A Book Review: Onward; Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators

I just finished reading Onward; Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar. I believe this is a topic that is important and deserves to have many conversations around both for educators and our students. I appreciate Elena's honesty, storytelling, questions, implications for leaders, and desire to help educators (and the whole learning organization) THRIVE.

I love how she set up and divided the book into 12 chapters and related them to a month of the year and correlates the topic with what is going on in the realm of schools and the lives of educators. It may be more manageable to read one chapter a month throughout the school year. I will definitely be revisiting each chapter throughout the year. Elena understands firsthand how many educators feel, our challenges, and gives practical ways that can help make big changes in how we respond to situations and become more RESILENT, the main theme throughout her book.

Even though Elena does not mention spirituality until the very last chapter, but I was able to relate most of her habits to my faith and scripture which help me make connections and helped the information stick with me. Her book is packed full of research, stories, and examples.  I enjoyed learning and thinking more about how to handle my emotions and help others do the same. 

Here are my take aways from each chapter. There is so much more in each chapter that require deep thinking and conversations. 

This is my first time to attempt digital sketch notes. So, I'm taking a risk and sharing them with you. I had a lot of fun making them and was able to express creativity, so I'm well on my way with habit #10 :)!

Intro:

Chapters 1&2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Elena also has a workbook available and her website is full of additional resources on each habit. Make sure to check it out! Let me know if you have read Onward, I'd love to chat with you!