“What are the best books about Teaching and Teachers?” We looked at 285 of the top Teaching books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 13 titles, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Teaching” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 250+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

Top 13 Best Books For Teaching And Teachers

13 .) Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning written by Peter C. Brown

Lists It Appears On:

• Fractus Learning
• Goodreads
• The Guardian

To most of us, learning something “the hard way” implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head. Drawing on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and other disciplines, the authors offer concrete techniques for becoming more productive learners. Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks, such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn. Grappling with the impediments that make learning challenging leads both to more complex mastery and better retention of what was learned. Many common study habits and practice routines turn out to be counterproductive. Underlining and highlighting, rereading, cramming, and single-minded repetition of new skills create the illusion of mastery, but gains fade quickly. More complex and durable learning come from self-testing, introducing certain difficulties in practice, waiting to re-study new material until a little forgetting has set in, and interleaving the practice of one skill or topic with another. Speaking most urgently to students, teachers, trainers, and athletes, Make It Stick will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

12 .) Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom written by Lisa Delpit

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Buzz Feed
• Goodreads

Winner of an American Educational Studies Association Critics’ Choice Award and Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Book Award, and voted one of Teacher Magazine’s “great books,” Other People’s Children has sold over 150,000 copies since its original hardcover publication. This anniversary paperback edition features a new introduction by Delpit as well as new framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne. In a radical analysis of contemporary classrooms, MacArthur Award–winning author Lisa Delpit develops ideas about ways teachers can be better “cultural transmitters” in the classroom, where prejudice, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions breed ineffective education. Delpit suggests that many academic problems attributed to children of color are actually the result of miscommunication, as primarily white teachers and “other people’s children” struggle with the imbalance of power and the dynamics plaguing our system. A new classic among educators, Other People’s Children is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and parents striving to improve the quality of America’s education system.

11 .) Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students By Their Brains written by LouAnne Johnson

Lists It Appears On:

• Best Education Degrees
• Goodreads
• RD

From seating plans to Shakespeare, Teaching Outside the Box offers practical strategies that will help both new teachers and seasoned veterans create dynamic classroom environments where students enjoy learning and teachers enjoy teaching. This indispensable book is filled with no-nonsense advice, checklists, and handouts as well as A step-by-step plan to make the first week of school a success Approaches for creating a positive discipline plan Methods for motivating students, especially reluctant readers Strategies for successful classroom management Suggestions for creating and grading student portfolios

10 .) The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child written by Donalyn Miller

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Education Degree
• Goodreads

Known for her popular blog, “The Book Whisperer,” Donalyn Miller is a dedicated teacher who says she has yet to meet a child she couldn’t turn into a reader. Her approach, however, is not conventional. Miller dispenses with the more traditional reading instruction of book reports and comprehension worksheets in favor of embracing students’ choices in books and independent reading. Her zeal for reading is infections and inspiring –and the results are remarkable. No matter how far behind Miller’s students may be when they enter her 6th grade classroom, her students read an average of 40 books a year, achieve high scores on standardized tests, and internalize a love for books and reading that lasts long after they’ve left her class. Travel alongside the author as she leads her students to discover the ample rewards of reading and literature. Her secrets include: Affirming the reader in every student Supporting students’ reading choices Carving out extra reading time Modeling authentic reading behaviors Discarding time-worn reading assisgnments Developing a classroom library with high-interest books Rich with classroom examples and practical advice and stitched together with the thread of Miller’s passionate voice, this book will help teachers support students of all levels on their path to reading success and points a way out of the nation’s literacy crisis.

9 .) Visible Learning written by John Hattie

Lists It Appears On:

• Evidence Based Teaching
• Fractus Learning
• The Guardian

This unique and ground-breaking book is the result of 15 years research and synthesises over 800 meta-analyses on the influences on achievement in school-aged students. It builds a story about the power of teachers, feedback, and a model of learning and understanding. The research involves many millions of students and represents the largest ever evidence based research into what actually works in schools to improve learning. Areas covered include the influence of the student, home, school, curricula, teacher, and teaching strategies. A model of teaching and learning is developed based on the notion of visible teaching and visible learning. A major message is that what works best for students is similar to what works best for teachers – an attention to setting challenging learning intentions, being clear about what success means, and an attention to learning strategies for developing conceptual understanding about what teachers and students know and understand. Although the current evidence based fad has turned into a debate about test scores, this book is about using evidence to build and defend a model of teaching and learning. A major contribution is a fascinating benchmark/dashboard for comparing many innovations in teaching and schools.

