Pat K. reviewed on + 20 more book reviews
Do effective teachers control students? Or do they create an environment where children choose to cooperate? When you consider it in a time of quiet reflection, there's actually no way you can "control" the student who wants to disrupt a classroom. If the child wants to crawl under the desk, grab it by the leg, drag it around and make noises, well then that's what the child will do. (This example is from my first year teaching.) A typical response to "out of bounds" behavior is to escalate the "control moves." This is a recipe for a power struggle, and it's easy to see the negative consequencs of that path. It's harder to see the alternative path. Meanwhile, ask any teacher whether they're respectful of the students and the teacher will say, "yes." Any teacher. But how many teachers don't really know what it would look like or sound like to respect the children?
Alfie Kohn constructs his theme carefully, however it's so startling that many readers will argue with him page by page or sentence by sentence. I'd guess that essentially no one will agree with all he has to say. The book is extremely valuable anyway. Early career teachers might want to delay reading it until they get past their stage of self concerns. The book is more suitable for teachrs who have moved on to putting the students first, who sometimes ask themselves "is what I do in my classroom consistent with what I SAY I believe about lerning?" He raises issues others don't seem to notice and he challenges teachers to be more genuinely respectful of learners.
Alfie Kohn constructs his theme carefully, however it's so startling that many readers will argue with him page by page or sentence by sentence. I'd guess that essentially no one will agree with all he has to say. The book is extremely valuable anyway. Early career teachers might want to delay reading it until they get past their stage of self concerns. The book is more suitable for teachrs who have moved on to putting the students first, who sometimes ask themselves "is what I do in my classroom consistent with what I SAY I believe about lerning?" He raises issues others don't seem to notice and he challenges teachers to be more genuinely respectful of learners.
