Listed below are a few resources that I have found to be particularly useful:
Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry by Jeffrey Wilhelm (Scholastic, 2007). This is one of those professional books that I wrote all over and highlighted and made a general mess of as I read it. It's a concise, readable, yet intellectual approach to using inquiry-based learning in your classroom. Wilhelm gives advice on how to reframe topics with guiding questions, what the teacher's role should be in the inquiry-based classroom, and how to engage the students in this type of learning. It's both informative and engrossing from beginning to end.
Socratic Circles by Matt Copeland (Stenhouse, 2005). One of the best classes I took in college was taught by a rabbi using the Socratic Method. I learned so much from this method of classroom management. The teacher questioned, questioned, questioned, which turned all of us into motivated learners who drew our own educational roadmaps. Copeland takes the idea of the Socratic seminar and brings it into middle school and secondary classrooms. He discusses preparing the students and the classroom for Socratic circles, the basics of the Socratic circle process, facilitating Socratic circles, and follow-up activities. The real purpose is to break you, the teacher, of the traditional questioning and discussion habit. Even if you don't implement the circles, the book will change the way you look at classroom discussion.
Using Technology in the Classroom That Works by H. Pitler, E. Hubbell, M. Kuhn, and K. Malenowski: If you are at all familiar with Robert Marzano's work (or even if you're not!), you should consider checking out this book. It presents methodology for integrating Marzano's nine instructional strategies in the classroom through the use of technology. The book contains both theory and application, pedagogy and practical resources, for teachers who want to use any number of tech tools to move learning forward.
The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age by William Kist: Kist takes the stance, with which I agree, that schools cannot shrink from the communication challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. The book presents stories of teachers taking "the sometimes messy first steps" toward integrating social networking into their teaching practices. These teachers are giving their students the new communication experiences that are necessary for literate citizenship in today's world while striving to keep the kids safe, too. Kist explores the "new literacies" in chapters that mirror the level of technology at the various schools, moving from low-tech environments to schools with unlimited technology situations.
