As part of an upcoming PD experience, I am reading this book by Richard Barrett, and thought I would share some of the learnings. The subtitle of this book is “Cultural Health and Employee Well-Being as a Pathway to Sustainable Performance”. This alone makes this book compelling, as a resource to offer some answers /…
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Girls on the Brink brings together personal stories of young women, neuroscience and social science to bring an understanding of the biological, societal and personal forces acting on girls. Her thesis is this: I don’t present this research to amplify fear, but rather as a clarion call to change the landscape in which girls come…
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Stolen Focus, Why you Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari, is a game-changer for me. It captures the tension, the friction, the challenge, opportunity and hope that faces education in the face of diminishing ability to think deeply, pay mindful attention, and to learn deeply. This book explores…
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Jo Chrona is an educator, philosopher and Two-Spirited woman of RTs’msyen and European Heritage, and this book is the latest in her efforts and passion for creating systemic change to build a truly inclusive experience for all learners. In this way, the book focusses on Indigenous Knowlege (IK) through a larger lens of anti-racist education….
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We conclude that if higher education in the United States is to be successful in the twenty-first century, it needs to be sharply REFRAMED. Pervasive issues of mental health and belonging must be addressed; extensive onboarding is needed with respect to the centrality of the academic educational agenda; any goal that is not strictly tied…
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“Potlatch as Pedagogy” was recommended to me by Mike Carlson, a teacher at Wandering Spirits school (TDSB) and an Indigenous educational consultant. This book strongly resonates with “The Nordic Secret” and “Ecological Learning“, in that the approaches are student-centred, holistic and reciprocal. What I really enjoyed about this book was the 9 Principles of “Sk’ad’a”,…
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This book, by Julie Diamond, PhD, was recommended to me by Shakil Choudhury, after reading his book, Deep Diversity, as part of the CIS Ontario Book Club. This is a natural next read, focussing on the individual’s relationship with power, providing meaningful questions, and an “PowerPrint” exercise. You have this book in your hands because…
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As you may have noticed from latest book reviews (The Nordic Secret & The Future of Learning), I am doing more research that dives into some historical and contemporary examinations on the purpose of education. in particular, education as preventative medicine: not learning about the conflicts and injustices alone; rather, (and at a very high…
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I came to this book through an OECD conference, where one of the participants had mentioned Bildung (German for “forming”) as the heart of what education can and should be. This book is an odyssey through foundational educational thought and evolution that have led to an educational philosophy that began in Germany, and made its way…
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Heading back into the classroom to teach a bespoke course developed within the Strategic Direction of my school is one thing, but to do it in one of the most difficult and disrupted times in education is daunting. I have always love the art and science of education, so I am looking deeply into how…
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