8 .) How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character written by Paul Tough

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Buzz Feed
• Fractus Learning
• Goodreads

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: Success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in “How Children Succeed,” Paul Tough argues for a very different understanding of what makes a successful child. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, economics, and psychology, Tough shows that the qualities that matter most have less to do with IQ and more to do with character: skills like grit, curiosity, conscientiousness, and optimism. “How Children Succeed” introduces us to a new generation of scientists and educators who are radically changing our understanding of how children develop character, how they learn to think, and how they overcome adversity. It tells the personal stories of young people struggling to stay on the right side of the line between success and failure. And it argues for a new way of thinking about how best to steer an individual child – or a whole generation of children – toward a successful future. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers; it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

7 .) See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers written by Roxanna Elden

Lists It Appears On:

• Best Education Degrees
• Book Riot
• Buzz Feed
• Goodreads

The Most Dog-Eared “Teacher’s Edition” You’ll Have in Your Classroom Teaching is tough. And teachers, like the rest of the population, aren’t perfect. Yet good teaching happens, and great teachers continue to inspire and educate generations of students. See Me After Class helps those great teachers of the future to survive the classroom long enough to become great. Fueled by hundreds of hilarious–and sometimes shocking–tales from the teachers who lived them, Elden provides tips and strategies that deal head-on with the challenges that aren’t covered in new-teacher training. Lessons can go wrong. Parents may yell at you. Sunday evenings will sometimes be accompanied by the dreaded countdown to Monday morning.

6 .) Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College written by Doug Lemov

Lists It Appears On:

• Best Education Degrees
• Buzz Feed
• Goodreads
• The Guardian

In this book, author Doug Lemov offers the essential tools of the teaching craft so that you can unlock the talent ond skill waiting in your students, no matter how many previous classrooms, schools, or teachers have been unsuccessful.

5 .) Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator written by Dave Burgess

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Fractus Learning
• Goodreads
• We Are Teachers

Based on Dave Burgess’s popular “Teach Like a PIRATE” seminars, this book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator.

4 .) The First Days Of School: How To Be An Effective Teacher written by Harry K. Wong

Lists It Appears On:

• Best Education Degrees
• Education Degree
• Goodreads
• RD

With nearly 1.4 million copies sold, you’ll learn practical techniques on discipline, procedures and routines, teaching for mastery, cooperative learning, and positive expectations. You’ll find it difficult to put this book down as you become an even more effective teacher.

3 .) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success written by Carol S. Dweck

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Evidence Based Teaching
• Fractus Learning
• Goodreads
• The Teaching Space

Now updated with new research — the book that has changed millions of lives. After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset — those who believe that abilities are fixed — are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset — those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment. In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations.

2 .) Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 written by Rafe Esquith

Lists It Appears On:

• Best Education Degrees
• Book Riot
• Buzz Feed
• Goodreads
• RD

Read Rafe Esquith’s posts on the Penguin Blog. From one of America s most celebrated educators, an inspiring guide to transforming every child s education In a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs, and drugs, there is an exceptional classroom known as Room 56. The fifth graders inside are first-generation immigrants who live in poverty and speak English as a second language. They also play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend Ivy League universities. Rafe Esquith is the teacher responsible for these accomplishments. From the man whom The New York Times calls a genius and a saint comes a revelatory program for educating today s youth. In Teach Like Your Hair s on Fire!, Rafe Esquith reveals the techniques that have made him one of the most acclaimed educators of our time. The two mottoes in Esquith s classroom are Be Nice, Work Hard, and There Are No Shortcuts. His students voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and work until 5:00 in the afternoon. They learn to handle money responsibly, tackle algebra, and travel the country to study history. They pair Hamlet with rock and roll, and read the American classics. Teach Like Your Hair s on Fire! is a brilliant and inspiring road map for parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future success of our nation s children. ”

1 .) Why Don’t Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom written by Daniel T. Willingham

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Riot
• Buzz Feed
• Fractus Learning
• Goodreads
• The Guardian

Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham focuses his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning. His book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn. It reveals-the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.

The 250+ Additional Best Books About Teaching

12 Best Books For Teachers Sources/Lists