Exploring Relationships and Connections to Others: Teaching Universal Themes through Young Adult Novels offers readers opportunities to explore the most common universal themes taught in secondary English Language Arts classrooms using contemporary young adult literature. Authors discuss adolescence and adolescent readers, young adult literature and its possibilities in the classroom, and ways to teach thematic analysis. The book provides context, traditional approaches to teaching, and examples of thematic explorations of each of the chosen themes. Chapters include developed teaching instructional units to study four universal themes: love and loss; friendship and betrayal; hate, its destructive consequences, and healing; and dreams and hope for tomorrow. Each instructional unit includes rationale, essential questions and objectives, calendar plans for up to five weeks, examples of introductory, reading and discussing, and enrichment activities and assessments. The activities target academic skills for ELA curricula and create safe spaces for exploring topics of relationships and connections to others, both of which are vital to adolescent growth and development. Each instructional chapter suggests a wide range of additional texts and resources for theme explorations.

This edited volume brings together a select group of leading organizational scholars for the purpose of developing a foundation-setting book on positive relationships at work. Positive Relationships at Work (PRW) is a rich new interdisciplinary domain of inquiry that focuses on the generative processes, relational mechanisms and outcomes associated with positive relationships between people at work. This volume builds a solid foundation for this promising new area of scholarly inquiry and offers a multidisciplinary exploration of how relationships at work become a source of growth, vitality, learning and generative states of human and collective flourishing. A unique feature of the book is the use of a connecting commentator chapter at the end of each section. The Commentator Chapters, written by preeminent scholars, uncover and discuss integrative themes that emerge within sections. The editors approach the topic from multiple levels, each level providing critical, valuable insights into the dynamic process underlying positive relationships at work. These levels are arranged in five parts: an introduction to positive relationships at work; Individuals and Dyads; Groups and Communities; Organizations and Organizing; and a conclusion that offers an engaging invitation and multi-level map for guiding future research. This volume will appeal to academics and practitioners, as well as scholars and graduate students in organizational psychology, management, human resources, and inter-personal communications.

'A practical and timely book' - Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global 'Valuable for everyone' - Julia Samuel, bestselling author Biting your tongue? Bottling it all up? From marriage to management challenges, learn how to change your relationships from exasperating to exceptional with this expert guide. The ability to create strong relationships with others is crucial to living a full life and becoming more effective at work. Yet many of us find ourselves struggling to build solid personal and professional connections, or unable to handle challenges that inevitably arise when we grow closer to others. When we find ourselves in an exceptional relationship -- the kind of relationship where we feel fully understood and supported for who we are -- it can seem like magic. But the truth is that the process of building and sustaining these relationships can be described, learned, and applied. David Bradford and Carole Robin taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates for a combined seventy-five years in their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics. Now, they share their insights with you, including: - Why relationship-building is not the process of being with 'the right person' but rather creating the kind of relationship you want - Why deepening a relationship takes risk - The importance of vulnerability, curiosity and empathy in building relationships - How the modern world can help - and hinder - our ability to connect Filled with time-tested strategies for giving feedback, negotiating boundaries, and working through disagreements, Connect will be an important resource for anyone hoping to improve existing relationships and build new ones at any stage of life.

We are now experiencing what is being called ‘the mindfulness revolution’, as increasingly people become aware of the benefits of mindfulness in all aspects of daily life. This book focuses on individuals, couples, families, groups and businesses to provide a practical guide for using mindfulness to enrich relationships and more effectively manage the stresses associated with dispute resolution and conflict. The authors clearly and engagingly explore how we can use mindfulness to: • develop a more compassionate, friendly relationship with ourselves and others • increase awareness of our own and others’ relational patterns • calm and soothe our emotions and be there for others • communicate more effectively • enhance connection and empathy • reduce defensive patterns, allowing for more authenticity, and • work effectively within families and larger systems such as workplaces. Case studies are included throughout to highlight key principles, as well as practical exercises to enable the reader to develop their mindfulness skills.

Offering simple mindfulness and reflective exercises, Robins helps readers learn to integrate ideas from both Eastern and Western approaches into everyday practice that is intended to both open and protect our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.

“A beautifully written and well-researched cultural criticism as well as an honest memoir” (Los Angeles Review of Books) from the author of the popular New York Times essay, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This,” explores the romantic myths we create and explains how they limit our ability to achieve and sustain intimacy. What really makes love last? Does love ever work the way we say it does in movies and books and Facebook posts? Or does obsessing over those love stories hurt our real-life relationships? When her parents divorced after a twenty-eight year marriage and her own ten-year relationship ended, those were the questions that Mandy Len Catron wanted to answer. In a series of candid, vulnerable, and wise essays that takes a closer look at what it means to love someone, be loved, and how we present our love to the world, “Catron melds science and emotion beautifully into a thoughtful and thought-provoking meditation” (Bookpage). She delves back to 1944, when her grandparents met in a coal mining town in Appalachia, to her own dating life as a professor in Vancouver. She uses biologists’ research into dopamine triggers to ask whether the need to love is an innate human drive. She uses literary theory to show why we prefer certain kinds of love stories. She urges us to question the unwritten scripts we follow in relationships and looks into where those scripts come from. And she tells the story of how she decided to test an experiment that she’d read about—where the goal was to create intimacy between strangers using a list of thirty-six questions—and ended up in the surreal situation of having millions of people following her brand-new relationship. “Perfect fodder for the romantic and the cynic in all of us” (Booklist), How to Fall in Love with Anyone flips the script on love. “Clear-eyed and full of heart, it is mandatory reading for anyone coping with—or curious about—the challenges of contemporary courtship” (The Toronto Star).

This book offers readers opportunities to explore the most common universal themes taught in secondary English Language Arts classrooms using contemporary young adult literature. Authors discuss adolescence and adolescent readers, young adult literature and its possibilities in the classroom, and ways to teach thematic analysis. The book provides context, traditional approaches to teaching and examples of thematic explorations of each of the chosen themes. Chapters include developed teaching instructional units to study three universal themes: a journey of self-discovery; good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, and making difficult choices, and developing positive self-perception. Each instructional unit includes rationale, essential questions and objectives, calendar plans for up to six weeks, examples of introductory, reading and discussing, and enrichment activities and assessments. The activities target academic skills for ELA curricula and create safe spaces for exploring topics of identity struggles and personal growth complicated by social issues, all of which adolescents face today. Each instructional chapter suggests a wide range of additional texts and resources for theme explorations.