Summer Reading List

Summer Reading 2024

The Center for Teaching & Learning sponsors summer reading of the following books:

Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do about It

“Why is it so hard to get students to pay attention? Conventional wisdom blames iPhones, insisting that access to technology has ruined students' ability to focus. The logical response is to ban electronics in class. But acclaimed educator James M. Lang argues that this solution obscures a deeper problem: how we teach is often at odds with how students learn. Classrooms are designed to force students into long periods of intense focus, but emerging science reveals that the brain is wired for distraction. We learn best when able to actively seek and synthesize new information. In Distracted, Lang rethinks the practice of teaching, revealing how educators can structure their classrooms less as distraction-free zones and more as environments where they can actively cultivate their students' attention.”

Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom (3rd ed.)

“This new edition of the celebrated book (now written by the co-author team of Bean and Melzer) uses leading and current research and theory to help you link active learning pedagogy to your courses' subject matter. You'll learn how to: design formal and informal writing assignments that guide students toward thinking like experts in your discipline; use time-saving strategies for coaching the writing process and handling the paper load including alternatives to traditional grading such as portfolio assessment and contract grading; help students use self-assessment and peer response to improve their work; develop better ways than the traditional research paper to teach undergraduate reading and research [and] Integrate social media, multimodal genres, and digital technology into the classroom to promote active learning.”

Especially useful for teaching General Studies courses like FYS & Writing Across Contexts.

Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom

“Mental health challenges on college campuses were a huge problem before COVID-19, and now they are even more pronounced. But while much has been written about higher education’s mental health crisis, very little research focuses on the role played by those on campus whose influence on student well-being may well be greatest: teachers. Drawing from interviews with students and the scholarship of teaching and learning, this book helps correct the oversight, examining how faculty can—instead of adding to their own significant workloads or duplicating counselors’ efforts—combat student stress through adjustments to the work they already do as teachers.”

Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching

“Written by renowned teaching and learning experts, this guide offers concrete steps to help any instructor striving to ensure that all students—and, in particular, historically underserved students—have an equal chance for success. Here you’ll find actionable tips, grounded in research, for teaching college classes online, in person, and everywhere in between.”

Available for free as an ebook (seagull.wwnorton.com/equityguide); you are also welcome to request a print copy from the CTL.

Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning

“Representing a variety of scholarly disciplines, the volume’s contributing authors offer practical advice for effectively navigating student preconceptions about embodied identity and academic expertise. Each contributor recognizes the pervasiveness of racialized, gendered, and other biases about professors and recommends specific ways to respond to and interrupt such preconceptions—helping students, teachers, and others reenvision what we think of when we picture a professor. Educators at every stage of their career will find affirming acknowledgment of the ways systemic inequities affect college teaching conditions, as well as actionable advice about facilitating student learning with innovative course design, classroom activities, assessment techniques, and more.”

Especially relevant to those interested in mentoring newer faculty.

Teaching with AI: A Practical guide to a New Era of Human Learning

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way we learn, work, and think. Its integration into classrooms and workplaces is already underway, impacting and challenging ideas about creativity, authorship, and education. In this groundbreaking and practical guide, teachers will discover how to harness and manage AI as a powerful teaching tool…In the age of AI, critical thinking skills, information literacy, and a liberal arts education are more important than ever. As AI continues to reshape the nature of work and human thinking, educators can equip students with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. This book serves as a compass, guiding educators through the uncharted territory of AI-powered education and the future of teaching and learning.”

Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal

“Burnout, a mental health syndrome caused by chronic workplace stress, is endemic to higher education in a patriarchal, productivity-obsessed culture. In this unique book for women in higher education, Rebecca Pope-Ruark, PhD, draws from her own burnout experience, as well as collected stories of faculty in various roles and career stages, interviews with coaches and educational developers, and extensive secondary research to address and mitigate burnout. Pope-Ruark lays out four pillars of burnout resilience for faculty members: purpose, compassion, connection, and balance. Each chapter contains relatable stories, reflective opportunities and exercises, and advice from women in higher education.”