I am a reader. I am at my best when I have new information to process and to apply to my teaching and my life. Recently, a mentee asked me to provide a list of reading materials to shift her from her standard thinking and teaching patterns. Here is a list of resources which have shaped some of my professional and personal development in recent years. Though the list here is non-fiction, I also recommend fiction, fiction, and more fiction. – Heather Vaughan-Southard (Dance)
What books would you add?
For Getting Students to Respond Critically to Their Art and the Art of Others
–Critical Response Process by Liz Lerman and John Borstel
For Engagement, Creativity, and Productivity
–Flow: The Pscyhology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
–Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
–Mindsight: the New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel
–Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential in Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley
–Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
–Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam M. Grant
Food for Thought in Reaching Hard to Reach Kids (and Adults)
–The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk
–Teach, Breathe, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom by Meena Srinivasan
–Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
–Teaching with Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom by Jim Fay and David Funk
For Thinking Like an Artist:
–The Elements of Story: Field Notes on Nonfiction Writing by Francis Flaherty
–Story/Time: The Life of an Idea by Bill T. Jones
–Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes of a Choreographer by Liz Lerman
For Re-thinking the Status Quo
–The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly by Seth Godin
For Remembering What it is Like to Learn Something New
How to Bake Everything by Mark Bittman
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