Seven of My Favorite Professional Development Books for ELA Teachers
A list of professional development books for ELA teachers may not interest you…as if teachers don’t sit through enough professional development.
Am I right?
The list of professional development books are worth the read. These books have provided more practical tips and strategies than years of professional development.
Bare with me and skim through the suggestions of professional development books for ELA teachers; it might be exactly what you’re looking for to spark your next great classroom idea.
**Links are affiliate links. By clicking on the links to the books, I will receive credit for the purchase.
The first book is Inside Words by Janet Allen
This is an older professional development book, but it is a great book for teaching vocabulary. The book is broken down into strategies. Each chapter is a short synopsis of the strategy, how to use it, why a teacher might use it, and examples for using the strategy with students.
Why I love this book:
It’s a guide for teaching vocabulary.
Looking for a formative assessment on a concept or vocabulary words? It can be found in this book.
Want students to make connections about a concept with vocabulary words? This book makes it happen.
The book is easy to navigate and digest.
Janet Allen makes it simple to access and use the strategies in the classroom.
The second book is Micro Mentor Texts Using Short Passages from Great Books to Teach Writer’s Craft by Penny Kittle
Put simply, this book is more than a professional development books for ELA teachers. The book provides passages from novels to use as mentor texts. But, that’s not all. The chapters of the book are broken into craft moves that writers make; within each chapter several books are featured and a passage is shared along with what to notice within the passage and a walk through of how to use this with students.
The book is a how-to guide for mentor texts. The work is done for the teachers!
Why I love this book:
Micro Mentor Texts Using Short Passages from Great Books to Teach Writer’s Craft by Penny Kittle because it is thoughtfully crafted and the work is done for the teacher. There is a list of the novels featured in the book, and teachers can access chapters in any order they need. This book puts mentor text at a teacher’s fingertips.
The third book is, A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences by Jennifer Serravallo
A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences is a teacher’s best friend if they want to do reading conferences with their students. It has it all to plan, prepare, and implement reading conferences successfully in the classroom.
This book lays it out step-by-step and is complete with bonuses and videos to take the teacher from theory to practice. The book helps teachers be intentional and purposeful when it comes to reading conferences.
Why I love the book:
A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences is full of information, and Jennifer Seravallo provides all the extras to help teachers get through the information and implement reading conferences in their classrooms. This book is pure gold if teachers are looking to implement reading conferences.
The fourth professional development books for ELA teachers is A Teacher’s Guide to Writing Conferences Grades K-8 by Carl Anderson
This is a step-by-step guide for implementing one-on-one writing conferences. Carl Anderson provides details for situations teachers will encounter during writing conferences. He also provides dialogue and tips for working through the many situations encountered during writing conferences.
Why I love the book:
It is practical, simple to use, and easy to follow. There is so much information in the book that it can be difficult to take it all in. Reading through it one time is to soak up all the information as a whole is key to implementing the strategies with success. After reading, keep the book as a guide during conferences. It is one of my favorite writing conferences books.
The fifth Professional development books for ELA teachers is Teaching Writing in Small Groups by Jennifer Serravallo
Teachers who want to hold small group writing conferences; this book is for you. Jennifer Seravallo provides information on why small group conferences are beneficial, when small group conferences are beneficial, and how to transition from one-on-one writing conferences to to group writing conferences.
Jennifer Seravallo breaks small group writing conferences down so they are simple to implement.
Why I love the book:
Teaching Writing in Small Groups by Jennifer Seravallo is chock-full of practical tips and strategies. I have so many sticky notes in this book because there is so much good information I need at my fingertips, and so will you. Another book that is pure gold for teachers using or wanting to use small conferences for writing.
The sixth books for ELA teachers is The Reading Strategies Book Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo
This book is the ultimate professional development books for ELA teachers. The book includes 300 strategies teachers can use with their students in class, during small group conferences, and even one-on-one reading conferences.
Why I love the book:
The book is a simple guide book for strategies. There are not enough nice things to say about this book because Jennifer Serevallo has taken all the strategies and compiled them in one place. It includes which reading levels would benefit from each strategy and tips for tracking. THE. BOOK. HAS. IT. ALL!
The final favorite professional development books for ELA teachers is The Writing Strategies Book Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers by Jennifer Serravallo
This book is the same as The Reading Strategies book, but for writing. It also has 300 strategies to use with students for writing. The strategies can be used as mini-lessons or in writing conferences.
Why I love the book:
I love The Writing Strategies book for all the same reasons I love The Reading Strategies Book. The book saves the teacher's time and energy when looking for strategies to help students.
Let’s recap some of my favorite professional development books for ELA teachers.
- Inside Words by Janet Allen
- Micro Mentor Texts Using Short Passages from Great Books to Teach Writer’s Craft by Penny Kittle
- A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences by Jennifer Serravallo
- A Teacher’s Guide to Writing Conferences Grades K-8 by Carl Anderson
- Teaching Writing in Small Groups by Jennifer Serravallo
- The Reading Strategies Book Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo
- The Writing Strategies Book Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Writers by Jennifer Serravallo
If you have any questions, send me a DM on Instagram @annotatedela. I am always happy to chat about my favorite professional development books for ELA teachers and strategies to make the ELA teacher's life more magical.
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