We are halfway to the beginning of a new school year and I am sure all teachers are trying to rest, empty their minds and enjoy their time off. I hope all of you manage to spend some time with your friends and family and enjoy the sun and the sea. After all, you deserve it!It's been another hectic school year, I guess! However, summer is also a time when we have more free time to read. And except fiction or poetry, we can invest some time in books that will add a little more insight to our job and also contribute somehow to our professional development. Don't let the word "professional" intimidate you. You can combine work with pleasure if you read the right books. The books I am recommending are highly interesting and each has its own merits. Of course, this is what I suggest. You can find many more suggestions if you do a google search. For example, here is another list for 2024 by the Institute for Arts Integration and Steam. You can download the Reading List and 3 cute summer planner pages for free.
1. The New Peoplemaking by Virginia Satir
The book has been translated in many languages and, although it was written in 1972, it is still today as fresh as ever. As its title suggests it is basically a book about parents and parenting. However, teachers are to chidren the second closest to family, especially Primary School teachers. As the writer writes in the preface "My basic message has been and is that a strong link exists between life in the family and the kind of adults that that family's children become." And elsewhere "Each of us can make a difference; each of us is needed. The difference we can make begins when we develop high self-esteem as individuals. A big hope I have for this book is that it will help each of us empower and commit ourselves to congruence. Our congruent experiences and modeling will lead to creative ways to understand each other, care for ourselves and each other, and give our children a sturdy foundation from which they can develop strength and wholeness." As my interest in Social and Emotional Learning is greater these days, I found parts to enforce it in chapters 3, 4, 5, such as the empowerment of self worth, which constitutes a big part of self awareness. According to CASEL-5, self awareness is one of the 5 principles of Social and Emotional Education. Chapters 6, 7, 8 which are about communication and Chapter 21, which is about positive relationships can also find application in two other principles of SEL, social awareness and realtionship skills. In general, the book is fun to read with many illustrations and examples.
2. The story of English in 100 words by David Crystal
David Crystal, one of the esteemed linguists of our times, has written a book about the history of English in a simple but clever, both informative and entertaining way, almost devoid of jargon and in a listicle format. As the writer himself claims, this a "wordbook", but somehow different. He chooses 100 words, not any 100 words, but some that illustrate the evolution of the English language through centuries. It is certainly a book for us all, word nerds out there. As David Crystal makes clear this is his choice of words and someone else could make a completely different selection. The particularly interesting history behind some words I found in the book is loaf, what,pork, jail(and gaol), just to name a few.
3. Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett
I have to be honest! This has become to me something like the Bible for the past three years. I first heard about the book during the Erasmus+ project T.E.A.M.I ( Training Emotional Intelligent and Acceptant Mindsets for Inclusion), when I was trained in Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness and Coaching. Since then I have dived into the magic world of Social and Emotional Learning and I am trying to apply what I have learned, and of course what I am still learning, to my everyday teaching. In times of uncertainty and constant change this is one thing I'm sure of. We should focus on our students' social emotional wellbeing more systematically, teach them how to know their self-worth, manage their emotions healthily, be resilient to change, be ready for responsible decision making and last but not least, learn to communicate and cooperate with others effectively. All these are principles of SEL and Marc Brackett has been doing research in the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence of the Yale Child Study Center and giving talks and uploading videos about them since 2000. Moreover, as the writer himself states all these are skills that can be taught and I firmly believe that we should teach them to our students. In this book you will learn about his two powerful tools, the Mood Meter and RULER (which stands for Recognise, Understand, Label, Express, Regulate-your feelings). There is also a special chapter about school, chapter 10,"Emotions at School: from Pre-school to College".
4. The Anthropology of Language: An introduction to Linguistic Anthropology by Harriet Ottenheimer and Judith M.S. Pine
This is a book I haven't read, yet. It's one of the books I am planning to read. So, I quote a phrase from Goodreads that intrigued me "The text brings together the key areas of linguistic anthropology, addressing issues of power, race, gender, and class throughout." Going through the Contents I have met some particularly interesting words and phrases, such as the influence of language on culture and thought, cross-language miscommunication, sign language, gestures and non-verbal communication etc. which I am looking forward to learning more about.
That would be all! I wouldn't dare to bore you with long lists! I'm sure you can find a million other things to do besides reading for professional development during your summer holidays! So, enjoy and recharge your batteries for another challenging school year!
References
1. Brackett M. (2019) Permission To Feel:Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves and Our Society Thrive(e-book), Celadon Books, New York
2. Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (casel.org), What is the CASEL framework?, retrieved from https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/ (access date: 21/07/2024)
3. Crystal D. (2011)The Story of English in 100 words, Profile Books LTD., Great Britain
4. Inspiration and Leisure, Institute for Arts Integration and Stem (2024), Top 20 Summer Books for Teachers in 2024: Professional Growth, Inspiration and Leisure, retrieved from https://artsintegration.com/2024/05/13/2024-summer-teacher-reading-list/ (access date: 21/07/2024)
5. Ottenheimer J.Harriet & Judith M.S. Pine (2019), The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, Cengage Learning, U.S.A
6. Satir V. The New Peoplemaking, retrieved from The new peoplemaking : Satir, Virginia : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (access date: 21/07/2024)
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