Week 4 Free Choice—Change & Leadership Reading Recommendation

Drive by Dan Pink

 

Video published on YouTube by RSAnimate 

www.the RSA.org

The current book our staff is reading this year is Drive by Dan Pink.  The leadership team on our campus has always embraced looking at educational trends, by reading and discussing ideas, philosophies and best educational practices to benefit our students.  Over the years, we have read many business motivational authors. Much of what we glean from these business and educational readings are directly applied to students of today.  As a result we created our own “pyramids of intervention”, based on the Adali Stevenson high school model, to help struggling students and build a system that benefits all kids.  We now have campus visitors on our site to learn how they can transform their own schools. 

Last year we read Ray McNulty’s It’s Not Us Against Them.  Shortly afterwards we were honored when he came (informally) and visited with leadership groups within our district to share personal insight. It is validating to know we are making a difference in the lives of the children we interact with daily

If you have a chance to influence others on your campuses by starting your own “reading club” I highly recommend the following from our experience:

• Who Moved My Cheese-Spencer Johnson
• Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn-- Richard and Rebecca  DuFour, Robert Eaker, Gayle Karhanek
• Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap: Whatever it Takes-- Richard and Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Gayle Karhanek
  (there is a case study about our district-Whittier Union High School District featured in this book)
• It’s Not Against Them: Creating the Schools We Need—Ray McNulty
• Drive—by Daniel Pink