Throughout the 2023-24 school year, about 10 staff members have been part of a book club. In education speak, we call these groups Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), where faculty and staff can join a working team to discuss specific topics related to school, and our book club PLC was exactly that. Once every two months we would gather over cheese and sparkling water to discuss the selected education-based non-fiction title. Meetings were filled with candid conversations about our interpretations of the author's words, and how we see the theories presented in the chapters practically playing out in our classrooms, hallways, sports fields, and stages. Some books provided more food for fodder than others, but at least one golden nugget was digested from each one. Here is a list of the books that we read this year:
What About Men?: A Feminist Answers the Question by
Caitlin Moran. Created lots of conversations among colleagues about the need to continue/start talking to our male students, specifically, about topics like healthy relationships, body image, and role models. This work has already started through workshops organized by our Wellness Team through
Moe Green’s program,
Guys Work. Our aim would be to continue this work, involving more students in the future.
Grit by
Angela Duckworth. A noteworthy work, which had us all questioning our own level of grittiness. One particular passage stuck out as it resonates with our School motto of
Be More:
“Before hard work comes play. Before those who’ve yet to fix on a passion are ready to spend hours a day diligently honing skills, they must goof around, triggering, and retriggering interest…even the most accomplished of experts start out as unserious beginners (p 106-107).”
Vanessa Wade
Assistant Head of School, School Life