SEL Book List: Teacher and School Leader

Samantha Reichard/ October 8, 2020/ Booklists, Culturally Relevant, eBooks, ELA, Social Emotional Learning/ 0 comments

Social Emotional Learning Reading List for Teachers and School Leaders

With the new school year underway for many states and others kicking off soon, the focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for students, teachers, and staff is at an all-time high.

SEL within the school is primarily associated with student enrichment and development, however, we know that SEL opportunities benefit more learners when both professional and personal experiences are extended to all stakeholders, especially teacher and school leaders.

To contribute to our school-based stakeholders Social and Emotional Learning focus, Glose for Education has compiled an aligned “Social and Emotional Learner Reading List” comprising titles of high quality and appropriately complex texts that provide content-enriched reading experiences for all levels of learners, from middle school on up to adult teachers and school leaders.

In our first blog of this 2-part series, we focused on providing SEL texts for student learners. In this blog, texts for teacher and school leaders’ professional development, as well as literature for personal enrichment are categorized under CASEL’S five SEL competencies, and available in your Glose for Education bookstore.

Read through the titles and select which ones you want to begin reading, then let us continue the conversation by letting us know what you think! Check out our SEL reading list for students.alre

SELF AWARENESS

Identity Safe Classrooms, Grades 6-12 by Becki Cohn-Vargas, Alexandrea Creer Kahn, Amy Epstein

Identity safety is a research-based set of practices that counter the harmful effects of stereotype threat and allow our students to reach their full capacity for learning, foster positive relationships, and better appreciate the full spectrum of human differences.

Becoming Awesome! by April Lara · Life Journey Mentors

Becoming Awesome! Life Lessons from the World’s Greatest Leaders explores effective social emotional learning skills to help teens become contributing members of our communities and prepare teens for a lifetime of success. Think, reflect and respond strategy questions for each chapter help educators navigate discussion and learning.

Dissolve by Sherwin Bitsui · Copper Canyon Press

Drawing upon Navajo history and enduring tradition, Sherwin Bitsui leads us on a treacherous, otherworldly passage through the American Southwest. Fluidly shape-shifting and captured by language that functions like a moving camera, Dissolve is urban and rural, past and present in the haze of the reservation.

No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal · Picador

A humorous and tender multigenerational novel about immigrants and outsiders – those trying to find their place in American society and within their own families.

SEL Every Day: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms (SEL Solutions Series) (Social and Emotional Learning Solutions ) by Meena Srinivasan · W. W. Norton & Company

Social and Emotional Learning is not separate from academics or instruction; it is integral to quality teaching and learning. But not every school has the time, resources, capacity, or conditions to implement a schoolwide SEL program. Prioritizing SEL need not take time from instruction. This book draws on the latest research and resources to offer individual teachers and teacher teams an accessible guide to incorporating SEL into everyday teaching in middle- and high- school classrooms.

Growth Mindset for Teachers by Sherria Hoskins • September 29, 2019 SAGE Publications

Growth Mindsets are recognized as a powerful teaching and learning tool in the UK and this book offers clear guidance that is backed up by research and avoids quick fixes or suggestions with little evidence base. The text will appeal to teachers as a pragmatic and trusted guide to a well-known strategy proven to enhance learning.

Building People by Tamara Fyke, Kathy Wade, Dr. Rod Berger, Michael Cardona, Kyla Krengel, Rebecca Townsend, Maurice Elias, PhD, Dorothy L. Espelage, PhD, Sean Slade, Peter DeWitt, EdD, Tara Subramaniam, Baruti Kafele, Richard Gerver · Abingdon Press

This book’s contributors represent a diverse group of nationally and internationally renowned researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders whose collective body of work addresses multiple facets of SEL and its successful implementation in numerous relevant contexts.

Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby · The New Press

A radical educator’s paradigm-shifting inquiry into the accepted, normal demands of school, as illuminated by moving portraits of four young “problem children”. Shalaby’s empathetic, discerning, and elegant prose gives us a deeply textured look at what noncompliance signals about the environments we require students to adapt to in our schools.

The Old Garden by Hwang Sok-Yong, Jay Oh · Seven Stories Press

With great poignancy, Hwang Sok-yong grapples with the immortal questions—the endurance of love, the price of a commitment to causes—while depicting a generation that sacrificed youth, liberty, and often life, for the dream of a better tomorrow.

SOCIAL AWARENESS

Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain by Zaretta Hammond · SAGE Publications

In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction.

The Wiley Handbook of Paulo Freire by Carlos Alberto Torres · Wiley

Written by the most premier exponents and experts of Freirean scholarship, it explores the currency of Freire’s contribution to social theory, educational reform, and democratic education.

No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe · Penguin Publishing Group

When Obi Okonkwo, grandson of Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart returns to Nigeria from England in the 1950s, his foreign education separates him from his African roots.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot · Crown

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.

Hammer and Hoe by Robin D. G. Kelley · The University of North Carolina Press

A groundbreaking contribution to the history of the “long Civil Rights movement,” Hammer and Hoe tells the story of how, during the 1930s and 40s, Communists took on Alabama’s repressive, racist police state to fight for economic justice, civil and political rights, and racial equality.

RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

Teaching, Learning, and Trauma, Grades 6-12 by Brooke O’Drobinak, Beth Kelley · SAGE Publications

In Teaching, Learning, and Trauma, the authors guide you through the process of creating a learning environment that combats the negative effects of chronic stress and trauma. They show you how to establish rituals and routines, develop personalization, and implement effective student engagement practices that create a relationship-based culture and effectively improve student achievement.

Leading an Inclusive School by Richard A. Villa, Jacqueline S. Thousand · ASCD

An in-depth, research-based guide for planning, implementing, and promoting inclusive practices in your school to support students with disabilities in general education classrooms.

Breakbeat Pedagogy by Brian Mooney · Peter Lang

Breakbeat Pedagogy provides a groundbreaking framework for the inclusion of hip-hop culture in schools.

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer · Penguin Publishing Group

In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Treuer melds history with reportage and memoir. Tracing the tribes’ distinctive cultures from first contact, he explores how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival.

The Unperfect Cookie by Rena Laniado · Archway Publishing

In this tale of baking students learning about cookies, children learn a valuable lesson about acceptance and tolerance for all, regardless of differences.

RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING

Every Student, Every Day by Kristyn Klei Borrero • October 25, 2018 Solution Tree Press

No-Nonsense Nurturers® are educators who build life-altering relationships with students, set high expectations for students, and hold themselves and their students accountable for achievement. Every Student, Every Day shares the lessons, mindsets, beliefs, strategies, and classroom expectations these high-performing teachers use daily to optimally support the needs of every student they serve.