The need to focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) couldn’t be any greater, and I am SO excited to announce that I have a tool to help us get there.

My new book, Teaching with the HEART in Mind, is finally here! I have been working on this book for the last few years and can’t wait for you to read it. It is now available for pre-sale with a release date of February 17, 2021. Hooray!

Teaching with the HEART in Mind is the guidance that I wish I had when I was a teacher, based on my 15 years of research on best SEL practices and experience supporting schools with SEL implementation. I am currently offering the first chapter free! You can claim your copy on my new and updated website.

This is what early readers are saying:

“Anyone who is looking for a practical and research-based guide to strengthen school communities through SEL should read this book.”

– Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President, Learning Policy Institute

“I encourage all educators committed to understanding and implementing quality social and emotional learning to read this excellent resource.”

– Dr. Roger Weissberg, Chief Knowledge Officer, CASEL

“Lorea Martinez shows exactly why and how to put the emotions of the learner and the instructor front and center, to optimize benefits for ALL children. This is a book you will wear out quickly from frequent and enthusiastic use!”

– Dr. Maurice Elias, Director, Rutgers Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab

“Dr. Martinez effortlessly weaves between SEL for educator self-development and SEL instructional strategies and practices for students, drawing on contemporary theory and practice and insightful lessons learned along her journey as an educator-scholar.“

– Dr. Christina Cipriano, Director of Research, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

As teachers return to their physical and virtual classrooms, I am hopeful that we are starting a new chapter for education. The things that have become so clear in 2020—existence of deep inequalities and systemic racism, importance of relationships and belonging, and need for community-based supports—and the recent events of white supremacy and privilege in full display at Capitol Hill are offering us an opportunity to do the work that matters: using our strengths and passions to create schools worthy of our own children.

Rooting our work in equity-centered SEL is at the core of bringing this vision to life. And Teaching with the HEART in Mind is just the tool to help educators create the kind of classrooms they want and know that students deserve.

Please help me spread the word and share this book with educators, parents and administrators who want to teach wholeheartedly every day!