This month, our Superintendent Dr. Meria J. Carstarphen encourages everyone across the District to read books that explore problem solving. Our social and emotional learning (SEL) books for the month of March are all written by Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize: Malala’s Magic Pencil for elementary readers, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) for middle school readers, and I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban for high school readers.
March: Perseverance
We set and achieve realistic goals, both immediate and long term, by maintaining our focus and using a growth mindset.
Book Summaries
- Malala’s Magic Pencil (elementary school readers) – As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. Malala saw a world that needed fixing. This beautifully illustrated volume tells Malala’s story for a younger audience and shows them the world view that allowed Malala to hold on to hope even in the most difficult of times.
- I Am Malala (for middle and high school readers) is a memoir that details the early life of Yousafzai, her father’s ownership of schools and activism, the rise and fall of the Taliban, and the assassination attempt made against Yousafzai, when she was aged 15, following her activism for girls’ education.
SEL Competency
Self-management skills allow individuals to handle daily stresses and control their emotions under difficult situations. Students’ capacities to regulate their emotions impact student memory and the cognitive resources they use on academic tasks. Self-management skills include the ability to monitor and reflect on personal and academic goal-setting. Academic self-regulation has important implications for student motivation in the classroom, as well as the learning strategies students use to master material.
Several copies of each book are available at school libraries/media centers and can also be found in myBackpack via Class Pass @APS.
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