March 2017 Bookshelf
Books 02 March 2017
Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World
John P. Kotter
When an idea arises ready to cause disruption, there are o en too many barriers in place for it to become the new norm. John P. Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership, saw this happening again and again in corporations. He noticed hierarchies built for old, predictable futures—unable to adjust to today’s unpredictable world. To help leaders buck the trend, he wrote Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World. In it, he explores what it looks like to transform a single operating system into a dual operating system that keeps the original goals in place but allows for greater adaptability to the strategies invoked.
The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues
Patrick Lencioni
When leading a group of coworkers, learners, or even an entire community, your work can only go as far as the role you decide to play. In Patrick Lencioni’s The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues, he creates a fictional story to express the various ways his nonfictional framework and tools can be translated to your personal and team development. Discover how you might use his tools to “create a cultural commitment to teamwork.”
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
Susan Cain
There is much to gain from outcome-driven sessions of collaboration with your team. But, solely relying on this practice to produce innovative output could be holding you and your learners back. Have you ever noticed an imbalance in participation when you have these sessions? And, when everyone is participating, who’s asking questions versus who’s offering ideas? Who’s the introvert, and who’s the extrovert? In Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, she asks you to question whether your culture with coworkers and with learners is maximizing the potential of all personality types.
Beyond Reform: Systemic Shifts Toward Personalized Learning
Lindsay Unified School District
It’s been a decade since Lindsay Unified School District began their transformational journey from a time-based, school-centric system to a performance-based, passion-driven, learner-centered one. Since this systemic shift, they’ve seen learner engagement, attendance, and graduation rates skyrocket. With such a dramatic transformation happening in just 10 years, the leaders at LUSD knew they had something worth sharing. To get their story in as many hands as possible, they wrote and published Beyond Reform: Systemic Shifts Toward Personalized Learning. Get your copy today!
A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades
Ken O'Connor
When viewing school-centric assessment from a learner-centered lens, it can be like trying to understand how a giraffe got inside a doghouse. It’s utterly nonsensical. So, re-imagining how learning is assessed is the only way forward. In Ken O’Connor’s A Repair Kit for Grading: Fifteen Fixes for Broken Grades, he challenges educators to reevaluate their current grading practices and provides powerful suggestions for where to go next. For O’Connor, it is all about tying assessment to learning quality and ensuring that message is known and understood by all parties involved. Explore his ideas and see how you might adapt them to your practice!
The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism
Kristine Barnett
A child enrolls in school, has a particularly significant “weakness” that doesn’t fit the “average,” and his days are spent addressing (or “fixing”) this inefficiency. Does this sound familiar? How often is that child successful? Kristine Barnett asked herself the same thing about her autistic son, Jacob. And, rather than following protocol handed out by the experts, she went with her gut and chose a path focused on Jacob’s strengths and passions. Check out her book, The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism, and discover how her child went from a future of social isolation to one where he is a boy genius staring at a possible Nobel Prize.
Teach to Work: How a Mentor, a Mentee, and a Project Can Close the Skills Gap in America
Patricia Alper
Not only is there knowledge to be accessed outside traditional school walls but educators themselves have experiences, hobbies, interests, and passions that stretch well-beyond their singular identities in a traditional classroom. Patricia Alper, author of Teach to Work: How a Mentor, a Mentee, and a Project Can Close the Skills Gap in America, challenges these educators and community members alike to share their knowledge with learners through mentorship, so their communities can enhance the potential of all their youth. Explore how you can be a mentor to youth in your community, and let us know what you discover!
From Master Teacher to Master Learner
Will Richardson
Implementing a learner-centered model of education contains many important components. Whether it’s developing a culture of collaboration, artfully incorporating the voices and perspectives of the community, or creating a system that is ever-evolving, much of this will never see the light of day if educators do not see themselves first and foremost as learners. Will Richardson addresses this possible issue in his book, From Master Teacher to Master Learner. He takes readers on an intimate journey of how to be a learner first and an educator second, exploring what is made possible by this mentality. Discover why we are all learners, young and old alike.
Holocracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World
Brian J. Robertson
A learner knows how they learn best. An educator knows the socio-emotional responses of their learners best. So, when systems are in place that don’t allow these agents to create strategies they are the foremost experts in, inefficiencies and roadblocks are inevitable. What type of system can allow this ownership to be realized? Enter the management philosophy known as holacracy. In Brian J. Robertson’s work, he shows leaders in all systems—education being no exception—the power in letting roles based on each individual’s expertise define who should perform the work, rather than outdated hierarchies or titles. See how this management system could help you redefine your learning environment’s structure.
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