Summer Reading
Swett Chat: Let's Talk School Culture
Culture: It's the Box we are Trying to Think Outside Of
In March of last school year, I was already looking to summer. Not because I am unhappy teaching and surviving each year by counting down the days until it's over, but because I wanted to spend some time reading, researching, reflecting, and rethinking. My summer version of the 4 R's. I wanted to really think about school culture. I knew that if I was thinking about it by myself, not much was going to change and I was really hoping for some positive changes to happen. I decided to send out an email to the staff at my school and see if anyone was interested in a summer book club. The email found it's way to a teacher at another site, thank you Ms. Hoyt, and the idea of expanding the book group to all of our schools was born. If school culture is the box we are trying to think outside of, then why not include all four of our "boxes"?
What are we reading?
“Closing the Attitude Gap: How to Fire up Your Students to Strive for Success”
“How to Create a Culture of Achievement in Your School and Classroom”
“Transforming Schools: Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement”
“School Culture Rewired: How to Define, Assess, and Transform It” (This is the one I read and I really liked it. It also came with surveys and discussion questions and is available in a kindle version)
"Culture Re-Boot: Reinvigorating School Culture to Improve Student Outcomes" (I know Vince is reading this one, I bought it and may get a chance to read it before we meet.)
Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division" (Dave read this one)
Links and book descriptions in the original Google Doc I sent out
Power to the pupil | Jennifer Magiera | TEDxBurnsvilleED
"Power to the Pupil"
An inspirational TED talk by Jenny Magiera on student empowerment and voice. A link to a six minute summary of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, a book mentioned in this speech. If you don't watch the entire 18 minutes of this speech, be sure to watch the student piece at the 15 minute mark.
Thank you for joining this conversation about positive change. We are better together!
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