In a world that judges teachers by appearances and scores, this book is about finding a healthier and more meaningful way to relate to ourselves, our students and our profession.

In a world where students are often seen as test scores and not as human beings, where their well-being is challenged by poverty, intolerance, and bullying, and where technological innovations frequently erode genuine personal contact, compassionate teachers are needed more than ever. Teaching with Compassion offers practical tools and strategies designed to help educators foster a culture of care and compassion. Organized around an eight-point “Teaching with Compassion Oath,” this book draws on real life examples and exercises to demonstrate the power and potential of teaching from the heart. Written for both experienced and novice educators alike, Teaching with Compassion is sure to stimulate inquiry and provide ongoing inspiration.

Ask any teacher why they went into teaching, and they'll invariably refer to students or their subject. Yet, modern educators are faced with a dilemma: the industry judges us primarily on outcomes, offering the justification that grades improve life chances. Grades improve life chances as much as money buys happiness: it's no more than a prop or a poor substitute. Unless the profession starts to get to the heart of its reason for being, we might as well all pack up and go home. Education has a problem with its `why,' and unless it starts to encourage and insist its stakeholders start to improve their understanding of why compassion and relationships should be at the heart of everything we do, the same familiar cyclical mistakes will continue to be made, and all of those lovely things that we say we do in modern education such as improving life chances, creating citizens of the future and shaping young minds will be no more than an accidental and indirect by-product of time spent in our educational establishments.

Already Ready For What Will Come - SEL For A Culture Of Care Is your school prepared to care for all of the students, staff, and families in your community? Sadly, your school might be the only point of care for many. Be already ready--Establish a compassionate cultural foundation for strong relationships and holistic skills to weather stress, trauma, and promote well-being for your entire school population. Help your school or district use available resources to create a compassionate culture of justice and care for all by leaning into this book’s approach to leadership and social emotional learning. Discover a collaborative visioning process to elevate compassion through dialogue, policies, and protocol. Readers will find: Practical strategies for working with parents and communities Activities for the whole school An implementation framework for elementary, middle, and high school Deeper understanding of trauma, ACEs, and mental health concerns Support for teachers’ mental health What not to do – practices that don’t work, and why In-depth case studies and vignettes Read this and usher in transformational and compassionate change that may be the difference in whatever today, tomorrow, or the next day may bring.

This book explores the importance of compassion and empathy within educational contexts. While compassion and empathy are widely recognised as key to living a happy and healthy life, there is little written about how these qualities can be taught to children and young people, or how teachers can model these traits in their own practice. This book shares several models of compassion and empathy that can be implemented in schooling contexts, also examining how these qualities are presented in children’s picture books, films and games. The editors and contributors share personal insights and practical approaches to improve both awareness and use of compassionate and empathetic approaches to others. This book will be of interest and value to all those interested in promoting compassion and empathy within education.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

This inspiring guidebook supports teachers seeking to create an emotionally safe learning environment where academic excellence thrives. In this first complete curriculum for teaching Nonviolent Communication (NVC) to elementary age students, lessons supply instruction for creating a community of reverence, self-awareness, and mindfulness. The relationship-centered classroom model aids in building trust, reducing conflict, improving cooperation, and maximizing the potential of each student. Specific tips for teaching nonviolent skill sets are provided, and educators are assisted in building connections among diverse populations, cultivating self-awareness, and rewarding reflective thinking. Customizable exercises, activities, charts and cutouts make it easy for educators to create lesson plans for a day, a week or an entire school year.

Teachers can’t add more minutes to a school day, but with mindfulness they can add depth to the moments they do have with students in their classroom. Compassionate Critical Thinking demonstrates how to use mindfulness with instructional effectiveness to increase student participation and decrease classroom stress, and it turns the act of teaching into a transformational practice. Many books teach mindfulness, but few provide a model for teaching critical thinking and integrating it across the curriculum. The purpose of this book is to show teachers how to create a classroom culture of compassionate critical thinking. When students feel a lack of meaning and purpose in their school lives, they resist learning. Using a Socratic style of inquiry, Rabois changes the classroom dynamic to encourage self-reflection, insight, and empathy. Vignettes capture dialogue between teacher and students to illustrate how mindfulness practices elicit essential questions which stimulate inquiry and direct discovery. What bigger mystery is there, what more interesting and relevant story, than the story of one’s own mind and heart and how they relate us to the world?

FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

With the ever-increasing diversity and social complexity in Canadian classrooms, teachers need to understand and respond to current social issues from a place of compassion. This insightful contributed volume brings together leading academics from across Canada to discuss the evolution of student populations in Canadian schools, exploring the social issues that affect students’ lived realities. Using a student-centred methodology, the authors examine a wide range of critical topics, including mental health, Indigenous education, queer education, racism, youth radicalization, disability, religious responsiveness, high-poverty schools, teacher-parent communication, English-language learners, and refugee student support. Readers learn how to navigate difficult situations in the classroom with empathy and a thoughtful, informed ethics of care, and to consider the distinct experiences and sociocultural realities that inform students’ actions. Encouraging critical reflection and a deeper understanding of diversity, The Compassionate Educator serves as a vital resource for students in teacher education programs and for practicing educators across Canada.