Books/Discussion groups for Professional Learning

How People Learn

Back in Term 1, Nick did a session on professional learning and in Term 2 we asked who might be interested in getting a discussion group together to explore one of the books he recommended -- which is available free online.  (See the previous blog post on Discuss When? How People Learn.)  

Several of you did respond -- see this spreadsheet -- but I failed to follow up in helping groups to form. (Sorry!)  Anyone interested in picking up the project?

Wednesday Morning Book Share

I'm starting a weekly professional learning group next Wednesday, 7:15 am in the Think Tank of the secondary library.  The focus will be on books good for upper primary school and middle school students -- in alternating weeks.  

Bring 5 books to share and quickly book-talk.  

The first week we'll look at books for an upper primary school audience (Grades 3-5).  The following week will be for middle school (Grades 6-8).  And so on.  Everyone is welcome to attend any week.

The goal is to learn about books to recommend to students, for pleasure and/or curriculum connections.

Coffee (Starbucks, if all goes to plan) and croissants will be provided.

Questions?  Contact kda@uwcsea.edu.sg 

Book icon: Nathan Thomson, from The Noun Project

Beyond Mindset:  The Cultural Foundations of Learning:  East and West

A book Nick has recommended to everyone (and which we have multiple copies of) is Mindset by Carol Dweck. 

Click here for the website of the book.

In 2002 Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article for The New Yorker on "The Talent Myth", which features Dweck's work.  

We also have a book in the library called Talent is Over-Rated by Geoff Colvin.



 If you liked Mindset and want to think further, try this more academic text:  Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West (2012) by Jin Li, a professor of education at Brown University in the States.  

Several of us have read it and think it raises important issues for a Western-oriented school located in an Eastern culture.

From a review in PsycCRITIQUES (Jan 2013):

Jin Li has a refreshing outlook on the cultural foundations of learning, comparing Eastern with Western learners. She is an “insider” with a Chinese perspective who was educated in the West at the graduate level. In her book Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West, Li examines East Asian foundations of learning after her Western education impressed upon her to reject and question their very validity. Her emic perspective enables her to understand the nuances within an Asian perspective often missed by those coming from an etic or outsider perspective. In returning to her roots, she finds new complexity and value in East Asian foundations of learning and presents an important conceptual distinction between the Western mind model and the East Asian virtue model. At the core of the East Asian learner is the aim of “transforming oneself,” consistent with Confucian principles, whereas at the core of the Western learner is the aim of “learning to master the universe,” consistent with Socratic principles

A good chunk of the book is available for preview via Google Books -- click here.

And, yes, we have multiple copies in the library.


Remember, you can always check what books we have by searching the school catalog.  Start here:   catalog.uwcsea.edu.sg