I’ve been working on becoming a better educator this summer, and part of that process is reading books with that specific goal in mind.

I’ve mentioned Dr. Christopher Emdin’s ‘For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Ya’ll Too,” which I will be expounding on next week.

Now, I’m just about to put Dr. Carol S. Dweck’s Mindset to bed, of which my reading has coincided nicely with the Responsive Classroom workshop I attended last week. And one quote in particular from Marva Collins stuck with me because I’ve felt it in every school where I’ve taught, even in interacting with educators with whom I’ve never taught or even ones who have taught me:

A good teacher is one who continues to learn along with the students. And she let her students know that right up front: ‘Sometimes I don’t like other grown-ups very much because they think they know everything. I don’t know everything. I can learn all the time.

That’s really powerful stuff that I intend to comment on at greater length as I ease my way back into a regular work schedule. In the short-term, whereas Emdin’s only seems to make sense for educators, Dweck’s anecdotes in Mindset appear applicable to all humans. She’s talking about thinking approaches that yield success or failure in realms, such as school, business, home, and sports; he’s talking about the psyche of urban youths, the understanding of them, and the supporting of them in their success.

Read it for no one other than yourself.

ASAP.

NB: Two educational books.

And a four day workshop.

I’m developing again.

For real.

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