Sticky Notes by Matthew Eicheldinger

STICKY NOTES is from Matthew Eicheldinger, a middle school teacher and gifted storyteller. He subtitles his collection: “Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments.” And he offers insights for all of us, not just educators, although I did feel that he validated and evoked many of the varied feelings I had as a teacher. Eicheldinger’s short vignettes reminded me that we often have an impact on others that we may never realize.  A favorite was called “A Dance” about a young boy who is quite excited when his invitation is accepted, but young love runs its course and, saddened, he simply seeks quiet time and acceptance in Mr. Eicheldinger’s classroom during a free period. There are so many more that will inspire readers and touch their hearts. Eicheldinger has collated other stories online at Instagram and TikTok. He says, “empathy and compassion are what keep us grounded and connected” – so true.

Other Rivers by Peter Hessler

OTHER RIVERS by Peter Hessler is subtitled “A Chinese Education.” Hessler is a staff writer at the New Yorker and has written several other award-winning travel texts. He has lived and worked in China over many years and this text describes the changes he sees given the roughly twenty years which have passed between his initial time in Beijing (2000 to 2007) and time in Chengdu (2019 to 2021). OTHER RIVERS offers an insightful perspective on the lives of many of Hessler’s former and current students and there is much here about what he learned while teaching, too. Hessler is particularly effective in evoking emotion, partly due to the excerpts of student writings which he includes. COVID was active during his second stint in China and Hessler explores and relates the Chinese societal response, detailing the activities and restrictions in Wuhan, even his correspondence with a pharmacist there. OTHER RIVERS received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

Disillusioned by Benjamin Herold

Described as “a powerful account of the intersection of race, housing, education, and injustice in America,” DISILLUSIONED by Benjamin Herold is the product of four years of thoughtful research and writing. Herold is a prolific journalist with a master’s degree in urban education and he brings that expertise to a study of five families, the suburbs where they live, and their schools. They are geographically and, to some extent, culturally, diverse:  the Becker family from Lucas, Texas, Robinsons from Gwinnett, Georgia, Adesina family from Evanston, Illinois, Smiths from Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, and Hernandez family from Compton, California. However, Herold points to commonalities: the history of “white flight” and “red-lining” discrimination; the dreams and pursuit of a better life; and the more recent reality of high taxes and fragile infrastructures, with a special emphasis on school districts. He skillfully employs personal anecdotes as well as surprising statistics. For example, he notes that for suburbs “white people went from 79% of the population in 1990 to just 55% three decades later.” Those demographic shifts are also outlined in a 2022 report from The Brookings Institution. DISILLUSIONED received a starred review from Kirkus (“ambitious narrative about the simmering inequities in American suburbs”) and this title appeared on The Washington Post’s list of “10 noteworthy books for January.” Herold’s own essay in Kappan Online provides an overview. Interested readers may also wish to turn to Dream Town by Laura Meckler, The Injustice of Place, or even Our Hidden Conversations by Michele Norris.

Dream Town by Laura Meckler

DREAM TOWN by Laura Meckler has much to say about the local values and efforts to foster and maintain an integrated community in a Cleveland suburb throughout the twentieth century and more recently. Meckler, a writer for the Washington Post, recounts the “Quest for Racial Equity” by sharing stories and exploring the idea of “belonging.” She identifies essential questions like “How can and do people of different races live together? And what does it take to make diverse communities succeed?” In her conclusion, she writes, “Seven decades of experience show us that creating shared community is hard and takes constant commitment, constant work. The forces of systemic racism and white privilege, the tendency of the Black community to disengage, mistakes made by flawed human beings -- they are all real.” Honestly, the beginning of Meckler’s text is probably too focused on the local characters and history of Shaker Heights, Ohio, to hold the interest of our students, but there are numerous parallels to their experience on the North Shore near Chicago. Both students and faculty would likely relate to those she interviews, particularly student-teacher-administrative interactions like those described in the chapter on Olivia McDowell and Jody Podl. Excerpts from Meckler’s text would certainly prompt important discussions. Meckler, who spent five years interviewing more than two hundred and fifty people, includes a Note on Sources, a Selected Bibliography, an Index, and copious Notes (at least fifteen percent of the book). DREAM TOWN received a starred review from Booklist.

Outsmart Your Brain by Daniel T. Willingham

OUTSMART YOUR BRAIN by Daniel T. Willingham is subtitled “Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy” so he is primarily gearing this to young people and their teachers although any age could benefit from this advice. Willingham is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and has spoken previously at school Institute Days for professional development. In his latest work, he writes in a conversational tone that seems relevant and appropriate for teens and young adults. There is a section, for example, called Learning by Listening where he offers several tips (e.g., verbal and non-verbal clues about organization; or getting over reluctance to ask questions) to help capture and retain the deeper meaning of a lecture. That is a skill which high school and even college students often have difficulty mastering without frequent cues and practice. Each chapter also has a portion devoted to instructors with a bullet pointed summary (e.g., talk more slowly; signal when something should be written down). Other chapters deal with preparing for and taking exams, defeating procrastination, gaining self-confidence and coping with anxiety. Willingham stresses that “truly independent learners maintain a state of intellectual openness and curiosity …. which ultimately brings interest, enjoyment, and satisfaction.” Slightly less than ten percent of the book is devoted to bibliography.  Several unaffiliated workbooks already exist for this title, perhaps highlighting a need for the inclusion of some practical exercises and topic summaries for students. OUTSMART YOUR BRAIN received a starred review from Kirkus.

