5 Great Books About Educational Leadership

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Educational Leadership Books

  • Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56
  • Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power Of Practice
  • The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change
  • If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: A Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers
  • The Inner Principal: Reflections on Educational Leadership

From the first-year teacher struggling to lead a class of kindergarteners to the superintendent of schools in the largest school district in the world, educational leadership is everyone's responsibility and these five books about education leadership will transform schools one individual at a time. There are some great books filled with worthwhile ideas that need to be required reading for every teacher, principal and administrator. Consider these five books on educational leadership as your homework assignment.

1. Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56, by Rafe Esquith

There are unique challenges that come with teaching in large inner-city schools. Rafe Esquith gives a first-hand account of how he turned one Los Angeles classroom around by focusing on value-driven education. This book reads like a cookbook in many ways, because he gives teachers ideas on how to transform education on a budget. Esquith is the only teacher to win the National Medal of Arts. He has also been honored by Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama. This required reading will keep you laughing while inspiring you to meet those dreaded test objectives.

2. Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power Of Practice, by Matthew Syed

Matthew Syed is a world-champion tennis player, and he uses that background to encourage educators to change the way they think about success. He maintains that once teachers help a child become wildly successful in one field, a snowball effect is created because the child then believes in himself. Children must make independent decisions to commit the time necessary to become a master in any field. Matthew also maintains that becoming a master requires students to commit time to learning to do something expertly that they cannot currently do well if at all.

3. The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change, by Adam Braun

After starting on Wall Street when he was just 16 years old, Adam Braun had a life-transforming moment when he met a young boy in India who wanted a pencil. That moment transformed Adam's life to the point where he went on to build 250 schools around the world. In The Promise of a Pencil, Adam lays out steps that anyone can take to transform their own lives and the lives of those around him in a positive manner.

4. If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: A Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers

This down-to-earth book contains many practical suggestions on how administrators and experienced teachers can help new teachers find success in the classroom. Many experienced teachers and administrators may have ah-ha moments along the way as they read this book that follows a dining theme throughout.

5. The Inner Principal: Reflections on Educational Leadership, by David Loader

Experienced principal David Loader shares why leaders must be compassionate as they transform the classroom in meaningful ways. David who has been awarded the Order of Australia, the highest civilian honor in the country, will leave you laughing and crying as he tells stories from inside his educational leadership experience.

Related Resource: What is a Master's in Educational Leadership Degree?

School administrators and teachers should find these five books on educational leadership inspiring. Therefore, they should have no problem completing this homework assignment of reading these five books on educational leadership in record time.