Hearts and Minds Matter

Book excerpt: Hearts and Minds Matter: Creating Learning Environments Where All Students Belong is an invaluable resource for all educational stakeholders, including teachers, school administrators, classroom support personnel, students and parents. The work is based on the understanding that human potential, given the right learning conditions, is boundless. In it, authors Jackie Eldridge and Denise McLafferty explore the many positive and necessary attributes of inclusion. To maximize a child’s potential, they must feel they belong to, and are in, a predictable learning environment. Only through inclusion and the creation and sustainability of a safe community can children survive, thrive, and become resilient adults. Grounded in research on human needs and wants, emotional intelligence, brain-compatible learning, and resilience, Hearts and Minds Matter: Creating Learning Environments Where All Students Belong provides educators with the foundation necessary to understand the power of belonging in safe, inclusive classrooms. This work provides a balance of theory and practice, with a wide variety of engaging strategies, tactics, and skills that can be immediately incorporated into the classrooms of today. The approach allows students to maximize their academic and social-emotional skills with trust and confidence. People can and will make a difference in the world, given optimal circumstances. Hearts and Minds Matter: Creating Learning Environments Where All Students Belong is here to help you build and sustain these conditions.