"For us, schooling is not just about developing individual children’s intellectual and social abilities. It’s also about expanding their moral development and building stronger communities."

Ten years ago, Peter Johnston and six colleagues embarked on a journey to discover how to design a classroom culture that thrives intellectually while being both socially and emotionally healthy. Engaging Literate Minds: Developing Children’s Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Lives is the culmination of their work and the stories of how their teaching has evolved by using Peter’s best-selling books Opening Minds and Choice Words.

The group collected their experiences and cast them into one voice to create this inspiring professional learning resource. Here is an excerpt from the book that gives readers a sense of the inspiration behind its creation and how it might encourage you and your colleagues to gather in a collective effort to make children’s (and your own) lives and futures brighter. Take a look!

"Relationships and communities evolve through heartfelt responses to stories." ~JoEllen McCarthy, Layers of Learning

What if we viewed every read aloud as an invitation to learn more about literacy and ourselves?

Kwame Alexander wrote, “If JoEllen McCarthy were a chef, then Layers of Learning would be her cookbook. These carefully selected recipes for read-alouds are inventive and engaging.” This friendly, hands-on book today is full of over 200 picture-book suggestions and practical strategies for incorporating social-emotional learning into your instruction using those books you read aloud every day. “Come on in her kitchen, the results are delicious.”