Klingbrief Archive

Vol 101 - April 2021

Book

Of Note: Everybody's Hungry Heart

Here’s the stark reality that recently-reappointed U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy reveals: human beings were suffering from social isolation before the coronavirus descended. Twenty-two percent of Americans reported feeling lonely and disconnected from others, and the emotional strain was having a direct and deleterious effect on physical health. Add to that troubling baseline a pandemic that caused grief, required distancing, and amplified inequities, and the result is a society in desperate need of a pivot. Murthy’s book offers intrapersonal and interpersonal strategies to heal ourselves and our communities. Seeking solitude and learning to self-soothe through prayer, meditation, exercise, and nature will allow us to move from self-contentment to closer connections with others. Murthy further suggests that we spend time each day with loved ones and focus intently on the joy of togetherness. Finally, he suggests that we embrace service as a way to cultivate generosity and purpose. Murthy is convinced that loneliness is a public health crisis in need of immediate attention, and we should all be concerned about the economic and emotional recessions that threaten full human potential. Thus, as businesses and schools resume in-person operations, they would do well to center human connection in their reopening plans.

Submitted by
By Wanda Holland-Greene, The Hamlin School, San Francisco, CA
Student Wellness & Safety
Psychology & Human Development
Book

Demeritocracy

The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, January 1, 2020

If the dream of a meritocracy is that everyone has the opportunity to rise as far as their talents and hard work will take them, then the usual criticism of the system is that we don’t have a level playing field. In his new book, however, Michael Sandel forcefully argues that even if it were possible to have a level playing field, meritocracy is deeply flawed. After tracing the history of meritocratic ideals in economic policy, Sandel hits his stride when he describes the role of schools as “sorting machines.” For those students who succeed, the message of meritocracy gives them a false sense of entitlement, detached from any understanding of the role of luck in their success; for those who do not succeed, meritocracy induces a humiliating sense of failure and self-blame. For school leaders, the heart of this argument is one with which we need to reckon. Our schools largely organize themselves around the flawed principles of meritocracy, teaching students to focus only on their own rising. In this, we abandon our responsibility to cultivate in students the civic-minded social bonds and understanding of mutual indebtedness that are essential for democracy.


Submitted by
Liz Perry, St. Luke's School, New Canaan, CT
Current Events & Civic Engagement
Curriculum
Book

When Confronted with Parents

Hopes and Fears: Working with Today's Independent School Parents by Rob Evans and Michael Thompson
NAIS, January 1, 2021

In this slim volume by Rob Evans and Michael Thompson, educators, particularly independent school educators, will find both reassurance and practical tools for working productively with this generation of parents. Written with deep empathy for parents and school staff, the book outlines the points of potential conflict and the anxieties and fears on both sides that can cloud a productive partnership in the service of children. Both Evans and Thompson are psychologists who have worked extensively in school settings and were themselves students, parents, and grandparents in independent schools. They bring humor and understanding as well as a firm set of guidelines to help schools set appropriate limits with parents, train faculty and administrators to work productively with parents, and best include clear and mission-driven language in handbooks and enrollment contracts. New teachers, especially, will find this book helpful when confronted with parents who question their authority and make inappropriate demands. These authors also take a larger look at our current moment and help to surface some of the reasons why parent-school interactions seem particularly fraught and challenging. Schools that want to proactively work to address problematic aspects of their parent culture will find this quick read invaluable and timely.

Submitted by
Stephanie Lipkowitz, Albuquerque Academy, Albuquerque, NM
Teaching Practice
Leadership Practice
Book

Captivating Boredom

Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom by James Danckert and John D. Eastwood
Harvard University Press, June 1, 2020

Boredom has had us in its grasp recently in ways that are both familiar and new. That the subject has long been the focus of research may be of particular interest to educators, many of whom have heard the word “bored” often, sometimes from students and sometimes from deep inside our own minds as we contemplate another curriculum renewal plan or next steps. Authors Danckert and Eastwood have used brain and social research into the state of boredom to recast our view of it through a lens of possibility, both positive and negative. It is easy to accept the findings that creativity and the seeds of change can find impetus in boredom, legitimizing its role in our lives, but the authors also make the case that unrecognized or unaddressed boredom can lead to a failure to launch our best thinking or to maintain constructive agency over our actions. What to do about boredom is summed up in a call to use it to create meaning. For teachers and parents, this means prioritizing the development of children’s intrinsic motivation, seeing and encouraging students’ longing for meaning, and ensuring that wellness strategies are part of the relationships the child has with school and learning. Helpfully, the book avoids the easy paths when discussing boredom. In the process, it makes of boredom a captivating, sometimes humorous, often profound argument for understanding it better and seeing with useful clarity both its human potential and pitfalls.

