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What are you reading this summer?

I feel fortunate for rediscovering my passion for reading in the past few years. As a child, I was a voracious reader and then it just stopped and it was not until I made the choice to dedicate time every night that I was able to regain the passion. It was not that I was lacking in time, its that I was not making it a priority. With that in mind, I would like to share a handful of books I read this past year and recommend for your summer read. Each provided me with a different opportunity to learn and grow as a person, a parent, a husband, an educator and a leader.

Make It Stick — Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, Mark McDaniel

• A must read for all educators as we consider the how and why of education today. Old practices take a hit right off the bat when the authors note: rereading, hi-lighting and massed practice results in feelings of fluency that is confused with mastery but these practices are a waste of time if you want mastery. Furthermore, they state research does not support the belief that individuals learn best when receiving info in their preferred learning style. We learn better when we go “wide” and do not stay within auditory, visual, etc learning styles. We have multiple intelligences and drawing on all of them results in greater understanding and learning. We must exercise a growth mindset and persevere in the face of failure to truly learn. If learning is easy and superficial, it is like writing in the sand at the beach . . . here today and gone tomorrow. The authors provide several strategies and also point to the importance of individuals owning their learning. We can all work to meet the needs of our students; however, if each individual does not take charge of his or her learning, we will continue to face an uphill battle in educating tomorrow’s leaders.

The Power of Moments — Chip and Dan Heath

• The Heath brothers challenge you to think in moments: what life transitions, milestones, etc are we not celebrating or worse yet, not even acknowledging? Memorable and powerful moments all share elevation, insight, pride and connection (EPIC). As educators, we are all capable of making these for our students and colleagues. We need to push each other and ourselves to stretch — we cannot grow by staying still. One of the most powerful moments we can create is through gratitude — who could you thank for helping you in the past or present? If you can make a powerful moment for someone by thanking them, what are you waiting for? We should all strive to recognize others in our life and multiply their moments by making them EPIC.

Unselfie Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me-World —

Michele Borba

• This book was one of three that were available to staff for our summer read in 2018 and admittedly I grabbed it as a parent first and educator second. Borba delivers a powerful message on the impact of empathy and how we can instill it in our children through modeling and intentional conversations. Do your children practice kindness? Borba encourages you to have your kids say or do two kind acts per day. I also appreciated her comments about too much “ing — ing” by today’s parents: problem-solving, rescuing, doing, etc. Every time we do this, we are lowering their ability, self-esteem and also reducing their empathy. We are all born with empathy and need to practice it with our children if we want it to continue to develop and maintain caring, kind communities. I highly recommend this book for parents and educators as it challenges you to evaluate the lessons you are teaching and to reflect on your own empathy practice

The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg

• As I looked at routines and habits I had developed over the years, I was interested in learning more about what molded my habits. Duhigg shares the habit loop and in its simplest form, you see how easily we can fall into a negative routine or build a positive habit. There are cues, routines, and rewards. Once you identify each, you are able to build upon your positive habits and curtail the negative ones. I loved the idea of a keystone habit that you can build off of which will impact all of your other habits. If you are aware of negative habits or are looking to build on positive habits, this book is for you as it readily explains the patterns and makes changing those patterns very easy. The first step though, pick up the book.

Linchpin — Seth Godin

• This book was part of our introduction to the Leadership+Design fellowship I just completed. It was a great kick-off to the year! Godin states, “The only way to get what you’re worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about.” We have a choice every day: we can let our “lizard brain” be in control and live in fear or we can move past this fear and deliver “gifts” through our actions. You need to spend more time “shipping” your ideas and putting them out in the world for people to see. You do not have a talent shortage, you have a shipping shortage. This lesson from Godin more than any other has impacted by time on Twitter, Linkedin, and Medium. If you are looking for a book to encourage you to step out from the crowd, I encourage you to take a look at Linchpin.

How Children Succeed Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character Paul Tough

• I wanted to read this book as a parent and as an educator. There are more and more articles, publications and books coming out about the importance of non-cognitive skills in education — persistence, self-control, grit, curiosity and Tough does a great job of diving into this topic. How we develop these qualities in our children/students goes a long way in their success. The author compares our nervous system to a piece of paper: every experience is like a fold, leaving a crease. This can happen with both positive and negative experiences; how can we increase the positive? He touches on the idea of a growth mindset v fixed mindset and how we can learn through failure. Many of our children see this in gameplay whether on the athletic field or through video games, they learn from mistakes; we need this in our education system as well. This move to try and prevent or take away failure is hurting our kids in the long run. Tough suggests positive, nurturing relationships with strong parental connections will result in brave, kind, and curious adults.

