Wow! eBook
Embarrassment: And the Emotional Underlife of Learning
Author(s): Thomas Newkirk (Author)
- Publisher: HEINEMANN
- Publication Date: September 15, 2017
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 216 pages
- ISBN-10: 0325088772
- ISBN-13: 9780325088778
Book Description
“Why has no one written about this subject before? Every teacher should read this book.” Michael G. Thompson, coauthor of Raising Cain
Embarrassment. None of us escape it. Especially as kids, in school. How might our fear of failure, of not living up to expectations, be holding us back? How can our fear of embarrassment affect how we learn, how we teach, and how we live?
Tom Newkirk argues that this “emotional underlife,” this subterranean domain of emotion, failure, and embarrassment, keeps too many students and teachers silent, hesitant, and afraid. “I am absolutely convinced,” Tom writes, “that embarrassment is not only the true enemy of learning, but of so many other actions we could take to better ourselves.”
In this groundbreaking exploration, Newkirk offers practices and strategies that help kids and teachers alike develop a more resilient approach to embarrassment. “I contend that if we can take on a topic like embarrassment and shame, we can come to a richer, more honest, more enabling sense of who we are and what we can do,” he explains. “So let’s do battle. Let’s name and identify the enemy that can haunt our days, disturb our sleep, put barriers up to learning, and drain joy from our lives―and maybe we can also learn how to rearrange some things in our own head so that we can be more generous toward ourselves.”
Editorial Reviews
Review
“With humanity, vulnerability, and his trademark knack for storytelling, Tom does what Tom does best: presciently speak into the deepest needs of our profession. With stories and research ranging from sports to math class, medicine to English class, Tom pulls back the curtain on the shame that so often holds us back and explores how we can all learn to move forward in our classrooms, in our careers, and in our lives. We will all be quoting from this book for decades.”
—
“Why has no one written about this subject before? Every child in school suffers moments of embarrassment and shame, and most children will do everything in their power to avoid such exposure. In his wise and practical new book, Tom Newkirk mixes personal anecdote, research and the secrets of great teachers to help us understand how children can survive this painful underside to learning.”
—
“Once again, Tom Newkirk has opened the doors to truth, writing of the most vulnerable aspects of learning and teaching in personal, compassionate, and wise ways. He also offers myriad suggestions, such as ending the anxiety-producing timed practice, for how to make learning and teaching more humane for all.”
—
“In an era of neuro-scientific breakthroughs that some would use to reduce teaching and learning to mechanistic series of inputs and outputs, and in the face of a persistent and perverse fixation on test scores and metrics, Newkirk makes a powerful argument for attending to the human truths of teaching and learning. This will be a book I return to time and time again.”
—
“I found this book utterly un-put-downable. As a teacher, a human, a mother, and learner, it spoke to my heart and mind. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to keep humanity at the soul of their teaching. The world is better for this book and the gentle hands it teaches us to have with our students, colleagues, and children.”
—
“Thank goodness we have brave educators like Tom Newkirk to pave the way for conversations about shift-in-your-seat topics like embarrassment in school. Tom offers his own indelible stories of shame while inviting us to share ours, and gives us a language for helping our students name and own their vulnerability.”
—
About the Author
Thomas Newkirk is the bestselling author of Minds Made for Stories along with numerous other Heinemann titles, including Writing Unbound, Embarrassment, The Art of Slow Reading, The Performance of Self in Student Writing (winner of the NCTE’s David H. Russell Award), and Misreading Masculinity. He taught writing at the University of New Hampshire for thirty-nine years, and founded the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes, a summer program for teachers. In addition to working as a teacher, writer, and editor, he has served as the chair of his local school board for seven years.
