Book Reviews by Barbara Boggs (Past President)
If you are feeling like your lessons are robotic or you just are not creative, then you need to read Wade and Hope King’s book, The Wild Card –7 Steps to an Educator’s Creative Breakthrough (2018). You will discover how to find your authentic self to bring your lessons to life. What is your authentic self? Close your eyes and think about what makes your heart happy. Do you love to sing, play an instrument, design, or paint? Think about where your talents lie. That is how you find your authentic self. Wade and Hope are masters at using their personal talents to create lessons that bring the excitement of learning into the classroom with high-quality instruction. Wade and Hope share personal stories of how they used their challenges to overcome insecurities and grow as educators who were willing to do whatever it took to create an environment that would be magical for their students. Learning was intense and rigorous, and their students could not wait to come to school each day just to see what was in store for them! Through the 7 Steps explained in the book –Awareness, Desire, Reflection, Engagement, Authenticity, Grit, and Persistence, you will be challenged, inspired, and eager to begin your own journey of breathing life and precision into your lessons for the purpose of student engagement, and learning!
31
THE WILD CARD –7 STEPS TO AN
EDUCATOR’S CREATIVE BREAKTHROUGH
by Hope & Wade King
Have you ever wished you were more creative… or that your students were more engaged in your lessons? The Wild Card is your step-by-step guide to experiencing a creative breakthrough in your classroom with your students. Even if you’ve never painted a portrait or written a poem, you can create unforgettable lessons that help your learners retain content.
In this book, Wade and Hope King show you how to draw on your authentic self—your past experiences, personality quirks, interests, hobbies, and strengths—to deliver your content creatively. The seven steps in The Wild Card will give you the knowledge and the confidence to bring creative teaching strategies into your classroom. You’ll learn...
* Why the deck is not stacked against you, no matter what kind of hand you’ve been dealt
* Why you should never listen to the Joker
* How to identify the “Ace up your sleeve” and use it to create classroom magic
* How to apply the “Rules of Rigor” in order to fuse creativity with learning
* How to become the Wild Card that changes the game for your students