Need Some College Credit?Check out our book studies!
Flexible Learning on Your Schedule
Our courses are designed to fit into your budget and seamlessly into the busy lives of educators.
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Each course is offered by semester with flexible start dates, allowing you to begin when it works best for you. Courses must be completed by the end of the semester. VHConsultants will use the semester dates for Newman University. Dates are listed on this website for your convenience.
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Participants may complete coursework at their own pace and enroll in as many or as few courses as desired. Completion certificate presented at the end of the course for those taking for professional learning only. Course is equal to 20 hours of seat time.
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College credit available! VHConsultants LLC has partnered with Newman University to offer one graduate-level college credit per course for an additional $60 per credit hour. Educators interested in earning college credit may apply directly through Newman University at: https://apply.newmanu.edu/register/workshops. College credit fees are paid separately to Newman University.
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Each book study (course) costs $100 and is payable to VHConsultants LLC through our website.
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Books can be conveniently ordered through our Amazon affiliate link located beneath each course description.
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New course offerings are added regularly, providing ongoing opportunities for professional growth.
Fall Semester 2026
Begins August 24, 2026 and ends December 4, 2026
All courses need to be completed by December 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM unless it has been sent back for revisions. Revisions are due Dec. 9, at 4:00 PM.
Spring Session 2027
Information coming soon!
Register for a Book Study Today!
Book Study
Mindset The New Psychology of Success
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
Mindset invites educators into a powerful conversation about how beliefs shape learning, motivation, and success. This book study encourages reflection on how effort, feedback, and challenge influence both students and adults, helping schools move toward a culture where growth, persistence, and learning from mistakes are valued. Participants will engage in meaningful dialogue that connects research to real classroom and leadership practices.
For administrators, this mindset shifts leadership from evaluation to growth, strengthening trust, collaboration, and professional learning across the school. For teachers, it transforms daily instruction by changing how struggle, feedback, and progress are framed for students. Together, administrators and teachers build a shared language and vision that supports continuous improvement, stronger relationships, and a learning culture where everyone is expected and supported to grow.
Book Study
The Anxious Generation
Jonathan Haidt
The Anxious Generation invites educators and leaders into a timely and thought-provoking examination of how childhood has changed and why student anxiety, depression, and disengagement are rising at alarming rates. Drawing on research, data, and real-world examples, Jonathan Haidt explores the impact of phones, social media, reduced independence, and well-intended adult practices on student well-being. This book study creates space for honest reflection and shared understanding around what today’s students are experiencing.
For administrators and teachers, this study moves beyond awareness to action. It helps school leaders rethink policies, structures, and expectations that influence student mental health, while supporting teachers in building classrooms that promote resilience, belonging, and healthy risk-taking. Together, participants develop a common language and practical strategies to better support students, families, and one another in creating schools where well-being and learning can thrive side by side.
Book Study
Building Equity: Policies and Practices to Empower All Learners
Dominique Smith, Nancy Frey, Ian Pumpian, and Douglas Fisher
Building Equity by Dominique Smith challenges educators to move beyond good intentions and examine how daily classroom practices shape student experiences. Rather than positioning equity as an abstract concept or district initiative, this book brings the focus directly into the classroom, asking teachers to reflect on how beliefs, relationships, routines, and instructional decisions influence who feels valued, supported, and successful. Smith invites educators to examine the difference between intent and impact and to recognize how equity is built through consistent, thoughtful actions rather than isolated programs.
Designed with educators in mind, Building Equity offers practical insights for creating classrooms where all students experience belonging, voice, and opportunity. Through real-world examples and reflective questions, teachers are encouraged to examine their own practices and make intentional shifts that promote fairness, inclusion, and engagement. This book study supports educators in translating reflection into action, empowering them to implement meaningful changes that not only strengthen their classrooms but also contribute to a more inclusive and equitable school culture.
