Having Heart: A Quick Book Recommendation

I have been reading over this interesting book by Timothy K. Kanold called 

Heart!: Fully Forming Your Professional Life As a Teacher and Leader and I wanted to share a couple of things that stood out to me. 

The first chapter is all about happiness. What role does happiness play in our daily lives, what can we do to see the happiness around us, what happens when happiness is gone, and other ideas that we, as teachers, do not stop and think about as much as we should. Sometimes we are so focused on the happiness of our students, we forget to take a look at how we are feeling. 

As you read through the book, there are questions you are asked to consider and they write your thoughts down in the book. I like this because it is asking the reader to fully engage in the book and become part of the process. Each chapter has these spaces and it is wonderful to dive deep into a book and dive deep into your own psyche. 

Another interesting aspect of the book is the piece on Engagement. It asks people to be fully engaged in the moment, not engaged ahead. It was interesting to think about when I reflected on my engagement. Am I truly engaged in the moment or living in the next moment? Are the students fully engaged or are they preparing for something else? 

The book also touches on the energy aspect of engagement. A fully engaged person will be very tired in my experience. I had an amazing class the other day where kids were designing and students were discussing the novel and I was with them every step of the way and I was exhausted by the end of class. My full engagement leaves me a shell of human emotionally and physically. The reflection pieces in this chapter are perfect at getting to the core of your tiredness. 

There is so much more in the book and I would highly recommend picking it up. I'm very happy my friend shared a copy with me and I hope you will read it as well. You will not regret it. 

Hugs and High Fives!