Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes.

by Jimmy Casas

Eradicate Average! CULTURIZE Your School. Average schools don’t inspire greatness—and greatness is what our world needs if we are going to produce world-changing learners. In Culturize, author and education leader Jimmy Casas shares insights into what it takes to cultivate a community of learners who embody the innately human traits our world desperately needs, such as kindness, honesty, and compassion. His stories reveal how these “soft skills” can be honed while meeting and exceeding academic standards of twenty-first-century learning. You’ll learn...How to reach those who seem unreachableWhat to do when students disengage or drop out of schoolHow to ensure your learners feel cared for and empoweredHow to create an environment where all learners are challenged and inspired to be their best

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Teaching, Nonfiction, Leadership, Audiobook, School

214 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2017

Reviews

[Angela Winter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a solid message: remain positive and work hard for every student. I can get behind that. But, the actual experience of reading this book is not entirely motivational. The writing is really lazy in many parts it cannot afford to be. As an English teacher, I was constantly thinking, "Where is your source?" Casas makes a lot of exciting claims, but fails to back them up with research, even though there are numerous writers that he could be citing. For example, Dweck's work on mindset and Brene Brown's work on vulnerability. He missed so many opportunities to strengthen his arguments! To me, it slashed his credibility and my investment in his message.

[Staci Laird · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly organized, filled with tangents and unclear transitions, and no research base. Doesn't add anything new to the discussion of improving culture.

[Donalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great ideas here. Primarily for administrators, but useful to teachers, too.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s my opinion that teachers who choose to spend their own money on professional books and choose to spend their summer break reading professional books typically aren’t in need of a lecture on building relationships with students.

Listened via Hoopla

[Carla Foy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll stand by my 1.5 stars. After 27 years in the classroom, everything Casas is urging educators to do is irritating. There is nothing new or exciting in this book. It was not well organized, and I don’t think it addresses diversity and cultural sensitivity. Disappointing.

[Stacy Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes. This book is filled with generic and mostly useless platitudes and anecdotes. It's not well organized, and does nothing to address equity, disproportionality, or any of the very real systemic issues that contribute to culture and climate issues. There were a few nuggets I appreciated, but I thought this book was mostly fluff.

[Jeff Colston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t career-altering or life-altering or anything, but it certainly was inspiring. I was reminded of why I do what I do: to make an impact on kids. I was brought to tears while reading this on multiple occasions.

If you are in education, this would bless you!

[Sheila (sheilasbookreviewer) · Rating 3 out of 5]

As PLC leaders at my school, we read this book together during our monthly meetings. It was so interesting and gave us great ideas and potent reminders about helping students as educators and administrators. Sometimes as educators, we get so caught up in the curriculum that we forgot why we are teaching and to whom we are teaching said curriculum to. Jimmy Casas motivated us as a faculty to set new personal and school goals. Putting students first was the overall message. The chapters are good lengths that you can pick the book up and read a chapter when you have some spare time. I recommend this read to educators in elementary and secondary education.

[Nicole Means · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regardless of our title--administrator, teacher, instructional coach, or supportive staff--we are all leaders charged with providing the best environment for all students. Working in schools can take its toll especially when bouts of doubt make us question whether or not we are truly making a difference. Our most important job is to champion for our students and forge connections with our students. Although we may not see the immediate results of how much love and time we invest in our students, our dedication will ultimately pay off--maybe not today or tomorrow, but somewhere down the line, our students will reap the benefits if we consistently maintain high expectations for ALL our students. Every child deserves to be part of an environment that expects the best; settling for anything less is unacceptable. Whether a teacher has been teaching for 1 year or 30 years, "Culturize" should be mandatory reading for anyone working in the field of education.

[Christine Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like how this book gave me the strategies I could use tomorrow in my classroom. Jimmy speaks from the heart and that means a lot when you are a teacher who sometimes questions if you are doing a job that is right for you. I have read many professional books however this one will stick with me because it comes straight from the heart.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for all educators, no matter your role! This book is written woth such voice, that it feels like I'm sitting in the room. Jimmy writes with such passion to affirm the hard work you are doing and to reinspire the work you have yet to do.