Book Study
The Energy Bus for Schools
Jon Gordon and Dr. Jim Van Allan
The Energy Bus for Schools is a practical and inspiring guide for educators who want to strengthen classroom culture, improve relationships, and show up each day with greater purpose and positivity. Using a simple yet powerful metaphor, Jon Gordon challenges educators to examine their mindset, recognize how their energy impacts others, and take ownership of the culture they help create. This book study invites teachers to reflect on their beliefs, attitudes, and daily practices—and to reconnect with the “why” behind their work in education.
Through guided reading, reflection, and application, participants will explore how positive energy, strong relationships, and intentional leadership can transform classrooms and influence school culture. The study is designed to move beyond inspiration into action, helping teachers identify concrete strategies they can implement with students and colleagues right away. The experience concludes with a deep reflection and interview, allowing participants to synthesize their learning, articulate key takeaways, and commit to meaningful changes that support a more positive, connected, and resilient learning environment.
Book Study
Lost at School
Ross Greene
Lost at School by Ross W. Greene invites educators to rethink challenging student behavior through the lens of lagging skills, unmet expectations, and collaborative problem solving. Rather than asking, “How do we make this student behave?” this book study encourages participants to ask, “What is getting in the student’s way, and how can we help?”
Through reading, reflection, and practical application, participants will explore Greene’s Collaborative & Proactive Solutions model and consider how it can support students, strengthen relationships, and reduce repeated behavior concerns. This professional learning experience is designed for teachers, administrators, counselors, and support staff who want to respond to challenging behavior with greater understanding, structure, and purpose.
Book Study
Managing ADHD in School
Russel Barkley
Students with ADHD often bring creativity, energy, curiosity, and insight to the classroom, yet they may also struggle with attention, organization, task completion, impulsivity, and self-regulation. Managing ADHD in School by Russell A. Barkley provides educators with practical, evidence-based strategies for understanding and supporting students with ADHD in ways that are structured, proactive, and respectful of student needs. In this book study, participants will explore how ADHD affects learning, behavior, executive functioning, motivation, and classroom performance.
Through reading, reflection, and application activities, educators will examine classroom routines, behavior supports, academic scaffolds, and collaboration strategies that can help students experience greater success. Participants will leave with a practical action plan they can use to better support students with ADHD while maintaining high expectations and positive classroom relationships.
Book Study
Rigor by Design, Not by Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment
Karin Hess
Rigor by Design, Not Chance invites educators to rethink rigor as something intentionally designed through strong instruction, meaningful assessment, purposeful questioning, and deeper student thinking. In this book study, participants will explore Karin Hess’s practical framework for helping students move beyond task completion and surface-level learning toward reasoning, reflection, explanation, and transfer.
Throughout the study, participants will connect the reading to their own classroom practice by examining current lessons, revising questions and tasks, planning scaffolds, and creating opportunities for students to reflect on their learning. This professional learning experience is designed for teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders who want to strengthen instruction in ways that support engagement, ownership, and deeper learning for all students.
Book Study
Tackling the Motivation Crisis: How to Activate Student Learning Without Behavior Charts, Pizza Parties, or Other Hard-to-Quit Incentive Systems
Mike Anderson
Tackling the Motivation Crisis by Mike Anderson invites educators to rethink common classroom incentive systems such as behavior charts, prizes, pizza parties, and other reward-based approaches that often produce short-term compliance but do not always build lasting motivation. This book study helps participants explore what students truly need in order to become engaged, self-directed learners who see value in their work.
Throughout the study, participants will reflect on current classroom practices, examine how external rewards can affect student ownership, and consider practical ways to create learning conditions that support autonomy, purpose, belonging, effort, and growth. Educators will leave with a clearer understanding of how to move from managing behavior with incentives toward building classrooms where students are more invested in learning itself.
Book Study
The Writing Rope
Joan Sedita
The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects by Joan Sedita offers teachers a clear and practical framework for understanding the many skills students need in order to become successful writers. Sedita organizes writing instruction around five essential strands: critical thinking, syntax, text structure, writing craft, and transcription. Together, these strands help educators see writing as more than a final product. Writing becomes a process of thinking, organizing, communicating, and learning.
