, an hour of code, which is in December. But we know that December gets really crazy, it pops up really quickly and so reading this book beforehand is a great connection to when we typically teach this in our classrooms. But again, you could teach this at any time. And this book is really cool because it gives them coding project examples that can really extend how you teach coding in your classroom instead of just throwing them on the computer and saying good luck with the Hour of Code website, which I do have a whole episode about the Hour of Code and different ways you can teach that. And then this has just some really cool ideas as well to help you think about computational thinking in a different way, which isn't just coding, but really thinking through a problem and all of those steps. And again, different ways that you can think about coding and how to teach that to your students. So I like the actionable ideas in there and just the creativity when it comes to coding. 

Naomi Meredith  18:18

And finally, to wrap up the year 2023, the final book on this list is The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros. This is a really awesome audiobook. When I was listening to it, I got actual chills. And a lot of times, I have to play back certain parts and then write down a quote because I really, really liked it. Or I would pause the book and then go back into the physical book and highlight it. There are a lot of great things. It's a great way to end the year and that first semester because we're tired. You're like, oh my gosh, we have another semester, but my kids are understanding things. How can I keep this momentum going ending in winter and then beginning that next semester? So this is a really excellent read. There are so many good points. It's gonna be like preaching to the choir. If you're listening to this podcast, you will like this book. It's really reaffirming and really connects well to that Limitless Mind that we will be reading in May, but just it brings it all together and just keeps you encouraged and motivated and helps us push education for it and the change that we want to see and the students that we want to prepare for our world. 

Naomi Meredith  19:31

As a recap, here are the nine books that I am recommending for 2023 that you should have on your STEM teacher bookshelf. First, we have A Young Innovator's Guide to STEM, written by Gitanjali Rao. Next is a Limitless Mind by Jo Boaler. Next, we have Invent to Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary S. Stager. Then, we have Makerspaces in School by Lacy Brejcha. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lacy, if I pronounced your name wrong. Then we have Lifelong Kindergarten by Mitchel Resnick. Then in September, we have Play Like a Pirate by Quinn Rollins.  Then we have Master the Media by Julie Smith. Next is Code Breaker by Brian Aspinall. Wrapping up the year, we have The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros. Definitely jump in on these books, and grab the audiobooks, if you can. I have three versions of the book. So if there's a Kindle, I get the Kindle one. If there's an audio, I get the audio and then the paperback book. I have all the versions, so they're making a lot of money off of me. But you don't have to read all of these books alone, I am here to support you. I want to give you this space where you can collaborate with like-minded teachers. Again, it's only $9 a month. So definitely a great space for you to talk about these books, but also to talk about the topics that come up in these books. And if you don't feel like reading the books at the same time we're all reading them, you can still join in on the conversations because these conversations are things that we should be talking about. You don't have to feel like an island. That is the whole point of this book club and really any book club, you want to have that community, and the book is just a gateway into these awesome conversations. So you can jump in if it is before April 1, get on the waitlist so you can get in the club, and have an exclusive thing I will send you in the mail for the first 50 people. So get on the waitlist at Naomimeredith.com/bookclubwaitlist. If you're listening to this after April 1, 2023, the club is open. And you can jump in at Naomimeredith.com/stemteacherbookshelf. I hope you love these book recommendations as much as I do, and I can't wait to see you in our book club.