[Tyler Shafer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few useful ideas for school admin, but they were presented in a much too long and unorganized manner. The book as a whole was poorly written, and too much of it seemed like simple, generic inspirational teacher memes.

[Andrew Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

While many education books are actively offensive or dishonest this one was merely insipid and jargon riddled.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a marvelous book! Written by a teacher/administrator/high school principal, it promotes a culture of greatness in schools that is truly inspiring. It is filled with prescriptions on how to change the culture in our ‘average’ schools to move them towards becoming great. While aimed principally at educators, it would be helpful to parents wanting to engage in meaningful dialogue with their children’s teachers and principals. This is a book every teacher and principal needs to read!

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Culturize is must read book for all educators!

Jimmy is a master at describing how cultural is important to a school district. His stories are inspiring and give hope to all educators.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview book on how to be a leader on your school campus. Even tho I have already learned about these topics discussed before, it was a refresher and a possible reference book for later. Bc of this 3/5

[Susie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for how to improve the culture of a school. Full of action items. I listened to this but I’d suggest the hard copy for enduring access to the resources/action items.

[Lisa Mays · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for work as group. Good info. More testimonials and simple motivation than a true tested and proven research overview.

[Mylie McKissack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professionally as a teacher, I have always believed in the 3 R's - Relationships, Relationships, Relationships. What Casas discusses in his book dovetails with what was said in my EDU 588 class last week. It is a shame that the teacher evaluation system and the "testing-our-children" endlessly
mandates are at the opposite ends of the spectrum from what this book presents from the author's many years of experience and what research supports in regards to learning.
Attention Politicians: quit abusing teachers and learners with your opinion-riddled rhetoric and "only-out-to-get-the-vote" educational policies and laws that give the government free reign to ransom (rob) the school districts in regards to funding.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Does not appear to present any thesis or research base whatsoever. Reads like a stream of consciousness lacking organization and relies on personal anecdotes in random order. Has some nice ideas, but they are universally accepted at this point. The author shares that writing is a personal challenge- I get the feeling that writing a book was a goal he had, so he decided to write down his thoughts and call it a book, rather than having something he needs to share and writing a book in order to share it. There are far better educational books to spend your professional time on.

[Katy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For admin/building leaders

Definitely geared towards admin or other building leaders who have the power to change and influence building culture. I think I had high hopes for this book and was disappointed in the repetitive, seemingly directionless chapters. The overall message of keeping buildings positive and celebrating excellence in staff is a good one, just could have gotten the same gist from a short article.

[Sarah Ketchum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, quick read full of encouragement for teachers and administrators who are looking for some new strategies to boost morale or trying to avoid burn-out. While a bit repetitive at times it drives home the importance of our job as educators and provides practical tips for “culturizing” our schools.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very repetitive and I struggled to get through it. For a shorter book it sure took a lot of time and effort to get through without much return on the time or effort I invested. I don't think I will be recommending it to others.

[Ryan Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book grows on me more and more over time.

[Joonie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too self-aggrandising for me. No new ideas or specific strategies.

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as a book study to earn a pile of CEUs at my workplace. Some good ideas, but could have been organized better. I would have loved more practical advice.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really hoping for something here- hoping for ideas on how I could help my workplace get back to how it was when I joined- fun, relaxed, positive, with people staying on for years.

While I don't have a lot of influence, sometimes there are things you can do.

The book itself will tell you that anyone can do anything (note that people at my level of the organisation were mentioned somewhere from 2 to 4 times, mostly in the "even these people..." framework).

However, there were very few practical strategies that I can implement and haven't already. I am pretty smart, and things like celebrating student work and accomplishments, trying to learn the names of kids who might not be noticed, and trying to get to know them as people (especially new students, though that was one suggestion I can implement somewhat better) are ideas I have been working towards for years, and things like contacting families over the summer are not legally allowed in my job.

I can see why this would appeal to a school district. When morale and effort are 100% on you and you are not to require anything from anyone else (motivation, higher pay, legislation to improve working conditions, positive reinforcement), that is easier to administer.

There were some fun stories that are much like the stories most school staff accumulate over the years, because we love the kids and most of us have had inspiring experiences, tragic experiences, and stories to illustrate pretty much any principle you can name. Even I do, and I'm a newbie and have been in a role with much shorter times with individuals.