Radical Candor — Kim Scott

• One of the most important books I read all year as a leader. Kim Scott challenges you on several levels to improve your communication with your team and to provide your team with exactly what they need…radical candor; “Raise the bar — there’s no such thing as a B player.” She reminds us of the importance of relationship building and how to provide the feedback necessary to grow individuals as well as the team. Her GSD (get stuff done) cycle is incredibly helpful in developing productive meetings. The idea of giving feedback on the fly seems insincere at first but in hindsight, the “in the moment” opportunities provide a perfect time for these discussions. Be sure to solicit feedback on yourself and when delivering feedback to others be sure to focus on improvement, not perfection. We all want to get better. If you are a leader in any organization, this is one book you cannot afford to leave unread.

Essentialism: Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown

• The basic premise from McKeown is that you have to give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone so you can focus on what really matters. I loved this quote, “If you do not prioritize your life someone else will,” as it does an excellent job of summarizing the skills McKeown will share throughout the book. He further states the word, “priority,” was not pluralized until 500 years after it first appeared in the English language… if you have too many priorities, in reality, you have none. Take care of yourself, set boundaries, and live a life of purpose. As I read the book, I recognized where I was allowing others to direct my life and how I needed to start making better choices. We cannot be our best selves if we are always responding to the needs of others. We actually rob people of their problems and enable them when we make their problem, our problem. Find small wins every day for yourself and your people and then celebrate them. It is up to you whether or not you choose to be an essentialist.

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

• A truly important read for all leaders and Brown lays it all out on the table for you. It is up to you whether or not you choose to be vulnerable and engage with your team. She encourages you to practice gratitude, celebrate small wins and earn trust in the smallest of moments as they build layers to your relationships. As leaders, you must deliver both positive and negative feedback, when it is the latter, be kind, clear, respectful and genuine. Perhaps one of the strongest messages from Brown when referring to leadership is about being clear with individuals; “in the absence of data, we make up our own stories.” You must make the choice to live with integrity and with your values if you wish to truly serve the work and your team. Lastly, Brown asks important questions that each of us needs to sit with: What does it look like when things are going really well for you? At work? At home? If you cannot answer that, take the time to dig into Dare to Lead.

Legacy, What the All Blacks Can Teach Us about the Business of Life

James Kerr

• Kerr provides fantastic tips on developing yourself as a person and a leader through the backdrop of the All Blacks transition to even greater success after a dip in performance and execution. The best organizations create an environment of personal and professional development in which each individual takes responsibility and shares ownership. You have to know your “why?” and share it with the team. You can only develop leaders if you pass on responsibility, create ownership, accountability, and trust. The shared responsibility and ownership results in more individuals giving of themselves for the greater good. Develop a map of daily improvement — a living document that provides fresh goals develops new skills and pushes individuals to be more capable and to achieve more to help the team/organization. Do this for yourself and your team members. To be effective, we must drill down to know thyself and live our vision: our values, thoughts, words, and actions must be aligned. As you think about your relationships and your choices, consider your character. According to Kerr, character comes from kharakter — the mark left on a coin during manufacture. He further states character is the mark left on you by life and the mark we leave on life. “Character rises out of our values, our purpose, the standards we set for ourselves, our sacrifice and commitment and the decisions we make under pressure but it is primarily defined by the contribution we make, the responsibility we take, the leadership we show.”

Tech with Heart — Stacey Roshan

• I feel fortunate to work alongside Stacey every day and appreciate all she has done to help me grow as well as our students. Stacey uses her experience as a student as the backdrop for sharing her approach to the classroom. She interweaves her personal experience as a student with that of her experience as a teacher. Stacey talks about her “why?” and shares her goals: sparking joy and developing math aptitude in her students, supporting her students by listening to them and responding to their needs, and lastly, help her students develop life long habits that encourage a healthy life. Her intentional use of technology and the tips she shares with the reader bring these goals to life. Whether as an educator or a parent, we need to be observant and listen. Nurture positive relationships with children through kindness and empathy. This seems like a no-brainer but in times of stress and struggle, we sometimes forget the importance of this idea. Stacey highlights it with a quote from Jo Boaler, “A lot of scientific evidence suggests that the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is not the brains they were born with, but their approach to life, the messages they receive about their potential, and the opportunities they have to learn.” Stacey challenges her readers to identify their “why?” in the classroom, to think about the goals they have for their students and to meet their needs but to do so in a way that works for you and them. There is no one size fits all but if we are making connections, giving voice and empowering our students to take hold of their learning, then we are moving in the right direction.

The school year has come to a close and I ended it reading, The Obstacle is the Way which I cannot recommend enough to anyone in a leadership position. I definitely plan to refer back to it when the school year resumes in the fall. As I head into summer break, I am turning my attention to the three books we offered our staff to read this summer (we choose to give our staff choice as opposed to all reading the same book): What Made Maddy Run, The Last Child in the Woods, and Time to Teach, Time to Reach.