Book Review: Awakened (Angela Watson)

(Disclosure: I helped informally design the front cover.  But I promise that I have no financial interest)

I'm not a fan of self-help books.  I can't take the condescending, overly simplistic language or the algorithms designed to solve my personal problems. You can take your seven habits.  I'd rather not be an addict, even if it makes me a highly effective person. It was surprising, then, that I found myself enjoying a book that might fit into the self-help category.

Angela Watson's Awakened: Change Your Mind to Transform Your Teaching is different than most practical education books in a few ways.  First, the tone is humble rather than condescending.  Angela is vulnerable in the way she shares her own story (my favorite is a section on the need for forgiveness). I've met her in person at ISTE and I can honestly say that her humble voice is true in person as well.

In addition, I found the topics to be much more relevant and philosophical than other teacher education books.  Awakened tackles the bigger issue in teacher burnout: our mindset.  Instead of saying, "just breath deeply and eat salad," Angela delves into conflict, expectations and other topics that I never heard about from my pre-service professors. I love the notion that the way we think about our teaching profession, beliefs, and identity shape the way we handle stress in this profession. I see it as a very relevant read for teachers.

While the book remains practical and well-organized, the ideas flow easily from one area to another, making it a quick read, but also one that will lead to deep thinking. In fact, when I first started reading it, I had the paradigm of "let's see which teachers would enjoy this book" and quickly shifted to, "holy crap, this book is for me . . . and I'm not even a super-stressed-out guy."