A fascinating behind-closed-doors look at the true-life experiences of an elementary school principal, based in Southern Ontario, Canada, and serving a student body of approximately 600 sometimes overwhelmingly-needy students.

An instructional leadership champion, longing to support widespread changes in teaching practices that will facilitate critical thinking, interactive learning, and a new student-driven learning experience, as the author begins the year at the helm of a new school, she chronicles her challenges, experiences, crises and successes, - on the way, “for the love of learning”, to a new beginning.

Her journey, perhaps unsurprisingly after all, is as captivating, inspirational and sometimes heartbreaking as any story centering on the practical realities of educational policy and outcomes would be expected to be, partitcularly when looking at the author’s own incredibly culturally-diverse student base, peppered with a large contingent of students with special needs, including those struggling with emotional challenges.

With infinite patience and a warmly compassionate (and always professional) approach, the author painstakingly builds relationships with the most visibly-suffering children, (allowing them to hide in cardboard forts constructed in her office, beat her at backgammon, drink tea, hear stories, and color with markers) as well as those entering their teenage years - many of whom just want an opportunity to bond, to feel safe, and to know someone is there to be counted on.

Part “Mom”, part counselor, and all compassionate professional, it is these relationships, and the genuine need to support and nurture a safe and happy learning experience that the author must fall back on, as she is faced with sixty-hour work weeks in a highly unionized environment, teeming with never-ending administrative duties, and insufferable bureaucracy, which cannot help but raise an acknowledged sense of loneliness, and ultimately, hidden but persistent fears of ineffectiveness.

Forced to manage mediocrity as well as excellence in the teaching staff, the author finds herself drawing the line at allowing for blatant disdainful incompetence, choosing to focusing her efforts on the big important (and all interrelated) questions, including:

What makes a good teacher?

How to foster “best-teacher-ever” feeling?

How to develop a passion for learning? (In both teachers and students)

How to facilitate students doing more work, teachers doing less lecturing?

I enjoyed this story tremendously, rich with professional and personal insights every parent of school-age children (or indeed, anyone interested in educational policy or people) will find difficult to put down.

A great big thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

What a stellar read! I read this book in two days and was so happy to be back in school while at the same time getting a new perspective from the eyes of a principal.

The book is divided into four sections – one for each of the seasons. I did not grow up in Canada and that always makes books about here fascinating to me. I am trying to glimpse ideas for the future I will have with my kids while trying to understand the profession of many of my close friends. Kristin is an elementary school principal and she balanced the demands of the job with her personal life very well.

The kids that become important to Kristin over the course of the book became very dear to me too. Having been a student teacher in a classroom, it was easy to fall back into those routines, and at the same time, imagine the trajectory of my career if I had had a mentor teacher like Kristin. Reading her perspective on education, funding, teacher and parental support was refreshing and offered a broader view on the school system than I had ever had. The challenges to education with covid were also mentioned towards the end of the book. I experienced the joy of first day of school as well as the new hopes and sadness of the last day.

This is a book I would go back to. Anyone with the love for learning and even a single fond memories of school will love this book. If you have worked in the education section, I’m sure you’ll experience all the ups and downs with Kristin as the school year progresses.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me a review copy of this book. This review was first posted on Armed with A Book.

“Schools need to be places where the love of learning is at the core”. - Kristin Phillips.

I just finished reading For The Love of Learning by Kristin Phillips. This book will be published August 16th, 2022.

Overview:
Children spend most of their waking hours in school, exploring boundaries, forming important relationships, and of course, learning. But as you step into the unique vantage of the principal’s office, you experience first-hand the wide range of characters, efforts, and decisions that ensure all students thrive.

Kristin Phillips takes us through a school year, from the excitement of fall, through the long days of winter, and into the renewed energy that comes with spring. Through her eyes, we experience the increasingly complex education system: students with unique learning needs, teachers bringing their practice into the 21st century, and the parent-partners who have entrusted their children to the school system.

As an educator working with different principals it was really interesting to see the way others interact with their staff. It is always good to be put into a reflective practice and I feel like Kristin did that. It was interesting to read the different situations Kristin presents in this book, and how the situations are dealt with differently depending on the student and the staff. I think that this is something everyone in the education world can read and relate to. But beyond that you can look at learning in new and unique ways.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I was eager to get an insider's perspective on the challenges in the public education system and this was a good overview. It was particularly interesting to learn how difficult it is to terminate a teacher that is failing at his job. Kristin Phillips has a very thoughtful and experienced perspective. She also wove in her personal story including her daughter's struggles with mental health and I actually found this to be the most compelling part of the book. The epilogue also touched on the unique struggles of the Covid-19 pandemic and I think this would make a very interesting book on its own.

Kristin Phillips is such an inspiring human. I enjoyed reading her story of her first year as a principal as well as dealing with her fresh divorce.

Her daughter is also having mental health issues and the way the author is able to navigate life with everything being thrown her way was emotional and inspiring.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!