This book study is designed for teachers across grade levels and content areas who want to strengthen writing instruction in meaningful and manageable ways. Participants will explore how explicit writing instruction can support student learning in every classroom, not just in English language arts. Through reading, reflection, and classroom application, teachers will consider how to help students use writing to explain their thinking, deepen understanding, and communicate ideas with greater clarity and confidence.
Book Study
Teaching with AI: A Practical
Guide to a New Era of Human Learning
Jose Antonio Bowen, C. Edward Watson
Artificial intelligence is changing how students learn, write, research, create, and demonstrate understanding. In Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson offer educators a practical and thoughtful guide for navigating this shift with purpose. This book study invites teachers to explore how AI can support instruction while keeping the focus on student thinking, academic integrity, creativity, feedback, and meaningful learning.
Throughout the study, participants will consider how AI may influence lesson design, writing assignments, assessment practices, grading, classroom policies, and student support. Teachers will reflect on responsible AI use, revise an assignment or assessment through an AI-responsive lens, and develop a practical classroom application they can take back to their students. The goal of this study is not simply to learn about AI, but to help educators make informed decisions about how to use it wisely, ethically, and effectively in today’s classrooms.
Book Study
Why Don't Students Like School?
Daniel T. Willingham
Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham offers teachers a practical look at how students think, learn, remember, and apply new information. Grounded in cognitive science, this book helps educators better understand why some lessons capture students’ attention while others do not, why background knowledge matters, and why students often remember unexpected details instead of the intended learning.
In this book study, participants will connect Willingham’s ideas to everyday classroom practice. Teachers will reflect on lesson design, student engagement, memory, practice, and instructional decision making. Through reading, reflection, and classroom application, participants will identify practical ways to make learning more meaningful, memorable, and accessible for students. This course is designed for educators who want to strengthen instruction by better understanding how learning works.
Book Study
Not Just Cute: How Powerful Play Drives Development in Early Childhood
Amanda Morgan
This book study invites early childhood educators to take a deeper look at the power of play as a foundation for learning and development. Using Amanda Morgan’s Not Just Cute: How Powerful Play Drives Development in Early Childhood, participants will explore why play is not separate from learning, but one of the most important ways young children build language, thinking, relationships, self-regulation, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Throughout the study, participants will connect the reading to their own classrooms or early learning settings through reflection, observation, documentation, and practical application. The study is designed to help educators strengthen intentional play-based practices, communicate the value of play to others, and create developmentally rich learning experiences that support the whole child.
Book Study
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching
Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
This book study explores the four interconnected phases of the Gradual Release of Responsibility framework: focused instruction, guided instruction, collaborative learning, and independent learning. Participants will examine how clear learning purposes, teacher modeling, purposeful questioning, responsive scaffolding, peer interaction, and meaningful independent practice can work together to deepen student understanding.
Through reflection and classroom application, educators will consider how to use these phases flexibly rather than as a rigid sequence. Participants will leave with practical strategies for designing cohesive learning experiences, responding to student needs, increasing engagement, and developing students who can confidently apply their learning with greater independence.
Book Study
Fostering Resilient Learners
Kristin Souers and Pete Hall
Trauma can profoundly influence how students learn, behave, build relationships, and respond to challenges. This book study helps educators better understand the effects of childhood trauma while exploring practical strategies for creating safe, supportive learning environments.
Participants will examine ways to strengthen relationships, respond to behavior with greater understanding, support students’ emotional regulation, and maintain high expectations while leading with compassion. Educators will also reflect on the importance of their own resilience and emotional well-being.
This study equips educators with practical tools and a renewed perspective for helping all students feel safe, connected, capable, and ready to learn.
Book Study
Flip Your Classroom Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day Revised Edition
Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams
What if class time could be used for deeper learning, meaningful collaboration, and individualized student support rather than primarily delivering content? Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams present a practical approach that moves direct instruction outside the traditional classroom setting, creating more time for active learning, problem-solving, discussion, and teacher feedback.
