While this time of the year is great to recover mentally and physically from the rigors of the regular school year, there’s little rest for the weary—especially School Heads. To help you rejuvenate and inspire your mind this summer, we asked ISM Consultants for their recommended summer reads. Consider this your all-you-can-read professional development buffet!
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
by Roy Baumeister & John Tierney
“Self-control” and “discipline” are the watchwords of many schools and classrooms, but they should be leveraged by administrators, too. This culmination of Baumeister’s life’s work combines with the research-backed insights explained by Tierney to create a must-read tome on how to achieve our dreams—and keep faith in ourselves when we fall short of perfection.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
Many schools are set up for one particular type of student. In today’s attention-focused online world populated with companies that encourage dynamic ideas from charismatic employees, schools have followed suit to focus on teamwork and collaboration. In all of this, where is the space for the introvert? Those who recharge and develop ideas in isolation, rather than collaboration?
Enter Quiet, Cain’s quest to celebrate and elevate that third of the population that blossoms in calm and silence. Cain’s research and case studies will inspire new ideas in how to form educational experiences that encourage all students—loud and quiet alike—to reach their full potential.
Wired & Fast Company (Magazines)
Sure, these aren’t your traditional hardcover tomes of wisdom, but they are reliable sources of information and theory from alternative industries that stretch the ways in which you consider problems. As much as we like (or despise) advances in technology and economy, changes here impact our schools. Staying aware of changes in the tide before they ripple down to your school can help keep everyone’s head above water during rough weather.
Besides, such periodicals can get us excited and inspired for what’s possible—in the world and in our schools!
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for School Heads Vol. 12 No. 10 Summer Reading for School Heads: Recommended Books and Webinars
The Source for Private School News Vol. 13 No. 6 2014 Summer Reading List for Private School Administrators
