As teachers, it is important to not only teach others how to learn but also how to be lifelong learners ourselves. In his book The Practicing Mind, Thomas Sterner highlights ways to transform the way we practice and think about learning.

Jessica Lahey gives every parent in the world reason to calm down and disengage from helicopter or snowplow parenting. In what could be a sister book to The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, The Gift of Failure reassures us that the real lessons in life are the ones that are personal, determined by our own decisions, and force us to look in the mirror and take aim at who we are and want to be.

David Geurin’s Future Driven reads like he's been paying close attention to the education reform movement for the past decade, written down what he's learned on scraps of paper, and then compiled them into a book.

All Learning is Social and Emotional boldly claims the necessity of cultivating social and emotional skills in students. This is a quick read packed with valuable information for school leaders and classroom practitioners alike.

Different Schools for a Different World is a quick read for anyone who needs convincing or reminding why traditional education hasn’t, and isn’t, working. Links to organizations doing great work, the TRUDACOT model for tech integration, and examples of deep learning schools at the end are all handy. Use them to remind us that there are tools and examples for us to tap into for inspiration and guidance.

This book is a must read for any school in the midst of change as there are anecdotes and guidelines that are sure to be useful. An example of the kind of advice doled out is Kotter’s rule of thumb for vision explanation: “If you can’t describe the vision for a change initiative in five minutes or less and get a reaction of understanding and interest, you aren’t going to be successful.”

Khan Academy is offering courses in much more than just math and more than 100 million people use the site each year. If you are curious about Khan’s philosophy of education and his vision for the future, this book will inspire you to change education on a grand scale. After all, the Mission of Khan Academy is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

George Couros’, The Innovator’s Mindset convincingly makes the case that schools should exist to empower students to be innovative leaders, creators, problem finders, and problem solvers. He creatively introduces a blueprint for how schools can do this by introducing two different approaches focused on making meaningful connections by building trust and taking risks.

Seth Godin’s Linchpin proclaims that the industrial model of schooling and living as cogs in a machine is outdated, and in turn, explains how individuals can transform themselves into indispensable linchpins that create art, inspire human connections, and solve interesting problems. Godin chips away at traditional educational models that rely upon fear, compliance, and rote memorization; however, he also provides innovative alternatives centered around the belief in students, growth, leadership, and taking risks.

Will Richardson makes it clear from the get-go in From Master Teacher to Master Learner that the model teacher needs to now be a learner first and foremost. He reinforces the idea that our students no longer need teachers who have encyclopedic knowledge, but rather those who can model learning and guide students through what learning should look like in the digital age.

Are you a Giver, Taker, or Matcher? In Give and Take, Adam Grant explains how our style of interacting with others shapes us and our organizations. One of his main claims is that Takers achieve short-term, individual success, but Givers are inherently better leaders.

Dare to Lead reads as though you are sitting down with Brene Brown for a gut check over a really strong cup of coffee (hold the artificial sweetener). Through her unapologetic tone, she lights a spark in that one corner of your heart, better yet, your soul that makes you sit straight up in your bed, grab your remote as though it’s a microphone, and say to yourself - “I can do this”.

The solid takeaways here (e.g., about 1 in 6 internet searches are new, more American families have Amazon Prime than own a gun, etc.) help us wonder how consumerism and technology will impact the world of learning. If you want to read about educational prototypes- go elsewhere. If you want to learn about the modern economy and then try to make connections to the future of education, there may not be a better book.

Are you ready to overhaul everything you thought you knew about assessment? In On Your Mark, Thomas Guskey asks us to unpack the philosophy of why we give grades at all.

Cognitive Scientist Daniel Willingham picks apart the traditional concepts teachers are continually taught and explains them in simplistic detail. He organizes the book based upon a few concrete ideas that could forever alter the way you teach.

Socol, Moran, and Ratliff’s book Timeless Learning; How Imagination, Observation and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools takes a look at outdated American public schools and how they are currently failing students. School leaders and educators wishing to create change will appreciate this book for inspiration and for ideas on how and where to start.

Uberland is a great read for anyone interested in how data/algorithms are being used to change the world we live in. It is also fun to extrapolate what algorithms could mean for more efficient leading and reporting out on learning.

In Thanks for the Feedback Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen address an incredibly important, yet rarely written about, concept: how we receive feedback from those around us. The three types of feedback: appreciation, coaching, and evaluation are teased out and concepts such as “wrong spotting” help us to understand how our natural tendency to protect our ego/identity gets in the way of evaluative feedback.

If you do dive into this book, be prepared for Simon Sinek to walk you through many examples of organizations in which Why was the main driver and served as the tipping point for success (e.g., Southwest Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Apple). A great example of this phenomenon is Costco, who is so grounded in Why that they have a zero dollar budget for advertising and don’t have a single person devoted to public relations.

Ibram X. Kendi blends research, personal anecdotes, and history together poetically to paint the picture of what it means to live out the title of this book. How to be an Antiracist will give you the definitions, background, and theories to guide you towards a new way of viewing your role in the world.