Book Offers Inspiration to Teachers

Beloved local educator Michelle Hughes has co-edited a new book that offers ways to reframe obstacles to teaching as opportunities for personal and professional growth. “Joyful Resilience as Educational Practice: Turning Challenges into Opportunities,” a collaborative effort with Hughes’ colleague and friend, Ken Badley, is available for pre-order through Routledge. A 20 percent discount is available if you enter the code FLY21 at checkout.

“Teaching is hard work,” says Hughes, Westmont associate professor of education. “It is courageous work; it is not for the meek or weak. This book is our love letter to all teachers.”

Hughes graduated from Westmont in 1989, also earning a Preliminary Teaching Credential in English. She served as assistant principal at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta from 1996-2009, and an English teacher at Goleta Valley Junior High School from 1989-1996. She earned a Doctorate of Education from George Fox University.

The cover of the book features a rose growing and blooming from a crack in the sidewalk. “As a journey, teaching requires pruning and growth,” she says. “There are thorns in our daily work that don’t immediately bring to mind great rewards or reciprocities. Yet the consistent work that we all do in classrooms for students reveals why we keep showing up and why we keep making the best of the challenges—and why we keep transforming hurdles into opportunities. This book is our thank you to all the teachers who encourage and empower us. May it remind you that your work is meaningful, joyful, and inspiring.”

The book includes a chapter, “A Long and Rewarding Apprenticeship: The Sustaining Inspiration of Our Mentors,” by Andrew Mullen, Westmont professor of education.