The GC-DWC's Holiday Reading List
As the GC-DWC reflects on the past year, we are grateful for all of you who have continued to grow and learn with us. If you are looking for some reading material over the holidays, we have compiled a list of some of our favorite books and articles on topics that impact our daily work.
The Moral Intelligence of Children
Robert Coles, MD, Random House, New York. 1997.
This book provides important insights into how character develops in children, how their moral imagination grows at different moments of their lives, and how we can raise our children to be morally intelligent. As a society, we seem to be at a “moral crossroads” ourselves. It thus seems appropriate in this Advent season to reflect on how moral behavior develops as a consequence of learning how to be with others and behave in this world.
Juan Carlos Guzmán, Kate Schuenke‐Lucien, Anthony J. D’Agostino, Mark Berends, & Andrew J. Elliot, International Literacy Association. 2020.
Scripted, mother-tongue literacy is a key tool in the GC-DWC’s and ACE Haiti’s efforts to improve early grade reading and writing in Haiti. This article details how and why our approach has been successful.
Teachers as agents of change: positive discipline for inclusive classrooms in Kakuma refugee camp.
Mary Mendenhall, Jihae Cha, Danielle Falk, Charlotte Bergin, & Lauren Bowden, International Journal of Inclusive Education. 2020.
Research in education in many parts of the world indicates that despite many countries passing laws prohibiting corporal punishment in schools, the practice continues to be prevalent in many parts of the world. We also know that corporal punishment can have negative impacts on children’s educational outcomes, cognitive development, psychosocial well-being, and behavioral development (Betancourt and Khan, 2008; Csorba et al., 2001; Devries et al., 2014; Dunne et al., 2006; Gershoff, 2017; Ogando, Portela, and Pells, 2015). Mendenhall et al.’s (2020) article does a great job at elucidating some of the ways that structural violence and past experience with corporal punishment as students leads to teachers’ continued use of corporal punishment in the classroom. The authors also identify ways to stem the use of corporal punishment in under-resourced and conflict-affected schools by better supporting teachers’ professional development. This is a must read for anyone working to support children’s well-being in schools where corporal punishment continues to be a problem.
Lindsay Stark, Marni Sommer, Kathryn Davis, Khudejha Asghar, Asham Assazenew Baysa, Gizman Abdela, Sophie Tanner, & Kathryn Falb, PLoS ONE. 2017.
This article speaks to the challenges and nuances of accurately measuring sensitive topics like gender-based violence in vulnerable populations. The article illustrates how complex these situations are and how often the international community can simplify problems and interventions.
Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Elizabeth Adelman, Michelle J. Bellino, & Vidur Chopra, Sociology of Education. 2019.
Excerpt from the abstract, “This article explores the understood purposes of refugee education at global, national, and school levels. To do so, [it focuses] on a radical shift in global policy to integrate refugees into national education systems and the processes of vernacularization accompanying its widespread implementation.”
Health-care needs of people affected by conflict: future trends and changing frameworks.
Dr. Paul B Spiegel, MD, Francesco Checchi, MHS, Sandro Colombo, MD, & Eugene Paik, BA The Lancet (British edition). 2010.
Excerpt from the abstract, “In past decades, much progress has been made in responding to health-care needs of conflict-affected populations. [...] However, humanitarian space—physical locations that are safe from attack in a conflict, respect for core humanitarian principles of independence, impartiality and neutrality, and the ability of aid agencies to access and help civilians affected by conflict—has shrunk substantially because of political polarisation and a perception by combatants that humanitarian assistance is merely an instrument of interference by foreign powers. These factors have had negative effects on the protection of both people affected by conflict and humanitarian workers, and consequently have affected the ability of organisations to provide preventive and curative health services because of insecurity.”
