Book: The Excellent 11

By: Ron Clark

No need for any suspense, the 11 qualities which the author observed in teachers/parents 'who were involved in bringing up great kids' are:

1. Enthusiasm
2. Adventure
3. Creativity
4. Reflection
5. Balance
6. Compassion
7. Confidence
8. Humor
9. Common Sense
10. Appreciation
11. Resilience

Won't be going into the details of each quality though. The book is easy to read and I finished it in two nights. The author is/was a teacher and he wrote another book called The Essential 55 (rules) before this. While he was on tour to share the rules, he met many teachers and parents and realised they seemed to have the above 11 qualities. He gave many examples of applying the qualities based on his own work with his students.

Given that he wrote this from a teacher's perspective (there was no mention of his children in the book, no idea whether he was a parent), the book might be more relevant to teachers. Still, the first nine chapters (i.e. the first nine qualities) were ok. But the last two chapters were obviously targeted toward teachers.

I have reserved his Essential 55 from NLB. Shall share here after I finish reading : )