​The Fire Within: Lessons from defeat that have ignited a passion for learning by Mandy Froehlich is one of the most outstanding books I have ever read! Once you start reading, you find yourself deeply immersed in it. The book is a compilation of inspiring stories written by amazing educators. Adversity, difficulties, trauma, stressful and challenging situations have empowered these educators to better themselves both in their personal life and in their career. There are two sorts of people those who are resigned to their defeat and those who leverage any negative experience for their benefit and for the benefit of those near them. This book aims to celebrate the latter category of people, those who use their fire within for their self-care and healing through serving others. The book is about people who have passed through terrible storms in their life but yet they have managed to be resilient and gritty enough not only to share their stories and the way they have managed to survive, but also to thrive and to support others. Having experienced difficult situations, they have learned to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to find a variety of effective coping mechanisms to emerge and to grow; most importantly, they have accomplished to use their transformed self as a superpower to empathize, to inspire and to motivate their students and other educators to strive and never give up. I highly recommend reading the Fire Within, which is a gem for any educator who wants to grow as a person, and to make a difference for their students. You can find the book HERE.
​Below are some of my notes from the book, concerning different ways one can manage stress:

Each mission is divided into six sections full of detailed instructions, enlightening information and practical tips: 

• The Problem
• The Mission
• Mission Prep
• Mission Launch
• Overcoming Mission Obstacles
• The Mission in Action

At the end of the book there is a powerful mission toolkit providing printable templates, in the form of mission cards, a teacher can use in their classroom.  

​I strongly recommend Hacking Digital Learning Strategies to any educator who wishes to empower their learners to thrive in our digital age and to urge them to succeed as future citizens! 

Classroom Community Builders by Walton Burns is an outstanding book for teachers who wish to enhance their instruction by establishing good relationships with and among their students. It can be used from the very first day back to school throughout the year. Building a favourable classroom community undoubtedly creates the right conditions for effective learning to take place. What this book actually aims to achieve, through its great variety of classroom activities, is to provide teachers with engaging ways they can use to facilitate team building in their classes.  As well as developing teamwork skills through its icebreaker-like activities, the book does not require the teacher to neglect teaching their subject. This successful harmony between subject teaching and community building makes the book more appealing for classroom use. 
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The book consists of four sections of activities: ‘Set your Expectations’, ‘Working Together’, ‘Getting–to-know-you Activities’ and ‘Getting-to-know- your Teacher Activities’. Each activity is provided with a full description including time, materials, target language and a detailed step-by-step procedure. Some of the activities are followed by an extension section, and/or a variations section, which offers valuable tips and ideas on ways the activities can be better implemented or adapted. Many of the activities are accompanied by photocopiable material, a full version of which can be downloaded and printed out at the Resources and Downloads section of Alphabet Publishing website.  

During my participation in Tony Vincent's #ClassyGraphics, spring-google classroom, I designed the following infographic as one of the assignments.

You can find the book here: The 30 Goals Challenge for Teachers: Small Steps to Transform your Teaching

Shelly Terrell, one of my top quality ed technology integration proponents, has created this awesome interactive poster using thinglink. The poster, which serves as an infographic for both teachers and students, displays engaging ways learners can effectively use technology to develop a wide range of skills! For further ideas on how to incorporate technology in your classes to promote 21st century skills visit Shelly Terrell's blog: teacherrebootcamp.com/. Shelly Terrell also hosts the famous TESOL webinars on really challenging topics. Any educator can attend them for free every Friday at 4pmET HERE.