Joyful Resilience as Educational Practice

Reviews / Votes

Teachers know the difficulties inherent in their profession, we live them daily. Hughes and Badley describe this book as a love letter for the difficulties and the joyful moments of teaching. Indeed, this is a letter of love to our labor of love as teachers. This volume brings together a wide assembly of educators whose stories will inspire and challenge teachers while revealing the joy of teaching. Each chapter describes the work of teaching as immensely challenging and rewarding. Teachers do find hope in the struggle. This book affirms that reality and invites the reader into a community of hope, not in avoiding the struggle, but in recognizing the challenges and accepting the realities while flourishing in the midst of it all.

Scot Headley

Professor of Educational Leadership

George Fox University

Newberg, Oregon

This is an inspiring collection, full of the joy that its title promises. Hughes and Badley have assembled these essays as a "love letter" to teachers at a time when so many pressures can drain educators' energies or ideals. Quite admirably, the writers face the current challenges squarely, but they avoid overworn platitudes and offer a valuable blend of seasoned wisdom and recent research to help teachers renew their spirits and their strategies. There are some rousing words here, yet the writers also respect that teachers are at their core learners themselves and will welcome new ideas to revitalize their craft. They will find all that in this thoughtful panorama.

Mark Sargent

Former Provost, Westmont and Gordon Colleges

Santa Barbara, California

For teachers who have become dismayed by the myriad of challenges encountered in education, Joyful Resilience in Educational Practice will lift their souls. The authors have thoughtfully reframed the deficit model of teaching to reveal how the great rewards of the profession are most often hidden within the challenges. This insightful compilation is the perfect gift to inspire and encourage your favorite teachers!

Stella Erbes

Divisional Dean, Humanities & Teacher Education

Associate Professor, Teacher Education

Pepperdine University

Malibu, California

Not since Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach has there been such an inspirational book on teaching as a calling. Authors in this book describe the positive energy they experience when they resolve challenges with attention to the animating forces that first drew them to the profession.

Jodi Nickel

Past-President, Canadian Association for Teacher Education

Professor, Mount Royal University

Calgary, Alberta

I very much appreciate the heart and the expertise of the editors and chapter authors of Joyful Resilience. Many of us who have been involved in education for more than just a few years are very concerned about its direction, especially as it relates to the life (or lack of it) of the teacher. This book includes many personal accounts from those who are obviously passionate about the education enterprise and the future of education. The result is a hopeful volume that not so much prescribes as encourages, providing timely inspiration and refreshment for its readers.

Paul Shotsberger

Professor of Graduate Faculty at Southern Wesleyan University

Central, South Carolina

In the midst of a global pandemic, Joyful Resilience as Educational Practice, challenges teachers, who operate in one of the most difficult professions even in the best of times, that joy and resilience are matters of choice. This collection of essays from a wide range of experienced professionals at all levels of the teaching profession, explores the rich treasure of resources for self-renewing flourishing that surrounds them in their daily work if they only have eyes to see, and the courageous discipline to receive them as gifts.

Shirley A. Mullen

President and Professor of History

Houghton College

Houghton, New York