Study like a Champ (or not!)

STUDY LIKE A CHAMP by Regan A. R. Gurung and John Dunlosky is subtitled “The Psychology-Based Guide to ‘Grade A’ Study Habits.” And while the information might be helpful (more on that in a moment), the text fails to offer an attractive cover or a truly compelling message. The New York Times recently published a guest opinion piece by Jonathan Malesic which commented on how important the desire to learn truly is. Honestly, it seems rarer and rarer as students (and their parents) chase grades instead of learning for its own sake. Gurung and Dunlosky, psychology professors at Oregon State and Kent State, respectively, had an opportunity to address this trend and failed. 

They do cite work by John Hattie which reinforces the importance of self-motivation and the way in which a student approaches studying. However, STUDY LIKE A CHAMP itself is written as though the intended audience is other psychologists (maybe some teachers or education administrators would be curious, but even they would likely tire of slogging through this text). Even though Gurung and Dunlosky say “you” (seemingly addressing student readers) frequently, this manuscript is not geared to a middle or high school student. Explicitly modeling a poor writing style and dryly explaining metacognition or the cycle of self-regulation (in a figure without a memorable diagram) are not going to attract converts amongst the many students struggling with building better study skills. The authors need crisper language and at least some images to attract attention – the preview text references Table 1.1 (a summary of key skills?), but it is not provided. There is a Figure 1.1 and an Exhibit 1.1 which again gives a subtle clue as to how research oriented and unengaging this supposed study guide is. There are attempts to be helpful such as ending each chapter with a summary, plus flowery "key training tips" and "go for the gold with advanced reading." However, consider Chapter 2's suggestion: a thirty-four page scholarly article in the Journal of Educational Psychology. Really?!

We know (especially given disruptions driven by COVID) that students need help/guides/tools now more than ever. Other publishers (e.g., Adams Media, Crown, and DK) produce books on study skills (we also reviewed these), many of which have real-world contributions from educators. STUDY LIKE A CHAMP is a disappointment; even this short 2020 article, also published by the American Psychological Association, is a more accessible overview. Turn instead to Outsmart your Brain by Daniel Willingham (review forthcoming). 

The Stolen Year by Anya Kamenetz

I am surprised and disappointed at the initial very negative tone in THE STOLEN YEAR by Anya Kamenetz, a former education correspondent for NPR.  Although she subtitled the book “How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now,” she argues that the impact of COVID was that the “the 150-year-old social contract of public schooling in America – you must show up, we must educate you – was broken.” This feels like a well-known tale of woe (lost food service, no routine, limited social interaction) and only sporadic acknowledgement of what was accomplished (Zoom … “went from hosting ten million people daily in December 2019 to two hundred million in March 2020”). Kamenetz writes more about the 1930s Works Progress Administration than she does about state boards of education and local administrators, making little effort to hold them accountable even though they are the ones who kept moving goalposts (class length and daily schedules), who reduced rigor for millions of students (no grades and flexible deadlines) and did not do enough to actively encourage attendance (e.g., Los Angeles school district reported that on an average Spring day in 2020 “only about 36 percent of middle and high school students participated in online learning”). I have vivid memories of spending inordinate amounts of time tracking down students who simply did not do the work and who seemed to have no incentive to create a make-up plan. Teachers were expected to add this task to an already overflowing to do list where learning more effective and engaging use of new technology could have been a priority.

Kamenetz does describe events chronologically and that, along with the first person narratives she includes, will be helpful to future scholars (as will the notes section that comprises roughly twenty percent of the text). Citing alarming statistics from the APA, she also devotes an entire chapter to mental health, a critical aspect that continues to impact students. Again, there was very little central coordination – with over $200 billion allocated to schools from the Trump and Biden administrations, it seems like exemplary programs could have been identified and scaled up. In her concluding chapter, Kamenetz mentions some broader examples: MIT’s Justin Reich highlighting themes of “healing, community, and humanity;” Oakland Reach and its community activism; Guilford County, North Carolina’s increased graduation rate. She stresses patterns of strong relationships and student agency – elements of choice – in the curriculum. Ultimately, Kamenetz advocates for “the need to put children at the center of our decision making in a way we never have before in this country.” A laudable goal that requires a significant mindset shift. If we repeatedly could not put students first during the height of the pandemic, why think we are capable of doing so now?