I just received a notice about a new book, Ecoliterate, co-authored by Lisa Bennett and Zenobia Barlow from Center for Ecoliteracy and Daniel Goleman. Seems timely. I wrote last week about literally bumping into Howard Gardner while I was writing a piece on constructivist theory and sustainability for Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in St. Louis. Ecoliterate comes with high praise from Howard Gardner.
The new book brings theory, practice and twenty-first century skills together and I can't wait to read it. It will be released next month and "has received early praise from Sir Ken Robinson ("powerful and persuasive"), Linda Darling-Hammond ("practical and inspirational"), and Howard Gardner ("vivid and compelling")."
To quote the announcement...Building on the success of emotional and social learning, Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence, offers a new integration of these three intelligences that advances academic achievement, fosters resilience, and helps schools play a vital role in protecting the natural world...Ecoliterate presents stories of innovative educators, activists, and students from across the nation; a comprehensive professional development guide; and the five practices of emotionally and socially engaged ecoliteracy. We invite you to pre-order your copy today at Amazon.com.
This book takes Howard Gardner's foundational work in Multiple Intelligences and Daniel Goleman's research and writing in the domain of social and emotional intelligence and builds on it. At the same time, this book takes a leap into new territory. From looking at the preview material at Amazon.com, I was struck by the title of the Introduction: From Breakdown to Breakthrough. Here the authors write about instability in systems, any systems, as a time for new creativity and unexpected breakthroughs. They write, "In these times of instability-in our schools, our nation, and our biosphere-this book reflects our core belief that educators are ideally situated to lead a breakthrough to a new and enlivening ecological sensibility for the twenty-first Century."
This core belief drives our work at Cadwell Collaborative and inspires us as well as the educators with whom we work. It looks as if this book will be a must read for all of us. Thank you Center for Ecoliteracy and Daniel Goleman.