Submitted by
Elizabeth Morley, Dr. Eric Jackman Lab School, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Creativity
Technology
Book

Unlike Simple Viruses

Change: How to Make Big Things Happen by Damon Centola
Little, Brown, January 1, 2021

In Change: How to Make Big Things Happen, Damon Centola debunks what he calls the “myth of the influencer,” that special and connected person who is thought to amplify social trends. The book elevates instead the many unknown and unnamed people on the periphery of so-called social networks. Centola’s argument hinges on social media data demonstrating that today’s best-known influencers actually just adopt what has already reached a critical mass of acceptance along social media feeds. This argument underpins Centola’s assertion that social change is not the result of a few influential people spreading certain ideas to the masses like simple viruses but instead, the masses spreading certain ideas along a continuum of what he calls “complex contagion” that ultimately and inevitably trickles up. Using historical examples of widespread and significant social change including the American Civil Rights Movement and the Arab Spring, Centola illustrates the influence of social networks propelling individual actors to align along specific and public behaviors and beliefs, signaling to leaders which change initiatives to promote. Centola’s theories push educators to reconsider the role of the leader in bringing about reform and point to the power that collaborative groups, such as students and teachers, possess when they signal to each other across their social networks. His research suggests that due to the centrality of social media today, leader-driven change initiatives that are not already known and somewhat or wholly accepted by those historically on the periphery of power are unlikely to catch on.

Submitted by
Jessica Flaxman, 120 Education Consultancy, Belmont, MA
Leadership Practice
Book

Good Decisions about Decisions

In his new book What If I'm Wrong? and Other Key Questions for Decisive School Leadership, Simon Rodberg deconstructs the decision-making process and synthesizes relevant cognitive science research into a five-question framework. His work will help school leaders, known to face hard decisions constantly, to spot decision-making errors and to understand the extent to which biased decisions disrupt the alignment between their school's mission and operation. What’s more, this book will help leaders build the habit of strategic decision-making, so that it becomes subconscious and automatic, particularly during urgent situations. Mistakes are often inevitable, and it is crucial to approach them through the lens of an opportunity for learning. Rodberg encourages leaders to reflect on their own thinking and also highlights the aspect of collective responsibility for decision-making in teams. While reflecting on decision-making practices, leaders can and should adopt a more strategic and systematic approach, and in the process, challenge their initial assumptions on the way to fresh perspectives.

Submitted by
Aaliyah Zeng, Ed.M. Candidate, Klingenstein Center, New York, NY
Leadership Practice
Video

Curiosity Over Clash

How to have constructive conversations by Julia Dhar
March 1, 2021

In a time of great political, social, and cultural divisiveness, how can we in fact have productive conversations? In her TED Salon talk entitled “How to have constructive conversations,” Julia Dhar, a world debate champion, challenges the listener to consider the ways in which centering the progress of conversation over the pursuit of victory leads to sustainable construction within a conversation. Primarily using the personal narrative of observing her Australian father’s nature while navigating life in the United States, Dhar presents three functional habits of mind in order to facilitate constructive conversations: choosing curiosity over clash, understanding that conversation is a climbing wall and not a cage fight, and knowing that progress can be made over time when anchored in the purpose of the conversation. Dhar reminds the listener that constructive conversations are not “one-shot” deals; instead, they are opportunities to listen, take perspective, adapt practice, and ultimately learn with others. This TED Talk offers the listener the opportunity to reflect while juxtaposing key strategies to enact curious conversations that ultimately bend the arc of the work of educators and leaders toward progressive conversation.

Submitted by
Ronald Taylor, Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY
Psychology & Human Development
Leadership Practice
Book

Launchpad to Imagination

The Optimist's Telescope, Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age by Bina Venkataraman
Riverhead Books, August 27, 2019

For a book that is not explicitly focused on education or K-12 schooling, Bina Venkataraman’s The Optimist’s Telescope is a provocative and refreshingly pragmatic read for educators, especially set against the context of the pandemic and its impact on planning and decision-making. Venkataraman’s argument is both direct and familiar – as a culture and society, we gravitate toward instant gratification and have forgotten how to make decisions that live beyond us and serve generations to come. Early in the book she alludes to a visit to a Quaker school, marvels at its counter-cultural environment, and then goes on to say, “We need to cultivate more environments that make it possible for us to think ahead – and especially, I believe, secular space where people without identical belief systems can practice patience together.” Both provocative and refreshing, Venkataraman uses professional poker, real estate development, and the San Antonio Spurs to demonstrate the dangers of quick fixes and the virtues of foresight. Never preachy, she artfully distills these stories and anecdotes at the book’s conclusion and offers some strategies and mindsets that are applicable to schools, corporations, or local governments. As we close this unimaginable school year, we might very well use this book as a summer read and as a launching pad to imagine much differently the next 15 years of K-12 schooling.

Submitted by
Ted Graf, Headwaters School, Austin, TX
Leadership Practice