Discover how to create a sense of belonging and connection for your immigrant and refugee students. This timely book, written by four award-winning teachers, offers compelling stories and practical applications to help you reach your students in the classroom and beyond. Topics covered include advocacy, using literacy to create a welcoming environment, connecting with families, building staff capacity and best practices for virtual learning. You’ll also find easy-to-implement lesson plans, as well as reflection questions throughout to help you on your journey. Appropriate for K-12 teachers, English Learner specialists and school leaders, this inspiring and useful book will help you make the necessary changes to create more positive outcomes for your immigrant students.
Can a sense of belonging increase life satisfaction? Why do we sometimes feel lonely? How can we sustain lasting human connections? The Psychology of Belonging explores why feeling like we belong is so important throughout our lives, from childhood to old age, irrespective of culture, race or geography. With its virtues and shortcomings, belonging to groups such as families, social groups, schools, workplaces and communities is fundamental to our identity and wellbeing, even in a time when technology has changed the way we connect with each other. In a world where loneliness and social isolation is on the rise, The Psychology of Belonging shows how meaningful connections can build a sense of belonging for all of us.
The author, a teacher, meets with her third grade students each week to discuss with them their issues with their classmates, whom they have complained about. The verbatim account of these discussions & the growth in understanding of each other is moving as they learn to live together.
A big, ugly fish has trouble making the friends he longs for because of his appearance--until the day his scary appearance saves them all from a fisherman's net.
A practical, illustrated guide to using the tools of design to create feelings of inclusion, collaboration, and respect in groups of any type or size—a classroom, a work team, an international organization—from Stanford University's d.school. “This is a beautiful book. Wise has applied the gift and imagination and lenses of the d.school to one of our most precious questions: how to create belonging.”—Priya Parker, author of the Art of Gathering and host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart Belonging brings out the best in everyone. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcomed, included, and valued for who they are. The good news is that you can use design to create feelings of inclusion in your organization: rituals that bring people together, spaces that promote calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, systems that make people feel respected, and more. You can’t force feelings, but in Design for Belonging, author and educator Susie Wise explains how to use simple levers of design to set the stage for belonging to emerge. For example, add moveable furniture to a meeting space to customize for your group size; switch up the role of group leader regularly to increase visibility for everyone; or create a special ritual for people joining or leaving your organization to welcome fresh perspectives and honor work well done. Inspiration and stories from leaders and scholars are paired with frameworks, tools, and tips, providing an opportunity to try on different approaches. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to spot where a greater sense of belonging is needed and actively shape your world to cultivate it—whether it’s a party, a high-stakes meeting, or a new national organization.
Create a Culture of Belonging! Strong cultures help people support one another, share their passions, and achieve big goals. And such cultures of belonging aren't just happy accidents - they can be purposefully cultivated, whether they're in a company, a faith institution or among friends and enthusiasts. Drawing on 3,000 years of history and his personal experience, Charles Vogl lays out seven time-tested principles for growing enduring, effective and connected communities. He provides hands-on tools for creatively adapting these principles to any group—formal or informal, mission driven or social, physical or virtual. This book is a guide for leaders seeking to build a vibrant, living culture that will enrich lives. Winner of the Nautilus Silver Book Award in the Business and Leadership Category.
This book explores how belonging differs based on students’ social identities, such as race, gender, sexual orientation, or the conditions they encounter on campus. Belonging—with peers, in the classroom, or on campus—is a critical dimension of success at college. It can affect a student’s degree of academic adjustment, achievement, aspirations, or even whether a student stays in school. The 2nd Edition of College Students’ Sense of Belonging explores student sub-populations and campus environments, offering readers updated information about sense of belonging, how it develops for students, and a conceptual model for helping students belong and thrive. Underpinned by theory and research and offering practical guidelines for improving educational environments and policies, this book is an important resource for higher education and student affairs professionals, scholars, and graduate students interested in students’ success. New to this second edition: A refined theory of college students’ sense of belonging and review of current literature in light of new and emerging theories; Expanded best practices related to fostering sense of belonging in classrooms, clubs, residence halls, and other contexts; Updated research and insights for new student populations such as youth formerly in foster care, formerly incarcerated adults, and homeless students; Coverage on a broad range of topics since the first edition of this book, including cultural navigation, academic spotting, and the "shared faith" element of belonging.
