For Mental Health Week (May 7th – 13th), the OISE Library is featuring a selection of books and resources from our Curriculum Resources and Stacks collection related to Mental Health Education. These titles cover topics such as mental health in colleges/universities, mental health in the classroom, mindfulness, and more.

Mental health matters: A practical guide to identifying and understanding mental health issues in primary schools, by Paula Nagel

Mental health matters: A practical guide to identifying and understanding mental health issues in primary schools is a teacher’s guide that examines children’s mental health in an educational context. Recent research on children’s mental health has shown that one in ten school children are diagnosed with a clinical mental health disorder. According to Nagel, these mental health problems are likely to manifest as behavior problems and  are often treated with ineffective behavioral management methods. The author explores the complex relationship between unmet mental health needs and behavioral issues through various case studies. Divided into six chapters, the book explores triggers, risk factors, and various types of environments that affect a child’s mental heath. The book is a comprehensive and practical guide that provides classroom teachers with tools to help improve children’s confidence and mental health.

Social and emotional learning in the classroom : promoting mental health and academic success, by Kenneth W. Merrell and Barbara A. Gueldner

Social and emotional learning in the classroom: Prompting mental health and academic success is a teacher’s guide that provides resources and strategies on social and emotional learning (SEL). The book consists of eight chapters, the first half which defines SEL and examine its implementation and benefits in the classroom. The latter half of the book explores the ways in which educators can effectively adopt social and emotional learning in their teaching plans. Using strategies based in recent research in SEL, the goal of the book is to create greater awareness of student mental health in the classroom and ensure that teachers are equipped with the proper knowledge to cultivate a healthy and happy learning environment.

This is NOT a fire drill: Crisis intervention and prevention on college campuses, by Rick A. Myer, Richard K. James and Patrice Moulton

This is not a fire drill: Crisis intervention and prevention on college campuses is a comprehensive guide for post-secondary faculty, administrators, and educators on how to create a crisis intervention program on campus. The goal of the book is to highlight the importance of crisis intervention and prevention in schools and help staff and faculty to identify and aid students in crisis. It explores topics such as the basics of crisis intervention, organizing crisis response, recovery after crisis, crisis intervention training, and more. Each of the twelve chapters in the book provide readers with guidelines and tips on how to effectively establish a crisis intervention protocol in a college or university system. Authors Rick Myer, Richard James, and Patrice Moulton combine their extensive experiences as crisis intervention/prevention specialists to provide readers with real-life cases and examples of crisis intervention in practice on campuses.

Mental health practice in today’s schools : Issues and interventions, edited by Raymond H. Witte and G. Susan Mosley-Howard

Mental health practice in today’s schools: Issues and interventions is an anthology of scholarly articles that explore at some of the most crucial and current mental health concerns in schools.  Despite receiving greater attention in recent years, schools often lack effective mental health programs for their students. The goal of this book is to equip school staff, administrators, and teachers with the proper tools that will help them to facilitate good mental health practices within the classroom. The book focuses on prevention and intervention tactics, and argues that proper counselling is key to improving student mental health in schools. Furthermore, the book explores a variety of topics in mental health education, such as, at-risk students, culturally sensitive practices, support networks, law and ethics, crisis response, abuse, and more. The contributors of this resource share their extensive knowledge and experience in mental health and education, and provide readers with evidence-based research and real-life cases.

Sitting still like a frog: Mindfulness exercises for kids (and their parents), by Eline Snel

Sitting still like a frog: Mindfulness exercises for kids (and their parents) is written by Eline Snel, a prominent author on the topics of infusing mindfulness practices into education and healthcare. This handbook helps both children and adults cultivate a greater sense of self-awareness and of awareness for the world. The book is comprised of ten chapters that explore topics such as mindful parenting, handling emotions, attention to breathing, attention to the body, and more. Each chapter takes the reader through different mindfulness practices and techniques, which are accompanied by visual audio guides provided by the book’s DVD.

This month the OISE Library Lobby Display is highlighting the pioneers in the Progressive Educational Movement. Although the movement began in the late nineteenth century, its legacy is is still with us, seen in education that values the student’s interests in helping to foster their own developmental learning experiences. In this display, you’ll find books written by educators who have introduced a different model of education, such as Dewey, Montessori, Pestalozzi, Steiner, Herbart and more. The display also includes progressive education kits that can be used in the classroom for teaching.

