Maria Spencer
What's on my bookshelf?
I'm an avid reader - and my reading serves two functions. I have my "get better at my job" books I listen to when I'm in the car, in the kitchen, or on a walk, and my "get better at decompressing" books that I read before bed.
Rudine Sims Bishop tells us that books are windows into other worlds, and when the lighting is just right, they can be mirrors. In my work, I seek out literature that offers both windows and mirrors, and I strive to ensure that our students are finding the same. Watch my presentation about the power of multicultural literature or scroll down for a list of what's on my bookshelf.
01
How to Raise a Feminist Son
This is my current read - I'm an audio book fan and I love that Sonora Jha does the reading herself. The perspective that she shares of feminism as an Indian woman is so very different than my experience as a White woman in America. Her words echo in my head as I speak with my husband and my four sons and walk the halls of our public schools.
02
Under Pressure
Lisa Damour reads this book, too, and I thought it was incredibly helpful. Some books can read like horror stories - with a tidbit of wisdom sprinkled in at the end - but Lisa Damour paints a vivid, accurate picture of the pressures our girls are facing today, interspersed with real, workable ways to talk to girls about these stresses.
03
The Deepest Well
Though I'd certainly seen the TEDTalk and done the research, listening to Burke Harris expanded my understanding of the science behind ACEs and left me better prepared to understand the experiences and physical reactions (often expressed in behavior) of the children in our schools.
04
Mindset
I read Mindset right before reading The Deepest Well, and it was very interesting to think about how a growth can build resilience. There's a TEDTalk on that, too, but reading the two books back to back really highlighted the connection and clarified the science behind why a growth mindset builds resilience, and what we as counselors can do to encourage a growth mindset.
05
Lost at School & Lost and Found
I've read both Lost at School and Lost and Found, and am so glad I have read both. I spent much of my time in Practicum working with students who have behavioral challenges, and Ross Greene's words informed my perspective and every conversation I had or overheard with a teacher, administrator, or parent. His mantra, children do well if they can, and also the idea of upstream and downstream problems, have shaped my practice in a way no other book about behaviors has.
06
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria
This book was my introduction to the idea of White identity. Like Tatum points out, members of the dominant culture often let their own identities go unexamined. Tatum's book opened a new chapter in my multicultural development, pointing me to my current path toward being a co-conspirator, not just an ally, as Bettina Love demanded in a speech I had the privilege to attend.
07
Naked Statistics
Though there were far too many baseball references (although I suppose I get why), Naked Statistics made the cut for me for favorites on my bookshelf because it gave me a humanizing, real-life-izing view of the statistics class I took as an undergrad, and turned out to give me a good foundation for using data in schools.
08
Weapons of Math Destruction
This was one of the books that my family couldn't wait for me to finish so I'd stop talking about it. In truth, though, my two teenagers were interested, too, and were as star struck as teenagers get when we saw Cathy O'Neil was interviewed in Social Dilemma. I found it so eye-opening and insightful - and frightening how we use data, that I talked of little else while I was reading the book. It was timely, too, as we were preparing to search for colleges for my oldest and O'Neil let me know that those Best Of rankings aren't all they're cracked up to be.
09
Living Untethered
This book has been tremendous for my self-care as I move through my internship and job search while still running my household and caring for my four children. Michael Singer explains how we can learn to live by the idea "don't take it personally" - a very valuable lesson when working with children in the school setting!
10
Subtle Acts of Exclusion
This is an in-progress book that I go back to between other books. It gets a bit into implementing practices into corporate workplaces, so not all of it is relevant to my practice, but most is easily transferrable to a school setting. Jana and Baran do the best job of explaining what a microaggression (mis-named, and in this book renamed a subtle act of exclusion) is, how to respond and promote understanding in the workplace, everyday life, and I translate that to schools.
11
How to Raise An Adult
This is a tough one for me - potential helicopter parent extraordinaire - to read. Sometimes the line between providing guidance to your children and living their life for them feels almost imperceptible. As a parent, I learned valuable lessons for myself, but it also speaks to the universality of the predicament of high-achieving parents and their children and helps develop my perspective and understanding as I work with parents as a counselor.