‘Self Esteem: A Classroom Affair, 101* Ways to Help Children Like Themselves’ by Michele&Craig Borba

During two months of the summer

my students are on holidays,

so I am without

my many talented writers and artists

and their contributions to this blog

until September.

For this reason I have to

think of other kinds of posts.

On other blogs I have seen

teachers writing about books

that they have found useful in school.

This is a book that has influenced

my teaching:

IMG_0987

This is my well worn copy!

 

I bought ‘Self Esteem: A Classroom Affair,

101* Ways to Help Children Like Themselves’

by Michele and Craig Borba

in 1980, as a student teacher.

It was an unusual book for its time 

full of ideas for developing

a child’s self esteem.

At the time, it seems to me school

was much more about developing

a child academically;

their cognitive rather than

their ‘affective’ learning.

 

It was to be 1983 for example

before Howard Gardner published 

his theory of ‘multiple intelligences’. 

(Gardner, Howard (1983), 

Frames of Mind:

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences,

Basic Books, NY)

 

Gardner proposed that people do not

have just a intellectual ability, but have

many different intelligences

including intrapersonal

which would exist within the mind

and thus relate to the ‘affective’, 

to moods, feelings, and attitudes.

 

I feel this book

‘Self Esteem: A Classroom Affair’

was before its time, with contents like:

‘Teach Children to Praise Themselves’ and

‘Helping Children to See Their Progress.

 

I have used many

of the activities in this book

repeatedly over the course

of my teaching career.

Just in case I ever ran out of ideas

there was always Volume 2:

IMG_0988

It was in this book that I first learnt about

‘bibliotherapy’ i.e. the judicious use of books

as therapy for children.

 

In this modern age Dr. Michele Borba

is still dispensing ‘words of wisdom’.

You can read more of these here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *