We were honored to be featured in The Huffington Post last week by Kimberly Rae Connor, blogger and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of San Francisco’s Department of Public and Nonprofit Administrations–and we are more pleased to republish the article here. As Kimberly writes: “While opinion writers across the media have begun supporting and expanding humanities offerings as preparation for work and life, most have neglected to consider those who seldom get past the academic threshold in the first place but whose journeys have taken them to the workplace. Books@Work corrects that oversight. They recognize that 60% of workers in the U.S. do not have access to higher education. Many front line, blue collar and even middle management workers lack structured opportunities to engage in intellectual adventures by way of formal education and to benefit from the kinds of skill, knowledge, confidence, and empathy building experiences that can be elicited from reading and discussing literature.”
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Recently, Program and Curriculum Director Jessica Isaac sat down with a group of SUNY-Fredonia professors to talk about their experience with Books@Work. What she learned surprised her. Without the teaching objectives they are required to use in the classroom, these faculty felt adrift, even nervous–at the same time, they were invigorated. Many working in education complain that we live in an age of overassessment. They rarely talk about how assessment can be comforting and comfortable. But is comfort really the mark of a quality educational experience?
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Clémentine is demanding in her professionalism–she insists upon cooking good French cuisine with fresh ingredients. At the same time, her work ethic is dynamic and flexible. She transforms challenges into opportunities and overcomes the limitations set by American food practices in the 1940s.
It’s not all fun and escargots, however. The shadow of war looms as the family and Clémentine worry over loved ones left behind in France. But the artistry that typically goes into Clémentine’s cooking helps here, as well.
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Inspired by Ann Kowal Smith’s previous reflection on the power of experience, Books@Work Board member Karen Nestor reflects on the ways in which that experience is compounded through social interaction of the sort provided in Books@Work seminars. She writes, “In Books@Work we have seen the exponential power that is unleashed when people share their life experience with others in new ways and begin to challenge their assumptions about the world and each other.”
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Last Friday was Employee Appreciation Day. Employee Appreciation Day is a nice start, but if it is to make a difference in employee engagement and loyalty, that day must be the start of something bigger — something that makes employees feel valued as contributors, partners and people every day of the year.
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We are excited to report on three exciting Books@Work developments that allow us to reach new audiences, deepen our engagement with the communities in which participants live, offer new ways for readers to reflect on texts and build relationships with one another, and build momentum toward transformational change across entire institutions.
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One of the most amazing discoveries to come out of Books@Work is the power of participant life experience. Unlike a traditional classroom-based seminar, in which the professor and text have something to teach the students, the power of our model is that it fosters the unique collision of three important elements: professor expertise, text and participant experience.
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Often lost in the conversation about what tools, systems and approaches to adopt in order to achieve particular outcomes is the experience of the individual being served. The voice of the beneficiary is a very valuable gauge of a program’s impact. By interviewing participants in Books@Work programs, we learn so much about the impact of the seminar experience, both for individuals and for groups.
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Capria Jaussen, our Operations Coordinator, reflects on her history with books and the power of reading a variety of interesting texts. She writes, “What I hear from people participating in Books@Work seminars continues to solidify my belief in the power of a book’s great characters, meaningful concepts and challenging writing to transform readers.”
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