Throughout this book study, participants will explore the principles of flipped learning, strategies for developing accessible instructional content, and the flipped mastery model, which allows students greater flexibility in the pace and pathway of their learning. Participants will also consider how to address technology access, student accountability, assessment, and the changing role of the teacher.
This study invites educators to rethink how instructional time is used and discover practical ways to create a more student-centered, responsive, and personalized learning environment that helps teachers connect with and support every student, every day.
Book Study
Neurodiversity in the Classroom
Thomas Armstrong
Thomas Armstrong challenges educators to shift from a deficit-based view of learning differences to one that recognizes the unique strengths, abilities, and potential of every student. His approach encourages schools to value neurological differences and create learning environments where all students can grow, contribute, and succeed.
Through this book study, participants will explore practical strategies for supporting students with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, intellectual disabilities, and other learning differences. Educators will examine how classroom environments, instructional practices, and student relationships can be designed to build confidence, increase engagement, and promote meaningful success.
This study encourages teachers to create learning experiences that help all students recognize their strengths, develop self-advocacy skills, and thrive in school and in life.
Book Study
Leadership Lessons from Bill Snyder
Robert J. Shoop, Susan M. Scott, Bill Snyder
Through Bill Snyder’s example, educators will explore practical leadership principles that extend far beyond athletics and consider how they might apply to the classroom. The study examines how vision, integrity, relationships, consistency, discipline, and continuous improvement can shape a strong classroom culture.
Participants will reflect on their role as classroom leaders and consider how they communicate expectations, build trust, encourage perseverance, support student growth, and create a sense of belonging. The study will connect Snyder’s leadership lessons to everyday instructional practices, including goal setting, teamwork, fairness, attention to detail, personal responsibility, and caring leadership.
By the end of the study, participants will identify leadership strengths, select an area for growth, and develop a practical plan for applying key concepts in their classrooms.
Book Study
NSCA's Guide to High School Strength and Conditioning
NSCA, Patrick McHenry, and Mike Nitka
*Target Audience - Teachers with certification in Physical Education or Health
This professional book study is designed for physical education teachers, coaches, and school professionals who want to strengthen their knowledge of safe, effective, and age-appropriate strength and conditioning practices.
Using NSCA’s Guide to High School Strength and Conditioning, participants will explore practical strategies for resistance training, warm-ups, cardiovascular conditioning, plyometrics, speed and agility, student assessment, program design, and facility safety.
Throughout the study, participants will connect research-informed practices to their own classrooms, weight rooms, and athletic programs. Reflection and application activities will support educators in evaluating current practices, improving instruction, and creating programs that meet the varied needs of students.
The goal of this book study is to help educators build safe, effective learning environments where students develop strength, confidence, physical literacy, and lifelong fitness habits.
Book Study
The Best Class You Never Taught
Alexis Wiggins
What happens when students take greater ownership of classroom learning? This book explores a student-led discussion approach that helps learners strengthen communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and accountability while teachers shift from directing every conversation to observing, coaching, and supporting deeper learning.
This book study will explore practical strategies for establishing discussion norms, promoting equitable participation, using reflection and feedback, and creating a classroom culture built on trust and shared responsibility. Participants will also consider how Spider Web Discussions can be adapted across grade levels and content areas.
Through this study, educators will gain tools to help students become more confident communicators, thoughtful collaborators, and independent leaders in learning. This is a strategy for ELA and Social Studies teachers!
Book Study
Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning
James Rickabaugh
James Rickabaugh provides educators with a practical framework for creating more responsive, learner-centered schools. He challenges traditional one-size-fits-all instruction and encourages schools to design learning around students’ strengths, needs, interests, and goals.
Throughout this book study, participants will explore how student voice, choice, goal setting, feedback, and reflection can increase ownership and engagement. Educators will also examine the leadership practices, instructional shifts, and schoolwide conditions needed to sustain personalized learning.
This study is ideal for teachers, instructional coaches, principals, and district leaders who want to create learning environments where students are known, supported, challenged, and empowered to take a more active role in their education.