Ensouling Our Schools: A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health, Well-Being and Reconciliation is one of the titles in the Portage and Main Series, Teaching to Diversity. This professional teacher resource is aimed at Teaching Staff & Professional Development Teams. The 260-page book is divided into two parts: “Part I: Ensouled Learning Communities: Finding Meaning and Purpose in Schools and Schooling” and “Part II: How to Build Flourishing Communities”. Chapter 3 provides a clear overview of the history of Treaties, the Indian Act, the abuses of the residential school system, and the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Part I is the more theoretical of the two; it explores the concept of ensouled schools and inclusive education, with a strong focus on the mental health, emotional and social well-being of children and adolescents. Part II focuses on how the concept is brought to fruition, through strategies, lesson plans and programming for students, as well as a chapter devoted to building a school staff culture which is supportive of inclusion. The authors propose a vision of schooling through “the Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning, the basic theories and values of inclusive education, social and emotional learning, and health-promoting schools. Part I of the book discusses four key issues: Spirit and Soul in Education; Neurology, Trauma, Well-being and Mental Health in Our Schools; the TRC and Indigenous Worldviews of Education for Well-Being, and Leadership for Inclusion and the Universal Design for Learning. This 260-page book 11 Appendices: “Resource Lists” (programs/resource kits, books on mental health for elementary and YA audiences, books about the TRC presented with grade level audiences, and books dealing with diversity, the environment, and social justice; “Multiple Intelligence Surveys” for early and middle years students and adolescents/adults ; information about the “Brain and the Senses”; a “Brain Unit Rubric”; “The Neuron”; “Emotional and Mental Health Words”;” Mental Illnesses”; “Warning Signs of a Mental Illness”; “Mental-Health Scenarios”; and “Rubrics for Treaty Education”. A comprehensive “Reference List” offers a source of the research articles which inform the writing of this book, and the “Index” makes for ready cross-reference to ideas and individuals whose work is presented. The book uses many diagrams, schematics and photos to illustrate a variety of frameworks, concepts, theories, and classroom outcomes. Recommended.
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