Summer offers the opportunity to recharge and reflect—and for many teachers, it's the ideal time to gather helpful resources. With that in mind, I asked accomplished teachers in the Teacher Leaders Network to share the literary, cinematic, and musical works that sustain them (and help inspire their students). —Braden Welborn
Susan, a family/consumer science teacher:
I think of lines from John Steinbeck’s poem "Captured Fireflies": "I've had many teachers who taught us soon forgotten things, / But only a few like her who created in me a new thing, a new attitude, a new hunger / … What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person."
Katy, an academic intervention specialist:
Lisa Delpit's Other People's Children resonated with me. It wasn't comfortable to read because it challenged many of my core beliefs about teaching and learning. However, to this day, it inspires my work in and out of the classroom.
Cossondra, a special education teacher (and blogger):
Taylor Mali’s poem "Undivided Attention" is the piece I find most inspiring in my classroom. This piece reminds me of how important engagement, spontaneity and enthusiasm are in my work. "Let me teach like the first snow, falling."
Marsha, a middle school teacher in Kansas:
When I heard the song "Jammin'" by Brad Paisley, I fell in love with it. It's uplifting and full of possibilities, and it's thinking about how to change the future. That's why I teach … helping kids find their futures.
Tiffany, who teaches gifted elementary students:
When I was an 11th grader at a boarding school in New England, I read Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. This book hooked me on the idea of public education as a career. It terrified me even as it ignited a fire inside of me. Kozol's images stuck with me and followed me down to Florida, where I find myself teaching in high-poverty schools.
Anne, a 5th grade teacher:
Karen Levine's Hana's Suitcase inspired me to teach a non-fiction unit related to the Holocaust. In Levine's book, a young girl dies at the hands of the Nazis but her dream of becoming a teacher is realized when her suitcase is found at Auschwitz and used to educate a new generation of children about the horrors of genocide.
Gail, a K-6 instructional coach in Virginia:
When I first saw "Music of the Heart," I cried my eyes out—what dedication, what determination, what perseverance. And a lovely example of supporting students to be whatever they aspire to be. Every time I watch it, I get all tingly when the students are performing in Carnegie Hall. Did I agree with the teacher's rather harsh teaching methods? No, but I certainly admired her refusal to give up on her students and the incredible results she achieved.
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