The Progressive Education Movement by William Hayes

In this book, William Hayes considers whether the progressive education is still a relevant factor in today’s schools. With this book, Hayes considers four contemporary initiatives that have threatened the continued influence of the progressive education movement. These factors include the “back to basics movement,” mandated state curriculum standards, high-stakes testing, and school accountability. Hayes also considers the past, present, and possible future of the progressive education movement. The contents of the book includes the rise of the progressive educational movement, John Dewey, pioneers in the movement, and the progressive educational movement throughout the years; beginning with the first half of the twentieth century.

The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori, with an introduction by J. McV. Hunt

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian doctor and educator acclaimed for her educational method on early childhood learning that builds on the way children naturally learn. First published in Italian in 1909 and then translated into English in 1912, The Montessori Method provides theories with aims to fulfill children’s learning potential, emotionally, physically and intellectually. Before diving into the critical chapters of The Montessori Method the reader is first introduced to Maria Montessori’s pedagogy by J. McV. Hunt, who provides the reader with a brief on Montessori’s educational background and successful work. The Montessori Method hopes to provide answers to the following issues: “Why the explosion of interest in 1912 and the equally sudden fall 1914?” and “Why revisit Montessori today?” Each chapter provides the reader with key factors in Montessori’s educational practices with pedagogical emphasis on “sensory learning.” This book may help future educators who wish to incorporate Montessori practices in the classroom.

Deeper Insights into Education: The Waldorf Approach  by Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) first formulated the movement of what became Waldorf education in 1907 in an essay titled “The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthropology.” Steiner’s experiences as a tutor and educator started the movement of what has now been now adopted in over 300 schools worldwide.  What began as a school initially intended for children of factory workers launched the wider venture of the Waldorf approach to education. The Waldorf approach became a new art of education with emphasis on its anthropological foundation based on the body, soul, and spirit of a growing child. This approach to education has now been adopted by schools in Europe, the United States, Canada,  South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. In the introduction, written by Rene M. Querido, Querido expresses that the Waldorf education would be considered a holistic approach, aiming to unfold the capacities in the child and their stages of development. This book will provide readers with Steiner’s comprehensive teachings that may be helpful to those who hope to learn about the Waldorf Approach to education.

Herbart and Education by Instruction by Gabriel Compayré; translated by Maria E. Findlay

Written by author Gabriel Compayré, Herbart and Education by Instruction is part of the series Pioneers in Education, which recounts Jean-Frederic Herbart’s (1776-1841) influence and life’s work in philosophy and education.  Herbart led the interest in Realism and is considered among the founders of modern scientific pedagogy. This book is written with aims to understand Herbart’s psychology and its pedagogical consequences.
Compayré explores how Herbart wanted to illuminate all parts of teaching and education through his theory of education, known as Herbartianism. Comprised of five chapters, this book covers topics such as the life of Jean Jean-Frederic Herbart, Herbart’s intellectual pedagogy and psychology, Herbart’s understanding of the moral experiences of the child, and Herbart’s influence on the science of education and the study of education. This is a great read for those interested in Herbart’s faith in instruction from parents and educators.

The Educational Ideas of Pestalozzi by J.A. Green and B.A. Lond

Written by authors J.A. Green and B.A. Lond, professors of education at the University of Sheffield, this book intends to expound the fundamental doctrines of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827), a Swiss educational reformer. This book begins with a general historical introduction of the history of education in Western Europe and the influence of the Renaissance and Reformation. Chapters two and three review Pestalozzi’s life, his interest in social reform amidst a political struggle, and his work in Stanz, Burgdorf schools and Yverdun Institute. Chapters 4 through 7 cover Pestalozzi’s views, ideas, practices and theory to education. Chapter 8 reviews “Science of Education” in which Pestalozzi believed to provide guidance for teachers. The last chapter covers Pestalozzian principles and spirit that have influenced other educational thinkers like Herbart, Froebel and Niemeyer.
This book may perhaps be useful in understanding the extent of Pestalozzi’s work and the character of his many institutions. Pestalozzi was also the forerunner of Jean-Frederic Herbart’s influence on the science of education, which makes this text helpful for understanding Herbart’s work.