The theme lately is nonfiction.
When I feel stress or pressure or like something is unknown, I read nonfiction. It's really hard to rate non-fiction. I liked all of these books equally. I also absolutely took my time with them so some I began over the summer and just finished in September.
When God Says Wait by Elizabeth Laing
This book is one I bought via Kindle in June, started it in July, and it took me a couple of months to finish it. It's kind of heavy and I needed to absorb as I went. I also more or less cried my way through it and you can't do that kind of reading every day. It's fantastically put together, in my opinion, as it gives a story from the Bible, the scripture, and then how the author related it to her own life.
This book is good for just about anyone; whether you're waiting for a partner, a job, a baby, an opportunity, ANYTHING really. This book will make you feel not quite so alone. While everyone's story is different and the author has certainly had a share of hardships (eh, we all have, right?), it's not like you'll feel that bad for her. But the book is pretty sound and solid in how it portrays the message she's trying to get across.
An example: I read a part of that insinuates (okay, tells) that you should not feel bitter about others. I rolled my eyes because I'm allowed to feel however I want to feel, right? The very next day, I was confronted with my bitterness head-on. I ignored it. I told Scott about it. He took the exact opposite approach to the situation and made me see, without even knowing he was doing it, how ridiculous I was being. I decided to go the other way and not be bitter and I felt SO much better after I took an actionable step in the opposite direction of bitter.
Vague, I know, but a lot of life's situations are hidden and vague unless we're looking for them to change us.
Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching by Angela Watson
I love Watson's podcast and website. The first book of hers that I read was Unshakeable and it was inspiring and helpful and gave me a lot to think about. This one was more in-depth and and focused on what I think and how that affects my outward decisions. A lot of it is basic psychology but I can see how it works to my advantage if I just think about things from a different angle. I would recommend this to any teacher. She has one more book, The Cornerstone, and I'm going to tackle that one next. It's her first and most well-known.
11 Happy Teacher Habits by Michael Linsin and
The Classroom Management Secret by Michael Linsin
I've found that I will read anything, listen to any podcast, absorb any possible information to get me somewhat happily heading back into the classroom each week. I decided, at some point last spring, to take control of what I would do this year. The farther I get into the year, the more I realize it will probably be my last year of teaching for awhile (at least in this state), so I am determined to do what I know to be best. These books, as well as the author's website, have been so helpful. My new coworker, a first-year teacher, is also reading them and he loves them too. If you are a teacher, I cannot recommend this kind of personal professional development enough.
And then, what I'm reading now...
Fall and winter makes me turn back to fiction, so I'm excited to find some recommendations on the link-up today!
Linking up with Steph and Jana!
