Summer Reading: Faculty & Staff

Hopes & Fears 
by Michael Thompson & Rob Evans

In Hopes and Fears: Working with Today's Independent School Parents, Michael Thompson and Robert Evans provide educators with practical strategies to build collaborative relationships with parents, addressing the challenges posed by heightened parental involvement and anxiety in independent schools.

Just Tell Them: The Power of Explanations and Explicit Teaching 
by Zach Groshell

In Just Tell Them, Groshell advocates for teachers to focus on clarity, deliberate instruction, and breaking down complex ideas into digestible steps, which helps to build a stronger foundation of understanding and promotes better retention and mastery of the content. The book stresses that explicit teaching is not about spoon-feeding but rather empowering students with the tools they need to grasp concepts deeply and confidently.

I Never Thought of It That Way 
by Mónica Guzmán

​In I Never Thought of It That Way, Mónica Guzmán explores how curiosity can bridge deep political and ideological divides, offering practical tools for engaging in meaningful conversations with people whose views differ from your own, promoting understanding and reducing polarization in a divided society.

Never Enough  
by Jennifer Breheny Wallace  

In the ever more competitive race to secure the best possible future, today’s students face unprecedented pressure to succeed. They jam-pack their schedules with AP classes, fill every waking hour with resume-padding activities, and even sabotage relationships with friends to “get ahead.” Family incomes and schedules are stretched to the breaking point by tutoring fees and athletic schedules. Yet this drive to optimize performance has only resulted in skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and even self-harm in America’s highest achieving schools. Parents, educators, and community leaders are facing the same quandary: how can we teach our kids to strive towards excellence without crushing them?

Troublemakers
by Carla Shalaby
A radical educator's paradigm-shifting inquiry into the accepted, normal demands of school, as illuminated by moving portraits of four young "problem children" In this dazzling debut, Carla Shalaby, a former elementary school teacher, explores the everyday lives of four young "troublemakers," challenging the ways we identify and understand so-called problem children.