January 2023 Bookshelf
Books 10 January 2023
The Moment: Changemakers on Why and How They Joined the Fight for Social Justice
Steve Fiffer
What brought you into the learner-centered movement? An experience in the conventional system as a learner or educator? The promise of a brighter future for our children? Every activist has a reason for joining a movement, and each person’s reason is unique to our story and context. The Moment spotlights stories from 38 changemakers who each made their own decision to join the fight for social justice — coming to a common cause for a wide variety of reasons. This book is recommended for activists at any stage in their work who are looking for inspiration or ways to invite others into their movement.
Leading Below the Surface: How to Build Real (and Psychologically Safe) Relationships with People Who Are Different from You
LaTonya Wilkins
Whether you’re launching a learner-centered ecosystem or connecting one-on-one with each of the families you serve, you’ll be working with people who think, work, and act differently from you. While this is part of the wonderful gift of humanity, it can be a challenging sea to navigate. “Leading Below the Surface is a compass for the purpose-driven and forward-thinking leader. It merges true stories from the lived experiences of culture leader LaTonya Wilkins with actionable insights backed by dynamic interdisciplinary research.” If you’re doing any work that requires building relationships, teams, and community, Leading Below the Surface might be the next book for you!
How to Navigate Life: The New Science of Finding Your Way in School, Career, and Beyond
Belle Liang, PhD and Timothy Klein, LCSW
Wading through the societal norms and pressures of college and career can be overwhelming for any young person. In How to Navigate Life, the authors share the latest science around how to help young learners discover their passion and purpose — stepping away from the demands to perform and perfect. Pick up this book if you’re a young adult, educator, or caregiver and are looking for guidance in the question of “what’s next?”
Catching the Light (Why I Write)
Joy Harjo
In her latest book, United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo examines words and the power they have to drive us toward justice and healing. “Comprised of intimate vignettes that take us through the author’s life journey as a youth in the late 1960s, a single mother, and a champion of Native nations, this book offers a fresh understanding of how poetry functions as an expression of purpose, spirit, community, and memory.”
Moving the Rock: Seven Levers WE Can Press to Transform Education
Grant Lichtman
Education transformation will take a lot of work from across many sectors and we can all play a part. As he currently travels across the country on his Wisdom Road learning journey, Grant Lichtman’s 2017 book is an important reminder of how we can all contribute to a meaningful and impactful learner-centered movement. “Moving the Rock shows the important roles all of us can play in un-sticking [our education system] by moving seven specific levers that don’t require permission from the forces that have created such monumental inertia in the first place.” We recommend this book for leaders in learner-centered transformation and anybody figuring out how they can make a larger impact in this work.
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