Heinemann Blog

Tom Newkirk on Internalizing the "We Can do This" Voice

Written by Lauren Audet | Sep 18, 2017 9:29:04 PM

No one escapes embarrassment. Both students and teachers face it every day in school and its influence affects our willingness to take risks. How might our fear of failure, of not living up to expectations, be holding us back?  How can our fear of embarrassment affect how we learn, how we teach, and how we live?

Tom Newkirk argues that the “emotional underlife,” this subterranean domain of emotion, failure, and embarrassment, keeps too many students and teachers silent, hesitant, and afraid.

"I am convinced, absolutely convinced, that embarrassment is not only a true enemy of learning but of so many other actions we could take to better ourselves." --Tom Newkirk

 

 

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 Learn more about Embarrassment at Heinemann.com

Thomas Newkirk is the author of numerous Heinemann titles, including Minds Made for Stories, The Art of Slow Reading, The Performance of Self in Student Writing (winner of the NCTE's David H. Russell Award), and Misreading Masculinity. For almost three decades, Tom taught writing at the University of New Hampshire where he founded the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes, a summer program for teachers. In addition to working as a teacher, writer, and editor, he has served as the chair of his local school board.