Caring Enough to Lead : Schools and the Sacred Trust

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Summary: Caring Enough to Lead
Review: This book is very appropriate as a soul-searching vehicle for personal and group reflections on educational leadership issues. The questions which were the chapter titles, were simple, but truly challenging. In selecting any one of the questions to respond to, one would need to dig down deep to answer truthfully. The questions give you a point reference for reflective conversations or thoughts. The flow of the questions, along with its readings, is gentle enough so that the average person would not take offense, yet strong enough to be a catalyst to promote self-evaluation. Almost all of the chapters spoke to me personally in a most powerful way! They caused me to think of the situations I am in or have been in during my career as an educator. With this in mind, I could easily say "Ouch!" or "So that's what I was feeling!" as I read each chapter. At this point in my life, the most meaningful chapters for me were Chapters 16 and 17. I think the bottom line of our schools not being as successful as they could and should be is a matter of us all caring enough to create a shared vision from our hearts for all students to be successful.

Rating:
Summary: Caring Enough to Lead
Review: This book, written by an education professor, should be required reading for everyone in the field of education. It is a very readable challenge to educators to reflect on their beliefs, practices, and reasons for becoming an educator. While reading the book, I highlighted many passages in order to come back to them and to share them with colleagues in the future. In reflecting on a career in education, the book helped reaffirm my belief that it is important to care about others and pointed out the fact that it is important to care about yourself also. This is a book that educators and leaders can read without feeling burdened with a lot of theory or extra rhetoric. The entire book can be read at one time or it can be read in small segments. It is a book that causes soul-searching and one that should be in every professional library.