What are you reading?

The last two books I read were "Mindset" by Carol Dweck ... and "Eat, Pray Love," by Elizabeth Gilbert. (Dweck is) a Stanford professor and has done 20 years of mindset research and has come up with two: a growth mindset, about learning and being responsible for what you learn and what your success is or isn't, and a fixed mindset, which is ability-based, not wanting to take risks for fear you might undermine the perception that you're successful and competent. I found it very engaging and relevant to educators and parents, to anyone working with other people. ... "Eat, Pray, Love" ... was a wonderful tale. She's obviously a very good writer, and it's an easy read. It brought to life some of the emotion — the difficulties as well as joys — of all of our lives. ...

How does reading about reacting to life's challenges influence how you prepare students for the future?

"Mindset" is obvious, but you know the other one was just enjoyable. I like books that are well-written and engaging, so I do look to best-seller lists and recommendations from friends. But I also like books that open up worlds and experiences that I've never had. ...

So do you focus most on exposing students to different experiences, like with 'Iolani's new online eSchool?

Professionally, it's important to continue to look for ways to benefit 'Iolani kids as well as the broader community. ... Something like the eSchool was intended to break out and expand our constituency and leverage the expertise that we've developed, so others could benefit from it. It's important that we look at not only improving 'Iolani School, and that requires us to do things differently. So that's some of what attracts me in my reading.