Book Clubs
January – April 2025
The Courage to Teach: Guide for Reflection and Renewal (20th Anniversary Edition) by Parker Palmer
Join us in reading and reflecting on the seminal work of Parker Palmer that still resonate decades after its publication. This is an opportunity to pair our exploration of teaching practices and tools with reflections on our teaching identity. “This book builds on the simple premise: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (p. 10) and “listening to the inner teacher also offers an answer to one of the most basic questions teachers face: How can I develop the authority to teach, the capacity to stand my ground in the midst of the complex forces of both the classroom and my own life?” (p. 34).
Schedule: Every 3-4 weeks on Tuesdays 9:00-9:50 AM starting on January 21, 2025.
Indigenous Reads Book Club: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Spring is almost upon us! We can’t wait to begin our next book The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
“In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing “factories.”
Please note that registrants are asked to secure their own copy of the book. The UBC Library has a few copies available. Audio book versions are also available on various platforms if you prefer. The Okanagan Regional Library also has copies available as a physical book, ebook, or audio version. Spotify premium users get this as part of their membership. Mosaic books has copies in stock as well.
Schedule: The first planned in-person meeting is on April 16th from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM in LIB 111 this is a chance to discuss Chapter 1 – 5 and share some initial thoughts or theories!
If you have further questions or inquiries, please email Jessica at Jessica.Bayer@ubc.ca
September – December 2024
Indigenous Reads Book Club: Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
A haunting debut novel where dreams, family and spirits collide Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away in the far reaches of Treaty 8…”
We encourage you to read the full synopsis and research some of the considerations for care/content warnings.
Schedule: Twice per month on alternating days 1:00-2:00 PM starting on October 31st 2024.