98 books like The Wisdom of Practice

For anyone interested in view of education that is distinctly American and clearly progressive, Dewey’s writings—though challenging—are fundamental and, therefore, worth careful reading and re-reading. And of course, Dewey is read and valued all over the world. I wish that every child had the opportunity to attend a Dewey-inspired school.

When I met Jerry Bruner in the summer of 1965, I had expected to become a clinical psychologist or perhaps a psychoanalyst. However, the chance to work as a research assistant for Bruner as he was developing a social studies curriculum for middle schools was transformative: I decided to become a cognitively oriented developmental psychologist with a focus on the arts.

Both the ideas that Bruner introduced me to and the way in which he interweaved the humanities and social sciences in his writings are never far from my literary consciousness. I am glad that my children had a chance to attend schools where Bruner’s ideas were taken seriously.

In the view of many—including me!—early childhood education in Reggio Emilia, a city in Northern Italy, constitutes the gold standard, combining the genius of American and European approaches. While the ideas were developed primarily in Reggio Emilia, the long-term collaboration between Reggio and Project Zero at Harvard University made the practices clear to the rest of the world.

Interestingly, both Jerome Bruner and I spent many years visiting these schools, trying to understand them, and writing about them for both educators and the general public.

A small group of scholars and educators have taken the ideas of progressive education seriously and made them available to ambitious and adventurous educators worldwide.

In his explanations of why Finland has become among the most admired systems in the world, with three editions of this “instant classic,” Sahlberg has provided an important and timely model for progressive educators worldwide.

A student would be incredibly lucky to have had Palmer as a teacher. I adore his humanistic way of thinking about teaching. As we all know, a classroom can be such a joyful place if teachers and students are on a voyage of discovery, but at other times, a lifeless, frustrating place to run away from. This is the most theoretical book of the five, but it’s based on his years of teaching experience.

Palmer feels strongly that good teaching cannot be reduced to technique if a teacher doesn’t have self-knowledge. I really appreciated his advice to slow down, keep questioning, and work on learning who you are. This is good advice for not just teaching but any field! 

The title clearly outlines the premise of the book, and it delivers what it promises.

Although these essays are related to teaching and learning music, the overarching principles are applicable to the development of any skill. Duke challenges any approach that would promote difficult over beautiful, or fast over meticulous, championing music teaching itself as an art.

We’ve read this book dozens of times, used it as a text for classes over the past 25 years, and included it on every suggested reading list that has anything to do with teaching and learning. If a reader takes time to deeply consider the messages in this book and put the recommended strategies into practice, the efficiency and effectiveness of every lesson will improve. 

I personally recommend this book because it is a must-read for anyone dealing with students who struggle with learning or underperform in certain subjects.

Over the course of my 45-year career, I have encountered hundreds of individuals, including myself, who have struggled with math despite being highly skilled in drawing or art.

Howard Gardner, the head of Harvard University's Project Zero, has been a leader in the field of intelligence research since the late 1970s. His work rendered IQ tests irrelevant for measuring intelligence in education.

Understanding Gardner's work is critical to understanding how individuals function, and it has changed the way I interact with difficult students.

Reading this book gave me a new perspective on intelligence and helped me see it in a completely different light.

This is the best book we have read about how to practice in the best way possible. So many people practice hard but don’t improve. We always say, “What you practice, you get good at,” … so make sure you practice and train in the smartest way possible.

Spaced-out practice means you need a break and time to recharge, and that is important for retention. Interleaving means that you don’t stay with one segment of a skill until you master it. You interleave several segments, and it makes it a lot harder to do, but retention and mastery improve.

Upon reflection, the most important part of my leadership career was when I first started to lead. This is when you either build habits that allow you to soar or engage in habits that lead you to crash and burn. 

This book is a fantastic opportunity to see various leadership options and create positive and successful habits you can demonstrate throughout your career. Whether you are a “Backpacker” who leads by seeing new possibilities, exploring new terrain, and acting wholeheartedly, or a “Pioneer” who leads by building new tools and structures, improvising, and working relentlessly, almost all of us will fall into one of the four models, two of which I have listed above. 

Any time I work with an individual who is a newer leader, this is a book I always recommend that they read.

This book helped me articulate the different ways children (I’m a Mom, so that’s important to me) learn, which directly translates to Adult Learning Theory. It helped me to put into words and actions what I knew in my gut was the right way to teach/train/educate adults and to be confident in doing so!

This book helps me fulfill my professional purpose of making the world a better place, one team at a time, and my personal purpose of raising my kids to be the best versions of themselves.