A compelling and practical guide, tailored to help you achieve balance, fulfillment, and joy in your professional life. The Secrets to Happiness at Work book brings together proven strategies from positive psychology, mindfulness, and personal growth to transform your work experience. Dr. Tracy Brower, PhD, MM, MCRw is a sociologist and an award-winning speaker and has over 25 years of experience working with global clients to achieve business results. Her work has been featured in TEDx, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Fortune.com. Within the pages of this transformative guide, you will discover: Key principles of positive psychology to help you improve job satisfaction Practical mindfulness techniques to reduce stress and improve focus Personal growth strategies to unlock your potential and improve performance Tips on achieving work-life balance to enhance overall well-being Insights on fostering a positive work culture and nurturing professional relationships This guide is not just for those feeling dissatisfied in their current position, but for anyone seeking to boost their happiness at work. From managers aiming to improve workplace morale, to individuals seeking personal growth and satisfaction, The Secrets to Happiness at Work is an invaluable tool for creating a more positive and productive professional life. An ideal read for career coaches, HR professionals, corporate trainers, or anyone looking to improve their work life.
Clear, actionable steps for you to build new values, experiences, and perspectives into your organizational culture, infusing it with the diversity, inclusion, and belonging employees need to feel accepted, be their best selves, and do their best work. Bypass the faulty processes and communication styles that make change impossible in so many other organizations; access these practical tools and ideas for increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in your company. Filled with actionable advice Alida Miranda-Wolff learned through her own struggles being an outsider in a work culture that did not value inclusion, and having since worked with over 60 organizations to prioritize DEI initiatives and all the value and richness it adds to the workplace, this roadmap helps leaders: Learn why creating an environment where everyone feels belonging is the new barometer for employee engagement. Develop an understanding of the key terms around DEI and why they matter. Assess where your organization is today. Define and take the small steps that build new muscle memory into an organizational culture. Increase employee engagement, collaboration, innovation, communication, and sense of belonging. Build confidence in how to solve future DEI-related challenges. Get buy-in from colleagues (and even resisters) who can clearly see how to move forward and why. Overcome any limiting work environment and build all new processes and communication priorities that allow your employees to be a part of something greater than themselves while your organization learns to value and embrace the unique experiences and perspective that each employee brings to the company.
Most of our communities are fragmented and at odds within themselves. Businesses, social services, education, and health care each live within their own worlds. The same is true of individual citizens, who long for connection but end up marginalized, their gifts overlooked, their potential contributions lost. What keeps this from changing is that we are trapped in an old and tired conversation about who we are. If this narrative does not shift, we will never truly create a common future and work toward it together. What Peter Block provides in this inspiring new book is an exploration of the exact way community can emerge from fragmentation. How is community built? How does the transformation occur? What fundamental shifts are involved? What can individuals and formal leaders do to create a place they want to inhabit? We know what healthy communities look like—there are many success stories out there. The challenge is how to create one in our own place. Block helps us see how we can change the existing context of community from one of deficiencies, interests, and entitlement to one of possibility, generosity, and gifts. Questions are more important than answers in this effort, which means leadership is not a matter of style or vision but is about getting the right people together in the right way: convening is a more critical skill than commanding. As he explores the nature of community and the dynamics of transformation, Block outlines six kinds of conversation that will create communal accountability and commitment and describes how we can design physical spaces and structures that will themselves foster a sense of belonging. In Community, Peter Block explores a way of thinking about our places that creates an opening for authentic communities to exist and details what each of us can do to make that happen.
