September 2021 Bookshelf

When we think of something as being “broken,” we believe there must be a way to fix it and have it perform as we’d expect. But, what if what we see as “broken” is actually doing what it was meant to do all along? This is the question that drives the research and stories in Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen’s The Future of Smart. Dr. Joshi Hansen combines her experience as a classroom teacher, education researcher, and parent to illuminate the misalignment between what we want for our children and what the conventional education system delivers.

Many of the things that matter most in life also matter most in education: relationships, connection, purpose, flexibility, joy. What if we had an education system that prioritized these attributes? Dr. Katie Martin explores this “what if” in Evolving Education, a book for any educator interested in developing learner-centered practices that result in their young people becoming agents in their learning and advocates for stronger and healthier communities. By redefining success and providing the enabling conditions for powerful learning to occur every day, we can transform the future of learning.

What if you tried to count all the things you know to be false about education and learning that are still practiced or assumed within conventional education? How many examples would you come up with? Carrisa Corrow and Gary Chapin got to 126. In their book, 126 Falsehoods We Believe About Education, the authors not only list the myriad ways the conventional system does the opposite of what it thinks is best for young people but also showcases how those practices harm young people and their communities. They then lift up the shifts we can make to invent new practices that align with our knowledge about what makes for a good learning journey.

There’s a theory in human development that suggests pre-teens and teens begin developing night owl sleeping patterns to begin testing how to navigate life without their parents. Of course, these experiments also occur during normal times of the day. This 24/7 desire to make independent decisions can go awry if decision making skills aren’t properly developed. Such is the inspiration for the authors of You Can Choose Your Own Life, a book written for middle schoolers to explore how to make sound, emotionally intelligent decisions.

At the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Fannie Lou Freedom High School leaders had a choice: Hunker down and wait it out OR push the envelope and continue serving young people powerfully. They chose the latter. In South Bronx Adventures, discover how leaning into bold experiments, failing forward, and never losing sight of developing deep relationships between families and educators propelled the Fannie Lou community during a time where the odds for success in most learning communities were near zero.