Sadly, much of it, while correct, is fairly vague. Like, there are odd specifics like spending a couple minutes daily with a staff or student intentionally, but a lot of the rest is things like you see above, putting in more time, focusing on relationships (and presumably expecting the test scores you're judged on take care of themselves, which to be fair does often happen), etc. Lots of truisms, lots of stuff we've heard all our lives- "10% what happens to you, 90% what you do with it" type stuff.

I think I was hoping for a magic bullet, something we can do that will help. Probably the daily positive staff messages does help, and we do it, many of us, but maybe not every day. Still, I wanted more. Who wouldn't? More we don't have. The most useful bits were usually the bullets at the end, the "things to try" sections (things like "visit incoming students over the summer") and the wondering questions (although the questions didn't ever surprise me- they were all things I had already thought about and, again, I'm a pretty new teacher so I imagine we all have).

For me, it was hard to hear- I listened to it read by the author- because it seemed to say "suck it up. You should be giving more and be happy about it no matter how sad you are, how busy, how exhausted, how under-paid, etc.) He does mention that some staff have times in their lives when they should be unhappy (divorces, cancer) or busy (small kids at home) and it may be harder to give their entire life to the students, but he never says, "don't ruin your health and lose those moments with your young kids for work. Keep perspective and remember your health and life are important because without them, you will burn out (or die) and crash and burn." He didn't even say, "Take care of yourself by taking some time for yourself so you can do more for work". He does say, "Use your time better so you can exercise for health and still have time to give more time to work and no excuses".

It's hard to read that, especially now.

We had an inspirational speaker a few weeks ago who did a random poll of staff and it turns out many of them regularly use unhealthy coping mechanisms, many are struggling with life balance to the clear risk of divorce, many regularly cry and have lost all their hobbies and joy. I'm usually OK so long as I feel I'm learning and growing and capable of doing my job well, though yes, I always think about how things are going and how they could be better like EVERYONE ALREADY DOES. But we are not well, and hearing that it's our fault and we should be doing even more is kind of heart-breaking.

Maybe I misinterpreted.

I do want to go back to the days when I started working, and people played hide-and-seek in the halls at movie nights, hung out after work with co-workers because they were such good friends, laughed often, played games, were silly in the halls, and had so much more fun without getting in trouble for it. And I always want to encourage that joy for the co-workers I do care about. I want to do it because I like and care about probably everyone I work with, and I want to do it because it's better for the kids. Both. Because we do love the kids. But we also matter.

I will update if needed after others I know have read this and I've talked about it, because I tend to hear criticism louder than other parts of a book.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Jimmy Casas speak during a district PD session. I was very taken in by his presentation and honesty. He never sugar coated his message and was willing to admit that teaching is hard and there are many difficult days. I was excited when my district offered a book study on this book because I felt that his message was important. And it is important. But I regret joining this book study - or rather, that this is the book we read to get the credit.

Casas is an inspiring speaker and comes from a place of experience, not just observation. I can tell he has honestly been in the trenches based on the stories he tells and the way he expresses himself. He is a much better speaker than writer, however. This book was repetitive. His major message is you make the choice how you will act or react and no one else can force you to behave in a certain way. And I would hope that every teacher would know this to be true, but I really didn't need an entire book addressing this concept. The book feels like a lot of well-meaning inspirational quotes parading as a book that will help find a fix for detrimental school cultures, but it feels like a lot of platitudes and not a lot of solid suggestions.

The discussion questions that come with the book are good and did lead to many great conversations that I genuinely hope lead to changes in our school climate to improve the experience for kids and adults.

[Heather Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our elementary school read this school wide as part of our Professional Development. We met monthly and gathered in small groups to discuss the book. While the book is good, the best part for me was what came from talking about the contents of the book and how we could apply them to our school. School culture can help or hinder education and we enjoyed exploring news ways to connect with our students. We were reminded that each of us are leaders not only because we are teachers but because we are leaders in our families, peer groups, and organizations. Take aways were to expect excellence and we should rise above the status quo. Also, we need to model what we wish to get from others. The elements in this book can go beyond school walls and into other groups we are a part of as well. I would read it again and would suggest you read it all prior to small group discussion and then go chapter by chapter to get the most from the material.